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‘Peace, peace, there is no peace’

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Morris Margolies Column
Written by Marcia Horn, Community Editor   
Friday, 04 December 2009 12:00

War is murder with a phony license. This license goes by a variety of justifications: “loyalty,” “patriotism,” “nationalism,” “change of regime,” “human rights,” “anti-terrorism.”

It was old Samuel Johnson who, in his 18th century “Dictionary of the English Language,” defined patriotism as “The last refuge of the scoundrel.” Love of one’s country can by no stretch of the imagination serve as justification for the violation of the Sixth Commandment — “Thou shalt not kill!” This statement is unambiguous. No pronouncement can be clearer. But through 50 centuries, the human species has glorified the mass murders of war. In the last century alone, there have been some 50 million murders on the battlefields of planet Earth. With thousands of nuclear missiles in the possession of at least 10 nations, the unthinkable destruction of all life on earth is no longer unthinkable. The weapons of mass destruction now include weapons of total destruction. And peace seems further away than it has been in any period of recorded history.

In the Torah portion for this week, we read of the extraordinary efforts of Father Jacob to eschew violence and to preserve peace. Jacob was the pacifist par excellence. He absolutely detested war and its violence. His entire life was dominated by the passion for peace. One might say that avoiding strife and the killing that so often comes with it was at the essence of his religion. None of the provocations of his belligerent brother, Esau, succeeded in altering Jacob’s constant advocacy of peace.

So what are we “peace-loving” Americans doing in Afghanistan? And what have we accomplished in Iraq?

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written by Fred Melcher, December 05, 2009
Suicide goes by many names, too. One is "anti-war movement".
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written by John Doe, December 06, 2009
You say that the sixth commandment is unambiguous. That would be true if it said "thou shall not kill," however, the sixth commandment is "thou shall not MURDER (tirtzach as opposed to taharog)." Furthermore, there is an explicit verse which states that one can kill someone in self defense. Do you think the nazis would have been stopped by pacifists? Rather, it was the so called murders on the battlefields of earth, and the military buildups, which have dismantled mass murdering dictators from nazi Germany to Soviet Russia.

In the beginning of the Parshah, Rashi explains that whilst Jacob sent messengers of peace, he also prepared for war...
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written by Caballero Andante, December 09, 2009
And I suppose you see Israel as just as "war-mongering" as you perceive the U.S. to be. It is attitudes like yours, Oh Learned Rabbi (by those driven to prove their "moral superiority" over those of us who inhabit the real world), that will help usher in the kind of "peace" that Islam, "the religion of peace", seeks for the world. Will that make you happy?

Just as you don't know that the Commandment refers not to "killing" but to "murder", you don't know that the Muslim interpretation of "peace" is "submission". Furthermore, you conveniently ignore that the Talmud clearly says "If one comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first".

Even as "peaceful" a man as the Dalai Lama said, "If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."

A Quaker was once awakened by a burglar breaking into his home. The Quaker grabbed his shotgun, leveled it at the burglar, and said, "Friend, I am a committed pacifist, and I would not wish to do thee harm. But thou art standing where I am about to shoot!"

In the real world, pacifism is a noble ideal that soon finds its limits.


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