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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 May 2014
Rabbi Shlomo Goren was one of the leading rabbinic figures in religious Zionist circles. As the first chief Rabbi of the Israeli military, he had a unique opportunity to influence the development of the Israeli army and its policies. He needed to deal with questions that had no precedents in Jewish law. One of his challenges was the part international law played in the formation of a modern army. Rabbi Goren wished to give a halachic perspective to questions of international law, and to do that, he had to translate the language of international law, a field developed in the modern period, to halachic language. This process led him to evaluate moral positions that are part of international law and the ability of halacha to be part of the modern world.
1 For discussion of the growing use of international law in national courts, see Slyz, George, International Law in National Courts, in International Law Decisions in National Courts 71 (Franck, Thomas M. & Fox, Gregory H. eds., 1996)Google Scholar; Francioni, Francesco, International Law as a Common Language for National Courts, 36 Tex. Int'l L.J. 587 (2001)Google Scholar; and Whytock, Christopher A., Thinking beyond the Domestic-International Divide: Toward a Unified Concept of Public Law, 36 Geo. J. Int'l L. 155 (2004).Google Scholar
2 For a discussion of international law and religion, see Religionand International Law (Janis, Mark W. & Evans, Carolyn eds., 2004).Google Scholar
3 There are those who claim he was born on February 3, 1918, see Alfasi, Yitzḥak, Kavim Lidmutu Shel Rabenu Hagadol, in Ma'a lot Lishlomo 15 (Alfasi, Yitzḥak ed., 1996)Google Scholar, but others claim he was born in 1917, see Edrei, Arye, Milḥamah. Halacha VeGeulah: Tzava VeMilḥamah BeMaḥshevet HaHalacha Shel Harav Shlomo Goren, 125 Katedra 120 n.2 (2007)Google Scholar. For a non-academic biography, see Shalom Feldman, Rabbi Shlomo Goren: Torah Sage and General (2006).
4 For a discussion of his political roles, see Shifra Mescheloff, Be'ein Hasa'arah: Dmutu HaTziburit VeYetzirato Hatoranit shel Harav Shlomo Goren (2012) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Bar-Ilan University) (on file with Bar-Ilan University Central Library).
5 Edrei, Arye, Law, Interpretation, and Ideology: The Renewal of the Jewish Laws of War in the State of Israel, 28 Cardozo L. Rev. 187, 187–227 (2006).Google Scholar
6 Dov Schwartz, Faith at the Crossroads: A Theological Profile of Religious Zionism (Stein, Batya trans., 2002).Google Scholar
7 Dov Schwartz, Religious Zionism: History and Ideology (2009).
8 Aran, Gideon, From Religious Zionism to Zionist Religion: The Roots of Gush Emunim, 2 Studies in Contemporary Jewry 116, 116–43 (1986)Google Scholar; Aran, Gideon, Jewish Zionist Fundamentalism: The Bloc of the Faithful in Israel (Gush Emunim), in Fundamentalisms Observed 265 (Marty, Martin & Appleby, R. Scott eds., 1994).Google Scholar
9 Edrei, Arye, Divine Spirit and Physical Power: Rabbi Shlomo Goren and the Military Ethic of the Israel Defense Forces, 7 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 255 (2005–2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10 Asher Cohen, Hatalit Vehadegel: HatziyuNut Hadatit Veḥazon Medinat Hatora Beshnot Hamedina Harishonot (1998).
11 For discussions among religious Zionist rabbis including Rabbi Goren on such questions, see supra note 5.
12 Amos Elon, Herzl 270 (1975). For the use of international law by Jewish groups who preceded Zionism, see Paz, Moria, A Non-Territorial Ethnic Network and the Making of Human Rights Law: The Case of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, 4 Interdisc. J. Hum. Rts. L. 1 (2010).Google Scholar
13 Nir Keidar, Mamlachtiyut: Hatefisa Haezraḥit Shel Ben Gurion (2009).
14 Moshe Una, Beshvilei Hamaḥshava Ve'hama'ase 45–46 (1955).
15 Amos Israel-Vleeschhouwer, Yaḥas Hahalacha Lamishpat Habeyin Leumi: Nituaḥ Psika Venituḥ Tahalichi (2011) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Tel-Aviv University) (on file with National Library of Israel).
