"Jesus may have overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, but he never brought an army into Jerusalem." That's how the woman sitting to my left responded to my attempt to explain how translating from one language to another is in and of itself a form of interpretation.
In the case at hand, I was pointing out during my presentation this past Sunday evening on Judaism and Jewish belief at the First Congregational Church of Port Washington that the commandment "Lo tirtzah" which is commonly and mistakenly translated into english as "You shall not kill" really means in the original Hebrew "You shall not murder." (JPS) Rev. Jeff Suddendorf, First Congregational's minister and my friend, pointed out with Bible in hand that the Newly Revised Standard Version is in fact faithful to the Hebrew and translates the prohibition as "You shall not murder." I was delighted to point out to the laughter of those present that my Christian brothers and sisters had finally gotten it right!
That's when the rather serious looking woman to my left raised her hand and launched into a diatribe against the taking of life in any form and specifically the intervention in Libya. It was at that moment that I realized I was dealing with a person who had an agenda and was waiting for that moment to interject her agenda regardless of the fact that it was at best tangential to the subject at hand. My interlocutor it turned out was a retired Lutheran minister who failed to even flinch when I calmly responded to her assertion that killing in any way, shape or form is a sin by stating that Judaism values life above all else and that our tradition proclaims that to save one life is to save the whole world. I went on to point out that Judaism seeks only a world without war and filled with peace, but it is not a religion of pacifism. "There are times" I said, "when Judaism requires us to use force and, regrettably, to take life. We are permitted to kill someone in self-defence." I looked at the minister and said, "If you stand behind a tree with a knife and ambush me to kill me, my religion says that I have every right to defend myself even to the point of killing you." Jewish law also permits us to take the life of another if they are pursuing ( in Hebrew a rodef) someone with the intent to commit murder.
I closed my response by saying that I supported the foreign intervention in Libya because it exemplified the appropriate use of force against a dictator and evil man who had intentionally and willfully attacked and killed his own civilian population. "Judaism," I said, "is a religion which seeks its followers to aspire to noble ideas and holy living, but it is also a realistic faith which recognizes that the world cannot be sustained and that noble ideals and holy living cannot be tenable if evil and injustice are left unchecked." It was validating to see members of the audience politely clapping in silence in response to what I had said (if it had been a Jewish group they would no doubt had applauded with gusto!)
I thought of that unexpected exchange with Lutheran minister who, it turned out, is known for her very vocal and public pacifism, when I learned today of the bombing that took place on a crowded Jerusalem bus. I wondered, "Would my friend, the Lutheran minister, object to an Israeli police officer, soldier or civilian taking the life of the bomber before he could detonate himself and maim and kill innocent people?" I get the feeling that with a misplaced and naive integrity she would say that the actions of the bomber and the person who would kill him in order to stop him would be guilty of committing the same sin. I would say, the bomber is evil and must be stopped, the one who takes the bomber's life is a hero and should be admired for risking his life for the sake of others, and the victory of good over evil is that much more closer to attainment.
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