War & Peace

(1) In the end of days...3) G-d will judge among the many peoples, and arbitrate for the multitude of nations however distant; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war;

(12) Come, my sons, listen to me; I will teach you what it is to fear the LORD. (13) Who is the man who is eager for life, who desires years of good fortune? (14) Guard your tongue from evil, your lips from deceitful speech. (15) Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.

(10) When you approach a town to attack it, you shall offer it terms of peace. (11) If it responds peaceably and lets you in, all the people present there shall serve you at forced labor. (12) If it does not surrender to you, but goes to battle with you, you shall lay siege to it; (13) and when the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword. (14) You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, the livestock, and everything in the town—all its spoil—and enjoy the use of the spoil of your enemy, which the LORD your God gives you. (15) Thus you shall deal with all towns that lie very far from you, towns that do not belong to nations hereabout. (16) In the towns of the latter peoples, however, which the LORD your God is giving you as a heritage, you shall not let a soul remain alive. (17) No, you must proscribe them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you, (18) lest they lead you into doing all the abhorrent things that they have done for their gods and you stand guilty before the LORD your God.

(5) They may not judge a tribe, or a false prophet, or a high priest, except by a court of seventy-one. They may not [declare] an optional/permitted war, except by a court of seventy-one. They may not [annex] to the city [Jerusalem] or [Temple] Courtyards, except by a court of seventy-one.

(7) To what this apply? To a optional/permitted. But in a war commanded [by the Torah] all go out, even a bridegroom from his room and a bride from her canopy. Rabbi Yehudah says: to what does this apply? To a war commanded by the Torah, but in an obligatory war all go out, even a bridegroom from his chamber and a bride from her canopy.

As it says in Deut 21:10: "And you take them captive” implying that there is no obligation to destroy them, [this] includes Canaanites that are living outside of the land of Israel; if they repent, they are accepted and allowed to live in Israel.

“And Saul came to the city of Amalek and he strove in the valley” (I Samuel 15:5). Rabbi Mani said:

This means that Saul strove with God, as it were, concerning the matter of the valley. At the time when the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Saul: “Now go and attack Amalek and proscribe all that belongs to him; do not pity him, but kill men and women alike, infants and sucklings alike, oxen and sheep alike, camel and donkey alike” (I Samuel 15:3),

Saul said: Now, if the Torah said to bring a heifer whose neck is broken to a barren valley, in the atonement ritual described in Deuteronomy 6:1–9 [for the unknown murder of one man] all the more so must I have pity and not take all these Amalekite lives.

And he further reasoned: If the men have sinned, in what way have the animals sinned? Why, then, should the Amalekites’ livestock be destroyed? And if the adults have sinned, in what way have the children sinned?

A Divine Voice then came forth and said to him: “Do not be overly righteous” (Ecclesiastes 7:16).

When Saul said to Doeg: “Turn around and strike down the priests, and Doeg the Edomite turned around and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod, and he struck Nob the city of priests by the sword, man and woman alike, infants and sucklings alike, oxen and donkeys and sheep, by the sword” (I Samuel 22:18–19), a Divine Voice came forth and said to him: “Do not be overly wicked” (Ecclesiastes 7:17).

(1) It is forbidden to make a covenant of peace with the seven Canaanite nations, such peace as would permit them to continue the worship of idolatry, even as it is said: "Thou shalt not make any covenant with them" (Deut. 7.2). They shall either repent themselves of their worship, or be slain. It is moreover, forbidden to have mercy upon them, as it is said: "Nor show mercy unto them" (Ibid.). Therefore, if one saw one of them lost or drowning, he should not bring him up; if he sees him dying, he should not save him; but to destroy wantonly or to push him into a pit, or the like is forbidden, as long as he wages no war.

(7) During wartime, not only does one concentrate on hating and killing the enemy, but the values that are paramount during times of peace, tend to become perverted. Cruelty and murder occur even amongst brothers in arms, members of the same side. Actions which are unavoidable in war, have a way of developing into independent virtues in wartime, corrupting all normal norms. David already experienced this while he led a band of men (see chapter 30 Samuel I) near Tziklag. Again, when David instructed Yoav his commander- in- chief concerning the positioning of Uriah in an exposed part of the battlefield, (Samuel II chapter 11) he experienced the tendency of warriors to see moral values as somewhat blurred. It says "va-yitchazek David be-elokav,” i.e. David had to muster all his moral strength to prevent the degeneration by his comrades, whose trade had only recently been the killing and plundering around Tziklag. When David proclaimed (Psalms 120,7) "I am peace, and I speak out about it; yet they are only interested in war," he refers to this problem. We find therefore, that Israel, when offering peace to Sichon king of Emori, acted according to the principle "refrain from evil, seek peace," only to be rebuffed for its efforts. It is not enough to prepare for war and resolve that in the event a peace offer is forthcoming one will accept it; one has to make the first move in this direction. War is acceptable only because of the peace and justice that follow it. Midrash Rabbah Deut 5, reports that this was an instance in which Moses had acted on his own, and G'd agreed with him, seeing that G'd had only instructed him to make war. So we find that the precedent Moses set by his unilateral action was elevated to become halachic norm. Whenever a war outside the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael is contemplated, "you will have to call out "peace" to her." (Deut. 20,10-11) Since the Torah couples this legislation with the prohibition of cutting down fruit bearing trees of a city under siege, it is easy to understand that the Torah places even greater emphasis on the need to spare human life. Sifri, item 123, even states that the seven nations residing in Canaan at the time the Jewish people were about to invade them, had a chance to save their lives either by converting to Judaism or by emigrating. The instructions to wipe them out, women and children included, applied only if they failed to avail themselves of the choices mentioned.

