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taught] and we are obligated to extend them assistance and even to
desecrate Shabbos in order to save them…for we are only allowed to
hate such a person after he has refused to accept rebuke. At the end
of the sefer Ahavas Chessed, he writes that it is a mitzvah to love the
evildoers for this reason, citing this from the response of Maharam
Milublin who writes that the evildoers in our times have yet to be
rebuked because we do not know how to offer rebuke and we [there-
fore] consider them as acting under compulsion.”

In my humble opinion it seems that since members of the under-
world and their practices are universally rejected and regarded with
disgust [by society] it is difficult to consider them “children captured
by gentiles” and it is therefore questionable whether the Chazon Ish’s
comments are applicable to them, with the exception of the law that it
is a mitzvah to draw them close and bring them back to the right path
with ropes of love, as the Chazon Ish writes.

Here are the comments of the Ahavas Chessed (Marganisa Tava,
17), which the Chazon Ish quotes: “It is a mitzvah to seek one’s
colleague’s benefit, to pursue peace and to avoid transgressing the
negative precept ‘Do not hate your brother in your heart.’ (Vayikra
19:17) According to Maharam Mi’lublin it is forbidden to hate even a
completely wicked individual so long as one has not rebuked him. In
our generation nobody knows how to offer rebuke. Perhaps it he had
someone to rebuke him he would accepted it and in the meantime]
his bad nature causes him to act this way, as it is written (Avos 2:4),:
‘Do not judge your colleague until you have been in his position,’ and
certainly it is forbidden to curse him. Instead he should seek mercy
for him, that Hashem should help him to repent completely and he
should not give a nickname to one’s friend nor call him by a nickname
that others have called him by.”

At any rate, regarding the case of this promiscuous woman, we
must clarify whether she is one of those whom rebuke would help, in
which case we must have mercy on her. However, if she takes part in
robbery and murder and rebuke would have no effect upon her, there
is no obligation whatsoever to have mercy on her and to save her.

The halachah still remains to be determined in regard to a woman

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