What does it mean to fight an eth­i­cal war? This has become an essen­tial ques­tion as Israel defends itself on the bat­tle­field and in the court of pub­lic opin­ion. 

Wars — includ­ing cur­rent con­flicts in Israel — are inher­ent­ly bru­tal. What does Judaism say about the bomb­ing of Hiroshi­ma, the War­saw Ghet­to upris­ing, or how to fight for inde­pen­dence? What about pre­emp­tive attacks in 1967 or after 9/11? Can we fight ter­ror­ists in urban set­tings while pro­tect­ing our sol­diers, avoid­ing non-com­bat­ants, and pre­serv­ing our pub­lic image? 

Ethics of Our Fight­ers tells the sto­ry of these polit­i­cal dilem­mas and moral debates. It draws from the piv­otal his­tor­i­cal moments of the last one hun­dred years to weave togeth­er the most impor­tant ideas of con­tem­po­rary ethi­cists with the insights of the great­est rab­binic schol­ars. Jews and non-Jews alike, from the halls of Con­gress and West Point to batei midrash and IDF bases, can draw from Jew­ish wis­dom on these life-and-death mat­ters. This world­view that is at once dis­tinct­ly Jew­ish and more broad­ly insight­ful can help all civ­i­lized nations fight wise­ly and act nobly.