Sunday, July 06, 2008

Young Hero of the Bulldozer Terror Attack

From YouTube 2/7/08:



The young man in the blue tee-shirt is an inspiring hero. He borrowed the weapon from a bystander, and mounted the bulldozer to get at the terrorist who was protected from the police shots by the armoured windows of the machine.

Look at how he does what he needs to, to stop the murderer, then carefully checks the revolver the ensure that it's safe before handing it back to the owner... It's a calm calculated act of heroism, but how sad that our young men are called on to do this to protect the nation?

Note that this act is a mitzvah in accordance with Din rodef (“the case of the pursuer”), which might be more idiomatically translated into English as “the right of self-defense.”

It refers to the rabbinic precept that, as articulated by Maimonides, says:

“Every Jew is obligated to save a pursued person from his pursuer, even if this means killing the pursuer.”

A “pursuer,” in the rabbinic context, is someone who is a threat to someone’s life. If you see a murderer pursuing others in the street to kill them, he is a rodef and it is your duty, if you can carry it out without risk to your own life, to stop him in any way you can — even by shooting and killing him.

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