Behind the Headlines Religious Jews and the Peace Issue

Religious Jews in Israel and overseas are no less divided than secular Jews over the issue of compromises for peace, specifically how much territory Israel should be prepared to give up in exchange for a full and binding peace with its Arab neighbors. For secular Jews, the primary consideration is the effects territorial withdrawals will have on Israel’s security. There is another dimension, however, for religious Jews.

They regard areas such as Judaea and Samaria to be part of Eretz Israel — “Eretz Hakodesh” or the Holy Land. For the religious Jew this means that the land must be defended and going to war to defend that land is an aspect of “kiddush hashem” (ready to give one’s life for God’s sake). It is seen as a “war of mitzvah.”

But this runs smack into another issue, that of the possibility of loss of life in a war and its impingement on the commandment of “pikuah nefesh” (saving life). The question arising from this situation is how to reconcile or relate kidush hashem with pikuah nefesh in terms of defending Eretz Israel.

One Orthodox scholar, Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, president of Bar Ilan University, has addressed himself to the problem of when the commandment of pikuah nefesh takes precedence over the commandment of kidush hashem. Put another way is the saving of lives more important than, Israel’s rule over what the Orthodox regard as the entire “land of Israel.”

ONGOING DEBATE ON THE ISSUE

Many other rabbinical and Orthodox lay leaders have debated this matter. One prominent scholar Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik of Boston, has expressed the view that saving lives is superior to all other considerations, even from a religious point of view. However, the question is not clear cut. Who, for example, is to decide when or where pikuah nefesh takes precedence over a “war of mitzvah?”

Rackman, formerly the senior rabbi at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York and a former professor of Judaic studies at City University in New York, takes the view of the late president of Yeshiva University, Dr. Samuel Belkin. Belkin maintained that knowledgeable laymen should be consulted before halachic decisions are made. A rabbi will sanction eating on Yom Kipput if a qualified physician orders it to save a life.

Rackman believes this should apply to political matters as well. Although he does not consider himself a dove, he supports Soloveitchik’s opinion that pikuah nefesh should always be the dominant consideration and that war, therefore, should be averted by all means. Nevertheless, Rackman insists that whatever concessions are made to avoid war, Israel can never give up Judaea and Samaria.

He holds that Jews have a God-given right to settle those territories and believes they can co-exist there with the Arabs just as Arabs live in Israel. He doesn’t think that Jews will ever be a majority on the West Bank and therefore is suspicious of Arab insistence that Jewish settlement be stopped. According to Rackman; that attitude puts into question Arab sincerity to make peace with Israel.

The ideal situation, he said, would be a mature society in which dual sovereignty is possible, meaning two languages and two flags on the West Bank, with the residents there able to choose between Israeli or Jordanian citizenship. At for Jerusalem, however, Rackman believes there can be only Jewish sovereignty although Arab residents could have the right to vote for the Jordanian parliament.

CRITICAL OF SOME U.S. JEWISH LEADERS

Rackman is highly critical of some American Jewish leaders. He claims they do not have the “guts” of British Jewry in the 1940s when Jews in Palestine were struggling against the Mandatory authorities. He feels American Jews try not to antagonize or embarrass the Administration in Washington when they differ with its Middle East policies.

Rackman said that Bar Ilan University, though under Orthodox sponsorship, is not necessarily religious if the composition of its student body is taken into account. He noted that there are many kibbutzniks attending as well as Arabs and Druze students of both sexes. According to Rackman, Arab parents of girls prefer Bar Ilan for their daughters because of the strict separation of the sexes. He also said that on the campus there are both supporters and opponents of the Gush Emunim. He described the university, with a student body of 8000, as religiously oriented but open to every idea and school of ###ought.