To kill or not to kill. That is the most relevant question this week.
Believe it or not, we are still in the midst of a wave of murderous attacks and terrorism, and literally in the hiding within the hiding, and yet, and perhaps precisely because of this, the most prevalent question today is the question of killing and not the question of animals.
And what are things supposed to be?
In the latest wave of terrorism, the rules of the game have changed. If until now it was the security forces that dealt with the damned terrorists, now, with the country being a front for its expansion and expansion, and with people being their own defenders, the natural conditions have changed and the soldiers who stand guard over our country and the cities of our God are none other than the citizens in their own dignity and in themselves.
If until recent weeks these were rifles and pistols, now the new weapon is a twenty-gram pepper spray, and a thick rolling pin usually used for kneading dough.
When citizens are the ones standing in front of a damned terrorist moments before the execution of the sentence, the questions about carrying out the 'neutralization' take on a balanced and serious dimension.
A soldier, as a soldier, is subject to the orders of a higher command, for better or for worse.
But a citizen, being a human being seeking to survive a terrorist attack, is not obligated to be attentive except to his conscience and the law, which is still unclear.
The dictates of conscience, then, are the ones who grapple and struggle with the fateful question surrounding the execution of the sentence for the impure perpetrator at the time of his neutralization.
I am not a judge or a teacher, at least not in this capacity as a man of letters. The teachers have published their opinions on the subject in the places designated for that purpose, and anyone who wishes may read and take it to heart.
But there is another side, rather a bright and shining one, to this sad question. The seemingly unnecessary debate on the subject is what points to a positive light in the whole painful issue of killing versus neutralizing.
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While entire nations despise human life by sanctifying death, slaughtering and killing their own brothers and sisters without mercy, and even in countries considered 'enlightened', the hands of those holding the trigger are light. We, the Jews, who sanctify life, examine, question, and clarify the position of the law and rulings on the issue of killing, even when it is justified.
This is definitely a positive point.
But alongside the halo of brilliance lies the painful blow. The preoccupation, gentlemen, the preoccupation with coarse and dark things, with fateful questions that corrupt the innocent Jewish soul, the one that cannot really even imagine performing self-defense through violence, and cannot even give the order for any hand to swing with a swing when a dark and harmful object is placed in it - the pure Jewish soul, which has been preserved in its holiness and purity throughout two thousand years of exile, is somehow beginning to crack its fortified wall.
And it hurts.
Jews, take care of yourselves.
The text written here is not intended for fighters and members of the security forces, who have their own language. The words are directed at you, the ordinary citizen who may, by chance, and hopefully never, encounter a similar situation, in which you will be the judge and executioner.
In these terrifying moments, when the body stands alert in front of a cursed and dreaded terrorist and rage takes over with a strong feeling of revenge - it is precisely in these moments that you remember your religion, your Judaism, and the command of your conscience that call you to protect the special and divine soul rooted within you.
Beat him like a scoundrel, break his arms and legs, lay him on the floor and completely neutralize him. But please, I beg you, do not tarnish your Judaism - our Judaism, and refrain from the revenge phase, the death sentence phase that he undoubtedly deserves, but under no circumstances do you deserve to be the executioner.
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I ran into him last Saturday.
A young Jew, a retired Torah scholar, who witnessed the murderous campaign in one of the recent attacks, and his face is not the same as the day before yesterday.
"Are you in combat shock?" I asked.
His answer surprised me and left me speechless.
He was indeed in shock, his body completely broken and shattered, meaning he hadn't eaten for days and his sleep was wandering. But nothing was related to the first attack. Everything came at the final stage, at the sentencing stage.
His pure eyes witnessed the scouts' quest for revenge on the damned terrorist, whose mutilated body lay on the ground, his eyes and other organs lying beside him.
I don't know if he was also one of the beaters, perhaps he was, but according to him, the mere sight and presence of the sentencing site tore his soul to pieces.
So if not for you, a friend, for the one next to you.
There were Jews.
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