(1) War is not conducted against anyone in the world until they are first offered peace (and refuse it), whether this is a Discretionary War or a War of Mitzvoh, as it says, “when you come close to the city to fight with it, you shall call to it to make peace” (Deut. 20:10). If they make peace and accept the Seven Commandments incumbent upon the Sons of Noah (Gentiles), none of them are killed, but they must pay us tribute, as it says, “and they shall be for you a tributary, and they shall serve you” (Deut. 20:11). If they propose to accept upon themselves the payment of the tribute but not servitude to us or they accept servitude but not the tribute, we ignore their proposal until they accept both. The servitude referred to here is one of disgrace and is demeaning. They are not to raise their heads up to Israel for any reason. They must be subjugated to us and may never be assigned to a Position over us. The tribute they must pay shall be for service of the king, with their bodies and their money, such as the building of the walls³⁷Of Jerusalem. and the strengthening of fortresses and the building of the royal palace and similar, as it says, “And this is the account of the levy which King Solomon raised to build the Temple of G-d, and his palace, and Milo, and the wall of Jerusalem…and all the store-cities which Solomon had…the Emorites who remained…and Solomon imposed a head-tax, until this very day. And of the Children of Israel, Solomon made none a bondsman; but they were the soldiers and his servants and his officers and his captains and those in charge of his chariots and his horsemen” (I Kings 9:15-22).

(2) The king may make a deal with them that he can take half of their money or land and leave all their moveable goods or take their moveable goods³⁸Or, chattel. and leave their lands. This is all in accordance with whatever arrangement he makes with them.

(3) It is forbidden for us to lie to them in their peace treaty or deceive them after they have made peace and have accepted the Seven Commandments.

(4) If they do not come to peaceful terms or they make peace but do not accept the Seven Commandments, we engage in war against them and slay all their adult males. We take all their money and children as spoils. We do not kill the women or minors, as it says, “the women and the children” (see Deut. 20:14 and 2:34) which means the male children. To what do we refer? To a Discretionary War with one of the other nations. However, with one of the Seven Nations or with Amalek who do not make peace, we leave no soul alive, as it says, “so you shall do with everyone…only of the cities of the nations…do not leave alive any soul” (Deut. 20:15-16), and regarding Amalek it says, “erase the memory of Amalek” (Deut. 25:19). How do we know that this is referring to those who do not make peace with us? For it says, “there was no city which came to peace with the Children of Israel except the Chivites, dwellers of Givon. Everything, they took in the war. For from G-d their hearts were strengthened to the call of war with Israel, so that they may be destroyed.” (Joshua 11:19-20). They were offered peace, and refused.

(5) Joshua dispatched three communiqués before entering the Land. The first one he sent read, “Whoever wishes to flee, may flee”. The next read, “Whoever wishes to make peace, let him make peace”. The next read, “Whoever wishes to make war, make war”. If so, why did the residents of Givon go and deceive us³⁹Saying, “we are from a distant land” when they could have simply made peace with us (Joshua 9:9).? He had sent the (first) letter to them, and they did not accept it. Being unaware of the Laws of Israel, they thought that we won’t again be offering them peace⁴⁰After the first time, i.e., they would not have a second chance.. So, why was this matter difficult for the Heads⁴¹Of the Tribes., and they saw that it would have been proper to smite them by sword were it not for the oath⁴²That they made with the Givonites.? Because they made a treaty with them, and it says, “make no peace treaty with them” (Deut. 7:2). Thus, their verdict was that they were to be serfs. Now, since we, in error, made an oath with them, by law, they should have been killed because they deceived us, were it not for the disgrace doing so would have caused to G-d’s Name.

(11) For an entire year he does not supply the water or the food, nor repair the roads, nor guard at the wall⁶⁴Nor give the wooden boards to strengthen the city gates.. Nothing is given him to do that year, as it says, “he shall not go to the army, and nothing shall burden him at all” (Deut. 24:5). This verse is worded to teach two Negative Commandments: that he does not go out either for needs of the city or for needs of the brigade⁶⁵Or, garrison..

(3) Someone on whom a collapse [as of a building] has fallen, and itis doubtful whether he is alive or dead, doubtful whether he is there or not, and even if he is there it is doubtful whether he is Jewish or and idolater, they remove the collapse for him even though there are several doubts.

(8) (A group of) idolaters that have laid siege on Jewish cities; if they have come for financial matters, the Shabbat is not violated for them. If they have come to take lives, and even if they have an unannounced purpose, we go out and greet them with vessels of war and we desecrate the Shabbat. And as for a city which is close to the border, even if they have not come except regarding matters of straw and stubble, we desecrate the Shabbat for them. Note: And even if they have not yet come but they want to come (Or Zarua):