n escape to those who would flee to save their lives." threat to Jewish security today is that those Euro- is' (M.T., Hil. Melachim VI:7). pean stockpiles have never been completely re- supplied. If Israel needed them again today, it is Maimonides believes this requirement was directly not at all clear that we would be able to meet that commanded to Moses on Mt. Sinai. need. Why is that? Because in spite of an eight Another example is the prohibition against waging year massive defense buildup, the Reagan adminis- war in such a manner so as to destroy God's cre- tration has preferred to waste its resources on fool- ation (i.e. the Earth and its capability to sustain hardy projects like "Star Wars" and the MX life). missile. We would advocate that those resources be spent, in part, by beefing up our conventional read- "When in you war against a city you have to be- iness which would be in Israel's best interest. siege it a long time in order to capture it, you must •oil not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. Sixth: that Israel has benefited through the joint de- You may eat of them, but you must not cut them velopment of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw be- program—a small piece of the Strategic Defense \fore you into the besieged city? Only trees which Initiative (S.D.I.) program. Even if you discount you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you growing concerns that Israeli participation in this may cut them down for constructing siegeworks project creates a scientist brain-drain within Israel against the city that is waging war on you, until it by taking Israeli scientists away from projects that has been reduced." (Deut. 20:19 & 20:20). would more directly benefit Israel, Zakheim again seems to suggest a simplistic "all or nothing" In commenting on this verse in Deuteronomy, the approach—that we must support S.D.I, entirely in Talmud and later the Rambam expand this concept order to support the Arrow anti-ballistic missile to include a ban on the destruction of other things program. Why should we support the S.D.I, pro- which are vital to ongoing civilian life: i.e. a prohi- gram, which could spend an equivalent of our en- bition against burning, breaking, or destroying tire U.S. national budget vainly trying to develop a food, clothing, utensils or other household items space based high-tech intercontinental laser satelite (Shabbat 105b). system that most credible scientists view as prepos- terous, just to support an Israeli project to build a Clearly, the intent of both of the examples above is ground-launched short-range conventional anti- to preserve God's creation, to be certain that life ballistic missile system? If we believe the Arrow could and would continue even after wars had been project is good for Israel then we should support it, fought. Nuclear war makes a mockery of such cer- but that does not require our support for the failed tainties. The support of any weapons system which S.D.I, program. increases the likelihood of such a war runs counter to these teachings. Finally: that "the American defense program is too large, and the potential for inefficiency too great, A fourth Zakheim contention: that unilateral disar- to tolerate blind support for across-the-board bud- mament does not deter war nor enhance security. getary increases year after year. Inefficiency breeds As a professional who has worked in the field for weakness, not strength, and therefore defeats the years, Zakheim should know that no major national very purpose for which the military has been estab- Jewish organization supports unilateral disarma- lished." Although these words of Zakheim's seem ment. Our organization, like all of the national to be diametrically opposed to some of his previous Jewish organizations involved in arms control pol- arguments, I agree completely. • icy (as well as most of the non-Jewish national reli- gious bodies and secular "peace groups"), support bilateral and verifiable reductions by both the U.S. Hard but realistic choices for peace and U.S.S.R. That is why our organization sup- Robert B. Krinsky ported a bilateral nuclear freeze as well as the By contorting the application of Jewish law, omit- I.N.F. treaty and why we will continue to support a ting some of its fundamental tenets, and distorting bilateral, mutually verifiable, comprehensive test the realities of the contemporary problem of sur- ban. It is also why every public opinion poll finds vival, peace, and justice, Dov Zakheim defends that Jews in America subscribe to this view in over- perpetuation of the arms race and the continuation whelming proportions. of a large permanent war economy in the United What Must, not what Might we Do States. A fifth contention; that the U.S. defense stockpiles ROBERT KRINSKY directs the program of the Na- benefited Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. tional Commission for Economic Conversion and What Zakheim doesn't point out is that the one real Disarmament, Washington, D.C.

