DEUT996 (Continued from [[DEUT992]] Deuteronomy 20:11 forced OXFORD 488-9). Because Deuteronomy 20-21 is an element of the Jewish Holy Writ, a question arises as to what lessons should be drawn, within the Jewish religious tradition, from the ethical norms of these chapters. A plausible answer would involve a clarification of the above-mentioned fundamental Jewish religious strategy: Except for idolatry, Jews may be involved in every human sphere of activity, as it is practiced under the circumstances, but the activity within each sphere is significantly restrained. This is why the Bible includes, for instance, norms of slavery and norms of marriage and divorce that prescribe unequal treatment of persons according to their gender. The same applies to warfare practices. The moral evaluation of the constrained activities permitted by Jewish biblical ethics is actually a moral evaluation of warfare practices of the time. Accordingly, current Jewish warfare ethics should rest on a modern conception of warfare, one that embodies some variant of the Just War doctrine, and imposes constraints on its application. Unlike Deuteronomy 20-21, it will involve, for example, a principle of distinction between combatants and others and be as morally justifiable as Just War norms. This is one example of a much larger phenomenon--namely, that what constitutes the Jewish tradition, and Jewish ethics in particular, is not the Bible alone, but rather is based on how rabbis and lay Jews have interpreted and applied the Bible and subsequent traditions over the centuries. This includes not only how Jews have developed their tradition internally, but also what they have learned from others and made part of the Jewish tradition--in this case, Just War theory. (By Asa Kasher, "Jewish Ethics and War")
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