Question:
I saw your article about torture and the fact that it is out of bounds for a Jewish state. What about the war King David fought with Moav, when he laid them down, what he did to them was torture and Yoav against Edom?
Answer:
Dear XXXXX,
[…] you may mean this article by R’ Chananya Weissman, which I approve of only in general. Feel free to contact our authors directly.
In short, I oppose torture (hard to define) as a secret, corrupting “judicial” tool against presumed innocents (incl. non-Jews) for many reasons (among them the subtle point here, unreliability, the central principle arising from the first Meshech Chochma on Parshas Ki Tetzei, and more), let alone the abomination of “secret police”.
But the Torah is full of public, measure-for-measure punishment, or retribution (also see Hilchos Rotzeach 2:5).
(Your examples may relate (what do you mean about Yoav?), instead, to war crimes where my brief opinion is not all is permitted. Not to mention State terrorism…)
Good Shabbos,
Hyehudi.org Editor