Judaism's doctrines and texts have sometimes been associated with violence or anti-violence. Laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, exist in the Jewish tradition. However, Judaism also contains peaceful texts and doctrines.Fighting the War and the Peace: Battlefield Ethics, Peace Talks, Treaties, and Pacifism in the Jewish Tradition. Michael J. Broyde, 1998, p. 1*Reuven Firestone (2004), "Judaism on Violence and Reconciliation: An examination of key sources" in Beyond violence: religious sources of social transformation in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Fordham Univ Press, 2004, pp. 77, 81. There is often a juxtaposition of Judaic law and theology to violence and nonviolence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Jewish tradition. Throughout history, Judaism's religious texts or precepts have been used to promoteCarl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. as well as oppose violence.The Columbus Platform: The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism, 1937
Normative Judaism
Normative Judaism is not pacifist and violence is condoned in the service of self-defence. J. Patout Burns asserts that Jewish tradition clearly posits the principle of minimization of violence. This principle can be stated as "(wherever) Jewish law allows violence to keep an evil from occurring, it mandates that the minimal amount of violence be used to accomplish one's goal." Notwithstanding the inherent friction associated with the various Jewish religious movements in the state of Israel all vying for official recognition, in 1997 Avi Shafran of the Agudath Israel of America pushed back on assertions made by Ismar Schorsch that the State's elevation of Rabbinic Judaism as the sole arbiter over personal status issues would inevitably lead to violence.Niebuhr, Gustav (April 17, 1997) "Jewish Leader Fires Back in Dispute Control of Religious Life in Israel Disputed; Rabbi Warns of Possible Violence" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved April 18, 2024. Sure enough, in a May 2022 incident which took place at the Western Wall, Orthodox Jewish seminarians waving World Zionist Organization flags, whose delegation was organized by the World Shas Movement and Eretz Hakodesh—an American affiliate of United Torah Judaism—jeered at, drowned out with whistles and spat upon members of the Women of the Wall group over religious and ideological differences.Maltz, Judy (May 16, 2022) "Recent Western Wall Clashes Expose a Schism in World Zionist Politics" Haaretz. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
Nonviolence Similar to the world's other major religions, Judaism's religious texts endorse compassion and peace. The Hebrew Bible contains the well-known commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself". According to the 1937 Columbus Platform of Reform Judaism, "Judaism, from the days of the prophets, has proclaimed to mankind the ideal of universal peace, striving for spiritual and physical disarmament of all nations. Judaism rejects violence and relies upon moral education, love and sympathy."
The philosophy of nonviolence has roots in Judaism, going back to the Jerusalem Talmud of the middle 3rd century. While absolute nonviolence is not a requirement of Judaism, the religion so sharply restricts the use of violence, that nonviolence often becomes the only way to fulfilling a life of truth, justice and peace, which Judaism considers to be the three tools for the preservation of the world.Sandra L. Bloom, Michael Reichert, Bearing witness: violence and collective responsibility. Routledge, 1998.
Warfare
The biblical narrative about the conquest of Canaan, and the commands related to it, have had a deep influence on Jewish as well as Western culture.Lemche, Niels Peter, The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, pp. 315–316:"The [Biblical] story of the 'morally supreme people' that defeats and exterminates another, inferior, nation was part of the ideological baggage of European imperialists and colonizers throughout the nineteenth century. It was also carried by European Jews who,... migrated to Palestine to inherit their ancestral country … In this modern version of the biblical narrative, the Palestinian population turned into 'Canaanites', supposed to be morally inferior to the Jews, and of course the Arabs were never considered their equals … The Bible was the instrument used to suppress the enemy". Throughout Jewish history, mainstream Jewish traditions have considered these texts purely historical or highly conditioned, and in any event, they are not considered relevant to later times.Greenberg, Moshe, "On the Political User of the Bible in Modern Israel: An Engaged Critique", in Pomegranates and golden bells: studies in biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern ritual, law, and literature, Eisenbrauns, 1995, pp. 467–469: No "national" commandment such as that of "conquest and settling the land" occurs in any of these [Judaic] summaries [of the Torah]… [arguments for applying herem to modern Israel] introduces a distinction that Scripture does not recognize; nowhere are the obligations referred to in the summaries contingent on the achievement of the land-taking or the destruction of Israel's enemies. To suppose that they may be set aside or suspended for the accomplishment of national ends is a leap far beyond scripture.... The [biblical] injunctions to take the land are embedded in narrative and give the appearance of being addressed to a specific generation, like the commandment to annihilate or expel the natives of Canaan, which refers specifically to the seven Canaanite nations... Now, had there been any inclination to generalize the law [of extermination], it would have been easy for the talmudic sages to [do so]. But in fact the sages left the ancient herem law as they found it: applying to seven extinct nations.
