It is amazing that after a spectacular show of lightning and thunder, smoke and the sound of trumpets, a show that reaffirmed the covenant that God had made with His people -- a show at the end of which families and tribes became a nation in the awe-inspiring moment of revelation at Mt. Sinai, a show full of majesty and fear -- after this show the Israelites received a corpus of earthly, almost dry, laws which were intended to regulate their civil life, until the day they will enter Canaan. Furthermore, this set of laws was given in the desert, in the wilderness, in the no-man's land where life in no way resembles their future reality, when they will live freely on their own land. The laws given at Mount Sinai are the ultimate dream of every social activist, since they constitute the infrastructure of a social society, one may dare say even say a democratic society: a society which seeks to take care of its weaker populations, to protect the rights of individuals and to guard the property rights of its members. A society anchored by laws that protect a fair and just legal system. A society that considers its minorities within a system in which the majority rules.
The gulf between the formation of this corpus of laws and our own time seems indescribably enormous, not only because gap of thousands of years between when the laws were written until the present day, but because of the social and spiritual gap between the attempt to establish a social society based on the values of justice, fairness and kindness, and what was done here in the last year before the war. A lot of ink has been spilled on the principles of the governmental coup, which are completely contrary to the principles of a social and democratic society which views all of its citizens as equal, exactly as the corpus of laws in Parashat Mishpatim assert. If it weren't for the war, I would probably also have used my remaining ink to discuss here the social vision expounded in Parashat Mishpatim.
October 7th, filled with horrors, loss and pain, brought with it a wide-ranging national social issue that neither we, nor any country in the world, has had to deal with previously, and that is the issue of the hostages. As of the moment of writing, there are 136 hostages in the hands of Hamas. I don't want to talk about the cruel enemy that has arisen against us, but about a mitzvah that would have been helpful if it had been included in the body of laws in Parashat Mishpatim in particular, as well as within the constantly changing corpus of laws of Israeli society in general.
Redemption of Captives
The mitzvah of redeeming captives, according to the Rambam, is soldered from many mitzvot which appear in the Torah. Based on each and every mitzva one can write entire books dealing with kindness, mutual responsibility, the importance of community, and the understanding that every man and woman is born in the image of God.
"The redemption of captives receives priority over sustaining the poor and providing them with clothing. [Indeed,] there is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives. For a captive is among those who are hungry, thirsty, and unclothed and he is in mortal peril. If someone pays no attention to his redemption, he violates the negative commandments: 'Do not harden your heart or close your hand' (Deuteronomy 15:7), 'Do not stand by when the blood of your neighbor is in danger' (Leviticus 19:16), and 'He shall not oppress him with exhausting work in your presence' (ibid. 25:53). And he has negated the observance of the positive commandments: 'You shall certainly open up your hand to him' (Deuteronomy 15:8), 'And your brother shall live with you' (ibid. 19:18), 'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Leviticus 19:18), 'Save those who are taken for death' (Proverbs 24:11), and many other decrees of this nature. There is no mitzvah as great as the redemption of captives."
(Rambam, Mishnah Torah, Gifts to the Poor, 8:1)
The Torah tells us of a few cases of prisoners who were captured during war. For example, Abraham went to free Lot: "When Abram heard that his kinsman’s [household] had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan" (Genesis 14:14). However, there is no law decreeing the release of captives.
We cannot insert a Captive Redemption Law, or any other law, into Parashat Mishpatim. However, if we could introduce it as a law today, and not only as a law for the release of security prisoners (2014, Shalit deal), then the values of mutual responsibility and the protection of the citizens of the state, wherever they are, would be preserved.
A future deal for releasing the hostages will include many painful concessions for all of us. Such a deal will be difficult and painful, but it is necessary and it is obligatory given our reality. Obtaining the release of the hostages is a moral imperative not only for the families whose loved ones were abducted and kidnapped by Hamas, but it is a moral obligation towards every citizen in this country. Our national resilience depends on the return of the 136 abductees, as does the protection of our democratic rights. A state exists for its citizens, and as such the state constitutes a moral project, and it must be committed to those who choose to live in it. The state's moral duty is strengthened when the principle of human dignity places human life as the first priority. A country must provide for the wellbeing of its citizens, all the more so when they were kidnapped at dawn from the border of the country in which they chose to live. This is an unwritten agreement between us and the state, and if this agreement is violated, then the state has no right to exist.
When the war is over, when all the captives are returned home, we will begin to rebuild: physical, mental, economic and social rebuilding. During those days of rebuilding, we will have to redefine the Jewish and Israeli character of our nation. We will not be able to define our identity, unless all the abductees are returned home, since the basis of our Jewish and Israeli identity is the knowledge that we were all born in God's image, in all of our variety and diversity. That diversity serves to expand God's infinite image, and one hundred and thirty six souls cannot be subtracted from it.
