"Jewish Ethics" as an Argument in the Public Debate Over the Israeli Reaction to Palestinian Terror

Jewish Combat Morality

Since the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135 C.E.) and the eradication of any trace of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine, Jews have given little thought to questions of war. The long exile freed them from the poignant moral dilemmas confronted by any polity that is compelled to use force to defend itself. Warfare, which has played such an essential role in world history, was seen by the Jews as "the craft of Esau"—that is, a matter for the gentiles—at least until such time as the Messiah would come. Two generations ago, Rav Kook, the greatest religious Zionist thinker, voiced the view that the exile had been a crucible, a necessary phase to prepare the Jewish people for the messianic redemption. The people of Israel, he argued, had abandoned the sphere of world politics "under duress that was partly also a matter of inner will, until the happy time when a polity could be governed without wickedness or barbarism." ¹

Zionism—namely the movement to establish Jewish sovereignty and a Jewish military force—thus posed moral dilemmas for the Jews that, for many generations, they had not had to confront. The Zionists had to devise new norms for the use of force, but they did not begin with a clean slate. Zionist thought and literature were shaped by the historical experience of the Jews in modernity as much as by the conscious or unconscious influence of Jewish tradition. Though Jewish tradition is not pacifist, there is no doubt that, during the long exile, it had developed powerful bulwarks against blood shedding. I have especially in mind the influence of prophetic literature and of halakhic legislation, both of which stressed the sanctity of human life and the strict prohibition against shedding the blood of innocent people.

The return to full political life and the use of military force for political ends aroused deep and often painful misgivings. Philosophically speaking, the moral problems faced by the Jewish nation were essentially no different than those confronted by other nations struggling for their independence. For the Jews, however, these problems had a particularly significant origin which must be sought in their historical experience and their self-perception qua Jews.

It is apparent from the ongoing political discussion amongst Israeli and Diaspora Jews that, for many, the connection between morality and power is not an abstract question but one that must be viewed in light of Jewish tradition and history. Nor do those who make such a connection rest content with condemning certain kinds of behavior as immoral; they add that such behavior is "un-Jewish"—an epithet that seems to lend greater weight to the condemnation. Thus, for example, a group of prominent American and British Jews sent a letter to The New York Times in early February 1988 condemning the IDF's mode of response during the Intifada and calling for negotiation with the Palestinians. They concluded their letter by declaring, "We believe this is the democratic, the humane, and the truly Jewish way." ² While arguments based upon history and self-image are often found among other peoples too (in the United States, for example, the Supreme Court uses the term "American Ethos" as an argument for its decisions), the Jews seem to attribute particular importance to such characterizations.

The term "Jewish Morality" [musar yehudi] (or sometimes "Judaic ethics" [musar hayahadut]), which does not appear in medieval Jewish philosophical literature, became popular in the nineteenth century among the newly emancipated Jews, for whom it served mainly apologetic purposes. Seeking to integrate into the surrounding society while preserving their uniqueness, Jews tried to dispel prejudices against themselves by presenting their unique contribution to European culture: Jewish ethical teaching embodied the purest of moral ideals and was the universal, humanitarian religion. ³ With the appearance of the Zionist movement, a new dimension was added to the...