A Good Hostage Deal?

“Rachel stole her father’s teraphim”. (Bereishit 31:19)   
 

The War to Save Lot 

The Halachic authorities have ruled that if a person is facing certain danger – for example, a hostage by terrorists – it is permissible to place yourself in a potentially perilous situation to rescue him. 
 

When a yid fulfills the mitzvah of “saving one’s life” with the guidance of Torah and halacha, the merit of the mitzvah provides protection as it says (Kohelet 8:5), “Whoever keeps the commandment shall know no evil thing.” 
 

The Torah has already taught this idea: When Lot was captured and taken prisoner, Avraham Avinu urged the disciples of his household to risk their lives to save him, and he waged war against the four kings to save Lot from his captivity. 
 

Chazal explained (Bereishit Rabba 43:1) that about this act of Avraham Avinu was said the following pasuk (Tehillim 112:7): “He will not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord – His heart is resolute, He is unafraid, in the end he will see the downfall of his foes” (Tehillim 112:8). 
 

By “trusting in the Lord”, by utilizing the power of faith, a yid will merit to see the downfall of his foes. When someone fulfills this or any mitzvah with the utmost emunah, faith, they merit a miraculous and supernatural victory, like Avraham Avinu.   
 

Saving a Life at All Costs 

The Sefarim HaKedoshim explain that someone should not be concerned with the potential damage that they might suffer while performing the mitzvah of “saving lives.” Everything in the world occurs with Divine Providence. If a person is meant to experience losses, it will happen one or another. If it doesn’t occur because he was trying to perform this mitzvah, it will happen regardless. In fact, the contrary is true. The merit of the mitzvah can protect him from suffering any damages, even death. 
 

Chazal relates (Taanis 18b) that they once found the daughter of the Roman emperor dead. The Jews were blamed. As a result, it was decreed that all the local Jews should be annihilated and executed. However, to save the entire Jewish people, two righteous men decided to take the blame and they falsely confessed to the crime. When the time came for their execution, they calmly said, “Hashem has decreed that we should die. If you do not kill us, Hashem has many other executioners. He has lions and bears in His world that can kill us.” 
 

This is the deeper reason that explains why, throughout the generations, we have seen the Jewish people go to extraordinary lengths to save a person; even when facing the direst circumstances; even when risking their own lives. For, they knew that nothing can be lost while trying to fulfill this mitzvah. During the Holocaust, there were individuals like R’ Michael Ber Weissmendel who risked everything to save his people. He tried to bribe the murderous Nazis, smuggled Jews across the border and other activities that were a true show of self-sacrifice.  
 

The Captured Soul 

If we are willing to go to such lengths to save a physical body, even more, we should be risking everything to save a Jewish soul held captive by the impure forces of this world. 
 

The Brisker Rav, zt”l, once observed children traveling to a secular school that proliferated ideas that were aimed at destroying Yiddishkeit. Pained, he said, “If the Satan did not blind our eyes, we would all see that these children are like the children on the trains to Auschwitz, and we would all do everything in our power to try and rescue them.” 

 
Saving a spiritual life is a far greater cause than saving a physical life. Chazal taught (Bamidbar Rabba 21:5) that causing someone to sin is worse than killing them. For a sin damages their eternal soul. The body is just a vessel being utilized by the soul for the brief time it is in this corporal world. 
 

Therefore, the Zohar explains in Parshat Terumah (Volume II, 129a) that the reward for saving a soul is far greater than saving a physical life. 
 

The Halachic authorities note, that even if in general the obligation to free captives is not applicable in some situations, that all changes if there is a concern that they will be forced to violate Torah and mitzvot while in captivity. If there is a chance that the captives will be forced to abandon Yiddishkeit, then you always must make every effort to rescue them immediately (Shach, Yoreh Deah, siman 252:7). You even must pay more in these circumstances than you would simply to save a life (Yam Shel Shlomo, Gitin, Chapter 4) because you are not just saving a person, you are saving Yiddishkeit. (Responsa of the Radbaz, Volume I, 40).  
 

A Tremendous Opportunity 

Yaakov and Rachel had an inkling that Lavan wanted to kill them and their entire family. As we say in the Haggadah, “Lavan wanted to uproot everything”. They knew that they had to flee. But they didn’t do it quietly. Despite the challenges and the lack of stealth, they decided to escape with all of their family and their servants and their families. They risked the effectiveness of their escape to ensure that not a single person was left as Lavan’s captive. 
 

At that time, Rachel observed, that if they were willing to risk their own safety to ensure that no one would be a physical captive, they needed to do even more to save the spiritual captives. Therefore, when Lavan was distracted, she stole her father’s teraphim. And Rashi explains that she intended on separating her father from his idolatry. 
 

When she stole his god, she heightened the risk that Lavan would pursue and try to kill them. But she was committed to trying to save his soul, despite the personal danger. She hoped that when Lavan would wage war against them, he would search for his idol to pray to him, and he would find that it was stolen, and then he would face the fact that the only superpower in this world is Hashem.  
 

The Greatest Deal! 

We must do everything within our power to save the souls that are in captivity, the souls imprisoned by the Satan and its impure forces in this world. Especially now. 
 

We are living during times when there are countless Jews who are completely ignorant to the Torah and mitzvot. Like a “tinok she’nishbah” (a kitnapped child), they have been abandoned and Yiddishkeit is completely foreign to them. But their hearts desire to become closer to Hashem Whom they see as the only superpower in this world. This presents a tremendous opportunity. 
 

We need to reach out, to provide classes and guidance, to encourage them to go to shiurim (Torah lessons), to help them be exposed to Torah and mitzvot. There is no greater mitzvah than that! 

 
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The Kalever Rebbe is the seventh Rebbe of the Kaalov Chasidic dynasty, begun by his ancestor who was born to his previously childless parents after receiving a blessing from the Baal Shem Tov zy”a, and later learned under the Maggid of Mezeritch zt”l. The Rebbe has been involved in outreach for more than 30 years and writes weekly emails on understanding current issues through the Torah. Sign up at www.kaalov.org.