Eikev 5786 Is Moses endorsing genocide and collective punishment? How can we walk in God's ways and also violently dispossess and harm others?

It's a simple question: am I to value all life and welcome the stranger, or am I to mercilessly obliterate entire groups of people?

This week's Torah portion, Parashat Eikev, the third of the eleven in the Book of Deuteronomy, includes sublime language which is part of the Shema prayer (v'ahavta) and also the most shocking injunctions to commit vast cruelties, morally challenging and simply, viscerally wrong.

This year, 5786; this day, 26 July 2026 / 12 Av 5786, it's time for me to say out loud - and perhaps for you as well: I'm confused. How can I walk in God's ways and / but also follow God's instructions to wipe out / blot out / destroy / be merciless towards the inhabitants of the land I am entering?

How can it be that the Divine Source who gave me, gave us, the Ten Utterances (Commandments) as well as so many other mitzvot about welcoming and loving the stranger, honoring life, taking special care for the most vulnerable among us... how can this same Source insist that I participate in collective punishment and genocide?

"Collective punishment is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law, specifically protected by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 87 of the Third Geneva Convention. It forbids punishing any person for an offense they did not personally commit." from the International Humanitarian Law Database

This year, today, this question is inescapable for me. Perhaps it is for you as well. Even a young child would ask this question? "The Torah teaches me to honor life... but also says that we should wipe out entire groups of people?"

The first two verses in our parsha:

דברים ז׳:א׳-ב׳

(א) כִּ֤י יְבִֽיאֲךָ֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה בָא־שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּ֑הּ וְנָשַׁ֣ל גּֽוֹיִם־רַבִּ֣ים ׀ מִפָּנֶ֡יךָ הַֽחִתִּי֩ וְהַגִּרְגָּשִׁ֨י וְהָאֱמֹרִ֜י וְהַכְּנַעֲנִ֣י וְהַפְּרִזִּ֗י וְהַֽחִוִּי֙ וְהַיְבוּסִ֔י שִׁבְעָ֣ה גוֹיִ֔ם רַבִּ֥ים וַעֲצוּמִ֖ים מִמֶּֽךָּ׃ (ב) וּנְתָנָ֞ם יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ לְפָנֶ֖יךָ וְהִכִּיתָ֑ם הַחֲרֵ֤ם תַּחֲרִים֙ אֹתָ֔ם לֹא־תִכְרֹ֥ת לָהֶ֛ם בְּרִ֖ית וְלֹ֥א תְחׇנֵּֽם׃

Deuteronomy 7:1-2

(1) When the ETERNAL your God brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and dislodges many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations much larger than you— (2) and the ETERNAL your God delivers them to you and you defeat them, you must doom them to destruction: grant them no terms and give them no quarter.

Try as we might, we cannot escape the presence of collective punishment and genocide, and not only its endorsement but commands to enact it, in the Torah.

Genocide: Definition (from the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect):
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Article III In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Elements of the crime
The Genocide Convention establishes in Article I that the crime of genocide may take place in the context of an armed conflict, international or non-international, but also in the context of a peaceful situation. The latter is less common but still possible. The same article establishes the obligation of the contracting parties to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide.

I have written extensively here on Sefaria about collective punishment. Please see, among others:

Matot Masei 5784 Plagues of Vengeance | A Pacifist Commentary - exploring vengeance, collective punishment, and the urgent need for peace.

Vayera 5785 Abraham and Collective Punishment | The Innocent Along With the Guilty - Abraham argues with God; did he pass the test in Genesis 18? Considering Vayera 5785 through the lens of collective punishment.

Teztaveh 5785 - Confronting collective punishment in this week's Haftarah - The Haftarah for Tetzaveh includes instructions for collective punishment; at this moment in history, it is essential for us to explore this with clarity and a commitment to ethics.

Nitzavim 5785 - Taking a stand against collective punishment - Reading Nitzavim today: taking a stand against collective punishment

Vaera 5786 - Hardened hearts: we are inured to cruelty. The plagues are problematic. Collective punishment, again, in our Torah - The plagues as collective punishment: are our hearts hardened? Are we inured to violence towards others

Matot Masei 5786 | Full stop: Moses orders collective punishment - Do the disasters and calamities we have suffered justify our afflicting others with calamities and disasters?

The question I raised in the most recent of these - (Matot Masei 5786) -
do the disasters and calamities we have suffered justify our afflicting others with calamaties and disasters? - is an urgently presssing one.

You will search in vain among classical commentators and much modern commentary as well for the considerations of this question I am raising.

