I grew up in Ewing, New Jersey, a nondescript suburb nestled between Trenton and Princeton. However, its education system had something going for it: “values clarification exercises” were an ongoing part of its pedagogical approach. I loved those assignments as we wrestled to determine which value had more ethical heft in a particular situation.
In essence, the discussions within the “Sea of Talmud” are values clarification exercises. For that purpose, rabbis of the Talmud who differed in their theological and philosophical approaches were paired together – Hillel and Shammai, Rav and Shmuel, Akiva and Ishmael, etc.
Within the Talmudic system, one value, in most cases, outranks all the other values – pikuah nefesh, saving a life. For example, the laws of Shabbat are to be broken if it means saving a life. There are three cardinal principles where pikuah nefesh does not apply: when an individual is asked to commit idolatry, murder, or a sexual violation.
How this applies to current events
This present chapter in the history of the modern State of Israel began on October 7, 2023, with the brutal taking of life and kidnapping of Israelis by Hamas and its supporters. In the nearly 670 days since that “date which will live in infamy,” Israeli soldiers, civilians, and hostages have been killed.
The remaining hostages are living through the most inhumane of conditions. Thousands of Hamas fighters and supporters, along with thousands of civilians, have died in Gaza; circumstances there for the millions of civilians are looking more critical each day, as food shortages have grown in the fog of war.
This ongoing loss of life raises the question – what happens to the value of pikuah nefesh/saving a life during wartime?
The Polish 19th-century Talmudic scholar Joseph Babad wrote that going to war to defend the country overrides pikuah nefesh when it comes to the soldiers themselves – that they will be put in harm’s way is an accepted given (Minhat Hinuch 425:3; 604:4).
And what of innocent civilians? The Maharal (16th-century Bohemia) taught: The Torah allows war when we are attacked, and in responding, we are allowed to not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent (Gur Aryeh on Gen. 34:13).
A harsh acknowledgment of the reality of the horrors of war. As with many difficult readings of the text, we can understand them as being either proscriptive or descriptive. The former tells us what we should do, and the latter reminds us that this is what people often do, while it does not mean we should follow that example; it is there as a call to do differently and become, as Abraham Lincoln said, “the better angels of our nature.”
Relatedly, King Saul “said to the Kenites, ‘Go away, leave the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you along with them’” (I Samuel 15:6). More recently, Rav Eliezer Melamed has written, “and in general, attempts are made not to hurt civilians. Consequently, we have no need to do so to our enemies.”
How does this guide us moving forward?
So, where does this guide us, as it becomes clearer and clearer that conditions in Gaza for its civilian population are coming close to the tipping point where thousands will die for the lack of food?
The judgment of history on Hamas and its allies will be harsh for its brutality of October 7; its tortuous conditions and often cold-blooded murder of many of the hostages; its crimes against its own population by turning mosques, school, and hospitals into military installations; and its own complicity in the stealing of food.
This is not to say that serious questions will not be raised when it comes to Israel’s conduct. While we know that too many Israeli soldiers have died or been wounded as they avoided harming innocent Gazans, we also know that, since the start of the war, Israel canceled its long-standing policy to drop small warning bombs on the roofs of buildings it is about to bomb to give civilians time to get out of the building. While in place before the war, it exemplified Israel’s commitment to protecting uninvolved civilians and gave credence to Israel’s claim of having a moral military. We can only imagine the impact of that cancellation on the number of Palestinian civilians killed.
In addition, since March 2, Israel’s blockade was said to have reduced the number of distribution points for food in Gaza from 400 to just four, creating more difficult and dangerous realities for Gazans attempting to get food, along with the reduction of food allowed into Gaza. Israel’s decision to respond to October 7 with extreme force and destruction has created a chaos that also impedes the proper distribution of food.
Let us take at face value the notion that the ratio of Gazan civilians to Hamas fighters killed is 1:1 which would be the lowest ever in modern warfare. And for the sake of argument, let us also accept the Israeli claim that the UN has overtly refused to deliver hundreds of trucks with aid that sit just within Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Having said all of that, as a (re)occupying force in Gaza, Israel has obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Those include, as Duke University law professor Mara Revkin writes, “to ensure the safety and welfare of the civilian population in Gaza. This includes providing essential services, maintaining public order, and ensuring humanitarian relief access.” As Israel has rejected the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention when it comes to the West Bank, there is an assumption that this same approach will apply to its present occupation of Gaza.
Israel must return to its Jewish values
If that is the case, then Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people, must turn to Jewish values as its guide. This brings us back to the mitzvah of pikuah nefesh. The unfolding of this war has brought us to this point where Israel controls most of Gaza, and Gazans face a landscape where the majority of their infrastructure has been destroyed, and their ability to obtain food has been so reduced that large-scale famine lurks around the corner.
While there are other actors involved besides Israel, at the end of the day Israel’s decision to respond to October 7 with the utmost power and (re)occupation of Gaza also comes with absolute ethical responsibility for the care of the innocent civilization population there.
Pikuah nefesh calls on Israel to ensure, with extreme maximum effort, that the Gazan population has access to food, shelter, and medical facilities established in ways that create the safest conditions. Pikuah nefesh also demands Israel do its utmost to free the remaining hostages. This raises the question as to the efficacy of Israel’s ongoing military operations within Gaza in relation to that goal. After nearly 670 days, has the IDF exhausted its realistic overall objectives?
At this moment, the call grows for a serious reevaluation of Israel’s ongoing operation in Gaza, and by extension in Judea and Samaria. The value of pikuah nefesh asks whether the continued placing of both IDF soldiers and innocent Palestinians in harm’s way is the path forward?
These are the Jewish values calling out for our clarification.
The writer is a Reconstructionist rabbi, who works for the Friends of the Arava Institute and teaches at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura and at Bennington College. The opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and are not meant to reflect any organization with which he is affiliated.