Torture: Judaic Twists

Abstract

Perhaps in part because Jews did not enjoy sovereignty for most of their history and thus rarely organized, much less directed, military institutions, the Jewish textual tradition says relatively little about the exercise of corporal punishment during warfare. This dearth of classical sources, however, does not mean that Judaism has nothing to offer contemporary deliberation about the ethics of torture. On the contrary, modern Jews plumb the textual tradition in search of prooftexts that ground their passionately held positions vis-à-vis torture. And this is precisely one of the methodological conundrums torture poses. In their search for corroborating principles, verses and halakhah (law) for their positions, Jewish scholars often gloss over countervailing values, texts and laws. Some trot out such broad principles as betzelem elohim (the notion that every human is made in the divine image), al tonu (do not oppress the stranger), or lagoyim (a light unto the nations), kavod habriot (respect creatures), chillul hashem (desecrating God's name), or lo ta ’amod al dam re ’echa (do not stand on your neighbor's blood) so as to condemn or condone torture without considering countervailing principles. Others point to certain laws, such as those pertaining to the rodef (stopping a pursuer who has lethal intent against another) or hora’at sha’ah (emergency exigency) to justify their positions on torture—without entertaining other relevant legal precedents. And a few others blandly state Judaism's position vis-à-vis torture without providing much or any evidence supporting those claims.