45 Zakheim seizes upon the Talmudic principle of signal of an attack is real or a consequence of hu- j Pikuach Nefesh, regard for human life, as the ratio- man error or technological malfunction. nale for the preparation of war and the pursuit of • The usefulness of non-nuclear ('General Pur- the military doctrine of deterrence (the formulation pose') forces to nuclear arms states is restricted in ; that security can best be achieved through a con- the direct relation of nuclear armed states to each j vincing ability to threaten the security of an exist- other. The military commanders of nuclear states i ing or potential adversary). However, it is Pikuach are indoctrinated to win. When two such states Nefesh and other doctrines in Jewish law (cited be- confront each other in a military contest it is rea- low) which sanctify efforts to reverse the arms sonable to expect a swift escalation through the i race, plan for conversion of military institutions and personnel to civilian pursuits, and strengthen range of weapons' destructiveness, for both com- institutions for resolving conflict without the threat manders cannot win at the same time. or use of force. "The sword comes into the world For example, U. S. Army doctrine set forth in Op- for the delay of justice, for the perversion of jus- erations Field Manual 100-5 instructs soldiers to tice, and on account of the offense of those who in- "prepare to win the first battle of the next war. | terpret the Torah not according to its true sense Once the war is upon us, we shall aim at emerging J (Shelo Kehalachah)." (Abot. V.ll). triumphant from the second, third and final battles i as well." If officers are indoctrinated to bring up In a world plagued with more than 50,000 nuclear greater fire power to prevent defeat, then greater warheads, large caches of chemical and biological fire power includes nuclear weapons. j weapons, hundreds of wars, a burgeoning arms ba- zaar, horrendous environmental degradation, food • The World War II model for the use of non- 11 shortages and general human neglect, it can hardly nuclear weapons for subduing an opponent is not j be asserted that security is attained by threatening necessarily transferable when an opponent operates ! one's neighbor. The aforementioned calamities, and by the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare. The j many others are either precipitated or exacerbated experience of many countries during this century I by the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars a (most recently by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan) year to war-making pursuits. Today, security must supports the conclusion that guerrilla forces are not I be sought through mutual efforts which build trust readily overcome by sophisticated military forma- I and bring people together on common ground. tions when three conditions are met: (1) when peo- "Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself." (Lev. ple are prepared to sacrifice their lives for a J XX, 18). common purpose; (2) when the military-political 1 effort is supported by a part of the surrounding Zakheim is unable to recognize the limits of mili- population or a part of the government; (3) when tary power. Key aspects of these limits are enumer- the military-political opponent of the guerrillas | ated below: finds it difficult to differentiate the guerrilla opera- | How Much Power do we Truly Need? tive from the surrounding population. Under these \ conditions even superbly equipped armed forces [I • It is not possible to destroy a people more than that wield immense fire power, as the U. S. forces once. Therefore, increasing the size, quantity, accu- did in Vietnam and the Soviet forces did in Af- racy, and speed of nuclear weapons yields no defin- ghanistan, cannot necessarily overcome the able military advantage. opponent. • A community or society that is destroyed cannot The Realism of Initiatives to Peace be politically dominated. One traditional objective of military power is to make possible sustained po- Zakheim erroneously identifies disarmament as a litical control of another society. That kind of ob- unilateral process. Disarmament is a multilateral ii jective is frustrated by the destructive capability of process entailing the diminution of the power of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The ef- war-making institutions through carefully phased \ fects of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl suggest and inspected reduction of armed forces, weapons, ' the danger of uninhabitability resulting from a budgets, as well as military-serving facilities, labo- I 'conventional' weapon striking a civilian nuclear ratories, bases, and people under their control. f power facility. Concomitant with these processes of phased reduc- | tions and conversion is the strengthening of inter- • The trend in the arms race toward weapon sys- national institutions for conflict resolution. tems and command-and-control facilities of in- creasing technological sophistication, lethality, and Twenty-six years ago President John F. Kennedy speed creates a destabilizing environment where and several of his close advisers were actively en- there is progressively less time to determine if a gaged in the formulation of plans for achieving

