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When Power Forgets Torah

by Ram ben Ze’ev


When Power Forgets Torah
When Power Forgets Torah

Torah does not teach weakness. It does not demand that Jews stand idle while enemies seek their destruction. On the contrary, Jewish law recognises the obligation of self-defence. When a person comes to kill you, the principle is clear: rise and stop him first. Throughout history the Jewish people have fought when necessary, and when survival required strength.


Our tradition teaches: הבא להרגך השכם להרגו — “If someone comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first” (Sanhedrin 72a). Self-defence is not merely permitted; it is a moral obligation. To allow a genocidal enemy to arm itself while vowing our destruction would be a betrayal of life itself.


But Torah also draws a line that must never be crossed. War may be justified. Unprovoked aggression is not.


The distinction matters.


In שמות (Shemot) 23:4–5, Torah commands that if one encounters the animal of his enemy collapsing under its burden, he must help him. The verse is deliberate. It does not say the animal of a friend. It says the animal of your enemy. Even where hatred exists, Torah demands restraint and moral discipline.


Another warning appears in משלי (Mishlei) 24:17: do not rejoice when your enemy falls. The message is deeper than a warning about arrogance. It reminds us that hatred must never become the driving force behind our actions. Justice must remain anchored to the will of G-D, not to anger or vengeance.


Torah also establishes the framework of war itself. In דברים (Devarim) 20:10 we are commanded that before attacking a city we must first offer peace. War may be unavoidable, but it is never the preferred path. The obligation to seek peace before destruction is written directly into the Torah’s law of war.


These teachings are not abstract philosophy. They are guardrails placed upon power.


Iran is not Israel’s friend. For decades the Iranian regime has financed and armed those who seek Jewish death. Their support for terror organisations is undeniable. If Iran attacked Israel directly, or if an imminent threat existed, Israel would be justified in defending itself with overwhelming force.


But defence and initiation are not the same thing.


After the atrocities of the 7 October 2023 massacre, Israel fought a brutal war against the Arab terrorists who slaughtered our brothers and sisters. That war involved forces from Gaza and support from Iran and others. The fighting was savage, but it was also clearly defensive. Jews had been murdered in their homes, abducted, burned, and butchered. Israel had the right — indeed the duty — to act.


Yet after the ceasefire, the situation changed. The hostages were returned. The bodies of the murdered were recovered. The immediate war subsided. In the months that followed, Israel was not under the kind of direct Iranian attack that would justify a new war with Tehran.

During this same period, the United States declared that it had bombed and “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities. If that claim was true, then the threat was already neutralised.


Yet suddenly the world witnessed a new escalation: coordinated strikes on Tehran. Iran’s supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei was killed, along with members of his family and numerous senior officials.


The explanation offered was familiar: Iran was supposedly “two weeks away” from a nuclear weapon.


The world has heard this claim repeatedly for three decades.


If Iran’s nuclear capability had already been destroyed, how could it simultaneously be two weeks from producing a weapon?


These contradictions matter because they point to a deeper issue: justification.


Now the consequences are unfolding. Iranian rockets have struck Israel. Israelis have been killed. Hundreds of Jews are wounded. The region is burning again. Iranian retaliation has spread across the Middle East, threatening embassies, military bases, energy supplies and civilians. Around the world Jews now face heightened danger from those who will seek revenge.


We are objectively less safe today than we were before this escalation.


The Torah warns that moral authority is a form of protection. When Israel acts in accordance with righteousness, the protection of Heaven accompanies us. When we act outside that framework, we place ourselves in spiritual danger.


Chazal expressed this idea through a striking teaching. When the Egyptians drowned in the Sea of Reeds, the ministering angels wished to sing praise. They were silenced because the creations of G-D were perishing. Even when justice falls upon the wicked, celebration of destruction is not the Torah way.


Yet today we see politicians, commentators, and even rabbis celebrating the deaths in Tehran.


That should trouble every Jew who takes Torah seriously.


The Jewish people are commanded to be strong. But strength without restraint becomes arrogance. And arrogance invites judgment.


Iran is our enemy. Some of its leaders deserve removal for their crimes. History may yet judge them harshly.


But Torah demands something of us before we unleash destruction: necessity.


If war is unavoidable, fight it. If survival demands force, use it. But when power is exercised without clear justification, we risk more than political consequences. We risk losing the moral foundation upon which Jewish survival has always depended.


Israel’s greatest defence has never been aircraft or missiles.


It has always been the covenant with G-D.


When we act within the boundaries of Torah, that covenant protects us. When we step outside those boundaries, no arsenal on earth can replace what we lose.



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