An additional approach to the question of freeing terrorists is by comparison with the halachah whereby one may not pay too high a price for redeeming captives. Is the freeing of terrorists too high a price? Would this fall under the prohibition of paying a ransom that encourages more kidnappings?
Addressing this issue, we find an interesting ruling in the writings of Rabbi Shaul Israeli (Shu”t Chavas Binyanim sha'ar 2, no. 15). In his opinion, “Soldiers that are sent to military service by the State for the defense of the people do so under an unwritten yet obvious agreement that the State will do all in its powers (within reason) to redeem them in case they fall into captivity. [...] This is an obligation that the State accepts upon itself in exchange for military service, and therefore, it is considered as though the State is redeeming itself, and the restriction of paying more than the captive’s value does not apply.”
According to Rabbi Israeli, the redemption of soldiers from captivity is comparable to a person’s redemption of himself or of his wife. As we saw above, such cases are not bound by the restriction of too high a price. In this light, Rabbi Israeli rules that the State must be ready to release terrorists for the sake of returning captured soldiers: no price is too great.
Yet there is room to question the comparison between a person’s redemption of his own self (which Chazal did not wish to restrain) and the redemption of a single person by the entire community—and in this case by the entire country.
Rabbi Ovadia relies on a different approach in tackling the question of “At what price?” He quotes several poskim who rule that in cases where a captive’s life is in tangible danger it is permitted to redeem him at any price. As noted above this is the opinion of Tosfos and the Yam Shel Shlomah (though as noted above, he ultimately justifies the action of Maharam MiRuttenberg even though his life was in danger), to which Rabbi Ovadia adds several additional poskim (see also Pischei Teshuvah 252:4). Based on this principle, he concludes that it is permitted to release terrorists for the sake of redeeming Jewish captives, whose presence in the claws of a terrorist organization is certainly an imminent danger to their lives.
It is important to note that it will sometimes be necessary to consider additional factors in weighing the difficult decision of releasing prisoners for the sake of redeeming captives. These can include public morale, army motivation, the nature of the terrorists and the dangers they pose, and other factors that depend on each case and circumstance.
May these difficult halachos become obsolete, and may we see the final redemption speedily and in our days.
(Largely based on a halachah write-up written by R’ Yehoshua Pfeffer)
