When You Go Out As An Israelite Warrior

ed note–posted in response to those pieces of ill-researched commentary received here yesterday from all the usual suspects that today’s Jews and the Judaism they follow have no connection whatsoever with that ‘old time religion’ as codified within the pages, teachings, commands, and traditions of the Old Testament, otherwise known as the Torah.

Of particular interest in this essay is the subject matter itself, which is the discussion surrounding how Jewish/Israelite/Hebrew men–according to the teachings given by Moses as found in the book of Deuteronomy–are to take as involuntary sex slaves (war booty) those Gentile women whose families that Yahweh’s chosen invaders murdered as part of their ‘conquest’ of the ‘promised land’.

No, this isn’t the Qu’ran and it isn’t Islam, but rather the Torah and Judaism, and all can imagine what the noise would be if indeed such commandments were found within the teachings of Islam.

Of particular interest, please note how our deranged Hebraic essayist is not in the least bit inclined to reject this religion commanding that Gentile women whose families were murdered by Israelite warriors to become involuntary sex slaves. This section alone should cause any sane group of people to begin the ‘hmmmmm’ process in reevaluating any further involvement on their part with such a ‘religion’, but sadly, as history has proven, they have not, and for the simple reason that Judaism is a license to kill, steal, lie, defraud, and every other type of criminal behavior understood to be so by any civilized standards if it benefits one or any number of ‘God’s chosen people’.

Now, for all those ‘good Jews’ who make the fallacious claim that ‘Judaism isn’t Zionism’, as well as all those in the pro-Palestinian ‘movement’ who are loathe to delve into the Judaic religious underpinnings of what has been done to them as a people, keep in mind that this ancient teaching commanding that ‘Israelite warriors’ take as sex slaves those Gentile women whose families were murdered by Judea, Inc resonates in the present day as well and in the manner described in several recent ‘controversies’ where rabbis tasked with the ‘spiritual well-being’ of the feral dogs of the IDF made plain the Judaic commandment for taking Gentile women as sex slaves in battle, to wit–

Israeli rabbi who advocated rape of ‘comely gentile women’ during war becomes chief army rabbi

Prominent Israeli rabbi preaches necessity/permissibility of Jewish soldiers raping Gentile women in wartime

Rabbi Karim to High Court: No apology, no retraction

How thy do it– IDF’s Chief Rabbi ‘Sorry’ for Remarks Justifying Wartime Rape of Gentile women

MKs withdraw petition against Rabbi who advocated rape of Gentile women by IDF

Israeli ‘Justice’ Minister Shaked–Supreme Court should have ‘summarily rejected’ petition to postpone appointment of ‘rape Rabbi’ to IDF

High Court freezes nomination of IDF chief rabbi over ‘rape of Gentile women during war’ comments

myjewishlearningDOTcom

Ki Teitzei opens with the words “When you go out to war against your enemies…”

We are told, on the Plains of Moab, how to behave when we conquer another people. We’re approaching the Promised Land, the final edition of the instruction manual is being delivered, and to put it bluntly, Moses is about to die. We’re out of time. No more bargaining or revolts or threats to turn back towards Egypt. Our text reads–

‘When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your power and you take some of them captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her and would take her to wife, you shall bring her into your house, and she shall trim her hair, pare her nails, and discard her captive’s garb.’ (Deuteronomy 10-14)

Deuteronomy 10-14 is written for a male audience. For warrior men. For ancient Israelite soldiers. I’m not, nor have I likely ever been, part of an elite fighting unit. How can I read this text and make it meaningful? Especially when I feel as if I’ve stumbled upon an intimate directive, one that was spoken only to a small cohort of fighters, getting ready to storm a city? Hey guys! Listen up! There might be some women there that you think are pretty! So make sure you first bring them into your home and take care of them…

One thing is certain, though: We know from the first verse of the book of Deuteronomy that Moses is addressing all of us. We’re standing together, waiting to cross into the Promised Land. Moses didn’t gather the men in a separate camp. No secret handshakes or fraternity rituals on the Plains of Moab.

Moses is super focused and eloquent and using second person plural during his important speech! What does that choice of language do for us, as readers? As listeners? It makes us pay attention, of course. It enjoins us together. It makes us consider how we might absorb the message, play a role in upholding certain values being delivered, glean wisdom, and assist as necessary, even if we’re not the primary audience, even if we disagree with some basic tenets of the law.

Ki Teitzei continues: ‘She shall spend a month’s time in your house lamenting her father and her mother, after that you may come to her and possess her, and she shall be your wife.’

Look. I don’t really like any of this. From the conquering to the capturing. But the questions we ask ourselves, during the Book of Deuteronomy, can and should push us deeper. How are we going to be a holy people in a holy land? How can we support those around us to make the right decisions? We have a moment in our text where Moses recognizes that captivity brings sadness. That a one-month grace period might be necessary for the beautiful captive to recognize all that’s been lost. That no man should approach his captive, sexually or otherwise, during this time. Holiness is often about recognition – seeing others as they are. Here, our ancient Israelite warriors are told to be empathetic. To keep their distance during the mourning period. In the midst of war, when most can’t be trusted to make the best decisions, there is a mandate for all of us – for those doing the capturing there is empathy, and for those who are witnesses, there is enforcing the law and ensuring that those in captivity are treated with humanity and dignity.

Our decree continues: “Then, should you no longer want her, you must release her outright. You must not sell her for money: Since you had your will of her, you must not enslave her.”

Whoa – wait just a minute! You’ve gone and taken her as a captive, held her for a month, forced her to become your wife, and now you’re going to release her? How is that holy? How is that a sacred act, in a sacred land? It’s not, really. But we stretch, and if you think about it long enough, nobody ever really wants to be married to somebody that doesn’t love them. The one thing that Moses could have added, that would have been helpful, would have been a bit about compensating her for her time. But we’ll take what we can get, and we’ll acknowledge that the act of release, of farewell, without scorn or bitterness, is an act worthy of recognition.

Most of our commentators focus on the preparation of the beautiful captive – what it means to cut her hair, to prepare her nails, to provide her with new clothing. I’m more interested in what our Torah tells us to do when our love isn’t real. Turns out that a big part of our mandate in this week’s Torah portion is to recognize when we’re no longer interested, or when things have shifted for us. And when we do, it’s actually very simple: We say goodbye without scorn or retribution or any type of punishment. Remember: Moses is speaking to all of us, no matter how we’ve chosen our partners. Even if the text is hard to swallow, we have an obligation to absorb and rethink and consider how the words work in our own lives. For that, we must be grateful.