Shalom everyone,
Are you someone who thinks along the lines of, “Look at the terrible things that far-right Jews are doing to non-Jews in Israel! Therefore all Israelis are wicked, Israel is evil, and should not exist!“ The conclusion does not logically follow on from the initial premise. It needs to be said that demonising all Israelis for the sins of a minority is morally wrong.
I myself do not defend Netanyahu, or his far-right government, or the unjust laws they pass, or the violence of far-right settlers in Samaria and Judea – I abhor all violence and injustice, no matter who it is committed by. A sin is a sin, no matter who commits it. If I were in charge, I would work towards justice for all. I would not act in a polarising and tribal manner; I would not commit the sin of demonising an entire people in order to ensure justice was done. To my mind, as a Talmidi, the oppression of people who are not our own is a sin against the holy reputation of God.
Criticise the individuals who do wrong, absolutely, but don‘t tar everyone with the same brush; one’s misguided moral outrage is being directed at people who don’t deserve to be portrayed as criminals. By demonising all Israelis – especially all Israeli Jews – people are punishing the majority for the sins of a minority. The vast majority of Israelis just want to live in peace with their neighbours.
The Hebrew Bible contains several foundational texts that reject the concept of collective guilt and emphasise individual accountability. These passages specifically counter the idea of punishing or ‘demonising‘ an entire group for the actions of a few.
Key Biblical Texts on Individual Accountability
- Deuteronomy 24:16: This legal text states that individuals should be punished for their own crimes, not for the actions of their parents or children.
- Ezekiel 18: The prophet Ezekiel rejects the idea of inherited guilt, declaring that each person is accountable for their own sins.
- Jeremiah 31:29-30: Jeremiah echoes Ezekiel‘s message, emphasizing future individual accountability.
Narratives Opposing Collective Punishment
- Abraham’s Plea for Sodom (Genesis 18): Abraham questions God‘s justice in destroying the innocent with the guilty, leading God to agree to spare the city if righteous people are found within it.
- Moses and Aaron’s Intercession (Numbers 16): Moses and Aaron intercede when God threatens to punish the entire community for the actions of a few rebels.
- David and the Census (2 Samuel 24): David accepts personal responsibility and asks that punishment fall on him rather than the wider community.
Historical Application
- 2 Kings 14:6: King Amaziah applied the principle of individual accountability from Deuteronomy 24:16.
Moral Frameworks
- The ‘Golden Rule‘: Hillel the Elder‘s teaching “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow“; Yeshua‘s elevation of, “Love your neighbour as yourself“.
- Prohibition of Hatred: Leviticus 19:17 cautions against harbouring hatred
A Parable
There was once a great city, a peaceful metropolis with over a million inhabitants. Most were native citizens, but there were 200,000 foreigners also residing there. Most of the citizens were righteous, fair and just people, and treated the foreigners among them as if they were native-born. As a result, most of these foreigners considered themselves fortunate to be called citizens of the city, and were happy to participate in the life of the city where they felt included.
However, among the townspeople of the city, there were a hundred ruthless sinners and evil criminals, who went out of their way to ill-treat their neighbours who were foreigners. Out of the 200,000 foreigners, there were 100 among them who had suffered misfortune and abuse at the hands of these criminal abusers.
Now a man in a far-off land, who had never visited the city, came to hear of these victims, for he had been searching for an oppressed people to support, in order to display to others how virtuous and good he was.
These victims of abuse told him, “All these townspeople are wicked! They rape our women, treat our children like vermin, beat our elders, ruin our farms, attack our homes, and look down on us as second-class citizens. Our lives in that city as foreigners are miserable!”
Overjoyed that he had found an oppressed people to publicise his virtue, and filled with a sense of his own righteousness, he spread the word among the nations of the world that the citizens of this city were an evil and wicked people, all of them demons and criminals down to the very last one. He broadcast to the world that the 200,000 foreigners in the city were being oppressed beyond endurance, and the 800,000 townspeople should be made to pay for their evil.
As a result of his hue and cry among the nations, many armies from around the world came to this city and attacked it, exterminating 800,000 townspeople, along with the 200,000 foreigners living among them, who helped the townspeople defend the city, their common home.
When the extermination had ended, this man went proudly among the nations, to receive praise, fame and high honour from them for his role in the downfall of such a wicked city. He proclaimed far and wide how he had saved the 100 foreigners who were being cruelly oppressed. But then he caught a severe illness and died.
That night he came before God, the Judge of all the earth. He proudly proclaimed before God his accomplishment, how he had helped to destroy a wicked city, and saved 100 oppressed inhabitants.
But God said to him, “You had a million of my children murdered – all innocent of any fault – simply to signal your own virtue, and garner praise from the nations. Their innocent blood is on your hands. Away from Me, you wicked! I never knew you!”