46 general and complete disarmament (GCD). In 1962, law of the land. Zakheim is oblivious to the Consti- the U. S. Government presented to the Eighteen tutional crises precipitated by the concentration of i Nation Disarmament Conference in Geneva an military, political, and economic power in the exec- 111 "Outline of Basic Provisions of a Treaty on General utive branch since World War II. The separation of 1 and Complete Disarmament." This treaty outline powers is out of kilter. One manifestation of this ' formulated an integrated three-stage disarmament phenomenon is the political use of nuclear weapons process pursuant to the principles enumerated in technology by the executive branch. Nuclear the 1961 U.S.-Soviet Joint Statement of Agreed weapons have been deliberately used by presidents Principles for Disarmament Negotiations. The Joint to amass a substantial amount of decision making , Statement was the first bi-lateral U.S.-Soviet docu- power at the expense of the legislative branch. In- ment concerning GCD. deed, the Congress (with occasional dissenters) has acquiesced in the transfer of power. Senator Albert Today there is not one person in the executive Gore recently stated that "technology has changed branch of government exploring the political, mili- the way the constitution balances relative power of j, tary or economic procedures for a multilateral re- the President and the Congress with respect to the ?, versal of the arms race. use of weapons in some situations." I i The Perils of Having Weapons at Hand Reversing the Move Away from Peace The policy of nuclear deterrence which Zakheim Explicitly or implicitly most members of Congress embraces, puts the United States and all of human- seem to accept the rationale that nuclear technology ity on a suicide course. This is an egregious viola- forces the abridgement of its war-making powers tion of Jewish law. Just as the principle of Pikuach granted in the Constitution. The War Powers Act of Nefesh enjoins that all must be done to save life 1973 did not alter this situation as U. S. military lie which is imperiled, Jewish law forbids any action experiences in Grenada, Lebanon, Libya, and the which would hasten death (Job 1:21, Av.Zar 18a: Persian Gulf have shown. Congress has accepted a i! Sh. Ar. YD 345). technological deterministic rationale for the politi- Ot cal process which posits that because of both the Claims that nuclear deterrence have "kept the awesome danger of nuclear weapons and the speed peace" since 1945 are specious. Nuclear weapons with which a decision to use them is required, have been used as a cover for lower level overt and there is no time for consultation with either Con- covert military activity at the cost of millions of gress. Furthermore, since the potential for nuclear lives and billions of dollars in destruction and di- hostilities is constant, the president must have a version of resources from urgent human needs. wide degree of freedom in the use of military Much of the military activity of the United States power. As a consequence of tacit acceptance of a has been applied to support repressive regimes policy of nuclear technological determinism there throughout the Third World and to overthrow duly has been no effective Congressional action to regu- elected governments. This has occurred through di- late presidential "police actions" whether overt or rect U. S. military effort and via proxies. For exam- covert, nor any serious examination of proposals to ple, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi documents in his reverse the arms race. book, The Israeli Connection: Who Israel Arms and Why, that the Israeli government supplies weapons Practices consistent with adherence to the princi- and training to repressive regimes and insurgent ples of Dina Demalkhuta Dina, Pikuach Nefesh, forces worldwide. Much of this activity is carried and mitzvot, include supporting parallel policies of out with the consent and sometimes even the coor- disarmament and economic conversion planning. A dination of U. S. government officials. Supplying practical starting point for disarmament is consid- repression is not consistent with Jewish law. "What eration of a fifteen-year program for common secu- message did the Torah bring to Israel? Take upon rity and disarmament drafted by Dr. Marcus G. yourselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, vie Raskin, co-founder of the Institute for Policy one with the other in the fear of G-d and practice Studies and formerly a disarmament adviser on loving deeds toward one another." (Sifre Deut. 323; President Kennedy's National Security Council. 