Tag: War

Ari Zivotofsky responds to two letters criticizing his recent article regarding the alleged abuse of Palestinian prisoners at Sde Teiman.

In this essay, Aviva Lauer analyzes the Biblical prohibition against cutting down fruit trees in wartime, and connects it to messages about human dignity.

Yosef Blau and Jonah Winer respond to Ari Zivitofsky's recent article regarding the alleged abuse of Palestinian prisoners at Sde Teiman.

In the summer of 2024, IDF police raided the Sde Teiman base as part of an investigation into reports of serious abuse of alleged terrorist detainees. The many turns of the resulting controversy divided Israeli society during wartime and brought global attention to Israel's military prisons. Ari Zivitofsky reflects on these events and argues that senior officials in the Israeli government and media failed to heed the dictates of the Jewish ethical tradition.

David Polsky explores a passage in the Sifrei that is key to articulating a Halakahic position on withholding food as a military tactic.

Roy Pinchot responds to Zach Truboff's article decrying the ethical and spiritual costs of the war.

The significant linkages between the Garden of Eden narrative and the commandment concerning cutting down trees in time of war suggest a profound message about how we should live in an imperfect world.

As the war in Israel approaches its third year, Zach Truboff calls upon Israeli society and its friends abroad to confront the spiritual and moral cost of the violence.

This posthumously published story by Holocaust survivor and longtime YU professor Leo Taubes demonstrates the rarity and power of human connection amidst the destruction of war.

In this poem, Yehudit Sarah Waller describes the struggle to maintain routine amid upheaval.