Disproportionate Force: Pesach, The IDF, And My Daughter

I was visiting family in Ohio during Pesach, and davened in a shul where an old chevrusa of mine is the rabbi--Rabbi Hanan Balk. While I always enjoy his drashas, one in particular made an impression on me, and after Pesach I asked him to fax me the text he quoted--it comes from Leading The Passover Journey: The Seder's Meaning Revealed, The Haggadah's Story Retold by Rabbi Nathan Laufer. Rabbi Laufer, a talmid of the Rav, deals with why the Rabbis seek to increase the potency of the plagues the Egyptians suffered, and explains it in a way that is relevant today:

While the plagues themselves represented a powerful response to Egyptian evil, the Rabbis in this midrash on the plagues felt the need to multiply that powerful response four and five times so that it became overwhelming rather than merely "measure for measure." In so doing, the Rabbis in the Haggadah are teaching us that to effectively parry forces of radical evil, one needs to use overwhelming rather than merely commensurate force. While commensurate force is an important limiting factor in petty criminal law (e.g., one may not use lethal force to stop a common pickpocket) in dealing criminally with heinous or potentially lethal crimes, as well as in dealing politically with radically evil regimes, one needs to exercise power that goes beyond a mere proportionate response; to the evil perpetuated.

Overwhelming force is necessary against an evil regime for two reasons. First, the total impact of all the evil perpetrated by the individual members of the regime is greater than the mere sum of its parts. This totality of evil needs to be met with an appropriately vigorous, even exponentially powerful response. Second, in order to create a deterrent effect, the punishment for the evildoers needs to be greater than the evil perpetuated...

Interestingly, besides seeing the relevance to the response Israel must take against the terrorist attacks against it, another application occurred to me--L'havdil:

At home, we have a curious situation where our 16 month old son occasionally picks on our 9 year old daughter--occasionally biting her. 

My immediate reaction of course, especially considering the age difference, is to tell her that under no circumstances should she hit him--rather she must tell him firmly "no biting!"

Listening to my friend's drasha, it occurred to me how absurd my demand was. The baby has no real understanding of what is being said to him, nor can we afford to wait around for him to understand what is being said and to comprehend the concept of consequences. Better for my daughter to 'hit him'--on the shoulder or hand in a firm but not vengeful way along with the verbal message.

This after all is the way of HaShem as well: the punishments had a pedagogic component and were not purely out of wrath--just as when resorting to anger we learn we should exhibit the anger but not allow ourselves to be controlled by it. 

Similarly, this is what we expect of the IDF: during Operation Cast Lead, while civilian casualties are unavoidable, we expect that no identifiable civilian will ever be purposely targeted. The operation is to make a point, not to blindly strike out in anger.

A lesson we all should remember--and teach the world.

Technorati Tag: Passover and Pesach and Haggadah.