Q&A: Desecrating the Sabbath by Flying Released Hostages
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Desecrating the Sabbath by Flying Released Hostages
Question
Hello Rabbi. Based on the information available to you (it seems that all the necessary information is public), is the Sabbath desecration involved in flying our brothers returning from Hamas captivity justified?
Answer
The information is really not in my hands. How can one know what the constraints are?
We can see it with our own eyes: everyone is flown under a uniform procedure by helicopter to central Israel, even those whose physical condition, thank God, is good. Couldn’t they be treated near the border? Examined there, and only then decide?
To say that there is pikuach nefesh in the psychological sense sounds far-fetched to me, unless the Gaza Strip has been completely secured. Add to that the fact that a real discussion can’t take place in the current atmosphere, and anyone who chirps anything about it will get run over under the wheels of the dominant discourse.