The Second Temple period experienced a surge in militarism and violence which was aimed at curbing the encroachment of Greco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish influences in Judea. Groups such as the MaccabeesJohnson, 1987. Quote: "[The Maccabees] saw themselves as reliving the Book of Joshua, reconquering the Promised Land from the pagans." (p. 106) the Zealots, the Sicarii at the Siege of Masada,Johnson, 1987. Quote: "Abundant evidence of services in the fort's synagogue and parts of fourteen scrolls of Biblical, sectarian and apocryphal books indicate that this was a G-d fearing garrison of militants, profoundly influenced by the terrible power of Jewish literature." (p. 140) and later the Bar Kochba revolt, all derived their power from the biblical narrative of Hebrew conquest and hegemony over the Land of Israel, sometimes garnering support of the rabbis,Johnson, 1987. Quote: "A rabbinic source says [Bar Kokhba] was recognized as Messiah by the greatest scholar of the age, the rabbi Akiva ben Joseph." (p. 141) and at other times their ambivalence.Johnson, 1987. Quote: "From the fragments of evidence we have, it looks as if Simon [bar Kokhba] got little support from learned Jews and in the end lost what he had...The men of the rebellion were orthodox Jews who took great trouble, despite desperate circumstances, to observe the Mosaic law...But there is no evidence that Simon regarded himself as a Messiah, the anointed one or in any way a spiritual leader...He was in every respect a secular ruler, a nasi as he calls himself in his letters, harsh, practical, unbending, ruthless...The later rabbinic legends woven around the 'Son of a Star' seem to have no basis in fact. Simon was more of a prototype for a modern Zionist fighter: unromantic and professional, a man who lived and died a guerrilla and nationalist." (p. 142)
In modern times, the early history of Zionism saw the emergence of the Brit Shalom organization (). Deriving inspiration from the writings of Ahad Ha'am, its members sought to prod the nascent Zionist movement into a direction of peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in Palestine in a bi-national state.Asa-el, Amotz (5 September 2017) "Genius: Spiritual Zionism's Great Opportunity", The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 31 January 2024. These ideas eventually fell out of favor as Zionist militias employing violence began to emerge as a response to the 1921 Jaffa riots and the subsequent Israeli–Palestinian conflict.Kessler, Oren (1 May 2021) 1921 Jaffa Riots 100 Years On: Mandatory Palestine's 1st 'Mass Casualty' Attack", The Times of Israel. Retrieved February 8, 2024. Since then, warfare which has been conducted by the State of Israel is governed by Israeli law and regulation, which includes a purity of arms code that is based in part on Jewish tradition; the 1992 IDF Code of Conduct combines international law, Israeli law, Jewish heritage and the IDF's own traditional ethical code. However, tension between actions of the Israeli government on the one hand, and Jewish traditions and halakha (Jewish law) on the conduct of war on the other, have caused controversy within Israel and have provided a basis for criticism of Israel. Some strains of radical Zionism promote aggressive war and justify them with biblical texts.Kravitz, Leonard, "What is Crime?", in Crime and punishment in Jewish law: essays and responses, Editors Walter Jacob, Moshe Zemer Berghahn Books, 1999, p. 31. Quote:Sin has changed [since biblical times]; crime has changed. We bring a different sensibility to our reading of the sacred texts of the past, even the Torah. There are passages in it which to our modern minds command crimes, the kind of crimes which our age would call "crimes against humanity"... I think of the problematic section in the Mattot [Numbers 31] which contains the commandment to exact revenge against the Midianites by slaying every male and every female old enough to engage in sexual intercourse.... I used to think that were they [Midianites] suddenly to appear, no Jew would be willing to carry out such a commandment. Then Baruch Goldstein appeared on the scene, and he was followed by Yigal Amir and now I am not sure.... I find the commandment to commit genocide against the Midianite unacceptable. To accept the commandment to do the same to "the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Peruzzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites" seems to me to make permissible the Holocaust, the attempted genocide of the Jewish people.Lustick, Ian, For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, Council on Foreign Relations, 1988.
Forced conversion
Forced conversions occurred under the Hasmonean kingdom. The Idumaens were forced to convert to Judaism, either by threats of exile, or threats of death, depending on the source.Flavius Josephus Antiquities 13.257–258Aristobulus
In Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism Harold W. Attridge claims that "there is reason to think that Josephus' account of their conversion is substantially accurate." He also writes, "That these were not isolated instances but that forced conversion was a national policy is clear from the fact that Alexander Jannaeus (c. 80 BCE) demolished the city of Pella in Ammon, 'because the inhabitants would not agree to adopt the national custom of the Jews. Josephus, Antiquities. 13.15.4.Harold W. Attridge, Gōhei Hata (eds.). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press, 1992: p. 387.
Maurice Sartre has written of the "policy of forced Judaization adopted by Hyrcanos, Aristobulus I and Jannaeus", who offered "the conquered peoples a choice between expulsion or conversion".Maurice Sartre. The Middle East Under Rome. Harvard University Press, 2005: p. 15.