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would not be considered “helping him out of a pit” because the ter-
rorist wanted to put an end to his suffering by committing suicide and
by motivating him to continue living we are prolonging his suffering
with the purpose of getting him continue undergoing his punish-
ment. This help is actually to his detriment and is not considered to
be “helping him out of a pit.”
As to the second point, advising a non-Jew not to commit a sin does
not under the rubric of “do not favor them,” because the counselor’s
goal is to further Heaven’s honor by getting the non-Jew to refrain
from acting contrary to the Creator’s will. This doesn’t resemble the
case of Daniel (Bava Basra 4a) where the sin had already been done
and Daniel was advising Nevuchadnezzar to atone for it.
Regarding the third topic, it is certainly forbidden to keep murder-
ers alive who pursue the Jewish nation and seek every opportunity
of destroying them. However, my father-in-law zt”l, ruled that since
there is concern of arousing the nations’ animosity, if they can say
that the Jews do not treat their enemies properly and will even say
that they encourage them to commit suicide. They will thus say that
the Jewish nation doesn’t conduct itself according to the norms of the
other nations’ conduct. This may even result in desecration of Heav-
en’s Name and they too will not treat Jews properly and will endanger
the lives of the Jews under their dominion. Under such conditions it
is permitted to extend psychotherapy to them1.
ɳ Summary and conclusion
Owing to our concern for the welfare of the Jewish nation dwelling
among the nations of world and our concern for Jews who are ruled
by hostile governments, and also in order to prevent desecration of
Heaven’s Name, appropriate psychotherapy should be extended to
imprisoned murderers. We all pray, “Guardian of Yisrael, protect the
remnant of Yisrael and may Yisrael – who say, ‘Shema Yisrael’ – not
be lost”!
1. As we have explained at length earlier, in siman 289.
Psychotherapy for Terrorists 2 493
