The Light of Judaism

I was asked to discuss the justification for self-defense from a Jewish perspective. It sounds almost ludicrous to question whether self-defense is permissible or not but there are Jews out there who believe that the Torah path is one of permissiveness and conscientious objection. Nevermind that Judaism is based upon combat scenarios that took place in antiquity from the times of Moses to King David and in the modern era since the founding of the modern state of Israel. Judaism has developed two primary fighting systems: the first is called Krav Maga (Contact Combat) which was developed for the Israeli military by Imrich Lichtenfeld and is a hybrid style which combines the techniques of many other martial arts. There is also the martial art known as Abir Warrior Arts, which is a more traditional art form founded and developed by Yehoshua Sofer (formerly known as Nigel Wilson) who studied the Martial Arts in his youth and gradually developed a Judaic system of fighting that merged various techniques of combat with the old paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Yehoshua then connected the art with his families Yemenite heritage and presented it as a distinctly Jewish system. Self-defense and combat have been viewed as necessary and important endeavors throughout Jewsih history and Jews have always been known for there combat capability. We even have two holidays dedicated to kicking butt- Chanukah (Jewish resistance defeated Greeks) and Purim (Jews fought off those that came to take their lives and property in Persia).




Looking into our Torah tradition we can find many references to self-defense and its justified use. Here are a few examples:

1.) The Torah, in reference to property laws, states:
"If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.… (Exodus 22:1,2).
The Torah states that if a theif tries to break in your home and the homeowner kills the theif in the process then there is no punishmnet nor guilt upon the homeowner (victim). Commenting on this verse Rava states that a thief who breaks into a home knows that there is a chance that someone could be home and that the act of attempted theft could result in the murder of the targeted victim. Thus any attempted theft should be likewise viewed as an attempt to murder. The homeowner then has every right to defend himself against the intruder. This is in conformance of the Talmud which states: "If someone comes to kill you, kill them first" (Sanhedrin 72a).

2.) Furthermore, a group of Jews is allowed to defend itself against attackers, even on Shabbat. This was first determined by Mattathias and the Maccabees, after the Greeks killed 1,000 Jews on Shabbat – men, women and children - because they would not defend themselves. “Let us fight against every man who comes to attack us on the Sabbath day; let us not all die as our brethren died in their hiding places” (I Maccabees 2:29-41).


3.) Finally, two sources go much further. They state that a war of self-defense is not only permitted but rather required. Midrash Shmuel determines (22:2, ed. Buber, p. 110) that David’s war against the Philistines – which was self-defense – was a mitzvah, a commanded war, or a hovah, an obligation. Moreover, Maimonides ruled (Laws of Kings 5:1) “which war is a commanded war? …to help Israel against an enemy who attacks them”.