We MUST Redeem the Captive

Deuteronomy 24:7 Dont kidnap a fellow Israelite... and Exodus 21:16 He who kidnaps a man... shall be put to death.

Particularly appropriate to study this at the time when there are soldiers who have been taken hostage by Hezbollah and the topic of prisoner exchange is considered.

The law of redeeming the captive takes precedent over feeding the hungry (Talmud 8B)

Captives are often mistreated and therefore they must be a higher priority.

Rambam says there is imperative in Torah for this: Don’t harden your heart. Don’t stand by the blood of your neighbor.

Mishna – Don’t ransom a captive for more than his value for the good of the world. And then the Gemara explores what “value” is in this case.

There are different opinions on what our heritage says about prisoner exchange. (of course) R. Shalom Gordon – is against inflated prisoner exchange because it will encourage more kidnapping. And, in fact, this is true.

Paying ransom can be a burden to a community as well, so it is a “depends” situation.

R. David Halevi had a different view in 1985 – He point out that in the middle ages kidnapping was done for financial reasons, but today it is for political reasons and therefore it is not wrong to have a prisoner exchange. This is a way that the Government encourages soldiers to know their value.

It is still a very complex situation and we must always look at all vantages to consider action or our opinions on this subject.