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April 4, 2003/Nisan 2 5763, Vol. 55, No. 32
Not 'a war of good deed'PHIL STRASSBERGInitially, I wish to emphatically state that I fully support our military men and women in Iraq. Also, I wish to emphatically state that I've never supported the idea of a pre-emptive strike by our democratic republic of the United States of America against any country.Ordinarily I do not write letters to the Jewish News or other media. However, Hy Rosenfeld's letter ("Jewish traditions justify 'war of good deed,' " Jewish News, March 28) and its quotes of Rabbi Harry Schectman stirred a particular memory for me of a milchamas mitzvah-type response by another rabbi. On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, I was a 15-year-old attending my classes at Talmudical Academy High School of Yeshiva University in New York City. Shortly after the noon hour, word spread rapidly that Japanese planes had attacked Pearl Harbor. "Where's that?" some of us asked; we were made aware that it was in Hawaii. We ran across the street to a candy store to listen to radio reports. Some days later President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for war against the then "axis of evil" - Japan, Germany and Italy. The rabbi, whose name unfortunately eludes me, explained to us that the Jewish faith justifies the waging of wars against those who start wars against the freedom of mankind (exemplified by Japan, Germany and Italy). I don't recall if he used the expression milchamas mitzvah - "war of good deed." World War II definitely was such a war. The Iraqi war is not - in my opinion of the definition - "a war of good deed." It is ironic that I find myself - for the very first time and at the age of 76 - in agreement with the Pope and Pat Buchanan that this is not a "just" war. I cry for each and every fatal casualty of ours and my heart goes out to their loved ones. Their blood is on the hands of this administration and those neo-conservative Jews in it who must be smoking something if they continue to believe in the democratization of Iraq and the Middle East. To paraphrase an old bromide: What does it profit a man if he wins a war but loses the peace (an economic peace at home). Phil Strassberg is a retired journalist who lives in Phoenix. |