Translation: Rabbi Sara Cohen
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Osnat Eldar is married to Daniel and mother of three daughters and is a rabbi, educator and poet. She is the director of the 'Eshkolot' program at the Kerem Institute for retraining academics for teaching, and serves as the rabbi of the 'Sulam Yaakov' community in Zichron Ya'akov. She has published two books of poetry: "Miriam's Well" and "Barchi Nafshech".
The gulf between the formation of this corpus of laws and our own time seems indescribably enormous, not only because gap of thousands of years between when the laws were written until the present day, but because of the social and spiritual gap between the attempt to establish a social society based on the values of justice, fairness and kindness, and what was done here in the last year before the war. A lot of ink has been spilled on the principles of the governmental coup, which are completely contrary to the principles of a social and democratic society which views all of its citizens as equal, exactly as the corpus of laws in Parashat Mishpatim assert. If it weren't for the war, I would probably also have used my remaining ink to discuss here the social vision expounded in Parashat Mishpatim.
October 7th, filled with horrors, loss and pain, brought with it a wide-ranging national social issue that neither we, nor any country in the world, has had to deal with previously, and that is the issue of the hostages. As of the moment of writing, there are 136 hostages in the hands of Hamas. I don't want to talk about the cruel enemy that has arisen against us, but about a mitzvah that would have been helpful if it had been included in the body of laws in Parashat Mishpatim in particular, as well as within the constantly changing corpus of laws of Israeli society in general.
Redemption of Captives
The mitzvah of redeeming captives, according to the Rambam, is soldered from many mitzvot which appear in the Torah. Based on each and every mitzva one can write entire books dealing with kindness, mutual responsibility, the importance of community, and the understanding that every man and woman is born in the image of God.
"The redemption of captives receives priority over sustaining the poor and providing them with clothing. [Indeed,] there is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives. For a captive is among those who are hungry, thirsty, and unclothed and he is in mortal peril. If someone pays no attention to his redemption, he violates the negative commandments: 'Do not harden your heart or close your hand' (Deuteronomy 15:7), 'Do not stand by when the blood of your neighbor is in danger' (Leviticus 19:16), and 'He shall not oppress him with exhausting work in your presence' (ibid. 25:53). And he has negated the observance of the positive commandments: 'You shall certainly open up your hand to him' (Deuteronomy 15:8), 'And your brother shall live with you' (ibid. 19:18), 'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Leviticus 19:18), 'Save those who are taken for death' (Proverbs 24:11), and many other decrees of this nature. There is no mitzvah as great as the redemption of captives."
(Rambam, Mishnah Torah, Gifts to the Poor, 8:1)
The Torah tells us of a few cases of prisoners who were captured during war. For example, Abraham went to free Lot: "When Abram heard that his kinsman’s [household] had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan" (Genesis 14:14). However, there is no law decreeing the release of captives.
We cannot insert a Captive Redemption Law, or any other law, into Parashat Mishpatim. However, if we could introduce it as a law today, and not only as a law for the release of security prisoners (2014, Shalit deal), then the values of mutual responsibility and the protection of the citizens of the state, wherever they are, would be preserved.
A future deal for releasing the hostages will include many painful concessions for all of us. Such a deal will be difficult and painful, but it is necessary and it is obligatory given our reality. Obtaining the release of the hostages is a moral imperative not only for the families whose loved ones were abducted and kidnapped by Hamas, but it is a moral obligation towards every citizen in this country. Our national resilience depends on the return of the 136 abductees, as does the protection of our democratic rights. A state exists for its citizens, and as such the state constitutes a moral project, and it must be committed to those who choose to live in it. The state's moral duty is strengthened when the principle of human dignity places human life as the first priority. A country must provide for the wellbeing of its citizens, all the more so when they were kidnapped at dawn from the border of the country in which they chose to live. This is an unwritten agreement between us and the state, and if this agreement is violated, then the state has no right to exist.
When the war is over, when all the captives are returned home, we will begin to rebuild: physical, mental, economic and social rebuilding. During those days of rebuilding, we will have to redefine the Jewish and Israeli character of our nation. We will not be able to define our identity, unless all the abductees are returned home, since the basis of our Jewish and Israeli identity is the knowledge that we were all born in God's image, in all of our variety and diversity. That diversity serves to expand God's infinite image, and one hundred and thirty six souls cannot be subtracted from it.
Translation: Rabbi Sara Cohen
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Osnat Eldar is married to Daniel and mother of three daughters and is a rabbi, educator and poet. She is the director of the 'Eshkolot' program at the Kerem Institute for retraining academics for teaching, and serves as the rabbi of the 'Sulam Yaakov' community in Zichron Ya'akov. She has published two books of poetry: "Miriam's Well" and "Barchi Nafshech".