Freeing Hostages
: A man in my family has been taken as a hostage by bandits in South America . How far may the family and the community go in order to obtain his release?(Daniel Stern , New York, New York )
ANSWER: The discussion of hostages and their ransom is ancient; captivity as a hostage was considered a terrible fate. The falmudic discussion of a verse in Jeremiah came to this concluSl0n as captivity was the last of a list of horrors(Jer 15.2; B B 8a). The later tradition elaborated further, and Maimonides warned that numerous commandments were violated by anyone who 'gnored the plight of hostages or even slightly delayed their redemption(Had Hil. Matnot Aniyim 8.10; Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 352), Among charitable obligations, the redemption of fostages was primary; it took precedence over feeding the poor orbuilding a synagogue, and funds to be expended for this purPose could be moved from any other obligation(B B 8b). Even "ie sale of a Torah was permitted for the redemption of captives Seder Hahinukh#613).
n The primary obligation rested on the immediate family, yet "ie obligation was also communal. However, matters were slightly different if the redemption posed a danger to the comTunity. So, for example, Meir of Rothenburg refused to allow mself to be redeemed as that would have impoverished the ““Mmunity and set a precedent for taking communal leaders '0stage. He, therefore, died in captivity(H. Graetz, Geschichte “1 Juden, Vol.7 pp. 203 ff. 476 f£.).
8 The redemption of a hostage is a major mitzvah; all the mem+S of the family and their friends should participate in it. In "US instance, the community may also be appropriately [Volved. Your description indicates that the man was taken "Ostage by bandits; this act does not have broader political implitions as, for example, the taking of hostages by the Palestinian eration Front. Such efforts at blackmail of Western govern