Torture, Judaism and the Law

Abstract

The increasing publicity of the United States’ use of torture, domestically and abroad, has sparked a lively debate regarding the American values and laws and permissibility of torture. The Jewish scholarly community has been a vocal part of this debate. This paper begins by providing a concise account of the existing laws regarding torture internationally and in the us. It then highlights the Jewish rabbinic community’s involvement in the debate. It then proceeds to provide an account of torture in Judaism that outlines the existing legalistic and theological understandings of it. It will end by proffering a theological account of torture that is hoped to be novel.