r/JewsOfConscience • u/AutoModerator • Jul 17 '24

AAJ "Ask A Jew" Wednesday

It's everyone's favorite day of the week, "Ask A (Anti-Zionist) Jew" Wednesday! Ask whatever you want to know, within the sub rules, notably that this is not a debate sub and do not import drama from other subreddits. That aside, have fun! We love to dialogue with our non-Jewish siblings.

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u/thesistodo Palestine supporter Jul 17 '24

Hi, I've come across the following excerpt:

"Rava says: If one bound another and he died of starvation, he is exempt from execution, as it was not his action that caused the death of the victim."

and I think that starvation is being used as a mass weapon of war in Gaza precisely because of interpretations such as this one. My question is if anyone can put this quote into context and give the relevance of the ruling today. How are these rulings viewed today in mainstream Judaism?

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u/ezkori Ashkenazi, American, raised in orthodoxy, currently cultural Jul 17 '24

The validity of Talmudic rulings in the modern day is a complex one. Firstly without looking more into the excerpt, it isn’t clear whether this ended up being the accepted ruling. 2nd temple Rabbinic lit often has multiple arguments presented before one is chosen as “law”. That being said, much of the actual things that were kept in practice that are in the Talmud are further expanded and broken down as time goes on. What this specific quote means to modern Jews is truly an unanswerable question as the sheer amount of textual references we can pull are immense. That being said I would also say that specifics written in Talmudic and Jewish law generally has very little to do with most people’s modern experiences of Judaism and for most lots of things just are parts of the culture without knowing of any textual or religious frame of reference. Not sure if I made sense lol

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u/CyborgDiaspora Ashkenazi Jul 17 '24

I agree, seeing as how saving a life is one of the most important obligations, it would be hard to see how this opinion would have been accepted unless there is mitigating context like the bound person has murderous intent.

I’d also add that while there are religious folk who will try to justify the actions of the Israeli government and military, I’m skeptical that there’s any serious consideration of ethics (Jewish or otherwise) informing strategy for those in power.