Responsa
GOLINKIN, DAVID
RESPONSA DAVID GOLINKIN Does Jewish law permit the State of Israel to give back part of Eretz Yisrael for the sake of peace? This is an extremely complex and emotional issue that has been widely...
...II, (New York: Ktav, 1983), pp...
...Zuckermandel, p. 617...
...According to the Torah, Israel's predecessors were expelled from the land because they defiled the holiness of the land (Leviticus 18:24-28 and Genesis 15:16...
...5. Tosejla Oholot 18:16-17, ed...
...4-8 and especiallyjudah Halevi, The Kazan, Part Two, par...
...Thus Caesarea, a city inhabited by pagans and Jews, was originally considered part of Eretz Yisrael for the purpose of tithes and the Sabbatical year, but was later excluded.* Similarly, Bet Shean was originally considered part of Eretz Yisrael vis-a-vis tithing, but Rabbi Judah the Prince excluded it from Eretz Yisrael when the Jewish population shrank.5 Thus, the borders of Eretz Yisrael were fluid and the concept "the whole land of Israel" has no basis in our classical sources...
...Yet in light of the sources presented above, it seems clear that when the majority of the political and military leaders of the State of Israel decide that giving up certain territories will ultimately save lives and lead to peace, Jewish law permits us—and perhaps even requires us—to do so...
...Nahmanides's commentary to the verse...
...3, p. 13...
...2 (5747),Jerusalem, 5748, pp...
...This is the simple meaning of "to lehanem...
...55-95 and no...
...Hillel said: be of the disciples of Aarori, loving peace and pursuing peace (Atoot 1:12...
...8. R. Raphael Meyuhass, Mizbah Adamah, Salonika, 1777, fol...
...interpret this to mean that one may not sell or give parts of Erelz Yisrael to any non-Jew...
...This approach would rule out any territorial compromise...
...4 and cf...
...Nahmanides interprets that verse as a positive commandment: "...that we may not leave the land in the hands of other nations...and the sages called this a commanded war...
...Maimonides, Sefer Hahinukh and others do not include it in their enumerations of the 613 muzvoL 11...
...2. For the centrality of Eretz Yisrael in Jewish tradition, see Abraham Halkin, ed., 7Jum in Jewish Literature (New York: Herzl Press, 1961) and Benjamin Segal, Returning: The Land of Israel as Focus in Jewish History (Jerusalem: WZO, 1987...
...Similar flexibility of boundaries is evident in the rabbinic period when the rabbis needed to define the borders of Israel for the purpose of observing commandments such as tithing and the Sabbatical year...
...but the rabbis explained it to mean "do not give them a hold (hanayah) on the land" (Avodah Zarah 20a...
...Tosafot (ad...
...our desire to save human life and our desire to pursue peace...
...Rabbi Theodore Friedman, however, has conclusively shown that there is no such concept in Jewish tradition because Israel's borders changed countless times throughout Jewish history both in theory and in practice.1 One example from the biblical period will suffice: God promised Abraham the land "from the River of Egypt" (Genesis 15:18) while he promised the Israelites the land from "the Wadi of Egypt" (Numbers 34:5...
...4, col...
...And this leads us to the last point...
...R. Shaul Ytsraeli, Amud Hayemini, no...
...31 (5750), p. 16...
...We have here a classic case of conflicting values in Judaism—our love of Eretz Yisraelvs...
...R. Zvi Pesach Frank, Kerem Tzvyon, vol...
...XVI, pp...
...Lastly, other opponents of territorial compromise rely on the opinion of Nahmanides...
...The book of Numbers (33:53) states: "And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land to you to possess...
...R. Isaac de Leon in Megilat Esther to Sefer Hamitzvot ad...
...4. Rabbi Theodore Friedman, Responsa of the Va'ad Halakhak of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, vol...
...1, no...
...Furthermore, Eretz Yisrael, the Promised Land, is inherently holy...
...This promise is reiterated on numerous occasions to Isaac (Genesis 26:1-6), Jacob (Genesis 35:11-12) and Moses (Exodus 6:2-8...
...1, pp...
...189221...
...Responsa of theRashba, vol...
...you must doom them to destruction, grant them no terms and have no mercy upon them (to lehanem...
...The rabbis went so far as to say that whoever lives outside of Eretz Yisrael'is considered as one who has no God (Ketubol 110b) and whoever is buried in Eretz Yisrael is considered as if he had been buried under the altar (Ketubot 111a...
...13-14...
...1. See J. David Bleich, Contemporary Halakhic PmUems, vol...
...The "River of Egypt" is the Nile, while the "Wadi of Egypt" is Wadi el Arish, which is 180 miles east of the Nile...
...73-77...
...II (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984), p. 731 7. Tur Hoshen Mishpat 249 and the Bah ad...
...3; and R. Ovadiah Yosef cited below in note 12...
