We have to kill whoever comes to kill us, but we also have to justify everyone to a scale of merit!
An article from The Jerusalem Post:
My comment:
I just heard a beautiful explanation from my teacher, Rav, in relation to this concept, based on the most fundamental principles of original Judaism.
According to Judaism, and according to the writing of many of our greatest sages, we have to judge everyone on the scale of merit. This means that we uphold the principle of “None else besides Him,” meaning that there is only a single force acting in reality.
Thus, behind every action, behind anything any person performs, stands the single governing force of reality.
From their own point of view, according to their conditions and understanding of the world, each and every human being acts “righteously.”
Until we develop a qualitatively higher, objective, and “total” perception of reality, experiencing and understanding everything from the total and perfect “higher viewpoint,” we do not understand how and why people act.
On the other hand, we are obligated to protect ourselves and “kill whoever comes to kill us.” We have to neutralize all the enemies that want to kill Jews and want to destroy Israel.
We can be justly proud of our abilities to protect ourselves and subdue our enemies.
However, we must not hate them; we do not aim for revenge; we kill to protect ourselves and our children like we would kill a dangerous beast in the wild that attacks us to kill us.
We have to refine our intentions and hold on to the basic principles of original Judaism, which is the most life-affirming and life-supporting Wisdom that exists.