Rodef
A rodef (Hebrew רודף, literally "pursuer"), in traditional Jewish law, is one who is "pursuing" another to murder him or her. According to Jewish law, such a person must be killed by any bystander after being warned to stop and refusing. The source for this law is the Tractate Sanhedrin in the Babylonian Talmud, page 73a, which begins:
And these are the ones whom one must save even with their lives [i.e., killing the wrongdoer]: one who pursues his fellow to kill him [rodef akhar khaveiro lehargo], and after a male or a bethrothed maiden [to rape them]; but one who pursues an animal, or desecrates the Sabbath, or commits idolatry are not saved with their lives.
This law, the din rodef ("law of the pursuer"), is significant as one of the few provisions in Jewish law permitting extrajudicial killings.
In recent years, a significant number of rabbis have suggested that various public figures could qualify as rodefim, arguably encouraging one to kill. Perhaps most notoriously, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was branded a rodef by some for the Oslo Accord,[1] an agreement for which he was assassinated in 1995. The assassin, Yigal Amir, subsequently justified his actions partly on the basis of din rodef, under the assumption that making concessions to the Palestinians would endanger Jewish lives. [2]
One must note, that the Oslo accords gave significant leeway to known terrorists, and that as a direct result of the accords, over a thousand Israelis were killed in murderous terror bombings. This mass killing of Israeli citzens, and the relinquishing of part of the promised lands, led many Israelis to view Rabin in an extremely negative light. [3][neutrality is disputed]
Other instances have occurred. In 2005, for instance, prominent Israeli Rabbi Avigdor Neventzhal stated that "it should be known that anyone who wants to give away Israeli land is like a rodef",[4] triggering an outcry and a special debate in the Knesset.[5]
References
- ^ Yudelman, Michal. "Massive rally honors Rabin. Crowd estimated up to 200,000". Jerusalem Post.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Stern, Jessica. "Talking with Jewish Extremists". PBS.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) Excerpted from Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill, ISBN 0060505338. - ^ "Oslo - Reflections on a decade of death".
- ^ Shragai, Nadav. "Top rabbi: Din rodef on anyone ceding land". Haaretz.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Shragai, Nadav. "Knesset to debate rabbi's 'rodef' remarks". Haaretz.
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