Chabad Rabbi Vigler On Law During A War

                                                                          

  Nadene Goldfoot

Raised in South Africa and educated in some of the finest Yeshivas in Israel, England, New York, and Australia, Rabbi Dovid Vigler strives to share the beauty and depth of Judaism in a clear, conversational and down-to-earth manner.

I watched him today on youtube when he explained how Israel is still  most moral in fighting against Hamas.  The world at this time believes the opposite.  This war has never been fought like this before with the enemy hiding behind their own civilians including children.  He was on Alan Dershowitz's show.  Alan was also defending Israel and the uniqueness of this situation.  

Israel might have been stopped completely when this happened, but it is Hamas who has been attacking Israel since 2005 when Israel turned over Gaza to them free and clear in the very name of PEACE.  Since then, Israel has been attacked and Israelis have died.  Barzeliai Hospital near the Gazan border was attacked so much they had to move operations in the basement to operate.  This Jewish hospital served both Jews and Arabs.  

Following its victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured and occupied the Gaza Strip from Egypt. For the next 38 years, Israel controlled the strip and established 21 Jewish settlements there. In 2005, under international and domestic pressure, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip. This left the enclave to be governed by the Palestinian Authority. However, Israel continues to control Gaza's borders, airspace, coastline, and other essential services. 

So if this hiding business worked to the benefit of Hamas, Israel couldn't stop Hamas and everyone would have been killed in Israel.

Israel has the reputation of being the most moral of all armies in the world.  A colonel in England, Richard Kemp,  has commented about this.  Israel, instead, has gone after Hamas, especially since October 7, 2023 when Hamas held the worst surprise attack on Israel that will never be forgotten.  Israel is following a 4,000 year old law of War.

In our 4,000 year old Jewish law, a rodef (Hebrew: רודף, lit. "pursuer") refers to someone who is actively pursuing another person with the intent to murder or commit a serious sexual assault (like raping a man or a betrothed woman). In this case, it is a Hamas terrorist enemy.  

Based on the principle of din rodef ("law of the pursuer"), Jewish law allows any bystander to stop a rodef, even if it means killing them, to protect the intended victim. However, there are important conditions:

• The rodef must be warned and given a chance to stop, if possible and time permits.
• The bystander must use the least amount of force necessary to stop the rodef. If non-lethal means are sufficient, those must be employed before resorting to lethal force. 
• IDF have followed all these important conditions with warnings of all kinds.  

Rabbi Vigler uses the example of a woman in labor and the baby is actually causing 

the death of the mother on all accounts.  There is no hope.  The doctor is going to 

save either the baby or the mother.  Which one is it to be?  The mother.  The baby is

doing the killing.  Of course, this would not happen today if one is in a hospital, we  

must believe.  There, they would be able to save both.  

Resource:

https://www.jewishgardens.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/3257942/jewish/Meet-The-Team.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodef#:~:text=A%20rodef%20(Hebrew:%20%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A3%2C,warned%20and%20refuses%20to%20stop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_the_Gaza_Strip#:~:text=In%202005%2C%20Israel%20disengaged%20from,IDF)%20from%20the%20Gaza%20Strip.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barzilai_Medical_Center

https://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/22805/jewish/Dovid-Vigler.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM_cZCP-_Cw  Richard Kemp