Ben-Gvir’s gallows betray the Jewish values at the heart of Zionism - opinion

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party stands for assimilation of Jewish law into the Israeli judicial system. The name of his party is “Jewish Power.” Not surprisingly, Ben-Gvir was a leading voice when the Knesset passed the Death Penalty for Terrorist Law. For Ben-Gvir and his supporters, the passage of that law was a manifestation of both Jewish power and Israeli law becoming more Jewish.

While they have the safety of Israelis in mind, they could not be more misguided in their understanding of the use of Jewish power and implementation of Jewish law.

Many think the core of Zionist thinking is the reestablishment of Jewish power, a capacity that Jews had not experienced since just before the Roman Empire subjugated ancient Israel some 2,000 years ago.

They miss an important nuance. Power is not the goal. The goal is agency. Zionism stands for the return of Jewish agency. That agency can and should include power. Power represents the ability to protect oneself to be safe and free. That is why power has been essential for the Zionist state. At the same time, because of the critical protective dimension of power, it is easy to confuse power as the most important display of agency.

A fascinating and insightful sugya in the Talmud says otherwise. There we are taught God’s withholding of God’s might can also be a manifestation of God’s power (Yoma 69b).

We can read that sugya as a Jewish cautionary tale, anticipating when Jews would have power again, immense power, and the need to think rigorously about how to use it. Effective leadership understands that.

There is no question the horrific events of October 7 needed a forceful response, but Jewish values advise being very thoughtful and deliberate in how.

Which brings us to the worldwide criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza these past three years. There is no question that too much of that critique is served on a treif platter and so can easily be rejected because of underlying anti-Jewish tropes, misguided criticism, and the turning of a blind eye to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Iran, and their disdain for life and international law. But at the same time, there are serious assessments that Israel must pause and consider.

As a Jewish state, Israel should not be afraid to ask hard questions of itself. That is the Jewish way. Three times a day during the week, we do a self-evaluation when we say “S’lah Lanu” in the Amida prayer. And on Shabbat we don’t give ourselves a break; the prophets in the haftarah make UN resolutions against Israel look like amateur hour. The Jewish way is not to run away from the hard questions.

In this way and many other ways, the kippah-wearing Ben-Gvir passes over so many Jewish values. He is about power unchecked, dismissing all criticisms of the Jewish state, including internal critiques.

He is also on the wrong side of history when it comes to the death penalty. Even God questions the use of the death penalty (Ezekiel 18:23). Rabbi Yitz Greenberg points out, “The rabbis developed strict legal procedures for conviction that all but eliminated the death penalty.”

Ben-Gvir seems to also skip over the early pages of the siddur with its emphasis on kindness, mercy, and humility.

In the Talmud (Brachot 7a) we read: “Rav Zutra bar Toviya said that Rav said: ‘God says: May it be My will that My mercy will overcome My anger, and may My mercy prevail over My other attributes [including justice].’” In that passage, the rabbis challenge us, as difficult as it may be at times, to rise above our human tendency and cultivate “the better angels of our nature,” our yetzer hatov.

Understanding the other perspective

Mercy is the ability to stand in the shoes of the other and see things from their perspective. One of the many casualties of the past three years has been a willful deafness to suffering. A hardening of hearts.

Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, professor of religious studies and director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College, points out, “We have become experts at moral selective attention, seeing only the suffering that confirms our predetermined narratives.”

Zionist thinker and activist Albert Einstein worried about the “inner damage Judaism will sustain from a narrow nationalism within our ranks.”

Ben-Gvir and his supporters are intoxicated with national power, as were the Hasmoneans. After liberating Israel from the Greek occupation, the Hasmoneans then turned on Jews they disagreed with, opening the way for the Roman occupation and the eventual destruction of the Second Temple. Ben-Gvir is cut from that same cloth.

The inheritance of Israeli policies these past three years has seen support for Israel plummet worldwide, making the situation of Jews around the world more tenuous, with more Jews cutting ties with Israel and, by extension, with Judaism. The endless wars since October 7 have led to an increase in emigration, including doctors and hi-tech professionals.

Should the gallows Ben-Gvir is constructing be used, the sound of the snapping of the first Palestinian neck breaking will, in his eyes, be justice. That same sound will also awaken a Palestinian to seek vengeance. And the cycle of violence, along with its disturbing legacy, will continue. The gallows Ben-Gvir is building will hang Zionism.

A Palestinian friend wrote to me last year, “For years, I believed in vengeance – not out of hate, but because I thought it was justice... I couldn’t let go of the pain.

“But I began to reflect on it. Not to erase it – but to carry it differently. Not to forgive the violence – but to end it.... Let us not pass our trauma to our children like a sword. Let us mirror something else – something brave and tender. Let us be the people that chose differently.”

Near the end of the Torah, we receive instruction about choice: “I call as witness against you today the heavens and the earth; life and death I place before you, blessing and curse; now choose life, in order that you may stay alive, you and your seed” (Deut. 30:19).

Ben-Gvir’s gallows, in so many ways, does not represent life. It is also antithetical to Judaism and Zionism.

The writer is a rabbi, works for the Friends of the Arava Institute, and teaches at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura. The opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and are not meant to reflect any organization with which he is affiliated.