Early in Parashat Eikev, we will read at length such verses as these:

דברים ז׳:ט״ז

(טז) וְאָכַלְתָּ֣ אֶת־כׇּל־הָֽעַמִּ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ נֹתֵ֣ן לָ֔ךְ לֹא־תָח֥וֹס עֵֽינְךָ֖ עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וְלֹ֤א תַעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־אֱלֹ֣הֵיהֶ֔ם כִּֽי־מוֹקֵ֥שׁ ה֖וּא לָֽךְ׃ {ס}

Deuteronomy 7:16

(16) You shall destroy all the peoples that the ETERNAL your God delivers to you, showing them no pity. And you shall not worship their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

destroy all the peoples... show them no pity. All the peoples. What does this mean? Every single person, as we see a few verses later:

דברים ז׳:כ״ג-כ״ד

(כג) וּנְתָנָ֛ם יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ לְפָנֶ֑יךָ וְהָמָם֙ מְהוּמָ֣ה גְדֹלָ֔ה עַ֖ד הִשָּׁמְדָֽם׃ (כד) וְנָתַ֤ן מַלְכֵיהֶם֙ בְּיָדֶ֔ךָ וְהַאֲבַדְתָּ֣ אֶת־שְׁמָ֔ם מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם לֹֽא־יִתְיַצֵּ֥ב אִישׁ֙ בְּפָנֶ֔יךָ עַ֥ד הִשְׁמִֽדְךָ֖ אֹתָֽם׃

Deuteronomy 7:23-24

(23) The ETERNAL your God will deliver them up to you, throwing them into utter panic until they are wiped out. (24) Their kings will be delivered into your hand, and you shall obliterate their name from under the heavens; no one shall stand up to you, until you have wiped them out.

We are told to traumatize and then to obliterate.

We shall obliterate their name from under the heavens... what comes to mind for me today: the huge number of entire Palestinian families (some estimates say more than 2,700 families) where every single person in the entire family has been killed - "erased from the civil registry". Obliterated.

"According to the government media office in Gaza and reports by al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, more than 2,700 Palestinian families have been completely erased from the civil registry after all of their members were killed by the Israeli army."More than 6,020 other families have been left with only one surviving member," according to the government media office.Human rights organisations said the figures illustrate the unprecedented human cost of the conflict and have called for independent investigations into attacks that wiped out entire families, as well as accountability for any violations of international humanitarian law."

also see: Casualties of the Gaza war

Later in Parashat Eikev we are reminded, repeatedly, to walk in God's ways, to follow the commandments:

דברים י׳:י״ב-י״ד

(יב) וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מָ֚ה יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָ֠ה אֶת־יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכׇל־דְּרָכָיו֙ וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ (יג) לִשְׁמֹ֞ר אֶת־מִצְוֺ֤ת יְהֹוָה֙ וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לְט֖וֹב לָֽךְ׃ (יד) הֵ֚ן לַיהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וּשְׁמֵ֣י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּֽהּ׃

Deuteronomy 10:12-14

(12) And now, O Israel, what does the ETERNAL your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the ETERNAL your God, to walk only in divine paths, to love and to serve the ETERNAL your God with all your heart and soul, (13) keeping GOD’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good. (14) Mark, the heavens to their uttermost reaches belong to the ETERNAL your God, the earth and all that is on it!

דברים י׳:ט״ז-י״ט

(טז) וּמַלְתֶּ֕ם אֵ֖ת עׇרְלַ֣ת לְבַבְכֶ֑ם וְעׇ֨רְפְּכֶ֔ם לֹ֥א תַקְשׁ֖וּ עֽוֹד׃ (יז) כִּ֚י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם ה֚וּא אֱלֹהֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים וַאֲדֹנֵ֖י הָאֲדֹנִ֑ים הָאֵ֨ל הַגָּדֹ֤ל הַגִּבֹּר֙ וְהַנּוֹרָ֔א אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹא־יִשָּׂ֣א פָנִ֔ים וְלֹ֥א יִקַּ֖ח שֹֽׁחַד׃ (יח) עֹשֶׂ֛ה מִשְׁפַּ֥ט יָת֖וֹם וְאַלְמָנָ֑ה וְאֹהֵ֣ב גֵּ֔ר לָ֥תֶת ל֖וֹ לֶ֥חֶם וְשִׂמְלָֽה׃ (יט) וַאֲהַבְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־הַגֵּ֑ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

Deuteronomy 10:16-19

(16) Cut away, therefore, the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more. (17) For the ETERNAL your God is God supreme and Sovereign supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe, (18) but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.— (19) You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Hang on: are we upholding the cause of the fatherless and befriending the stranger? Or are we supporting collective punishment as well as supporting (or failing to protest) for example, violent and inhumane treatment of immigrants?

