It’s hard to look at this week’s Torah portion and not think about what we as a Jewish people have gone through in the past week or what peace-loving people everywhere have endured over the 11 months since October 7th. Parshat Shoftim primarily focuses on the legal system, on justice, and on understanding context for rulings, but amid these laws, we read about going to war. Especially prescient is chapter 20, verse 10: “When you approach a town to attack it, you shall offer it in terms of peace.” It’s in this section that we are guided by what most of us would argue is the basic code of humanity, which prohibits hostage-taking, rape, and murder, atrocities that have been all too present on our minds thousands of years later.
As more hostages are murdered, as the conditions in Gaza worsen, and as hundreds of thousands of Israelis line city streets in protest, the future is unclear. Over the past year, it has become normal for regular conversations to include an almost daily reflection on the morality, necessity, and effectiveness of military strategy. Each of us has an opinion of Israel and how the country’s leaders have responded to Hamas’s attack on October 7th and the way in which this response has been carried out. But these opinions do us no good, because here we are, still stuck and unable to end the horror.
Though we’re not engaged in war on American soil, what makes things difficult for Jewish people on this side of the world is that the past year has thrown the values and ethics of being Jewish into question. As Jews we’re asked to defend our right to a homeland or the right to exist at all. The word Zionist has become a pejorative. Fear and misinformation refuse to loosen their grip on the world.
Let me back up to say that broad strokes are not helpful in any of this conversation; there is far too much nuance to cover meaningfully in this short writing. However, it is in these moments when I feel frozen in this destructive cycle that I turn to the Torah as the guide for what to do. Even in horrific times, the text tells us that our initial instinct should not be violence, but peaceful negotiation and discussion first. Peace is the preferred option, always.
I’m not naïve enough to believe that this is how the world works. It’s true that the Torah is also filled with examples of war as a necessity, which seem to go against this commandment. But I do believe that peace, however long it takes, is the best way forward. The Torah is our Tree of Life, a living history from which we learn, grow, and one day become the society it prescribes. May it be soon in our day that peace will embrace our whole world and nation will not threaten nation.
