Rabbi Says Sleeping With the Enemy Is Okay For Israelis
“Valentine operatives,” “honey traps” and “honey pots” have devilishly sweet names for a reason: The phrases refer to those men and women who seduce enemy operatives to gain key information or facilitate their capture. And according to a new ruling by Rabbi Ari Shvat, sleeping with the enemy goes “above and beyond” and is a “spiritual blessing.” In other words: Go for it.
Shvat’s ruling appears in “Illicit sex for the sake of national security,” a study published by the Zomet Institute, a non-profit that studies the intersection of religion and secular life.
“The act of illicit sex with the enemy is almost always forbidden unless there is no other solution, and only after asking explicit religious permission from a leading halachic authority,” he told msnbc.com.
The guidelines are as complex as many modern love stories. Targeting unmarried operatives is, of course, preferred, Schvat wrote in his report, “but if there is no other choice but to use a married women… her husband should divorce her and marry her again after the fact.” If a man cannot divorce his wife before a mission, he must do so after; as YNet.com explains, “according to the Halacha she would have committed adultery — even if it was for the sake of a national cause.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.