Bring Them Home
On the way to the departing flights at Ben Gurion airport, one must walk down a long sloping corridor, which displays signs and markers for each one of the more than one hundred hostages still in Gaza. Rather than seeing all their images on one poster or their names on a list, one is forced to confront each face one by one as one walks by. Some signs have hand-written messages on them; others are accompanied by personal effects people have left to show their love and support. As I walked down the corrirdor a week or two, my thoughts were on my upcoming trip to America for some much-needed vacation and time with family. Seeing the faces of each hostage was a shock and nearly took my breath away. It was a reminder, in a sense, of what I was trying to leave behind.
The next day, after arriving in my hometown, Sharon, Massachusetts, I had a similar experience. I went on a long run around the town’s beautiful lake, finally feeling calm and relaxed after having escaped the insanity of Israel, only to find myself caught by surprise once again. On a telephone poll not far from my parents’ home was posted a sign for one of the hostages (pictured above). While I am accustomed to seeing them all over Jerusalem—and if anything, they have become part of the landscape like the city’s wild cats-- this one shocked me. I immediately stopped my run to read it carefully, recognizing that even five thousand miles away, the pain of those in captivity can still be felt.
With a hostage deal once again on the horizon, Israel finds itself at a critical crossroads. While surveys show most Israelis are in favor of an agreement, the sentiment is far from unanimous. Just in the last few days, a group of Religious Zionist rabbis came out with a statement that Israel must not agree to a deal because releasing Palestinian prisoners and ending the war will endanger the Jewish people. Israel must instead fight to the end, eradicate Hamas, occupy Gaza, and do whatever is necessary to protect Jewish lives. For better and for worse, it often feels that the “safety of the Jewish people” is all that matters these days. On the one hand, this is perhaps understandable, for many see it as the raison d’etre of Zionism, but the truth is that questions of safety and security are always far more complicated than we like to think.
Human beings are terrible at assessing risk, for too often, we vastly overestimate some threats while ignorantly downplaying more serious ones. After several months of war and tens of thousands killed, few Israelis, myself included, would argue they now feel safer than they did on October 6th, the day before Hamas attacked, and it is essential to keep this in mind as a hostage deal feels possible once more.
While it cannot be reduced to a matter of halacha, halacha can still guide us regarding what might be gained and lost by such a hostage agreement. As is well known, there is a Biblical mitzvah to save the life of another in danger, for “Thou shalt not stand by while thy neighbor's blood is shed.” This obligation extends to the redeeming of captives, for whom every moment in captivity is potentially deadly to them. Most of us can easily grasp this as a fundamental moral obligation, without which human life would lose much of its meaning. However, the obligation is only obvious in the abstract when saving a life comes at no real personal cost. The moment risks and dangers are involved for others or ourseleves, the question becomes far more complicated. One is required to take on some level of risk to save another, but what if intervening means endangering one’s own life?
Here, many halachic authorities are cautious, but a significant number argue that even at the risk of great personal danger, one must still act. The Beit Yosef cites the position of the Hagahot Maimoniyot that one is obligated to risk one’s life to save another, and even provides a clear reason for this.[1] The risk one faces by acting is unknown-- it might bring danger and it might not-- but the one in need of saving will almost certainly die if nothing is done for them. Though cited in the Beit Yosef, this position is not codified in Shulchan Aruch nor is it mentioned in the Mishneh Berura, Aruch Ha-Shulchan, or other later authorities. Maybe this is because while the logic is soud, it feels as if its too much to demand as a uniform rule.
Even so, we do have real-life cases where halachic authorities have ruled that one should act to save others, even at great personal risk. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik tells how during a cholera outbreak in Brisk his famous grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, ruled that one must help and assist those who were sick.[2] If someone had passed out on the street due to illness, Rabbi Chaim required that those passing by must bring them to their home to care for them, even though this would require one to come into direct contact with the contagious disease. Why did he rule this way? Perhaps it was because Rav Chaim understood that acting to save those who were ill in these conditions was the most basic fulfillment of “Thou shalt not stand by while thy neighbor's blood is shed.” Under no circumstances can we walk by and do nothing as we pass fellow Jews dying in the street.
In walking by the signs of the hostages at Ben Gurion and then later in Sharon, I was reminded again of this truth. There is always something seductive about the cry of “total victory,” and the idea that no sacrifice is too great to protect the Jewish people, but Rav Chaim understood that some costs are just too high. Recognizing that people other than ourselves are created in the Image of God, that our personal safety and security is not all that matters, is a profound achievement and perhaps the greatest lesson the Torah has to teach us. We would do well to remember that we demonstrate its truth not by killing our enemies, but at the moment we are willing to set aside our own safety and security on behalf of others.
Even with every member of Hamas eliminated, profound dangers for the Jewish people will remain, and without a hostage agreement, those held captive will most certainly be dead. I don’t claim to foresee what might come, but there is one thing I know for certain. The most basic fulfillment of “Thou shalt not stand by while thy neighbor's blood is shed,” means doing all that we can, even at great risk to ourselves, not to leave hostages abandoned on the streets or in the tunnels of Gaza. It means, as Rav Chaim taught, to bring them home.
[1] See Beit Yosef, Choshen Mishpat, 426.
[2] See Nefesh HaRav p. 161 as recorded by Rabbi Herschel Schachter.