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/Saul_al-Rakoun Conservadox & Marxist Jul 17 '24 edited Jul 17 '24

Zionism and Judaism are diametrically opposed and the so-called "National Religious" in Israel are heretics. Likud has approximately zero Jewish content to it, which makes sense because it's descended from the European fascist movement -- if you listen to what Netanyahu says, for example, he doesn't speak like a Jew, think like a Jew, or interpret like a Jew -- ideologically and religiously he's an irreligious American Protestant.

There isn't some deep meaning behind the starvation plan for Gaza any more than there was deep meaning behind the starvation plan in Generalplan Öst in the early 1940s -- it's a pragmatic solution to the problem of how to kill as many civilians in an ethnic cleansing project with the least expenditure of resources and least amount of public outcry.

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u/specialistsets Non-denominational Jul 17 '24

and the so-called "National Religious" in Israel are heretics

those who are labeled "dati leumi" in Israel don't all share the same political or religious beliefs. for some it means "settling the west bank and gaza is a religiously mandated holy mission" and for others it just means "traditionally observant but not Haredi". the only thing they all have in common is that they are Zionists. either way, I don't think we should be calling entire groups of Jews heretics. it's the same thing that many Zionists say about anti-Zionist Jews and it's not helpful.

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u/Saul_al-Rakoun Conservadox & Marxist Jul 17 '24

Zionism is heresy and is against the Torah.