...Peace is one of the great ideals of Judaism: "By three things is the world preserved: by justice, by truth and by peace" (Avot 1:18...
...Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, no...
...J In other words, we are commanded to conquer Erelz Yisrael and keep her in Jewish hands regardless of the danger and any loss of Jewish life that might occur in the process...
...As Rabbi Yosef states: Therefore, if the military commanders along with the members of cabinet decide that it is an issue of pikuah nefesk-.thut if territories are returned, the threat of war shall be decreased and there is the possibility of lasting peace, it appears that according to all halachic opinions it is permissible to return territories of Eretz Yisrael for the sake of attaining this goal, for nothing stands in the way of pikuah nefesh...
...6. For other explanations, see Jacob Myers, The Anchor Bible: II Chronicles (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), p. 47...
...3. Mekhitia, Pisha, chapter 1, ed...
...and others...
...Others object to handing over territories to non-Jews on the basis of Deuteronomy 7:1-2: "When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and He dislodges many nations before you...
...R. Abraham Isaac Kook, Responsa Mishpat Cohen, no...
...Great is peace, for all major prayers and blessings end with the word "Shalom" (ibid...
...Of course, some say we will save more Jewish lives by not returning the territories, but today most Israeli political and military leaders disagree...
...Lauterbach, vol...
...If King Solomon was permitted to give away 20 towns in the Galilee as a token of friendship for services rendered, we are permitted to give away sections of Erelz Yisrael for the sake of peace...
...6. Hullin 6b and cf...
...The Psalmist says: "Seek peace and pursue it" (Psalm 34:15...
...According to the rabbis, the land of Israel is the holiest of all lands (Mishnah Kehm 1:6...
...TorahShebe'alPeh, vol...
...Prophecy only takes place in the land of Israel or regarding the land of Israel/ Eretz Yisrael is also special because many of the milzvot, such as the Sabbatical year, can only be performed there (Kiddushin 36b and Sola 14a...
...Secondly, there is a clear biblical precedent for handing over Israeli territory for the sake of peace: "Since King Hiram of Tyre had supplied Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber and gold that he required [for building the Temple], King Solomon in turn gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee" (1 Kings 9:11...
...the explanation of Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age, vol...
...Rabbi David Golinkin is Senior Lecturer in Talmud and Dean of Academic Affairs at the Seminary of Judaic Studies of the Masorti Movement in Jerusalem, where he chairs the Va'ad Halachah of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel...
...8; the Meiri to Avoda Zarah 20a...
...But it is not enough to sit back and wait for peace to happen...
...The choice is not an easy one and has aroused strong emotions on both sides of the issue...
...If the Jewish people worships idols but lives in peace with each other, God forgives them (Sifrei Naso, par...
...9. Nahmanides's additions to Sefer Hamitzvot by the Rambam, no...
...XVIII, pp...
...Thus, even if it were a milzvah to keep the territories under Jewish sovereignty, pikuah nefesh would take precedence...
...12, par...
...21 (5740), p. 14and again ibid., vol...
...Some declare that it is halachically forbidden to return any part of 'Eretz Yisrael hashleimah" ("the whole land of Israel...
...156140...
...On the other hand, there are at least three arguments in favor of territorial compromise: Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, has emphasized that pikuah nefesh, the saving of human life, takes precedence over all the commandments in the Torah except for idol worship, forbidden sexual relationships and murder (Sanhedrin 74a...
...77-110...
...The parallel passage in II Chronicles 8:2 says the opposite, but that version seems to be later apologetics—see Entziklopedia Mikrait, vol...
...Those who oppose territorial compromise advance at least three basic arguments...
...The borders changed from mitzvah to miizvah and the main criterion for inclusion seems to have been the Jewish population of the town...
...seven nations much larger than'you...
...R. Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog, Shanah B'shanah 5746, pp...
...However, Nahmanides here is the only one who considers it a milzvah to capture and retain the land of Israel.'" Furthermore, many have explained that even according to Nahmanides this milzvah only applies in the days of the Messiah...
...This is an extremely complex and emotional issue that has been widely debated by halachic authorities since the Six-Day War' because Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) holds such a special place in Jewish tradition and history.'-' Indeed, God's very first utterance to Abraham concerns Eretz Yisrael: "Go forth from your native land to the land that I will show you...I will give this land to your offspring" (Genesis 12:1,7) and again: "Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south to the east and west, for I give you all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever" (Genesis 13:14-15...
...However, many authorities rule that one may not sell or give parts of Erelz Yisrael to idol worshipers such as the seven nations mentioned in the verse lest they "turn your children away from me to worship other gods" (Deuteronomy 7:4).7 Therefore, since Muslims are not idol worshippers, many authorities rule that it is permissible to sell or give them parts of Erelz Yisrael* and territorial concessions to Arabs would thus be permitted...
Vol. 18 • December 1993 • No. 6