16 Id. at 92–200.
17 Eliyaho Horowitz, Milḥmet Hatarbut (2007).
18 Id. at 147–52.
19 A claim not without merit: Dothan, Shai, Judicial Tactics in the European Court of Human Rights, 12 Chi. J. Int'l L. 115 (2011)Google Scholar; Guzman, Andrew T., Reputation and International Law, 34 Ga. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 379 (2005–2006).Google Scholar
20 See Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States art. 1, Dec. 26, 1933, 165 L.N.T.S. 19.
21 See Alain Pellet, The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee: A Second Breath for the Self-Determination of Peoples, Appendix, 3 Eur. J. Int'l L. 178 app. at 182 (1992).
22 Yosef Goldstein, Bein Tziyunut Medinit Letziyunut Maasit (1991).
23 Shlomo Goren, Ba'ayot Hamedina Le'Or Hahalacha, OR HAMIZRAḤ 8–9 (September 1959) (the whole article is on pages 8–11).
24 For a broad discussion of Rabbi Goren's jurisprudential perceptions, see Aviad Yehiel Hollander, The Halakhic Profile of Rabbi Shlomo Goren: Studies in the Adjudicatory Deliberations and Modes of Substantiation in his Halakhic Writings 256–342 (2011) (Ph.D. thesis, Bar-Ilan University) (on file with Bar-Ilan University Central Library).
25 Shlomo Goren, The Constitution of the State, reprinted in Yitzḥak Hertzog, 1 Thuka Leyisrael Al Pi Hatorah 146 (1989).
26 Id. at 152.
27 For early twentieth-century discussions of recognition of governments, see, for example, the Arantzazu Mendi case of 1938, in which the nationalist government in Spain asked to squash a writ that gave the republican government of Spain authority over ships registered to the port of Bilbao. The British court ruled that exercising effective administrative control may lead to de facto but not to de jure recognition. Arantzazu Mendi, [1939] A.C. 37. See also Haile Selassie v. Cable and Wireless Ltd. (No. 2) [1939] 1 Ch. 182.
28 Schwarzenberger, Hans Georg, The Rule of Law and the Disintegration of the International Society, 33 Am. J. Int'l L. 56, 64 (1939).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29 Hersh Lauterpacht, Recognition in International Law 1–6 (1947).
30 Schwarzenberger, Georg, The Standard of Civilisation in International Law, 8 Current L. Probs. 212 (1955)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gerrit W. Gong, The Standard of “Civilization” in International Society (1984). For later developments of this doctrine, see Fidler, David, The Return of the Standard of Civilization, 2 Chi. J. Int'l L. 137 (2001).Google Scholar
31 Donnelly, Jack, Human Rights: A New Standard of Civilization?, 74 Int'l Aff. 3, 3–4 (1998).Google Scholar
32 For a current assessment of the field, see Stefan Talmon, Recognition of Governments in International Law (1998).
33 Goldstein, supra note 23, at 152.
34 J. M. Landau, The Arabs in Israel, A Political Study (1969); Yitzḥak Reiter, National Minority, Regional Majority: Palestinian Arabs Versus Jewsin Israel (2009).
35 G.A. Res. 181(II) 29 November 1947.
36 Guidelines on the Recognition of New States in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, Dec. 16, 1991, 31 I.L.M. 1486–87.
37 For a jurisprudential discussion of the tension between nation-state and national minorities, see Alexander Yakobson & Amnon Rubinstein, Israel and The Family of Nations: The Jewish Nation State and Human Rights (2008), and David Kretzmer, The Legal Status of the Arabs in Israel 166–67 (1990). For a different historical account, see Alisa Rubin Peled, Debating Islaminthe Jewish State: The Development of Policy Toward Islamic Institutionsin Israel (2001).