138). The necessary economic provisions for reversal of Zakheim attempts to buttress his defense of a war- the arms race are embodied in the Defense Eco- fare state by summoning the principle of Dina De- nomic Adjustment Act sponsored by Representative malkhuta Dina (the halachic rule that the law of the Ted Weiss (D.NY) and fifty-nine colleagues in the country is binding and, in certain cases, is to be U. S. House of Representatives. This legislative eferred to Jewish law). For Jews dwelling in the proposal would result in a tremendous economic Enited States, the U. S. constitution is the supreme windfall for the U. S. economy without massive economic dislocation in defense-dependent commu- AMERICAN JEWISH YEARBOOK, 1988. Davit?. ' nities and industries. Singer, ed.. JPS. $28.50. The dual disarmament-conversion policy is a com- was astonished again recently to meet another rea- • prehensive approach for Americans to extricate Isonably well-informed Jew who didn't know this mar- | themselves from the political, economic, and moral velous treasure of information on Jews, Jewish organi- , quagmire of the current warfare system. New ur- zations, publications, federations—with telephone ! gencies and new opportunities beckon the sincere numbers and zip codes, yet—deaths and calendars, the r devotion of our energies in this direction for our American Jewish Committee annually makes available l sake, and our children's. There is no greater mitz- to us. So this year's special essays weren't newsworthy, \ vah than to genuinely strive to live up to the image still the volume is indispensable. in which we were all created. JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS. Michael Sher- . (Dov Zakheim will respond to his critics in our next mis. Indiana. $29.95. issue.) onderfully helpful lists of books, articles, organi- \ Wzations, meetings, speakers' bureaus, etc. make 1 this your first choice when you want to find someone or | HALAKHAH AND POLITICS. Sol Roth. Ktav. something in this field. j $16.95. rbanely yet with evident piety, the author explores THE LAND OF ISRAEL. Eliezer Schweid. Herzl. U15 political themes to convey the Jewish idea of a ne of Israel's most impressive thinkers applies his state. Eager to show where traditional Judaism and Ointellectual skill and learning to the bases, histori- I modern democracy can co-exist, he respectfully de- cal and contemporary, of the Jewish claim to the Land. {; murs when Jewish values are at stake. The title led me to For all the admirable clarity and judiciousness, it's r hope for more searching analysis, e.g., engagement tough to make a largely secular Zionist case—and I with serious problems: the specific, like Maimonides' don't think the reason is the recent Israeli elections. ruling we coerce Noachides by the sword, and the gen- ————————————i eral, like the difference between Jewish law for a gentile as against a Jewish state. Purim brooks of no delay! it's feb. 21 Now, please, send us your Purim humor for our I SAVING THE JEWISH FAMILY. Gerald B. Bubis. deadline, Tuesday, February 21. I1 University. $14.50. Or send a Jewish historical sound bite: risply and authoritatively, the social science data Cwhich applies to our perennial American worry is Amalie Freud: Well, Siggy's Bar Mitzvah is off. His I summarized and applied in ways social workers and melamed says he won't learn. Just sits there silently j, other community leaders will find helpful. Of course, I and will only say, "Well how do you feel about j would have liked the cumulative 1970-82 bibliography that?" I wouldn't mind if he didn't daydream so, better if it had included articles from Sh'ma. and play with his dolls, giving them names like Ptah, Osiris and Earth Mother. And where he NIGHT TALES OF THE SHAMMAS. Michael Jay picked up words like cathexis and abreaction, I'll Katz. Aronson. $35. never know. We'd put him into therapy but you know how backward Vienna is. ore folk tales from every corner of the Jewish dis- Mpersion are gathered and retold here than you are Hebrew lovers, try Fractured Hebrew a la Rabbi likely to find in one other place. Putting them in the Kenneth Roseman: "What did the Israeli say about | mouth of an old shammas relating them to his rabbi adds the PLO terrorist? 'HAKEEM MOTI!' " a constancy of style that smoothes our way—but only if Our address is P.O. Box 567, Pt. Wash., N.Y. you can take lots of magic, mystery and shmaltz. 11050—our FAX number is 516-767-9315.

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