by Rabbi Avi Billet
I am sure I am not alone in my disgust when seeing an article or video about an event on the other side of the world, when a person (more often a woman) is put to death through stoning, or some other form of torture, for merely being accused of an act of infidelity, or pre-marital union. After all, stoning? And for this act that, while traditionally immoral, is certainly not viewed as a capital offense in most societies!
We might view those who espouse and act upon these views as intolerant, backwards, 4th century-types who have no real place in a modern and open society.
And then we read verses in Devarim chapter 13, and our finger pointing must end, because our look in the mirror tells us everything we don’t want to know about what our people were commanded when entering the land.
“[This is what you must do] if, with regard to one of your cities that God your Lord is giving you as a place to live, you hear a report, stating that irresponsible men among you have been successful in leading the city's inhabitants astray by saying, 'Let us worship another god and have a novel spiritual experience.' You must investigate and probe, making careful inquiry. If it is established to be true, and such a revolting thing has occurred in your midst, then you must kill all the inhabitants of the city by the sword. Destroy it and everything in it as taboo, and [kill] all its animals by the sword. Gather all [the city's] goods to its central square, and burn the city along with all its goods, [almost] like a sacrifice to God your Lord. [The city] shall then remain an eternal ruin, never again to be rebuilt. Let nothing that has been declared taboo there remain in your hands. God will then have mercy on you, and reverse any display of anger that might have existed. In His mercy, He will make you flourish, just as He promised your fathers. You will have obeyed God your Lord, keeping all the commandments that I prescribe to you today, and doing what is morally right in the eyes of God your Lord.” (Devarim 13:13-19)
How could this be? How could we not cringe at finding these instructions in our Holy Torah? Killing all inhabitants? Burning everything to the ground? Seeing no value whatsoever in preserving any landmarks, any history, any remnant of a group which lived an existence for many years in this town? And what about the innocent people – just because perhaps some people are deserving of death, does this condemn every single man, woman and child?
Rabbenu Bachaye notes that the phrase “you must investigate and probe, making careful inquiry” precludes just about every possibility of this ever coming to reality. Any inquiry is so exact in its questioning, the chances of a slipup or inconsistency among witnesses is so likely that the death sentence on the city is basically impossible to achieve.
However, he does not delegitimize the Torah’s perspective. He does declare the “evil people” described here to be in the same category of Korach, who rebelled against God and His holy word, who tried to destroy the nation’s autonomy from within. And of course, when there is a divinely inspired High Priest and a prophet around, the precise desire of God can be determined and the people can be condemned or expulcated.
Nonetheless it remains troubling to think that a certain type of vigilantism by the people can be enacted simply over what to us might seem to be a few loud rabble-rousers who, while certainly causing harm to others’ beliefs, don’t deserve to have their entire cities wiped out and their belongings burned!
While it’s not an easy idea to stomach, the principle behind total annihilation is actually meant to distinguish between turning this act into one which is the will of God versus one of cruelty. When everything is destroyed, and no one and nothing is spared, the law-enacters are not destroying out of a sense of cruelty. They don’t want to torture or hurt, they just want to end it. Compare this to the evil people in history who tortured their victims, let the “useful” live for a time being to enslave them, and who delighted in their self-proclaimed important work. All of this is the embodiment of cruelty – when you pick and choose your victims and say some can live while some will die. And you steal all their belongings, showing that it was about the money and wealth. The idea of total destruction, swift, quick, without keeping anything, is a moral indication that this was not about property or about converting people or about anything other than preservation of our lives under God’s dictation. The near impossibility of carrying this out cannot be overemphasized! But we must understand the comparison to Korach – all of whose followers met a swift and immediate fate, leaving the people to see that some ideas are just not compatible with the community of God.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch recalls the Tosefta that this case is theoretical, never happened and never will happen, as he explains the degree of the betrayal of all that is sacred to the greater national community. “All the places of residence in the Land belong to the nation; the nation dwells… in every place of residence… the character and the task of the whole nation must come to expression in each one of these places of residence. Only by remaining true to the character and task of the whole nation does every small place have the right to exist in the midst of the great whole.”
The promise Hirsch draws out from this entire theoretical episode is this: “the severity of your treatment of the people of this wayward city will not alter the kindness that is fundamental to your character. After you have carried out national justice, God will restore to you the kindness that is innate in you, allowing you to act mercifully, so that you will be worthy of His mercy.”
I am grateful that this story never happened and never will. However, it does give us insight into the difference between a divine justice (the removal of “evil” intent on destroying our community, which can only happen under the guidance of a real prophet) and the definition of cruelty, which includes evil intent, theft, desire to torture and/or enslave, and the removal of humanity from victims.
Troubling, yes. Theoretical, completely. Informative of what is truly evil – couldn’t be more clear.
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