'A duty of the highest order': Top religious Zionist rabbis tell gov't to push for hostage deal

A group of senior religious-Zionist rabbis has called on the government to push for a “reasonable” hostage deal with Hamas to save the rest of the captives still held by the terrorist organization in Gaza.

The call to action was issued in a letter dated October 6 and signed by several religious Zionist rabbis from cities and settlements.

The signatories included some of the leading figures in religious Zionism, such as Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Samaria Regional Council’s Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Yitzhar’s Rabbi David Dudkevitch, Gush Regional Council’s Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon, Beit El’s Rabbi Ariel Berali, Ma’aleh Eliyahu rosh yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Gantz, Bnei David pre-military academy head Rabbi Yigal Levenstein, and Rabbi Oury Cherki.

The signatories stressed that rescuing the hostages is a great mitzvah and “a religious, moral, and national duty of the highest order.”

As such, the rabbis urged the government to work “without delay to return all the hostages, by any means necessary,” including a hostage deal.

This agreement with Hamas would have to be “reasonable,” however, meaning it would need to be deemed by political and security officials to pose no harm or danger to Israel’s security and would also not allow Hamas terrorism to return to Gaza.

Religious Zionist rabbis go from opposing hostage deal to calling for one

The call to push for a hostage deal is a departure from the previous stances of many top religious-Zionist rabbis, who had blasted previous attempted hostage deals for being too dangerous.

In July, several rabbis, including Rabbis Eliyahu and Ariel, blasted a proposed hostage deal that was under consideration at the time, taking particular issue with Hamas’s conditions, which would have “endangered all citizens of the state.”

In particular, they took issue with releasing Palestinian prisoners.

“The release of all dangerous monsters to allow the rebuilding of Hamas’s collapsing army, withdrawal from strategic areas, and cessation of fighting before the defeat of Hamas – the public cannot endure any of these and similar measures.”

However, they also acknowledged at the time the importance of releasing the hostages, which they said was “one of the greatest and most important commandments in the Torah.”

The mitzvah in question is pidyon shvuyim (redemption of captives), which stresses the high level of importance of working to save Jews who were kidnapped or unjustly imprisoned by any means, including ransom negotiations or by force.

At the time of writing, there is currently no known proposed hostage deal on the table.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.