Ki Tetze; Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

This Torah portion in the book of Deuteronomy continues Moses’ final farewell to the people Israel before they cross the River Jordan and begin their battle for the Promised Land. The parasha is a weaving together of various rules, laws, and statutes that will be important to the Israelites both in waging war and living in peace. In this section of the Torah, many of the big and little details of life are woven together. Some are with emphasis on the family including laws for acquiring a wife during warfare and divorce.

Since we as a United States are in the midst of a war it is through this lens that we read the Torah portion. Soldiers engaged in war often are called upon to do ungodly and unholy tasks. The taking of lives, the rounding up of innocents, the capture of prisoners stretches the qualities of human decency beyond the boundaries of normal acceptability. We do not tolerate murder as a society and yet, it is a natural product of warfare, one that is condoned by the state.

Common war behaviors in most conquering armies throughout history is the impulse not only to murder the people but to rape the woman, pillage and burn the cities that were being attacked and occupied. In this week’s parasha it specifically addresses the issues of desiring a captive woman. “If you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her and would take her to wife you shall bring her into your house…”. Then you must let her mourn for a month and then and only then can you have relations with her. In fact, you must make her your wife.

Imagine, in the heat of the battle, instead of rape—one of the basest and most violent and oppressive of war crimes, addressed in a radically different way. Men had to go through a process and acquire a wife, not just a sexual object that proved his manhood and power.
The Torah portion in this section tries to change the relationship of soldier to captive woman from what is the usual war relationship. It seeks to take it out of the realm of the evil impulse and to try to have the soldier be cognizant of her needs to mourn and grieve her family. Further he cannot just disregard her if he should change his mind in a month. She is not a slave to be sold, but must be released.

While we bristle at all of this talk of capturing women, rape and warfare—we can nevertheless see that the Torah is trying to elevate human behavior. Soldiers must see the women they desire as human beings—not objects or pawns of war. They must treat her with dignity and honor—not as slaves or chattels. This is a radically different way of dealing with captive women.

If we take this same principle and apply to our own day and time, we do not have to look to far to see the immorality of the way the American soldiers treated Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. If the Torah is trying to teach us that in warfare, we must guard against the common impulse to dehumanize our enemies, then the humiliations foisted upon the prisoners of Abu Ghraib were completely dehumanizing and evil. That our American soldiers who have prided themselves on being a humane army, would stoop to that kind of immorality is a black mark on America and upon the present leadership of the American armed forces. The fact that the preset Administration wants to blame this upon a few wayward soldiers does not take the blame away from those in command. It is a further indictment of the immorality of this war. This kind of environment that would allow our soldiers guarding prisoners to sexualize and dehumanize prisoners is the worst kind of sin. Although the press has moved on, we must not forget.

The Torah is clear when it states this week. “ When you go out as a troop against your enemies be on your guard against anything evil.” Indeed warfare is a terrible business, but in Jewish tradition sometimes a necessary task. Nevertheless, we must be very careful how we engage in warfare and remember that our enemies are human beings. How we act and how we treat our enemy and those we capture is important to God in our tradition and should be important to us. Let not the evil be in us.

Posted by Lee at August 24, 2004 09:41 AM