Rabbi's Musings

I look forward to sharing my reflections on the current situation in Israel with the congregation this Sunday morning at 9:45 a.m. In the meantime, I wanted to share a teaching from the ancient rabbis about ransoming captives. We studied this in our Saturday morning Zoom class. Please consider attending in the future. This Saturday, we will be looking at the subject of collective punishment in wartime. It ties to the Torah portion!
 
A famous text in the Mishnah of 2000 years ago declares the following:
 
The captives are not redeemed for more than their actual monetary value, for the betterment of the world; and one may not aid the captives in their attempt to escape from their captors for the betterment of the world, so that kidnappers will not be more restrictive with their captives to prevent them from escaping. (Gittin 4:6)
 
The Hebrew term translated as “for the betterment of the world” (tikkun olam) here does not mean “social justice” – the way we use the term today. Rather, it means to keep the interest of the public in mind. Paying what is deemed too much for captives or aiding them to escape has consequences for the general good. Having said that, if your family is in need of saving, one will be tempted to break the rules. The Talmud tells a story of just that. A certain rabbi paid a king’s ransom to get his daughter back.
 
The general tension between what is good for one versus what is good for society is never more relevant than today. In Israel, the mood favors getting all the hostages back, even if that means liberating some awful prisoners. No one forgets that the leader of Hamas in Gaza himself was returned for an Israeli soldier.
 
Israel tries to do the right thing for the country, but it also understands as the Mishnah says, to save one life is to save the world entire.
 
We pray for the return of all those captives and the peace of Jerusalem.