38 Picard, Ariel, Ma'amad Hanokhri Bemdinat yisrael Bepsikat Rabaney Htziyunot Hadatit, 1 Reshit 187 (2009).Google Scholar
39 Id. at 188–93.
40 Yitzḥak Hertzog, Tḥuka Leyisrael Al-Pi Hatorah, vol. 1, 18 (1989).
41 Ben-Zion Uziel, Mishpatei Uziel, vol. 4, HM section 17; see also Zohar, Tzvi, Aḥrayut Hakneset Leitzuv Hahalacha-Iyun Bema'amaro shel Harav Uziel Behagdarat Pesuley Edut, in Ravtarbut Tiyut Bemedinah Demokratit Veyehudit: Sefer Hazikaron Leariel Rozen-Tzvi Z'l (Mautiner, Menaḥem et al. eds., 1998), 301–39Google Scholar; Lau, Binyamin, Vet Haovdim Lo Bikashtem: Musar Haneveem Beshikuley Psikato shel Harav Uziel Benose Giyur, 21 Akadamot 96–109 (2008).Google Scholar
42 Hertzog,supra note 40, at 152–53.
43 Id. at 155–56.
44 In one case, involving terrorists, Goren did support the use of the death penalty. But he suggested that the legal basis for the death penalty in this case would be not halacha but ad hoc legislation that halacha assigns to the sovereign (mishpat hamelech) and, even more, the laws of pursuit; in other words, he considered all terrorists active pursuers that can be killed to save the innocents. Laws of pursuit are, of course, an offshoot of self defense and are extrajudicial by definition. See Shlomo Goren, 3 Meshiv Milhama: She'elot Vetshuvot Be'inyanei Tzava, Milhama Uvitahon 303–26 (2d 1994).
45 Shaul Israeli, Amud Hayemini § 16 (2d ed. 1992).
46 Blidstein, G. J., The State and the Legitimate Use of Force and Coercion in Modern Halakhic Thought, 18 Studiesin Contemporary Jewry 3, 3–22 (2002)Google Scholar; Blidstein, G. J., The Treatment of Hostile Civilian Populations: The Contemporary Halakhic Discussion in Israel, 1 Israel Studies 27, 27–44 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47 For discussions of Dina Demachuta Dina, see Borowitz, Eugene, Judaism and the Secular State, 48 Journal of Religion 22, 22–34 (1968)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Shmuel Shilo, Dina Demalkhuta Dina (1975).
48 Sulhan Aruch Harav, Ḥoshen Mishpat Hilchot Hefker Kunteres Aḥron.
49 Edrei, supra note 9, at 296.
50 For the definition of compulsory versus non-compulsory wars, see Roness, Yitzchak Avi, Halakha, Ideology and Interpretation: Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli on the Status of Defensive War, 20 Jewish L. Ass'n Stud. 184, 184–95 (2010).Google Scholar
51 Shaul Israeli, Amud Hayemini § 16, 196–99; Yitzchak Roness, The Halakhic Legacy of Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli 80–104 (2012) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Bar-Ilan University) (on file with Bar-Ilan University Central Library) (arguing specifically with Edrei's interpretation on page 26, footnote 125).
52 Advisory opinion on the Western Sahara ICJ Rep. 12 [1975] para. 80.
53 Shlomo Goren, Torat Hamedinah: Mehkar Hilchati Histori Banoś'Im Haomdim Berumah Shel Medinat Yiśrael Meaz Tekumatah 68 (1996).
54 Halachic debates over the Sabbatical Year carry heavy ideological freight in the modern era. Edrei, Arye, From Orthodoxy to Religious Zionism: Rabbi Kook and the Sabbatical Year Polemic, 26–27 Dine Israel—Studies in Halakhah and Jewish Law 45 (2009–2010)Google Scholar; Cohen, Asher & Susser, Bernard, The Sabbatical Year in Israeli Politics: An Intra-Religious and Religious-Secular Conflict from the Nineteenth through the Twenty-First Centuries, 52 J. Church & State 454 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
55 Shlomo Goren, Mishnat Hamedina: Mehkar Hilchati History Benos'im Ha'omdim Beruma Shel Medinat Israel Me'az T'kumata 281 (1999).
