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Assisting the Guilty 39 ee tt east—————
Rabbi Tendler’s actions may seem to be in violation of halakhah if the unenhanced, simple and literal reading of Shulkhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 488.9 is used as the standard, and if Rabbi Yehoshua'’s reprimand of Rabbi Eleazar is understood as restricting the behavior of pious scholars(of whom Rabbi Dr. Moses Tendler would certainly be one). But there is another approach to the text in Baba Metzia 83b-84a. This second interpretation rejects the opinion of Rabbi Eleazar and elevates that of Rabbi Joshua to the normative Jewish standard'>—an opinion which initially prohibits informing the authorities of criminal behavior. If Rabbi Joshua's opinion is normative, then it would be permitted to assist the gentile secular government and its criminal prosecutions only when the person poses a threat to others or to the community through his conduct. These situations are based upon the Jewish law of a rodef, a pursuer. The law of the rodef“not merely permits, but mandates that a bystander come to the rescue of a putative victim whose life is threatened and[even] that, if there is no other way of preserving the life of the intended victim, rescue be effected by taking the life of the aggressor.” Under this reading the dispute between Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Joshua takes on a different character.
Rabbi Eleazar can be seen as having come upon an official of the secular authority, the King who is apprehending individuals and delivering them for execution without at all endeavoring to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. The police officer clearly recognized that his actions were unjust, but pleaded in his defense the doctrine of force majeure(“What shall I do? It is the command of the King!”). In all probability, the King in the Talmudic tale was well aware of the fact that arrests were being made indiscriminately, but pursued such a policy because of a desire to instill fear in the hearts of thieves in an effort to cause them to desist from their nefarious conduct. Execution of the innocent was designed either(a) to intimidate those who were indeed criminals or(b) to secure the cooperation of the citizenry, who would themselves bring pressure to bear upon the thieves to desist from their criminal activities. Either way, de facto, innocent persons were being put to death because of the activities of thieves. Thus, thieves were“pursuers” of the innocent. Since the thieves refused to abandon their criminal activities they were branded as“pursuers” by Rabbi Eleazar who declared that“I am eradicating thorns from the vineyard.” The import of that state