Here is a contemporary Israeli reading of Parashat Eikev, from just one year ago (July 2025), that I found in The Times of Israel:
Not by Numbers, but by Blessing: Israel and Parashat Eikev
If you read it you will see that the writer (a rabbi) endorses, accepts, and does not question Israel's application of collective punishment in Gaza: from that piece:
"As I return to Parashat Eikev, I feel as though I am reading a prophecy, a spiritual message spoken directly to our generation. Within its verses lies not only the story of the wilderness and mitzvot, but a living light shining upon the path of modern Israel. From 1948 until today, Israel lives by the core principle of this portion: not by numbers, not by might, but by faithfulness and Divine blessing does the Jewish people endure....
"Eikev Is About Now
Parashat Eikev is not ancient history. It is now. It is about the Israel of the 21st century. About the soldiers on the borders. The children in bomb shelters. The doctors, the scientists, the rabbis, the programmers, the mothers, the volunteers. About a people who still believe, still endure, still carry light.
Eikev reminds us: not by numbers, but by spirit. Not by might, but by faith. Not by politics, but by covenant.And if we remember this—then the light continues. Even in the wilderness. Even under fire..."

This is as confusing as our parsha. The writer of this piece is saying "not by might, but by faith"... but what about the estimated hundreds of thousands of tonnage of bombs and other munitions that Israel has dropped on Gaza since October 7 2023?

"Munitions with large blast and fragmentation ranges
Israeli armed forces have dropped at least 29,000 explosive munitions in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to US intelligence. During the first two weeks of the conflict, about 90 percent of these were 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs. A 2,000-pound bomb, with an estimated crater size of 14 meters, was used in the Jabalia refugee camp airstrike that killed at least 126 civilians, including 69 children, on 31 October 2023, according to Airwars.
"Given the heavy explosive payload of these bombs, they are not often the weapon-of-choice by militaries conducting operations in urban areas, and military analysts have been surprised by their use in Gaza given their effects. For example, the largest bombs used by the US and allied forces in the battle for Mosul were 500-pounds."

The biography of the rabbi who wrote the piece in The Times of Israel last year includes: "[his] work unites Jewish spirituality, international law, and compassion for all living beings." How can this be true? Evidently the writer of this piece does not consider the victims of Israeli state violence to be living beings.

Obliterate entire peoples, and / but also walk in God's ways? How is this possible?

One more related question: What happens to us - the invaders, the perpetrators, the passive supporters of obliteration and hatred - what happens to us when we have committed such total obliteration of a people? I suggest there is a clue in a strange verse in the parsha (about which there is relatively little commentary to be found):

דברים ז׳:כ״ב

(כב) וְנָשַׁל֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ אֶת־הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֛ל מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ מְעַ֣ט מְעָ֑ט לֹ֤א תוּכַל֙ כַּלֹּתָ֣ם מַהֵ֔ר פֶּן־תִּרְבֶּ֥ה עָלֶ֖יךָ חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃

Deuteronomy 7:22

(22) The ETERNAL your God will dislodge those peoples before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them at once, else the wild beasts would multiply to your hurt.

This is a indeed a strange verse: in the midst of the violent, "take no prisoners" / "destroy everything" language of the surrounding verses, we have this verse. "You will not be able to put an end to them at once, else the wild beasts would multiply to your hurt."

What are "the wild beasts" who / which will "multiply to our hurt"?

The Jungian psychoanalyst in me suggests: the "wild beasts" are our very own unconscious contents, our innate traumatized selves, our personal and collective "shadows", which as we see have indeed "multiplied to our hurt", in the form of the shocking eruption of unprocessed cruelty, hatred, vengeance, an attachment to violence, and collective support (or lack of protest) for mass violence, war crimes, collective punishment.

The verb for "dispossess", which appears fourteen times in Parashat Eikev, is a contranym. That is, it carries simultaneously opposite meanings. It not only means "to take away others' possessions"; it can also mean "to impoverish oneself".

Please see, among others, these of my commentaries here on Sefaria:

Devarim 5784 Virtual Inheritance - Nonfungibility - Could we reconceptualize "inheriting" / "possessing" the land through the lens of non-fungibility?

Va'etchanan 5784 The Contranymics of Possession - Exploring possession / dispossession through the lens of peace.

When we dispossess others, we impoverish ourselves. When we accede to mass violence, we promote violence.

From Parashat Ve'etchanan, part of the Shema prayer - v'ahavta - you shall love God...

דברים ו׳:ה׳-ט׳

(ה) וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ (ו) וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃ (ז) וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃ (ח) וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃ (ט) וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ {ס}

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

(5) You shall love the ETERNAL your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Can we have it both ways? Obliterate entire peoples, and also love?

Let us have the moral fortitude to critically engage with our Torah, from the vantage point of today, this day, incorporating what history has taught us about collective punishment, mass violence, genocide, and archaic eruptions of vengeance and blind hatred. May we truly walk in God's ways.

Rabbi Anita Josefa Barzman MD Founder, micro-mishkan.net

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