Judaism and Nuclear Warfare, What’s the Jewish Perspective on Nuclear Bombs?

For Shavout night I gave a shiur/lesson on what the Jewish take on nuclear warfare is. Exciting topics like this tend to help keep people awake as they try and stay up all night studying Torah. In the past when I’d give some basic shiur about the reasons ‘why we eat cheese cake on Shavout,’ half the people would fall asleep. So now I try to have a hot topic that will keep people up and debating.

Here is a quick summary of what we covered:

1. When Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was asked if she could forgive Egypt for killing Israeli soldiers, she replied, “It is more difficult for me to forgive Egypt for making us kill their soldiers.” From a Jewish point of view the value of one life is the same as a million lives. When a person kills one person it is like he killed all their possible future descendents. Conventional belief is that a nuclear bomb kills too many people at one time and therefore is not nice, however if the bomb were to only kill a few people then it would not be so bad.

The Jewish attitude towards war is that we don’t want it. We are ultimately moving towards the prophecy of Isaiah 2:4 “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore.”

2. As pointed out in the tractate of Sanhadrin, the ‘law of pursuit,’ permits a person to kill first. If someone is digging a tunnel into your home, one could say that he is only coming to steal from you, but should you get in his way, he will kill you. Thus it is better you kill him first. According to this, if there was a threat of, say, a country attacking Israel, Israel should then attack first using any necessary means to ensure its security. The world has proven time and time again that given the opportunity they would not just steal from the Jews; rather, they would kill them off if possible.

3. The next issue is the environmental damage caused by a nuclear bomb. The Torah in Parasht Shoftim forbids cutting down a fruit tree when laying siege to a city. This does not mean just fruit trees but rather a general approach to protecting the environment even when at war. A soldier must carry a shovel to bury their waste after going to the bathroom. The torah is very concerned that environmental damage is not caused even when at war.

4. There are two types of wars allowed by the Torah in relation to the Jewish People. Milchemt Reshut (a permitted war) and Milchemet Mizvah (obligatory war). An obligatory war relates to conquering and protecting the land of Israel. A permitted war would be to expend the borders of Israel beyond the Torah’s borders. Thus: A Jew cannot go to war for the fun of it. The idea of conquering and colonizing the world is forbidden to Jews, however to the non-Jew it is permitted. England, Spain, France, etc., are permitted to go around the world kill all the natives and take their land as history has shown. If Russia wants to take over Afghanistan, or if Iraq and Iran want to wage war with one another, it is not a problem. Jews are only permitted to war in relationship to conquering and protecting the land of Israel.

In conclusion: Israel would be permitted to use any force necessary for its survival. If it meant nuking Iran before Iran nukes them, or any other country for that matter, Israel would be permitted.