Dear Jew in the City, With the pending hostage deal, does Jewish philosophy discuss if we should save lives if it means letting dangerous people free and sacrificing more lives? Thanks, Daniel Dear Daniel, Thanks for your question. This is indeed a topic of conversation, but there are a lot of moving parts and no […]

Late Saturday night, the world received dreaded news – six Jewish hostages taken by Hamas on October 7  had been executed by the terror organization shortly before the IDF reached them. Among the slain was American citizen, Hersh Polin-Goldberg, whose parents have become symbols of an indefatigable fight to rescue their beloved son held in […]

Dear Jew in the City, Are there specific circumstances under which the mitzvah of freeing hostages takes precedence over other mitzvot? Sincerely, Aaron Dear Aaron, Thanks for your question. You want to know if the mitzvah of freeing hostages ever takes priority? It almost always takes priority! The story of pidyon shvuyim (the mitzvah of […]