During Chanukah, we add the prayer “al hanisim” to the Amidah. “We thank You for the miraculous deliverance, for the heroism, for the salvation and for the wars that you performed for our ancestors from ancient days until our time.” In describing the conduct of the war, we note that G-d delivered “the strong into the hands of the weak and the impure into the hands of the pure.”
That last phrase is problematic. It seems to describe a “bad guys vs. good guys”, almost cartoonish, conflict. Which in turn could reflect a dehumanization of our enemies—then and now. Our enemies are, after all, human beings, presumably with all kinds of decent characteristics (love for their families, for example). And we, too, are human beings, with all the foibles inherent in the human condition. Put simply, you put enough of us together, and you will surely find some jerks. And even with the best military discipline imaginable, you will still find some people acting inappropriately.
We see that in the current conflict in Gaza. We of course must reject the lies and slander about genocide, mass-murder, etc. Such claims are simply and unequivocally false, period, and reflect a shameful debasement of language. (If everything is a genocide, then nothing is a genocide). But there are multiple, if not numerous, documented examples of clearly inappropriate behavior by Israeli soldiers. There are videos made public of Palestinian prisoners in demeaning positions; soldiers committing arson as a prank; soldiers vandalizing stores and private homes, and so forth. Perhaps not the worst thing in the world—but nonetheless anything but pure, arguably war crimes, and profoundly damaging to Israel’s reputation. To Israel’s credit, soldiers have been disciplined for this, videos taken down, etc.
Which perhaps allows us to understand “pure” and “impure” in a different light. The majority of rabbis in the Talmudic period were of the opinion that soldiers, in the heat of battle, were not completely in control of their emotions. Seen in that light, nobody is “pure,” and allowances were made that we, today, would find objectionable. But there is a difference between the individual soldier and the national collective.
To take one example, there were surely lots of undesirable characters in the American army during WW 2. One estimate is that American soldiers committed 4500 instances of sexual assault in France—and the French were our allies! It would of course have been immoral to rape German women despite the Germans being our enemies, but the point is that in liberated France there was no “heat of battle” involved. Those “impure” crimes notwithstanding, no one in their right mind would equate the American soldiers with the Nazi soldiers, because of the causes for which they were fighting. No one, of course, except those of malicious intent. One side was indeed “pure,” and the other “impure,” regardless of the proclivities and failures of the individual soldiers. So, too, in the struggle with Hamas and all the usual suspects. Regardless of our (entirely justifiable) hesitations concerning some Israeli soldiers’ behavior, no one in their right mind or without malicious intent would equate Israeli soldiers with Hamas terrorists. Although I hasten to admit that there are many Israel-critics today who are admittedly not in their right mind, and even more with malicious intent.
It may well be the case that individuals are morally and emotionally challenged in the heat of battle. Nations as a whole, on the other hand, have no such excuse. They have a choice to make, not in combat but in congress, to be pure and fight for what is right and good, or to be impure, and fight for that which is vile and evil.
The Maccabees, fighting for our religious freedom 2000 years ago, were indeed the “pure” fighting the “impure.” So, too, our Israeli brethren, fighting against some of the most repressive and barbaric forces on the planet—Hamas, Hezbollah, Assad, Iran—carry forward the legacy of purity established by our Maccabean ancestors bayamim hahem bazman hazeh.
May Hashem once again deliver the “the impure into the hands of the pure.”
Amen