[Avodah] rules

[Lisa Liel]

On 10/10/2011 4:00 PM, Harvey Benton wrote:
> are there rules of warfare in the torah other than
> not to cut down one's enemies trees?
> eg, sheva nations?
> do we give them the option to accept 7mbn?
> amalek?
> suicide pills? if one believes (high probability
> of torture?)
> torturing suspects (againn, if imminient danger
> is present??)

There are rules of warfare other than not cutting down fruit trees.  A 
book was published recently called Torat HaMelech which apparently deals 
with those subjects, many of which are far from politically correct.  
The book has not been translated into English, so far as I'm aware.

We don't know who the 7 nations are any more, because the Assyrians 
mixed up all the nations by transplanting entire populations hither and 
yon.  Rabbi Meir Kahane ztzvk'l wrote, based on the Abarvanel, that 
since the reason for the different laws regarding the 7 nations was 
because they honestly believed the land was theirs, and would therefore 
never give up on trying to get rid of us, that there might be grounds 
for applying the laws concerning the 7 nations to the Palestinian Arabs, 
albeit rabbinically.

Amalek.  It's an interesting question.  Is the mitzvah of eradicating 
Amalek a mitzvah on each Jew, or on all Jews as a nation?  And is the 
mitzvah to kill any individual Amalekite or only to wipe them out en masse?

Suicide is murder.  Not only does the possibility of torture not make it 
permissible, but to the best of my knowledge, even the certainty of 
torture doesn't.  Even if you're actually *being* tortured.

Torturing suspects, again, to the best of my knowledge, is not even 
mentioned halakhically.  It would come down to whether torture is 
effective, I suppose.  If you could save Jewish lives by torturing 
someone and you didn't do so because it offended someone's 
sensibilities, that would be a Very Bad Thing.  Even if you believe that 
torture doesn't result in usable information, I don't see any reason it 
would be forbidden halakhically, other than the possibility of a chillul 
Hashem.

Lisa

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