Q&A: Attitude Toward a Person Who Does Evil Deeds
Attitude Toward a Person Who Does Evil Deeds
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I just finished guard duty with a friend, and we had a discussion about what our inner attitude should be toward a terrorist, and, making every possible distinction, toward a Jew who harms people and commits indecent acts. Is it permitted / necessary to try to understand him without justifying the criminal act, and why?
Thank you in advance.
Answer
The only moral obligation toward terrorists, Jews or Arabs (and there are no such vast distinctions), is to kill them. If you want to try to understand them—be my guest.
Discussion on Answer
If you are trying to judge him, then of course you should try to understand his motives and the circumstances. But you are not obligated to judge anyone.
And again, there is no difference between a Jew and a gentile.
What is the difference from the act of judging a terrorist?
I did not write that one should judge him. One should kill him. That is self-defense and eliminating evil, not judgment.
Let’s say a terrorist who carried out a murderous attack against innocent civilians is fleeing in my direction from a mob that wants to kill him, and let’s assume I am able to save him / kill him.
From a moral standpoint, I should kill him.
From a legal standpoint, I should hand him over to the authorities.
A. Is there any halakhic / Jewish law discussion of what I should do in such a situation? And from a halakhic standpoint, is there any difference if the terrorist fleeing to me is a Jewish terrorist who murdered gentiles, or a gentile terrorist who murdered Jews?
You are asking whether according to Jewish law one must obey the law? Yes. But even if not—according to the law, one must obey the law.
There is no difference at all between a Jewish terrorist and a gentile one.
I understand. Let me sharpen it a bit so I can be sure we are on the same page:
When you said the only moral obligation toward terrorists is to kill them, I understood that you were not actually calling on us in practice to ignore the legal sphere and kill terrorists (as in the case of Elor Azaria), but were simply speaking on the moral plane alone (without law and without religion).
So on the purely halakhic plane alone, where there is no legal system and no morality (without the High Court of Justice and without B'Tselem), what does one do in the situation I described earlier, and is there any difference between Israel and the nations?
The law is binding both halakhically and morally. From a halakhic standpoint, a terrorist should be killed under the law of a pursuer. I do not see any difference between a Jew and a gentile in these matters.
And by contrast, what about a rabbi who abused boys and committed indecent acts (Rabbi Elon, Steinberg), or just an ordinary Jew who sins?