Israel’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi, Ha’Rishon Lezion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, was asked on the Moreshet channel of Israel Radio if a Cohen soldier who killed a terrorist can still raise his hands with the priestly blessing.
The blessing, borrowed from the Book of Numbers 6:24-26, reads: “May God bless you, and keep you; May God shine His face upon you and be gracious to you; May God lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”
The soldier told the rabbi during a Halachic Q&A program that he is a Cohen-Jewish priest and that as part of his service in the Border Police he shot dead a terrorist who attempted to stab civilians in Jerusalem.
The soldier asked the Chief Rabbi: “Will I be able to continue raising my hands, since there are opinions that a Cohen who killed a gentile is disqualified from raising his hands and reciting the priestly blessing.”
In response, the Rishon Lezion replied that, indeed, Jewish Law determines that a Cohen who killed a Gentile for no reason should not raise his hands in the priestly blessing, but whoever killed lawfully, defending himself, as in “If he came to kill you, kill him first” (Tractate Berachot 58.) can raise their hands without fear.
The Rishon Lezion added, “A Cohen who confronts a terrorist —there is no greater example of being forced to act, and if he killed the terrorist — then he kept a mitzvah for killing a terrorist, may he be blessed by the Supreme One and he can raise his hands without fear.”
Rabbi Yosef blessed the soldiers and police who defend the people of Israel throughout the country, and said: “Let them not fear their detractors, for the are acting righteously.”
In recent days, there has been a debate over whether it is permissible to eliminate a terrorist who has already been neutralized. While Rabbi David Stav, head of Tzohar, forbade it, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tsfat, said terrorists must not be left alive.
