[Avodah] Rights in halakhah

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

Consider the links below this is an old argument:

Four Freedoms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms

> 1. Freedom of speech and expression
> 2. Freedom of religion
> 3. Freedom from want
> 4. Freedom from fear»

> His [FDR's] inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the
> traditional US Constitutional values protected by its First Amendment,
> and endorsed a right to economic security and an internationalist view
> of foreign policy that have come to be central tenets of modern American
> liberalism. They also anticipated what would become known decades later as
> the "human security" paradigm in social science and economic development.

Now for a Torah angle:

Questions:
Does lo saamod al dam rei'echa apply to nochrim?
Were nochrim m'chuyyav to stop the holocaust?
Are we Y'hudim obligated to save Nochrim EG in Rwanda?

Or IOW
Does the right to "NOT BE MURDERED"
Include preventing evil people from murdering or even from starving
people to death? Many claim that those who "merely" died in camps from
dyssentery and starvation were NOT murdered by the Nazis YSZ. I think
most of us reject that thesis as a form of "holocaust denial"

Also these:
Atlantic Charter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter

> In brief, the eight points were:
> 1. No territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or
>    the United Kingdom.
> 2. Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the
>    peoples concerned.
> 3. All peoples had a right to self-determination.
> 4. Trade barriers were to be lowered.
> 5. There was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of
>    social welfare.
> 6. Freedom from want and fear.
> 7. Freedom of the seas.
> 8. Disarmament of aggressor nations, postwar common disarmament.
>    Point Four, with respect to international trade, consciously emphasized
>    that both "victor [and] vanquished" would be given market access "on
>    equal terms." This was a repudiation of the punitive trade relations
>    that were established in Europe post-World War I, exemplified by the
>    Paris Economy Pact.

Questions:
In light of "man's inhumanity to man" was an agenda far more progressive
than Jefferson's mandated?

IOW in the 18th century are of reason maybe Jeffersonian [and Lockean]
principles were sufficient and therefore ideal

BUT

In the age of Hitler and Stalin YSZ, something more had to be done than
being "reasonable"

In fact, Gandhi's pacifism could have been catastrophic in the context
of a Holocaust.

And so: "habbo laharag es chaveircha - hashkeim v'horgo?" Or not?

KT
RRW
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