I Was Once Shocked by the Term Judeo-Nazi

At the pogrom in the West Bank Palestinian village of Hawara, they torched homes with their occupants inside. The rioters, horrifically, took a short break in the middle of the pogrom for evening prayer, to the light of the rising flames… The late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who served as chief rabbi of Israel, ruled, “We are commanded to have mercy on the enemy, even during wartime, not to kill … and not to harm a non-combatant population, and certainly not to harm women and children not taking part in the war.” Moreover, the killing of the innocent is unacceptable, as it says in the Mishna: “One who causes the loss of one soul is as if he caused the loss of an entire world.”

Rafi Walden

The history of the Jewish people is replete with acts of horror inflicted upon us by terrible forces of evil while we were helpless. They span from the Crusades, through the Inquisition, and the pogroms and riots in European and Arab countries, culminating in the Holocaust. Beyond the killing and suffering and property damage, there was a horrible sense prevailing among the Jews that a free hand had been given to those who were rampaging with no one to protect us.

Yet, we have since established a Jewish state. meaning that the power this time is in our hands. And now we have carried out pogroms, repeatedly, and they have intensified recently in the West Bank.

I would like to focus on one prominent aspect that the rioters boast about in particular. They view themselves as the authentic representatives of Judaism. They see their acts as fulfilling the divine commandment to redeem the Land of Israel. Both their statements and their dress – large skullcaps and their tzitzit (ceremonial fringes on their garments) fluttering in the wind while they rampage against helpless people – attest to that outlook. They call their outstanding ones “hilltop youth,” but it would be more accurate to call them youth of horrors.

Many of these young people have been expelled from the educational system. They lack the required intellectual qualifications to study at a yeshiva. They find an outlet for their frustration and violent impulses by cruelly abusing their helpless victims. In their abysmal audacity, the rioters explain their actions as a product of Jewish faith. But Judaism espouses a completely different and even contradictory position. The sanctification of life is undoubtedly a central principle in Judaism that those victimizing the innocent are scorning.

The late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who served as chief rabbi of the army and later as chief rabbi of Israel, ruled, “We are commanded to have mercy on the enemy, even during wartime, not to kill … and not to harm a non-combatant population, and certainly not to harm women and children not taking part in the war.” Moreover, the killing of the innocent is unacceptable, as it says in the Mishna: “One who causes the loss of one soul is as if he caused the loss of an entire world.” (Sanhedrin 4:5, Rambam version).

Another Jewish principle relates to the prohibition against harming plants, even during wartime. “When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them ….” (Deuteronomy 20:19). The rioters have been systematically cutting down fruit trees and even ancient olive trees and haven’t hesitated to torch fields of grain.

Judaism also prohibits gloating over the enemy’s misfortune. When the ministering angels sought to rejoice in song following the parting of the Red Sea, God admonished them, saying: “The work of my hands are drowning in the sea and you are singing.” (Sanhedrin 31:72). The Book of Proverbs (24:17) states: “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth.”

These rioters acting in the name of Judaism have no problem singing songs of joy over the killing of innocents. They reveled over the arson attack that killed members of the Dawabsheh family – parents and their infant son – in the village of Duma in 2015. And they will be forever remembered in disgrace, as will the reverent celebrations over the grave of Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron in 1994.

The quest for peace is also a foundational principle in Judaism. Proverbs 3:17 proclaims, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. And Pirkei Avot 1:12 states, “Alas, Aaron’s students love peace and pursue peace.”

I can just see the antisemites around the world rubbing their hands in satisfaction. See, the Jews, who have accused us of persecution and horrific acts behave the same way when they possess power.

But the blame over these pogroms cannot be confined to the Hilltop Youth and their ilk. No less guilty are the rabbis, who have a clear moral and religious duty to speak out against this degradation of Judaism and the desecration of God’s name. That also goes for soldiers and police officers who at best have stood by and on some occasions have abetted the rioters. And then, of course, there are the politicians who provide them backing and legitimacy.

Writing in the Haaretz Hebrew edition (March 30), the author Yehudit Rotem quoted her longtime friend, who had fought the Nazis, fought in Israel’s War of Independence and helped found a kibbutz, but he went back abroad: “The moral content that we Jews proudly and endlessly ascribe to ourselves is only a peel, a thin coating. … Over the generations, we’ve felt justified and moral because we were the weak ones, but from the moment we possessed sufficient power, we haven’t been any better than the others.”

I had the great privilege to be awarded the Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize for humanitarian work. Several years after the Six-Day War, Leibowitz coined the terrifying term Judeo-Nazis to refer to the ideological fathers of the Hilltop Youth and their actions. Like many others, I was shocked at the time. Now, however, with great pain, and in light of the mass killing of innocent people in Gaza as well, I acknowledge that we are getting closer to committing unforgivable acts.

The rioters, horrifically, took a short break in the middle of the pogrom for evening prayer, to the light of the rising flames.

Source: HAARETZ

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