56 Mishne Torah, Shluhim Veshutafim 3, 7. There are several ways to interpret his position; Rabbi Goren is using that of Rabbi Avraham Karelitz, Ḥazon Ish – Shvee't 21, 5 (1952).
57 Goren,supra note 55, at 282.
58 Id. at 281.
59 Id. at 281–82.
60 Nathan Feinberg, Studies in International Law 182–262 (1979); J. H. W. Verzijl, International Law in Historical Perspective 302–03 (1968).
61 This position concerning Dina Demalchuta Dina can be found in medieval sages' literature. See, e.g., Shemuel Shilo, supra note 46.
62 Goren, supra note 55, at 283.
63 Shach ḤM 73:39.
64 A copy of the letter was supplied by the Goren family and will be discussed in depth in the future.
65 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, Aug. 22, 1864, 25 Stat. 1885; Geneva Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 135, 6 U.S.T. 3316. For the early stages of this field, see Hersch Lauterpacht, The Grotian Tradition in International Law, XXIII Bri. Y. B. Int'l L. 1 (1946).
66 Y. Ned. 9, 3–4.
67 Shlomo Goren, Musar Haleḥima Leor Hahalacha, in 1 Meshiv Milhama: She'elot Vetshuvot Be'inyanei Tzava, Milhama Uvitahon 5–6 (2d ed. 1994).
68 For his discussion of Rabbi Akivas's position, see Goren, Shlomo, Torat Hamoadim: Meḥkarim Umamrim Al Moadey Yisrael Leor Hahalacha 45–47 (3d ed. 2001).Google Scholar
69 The neo-Kantian philosopher Hermann Cohen had a similar understanding of this text. See Hermann Cohen, Religionder Vernunftausden Quellendes Judentums pt. 8, § 11 (1919).
70 For the use of unusual sources to create halachic laws of war, see Cohen, Stuart A., The Quest for a Corpus of Jewish Military Ethics in Modern Israel, 26 J. Isr. Hist. 35 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
71 See also 2 Samuel 8:13.
72 Shlomo Goren, 2 Meshiv Milhama: She'elot Vetshuvot Be'inyanei Tzava, Milhama Uvitahon 460 (2d ed. 1994). Similar ideas are addressed in vol. 1 39–40.
73 Geneva Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, 6 U.S.T. 3516.
74 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), June 8, 1977, art. 51, 1125 U.N.T.S. 3.
75 Later, he mentions that combatants who lay down their arms cannot be harmed. Goren, supra note 67, at 15.
76 Id. at 14.
77 Maimonides, Laws of Kings, 9:14.
78 Goren, supra note 67, at 28.
79 Goren,supra note 53, at 402. In another version of this article he chooses not to emphasize the humanitarian motif of his ruling. 3 Goren, supra note 72, at 239.
80 On the Zionist ethos of tohar haneshek (purity of weapons), see Moti Shalem, Tsava Meḥapes MashmaʻUt: ʻErkhe Irgun Ha-Haganah : Beḥinah Hisṭorit Shel Tahalikh Hitgavshutam Ṿe-Darkhe Hanḥaltam 1939–48 (2004) and Dan Yahav, Ṭohar Ha-Nesheḳ : Etos, Mitos U-MetsiʾUt 1936–56 (2002).
81 Goren, supra note 44, at 300.
82 Goren, supra note 67, at 25–29.
83 Id. at 244.
84 See supra note 43.
85 Goren, supra note 67, at 3.
86 Maimonides, Sanhedrin 12, 3.
87 M., Sanhedrin 4:5, BT, Sanhedrin 37a.
88 T., Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a).
89 Goren, supra note 67, at 3–6, 38–40.
90 Arnulf Becker Lorca, Universal International Law: Nineteenth-Century Histories of Imposition and Appropriation, 51 Harv. Int'l L.J. 477–78 (2010); see also Antony Anghie, Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteenth-Century International Law, 40 Harv. Int'l L.J. 1 (1999).