noam zion

Jewish religious, Israeli national and Western legal traditions combine in the Israeli army's study unit designed to teach ethical treatment of civilians in war. Israeli tradition has invented the term " purity of arms " to describe the honor code calling upon IDF soldiers to " do all in their power to prevent harming the lives, bodies, dignity and property " of enemy civilians. That code has legal force in Israel's Jewish democratic courts and in its military disciplinary law, but the focus of this analysis is not on law or its enforcement. Rather we will explore the educational methods and authoritative traditions enlisted to teach these rules as values and to develop moral judgement in individual commanders facing difficult moral dilemmas in ambiguous and dangerous field conditions.1 In this study no attempt is made to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching of this unit and its influence on the actual practice of the Israeli army in combat situations. However, it should be noted that the value of Purity of Arms and the Spirit of the Israeli Defense Code of Ethics is often cited as a norm relevant to judging cases in the Military Courts.1 In such cases, soldiers and officers have been convicted for crimes such as beating, humiliating, robbing and killing innocent Palestinian civilians. Parade examples of such crimes and their punishment have then become cases studied in curriculum units on purity of arms studied here and officers discuss their responsibility to prevent the repetition of such violations by their soldiers.

Exploring the role of truth and white lies in intimate relationships among spouses and friends according to rabbinic and  Greco-Roman literature.
The debate between Hillel's way of peace through deception and Shammai's way of truth through confrontation. Comparison between Greek notions of critical friendship and frank speech (parrhesia) and Rabbinic laws of effective, artful rebuke and its limitations.

Comparative law and values of marriage, matchmaking  and divorce in Rabbinic, Catholic, Lutheran. Calvinist, Anglican, Sunni, Romantic, Existentialist and Postmodern traditions.
Indepth comparison between rabbinic theories of Rashi and Maimonides on marriage as friendship, trust, love and intimacy or as contractual partnership, rights, duties and freedoms.

A Talmudic cycle of short stories on love of study that destroys husband  wife, parent-child relationships and expose the cultural religious rabbinic elite to a scathing moral and gender critique. A systematic comparison of the debates among contemporary interpreters of the talmudic sugya (TB Ketubot) and  their lessons about marriage versus Torah scholarship, about ascetic religious virtuosos and familial responsibility, and role of the wife as enabler .
Tales of Rav Rahumi, Rabbi Akiba and Mar Ukba on the contrasting ethical world of men and women in rabbinic literature.

Two rabbinic tales of rabbis who pursued prostitutes to the end of the earth. in the spirit of Don Juan
1-  The classy harlot and the student's devotion to his tzitzit (prayer tassels). Two quests, male and female, two conversions and a happy ending. Six comparative modern interpretations and their lessons
about repentance and therapeutic approaches to sexual obsession.  Comparison to ancient Christian tales of penitent prostitutes
2- Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia and his harlot's fart. Two quests - one for satisfaction and one for salvation unto death. Comparison to postmodern sexual relations (Zygmunt Baumann).

Three rabbinic tales of angry and seductive women confronting male authority figures wishing to subordinate them.
1- Homa the radiant femme fatal widow, Rav Hisda the hapless judge and his wife the rampaging defender of her husband
2- Ullah the male chauvinist guest, Rav Nahman the hapless mediator and his wife the rampaging aristocratic Yalta defending her honor
3-  The midrash on the seductive women who redeemed their hapless husbands in Egypt and resisted colonialization, the gender oppression of  Pharaoh and Moses the violent chauvinist oppressors, and God who vindicators the liberated women of israel.
Comparative anger management strategies and the peacemaker's reconciliation versus the therapeutic value of feminist anger

Two volumes comparing three famous rabbinic tales of adultery, shame and suicide. Literary and historical analysis of the evil impulse, sexuality and marital fidelity. Comparison of classical and contemporary  commentaries  and the lessons they might teach about couple relations.The corrupting power of systematic distrust in marriage.
Two pictures of Bruria: Tough love and loving consolation or feminist arrogance and infidelity. Tales of honor suicide: Rabbinic and Roman.
Vol two - Bruria and Rabbi Meir; Rabbi Tzadok and Roman Matronita

Two volumes comparing three famous rabbinic tales of adultery, shame and suicide. Literary and historical analysis of the evil impulse, sexuality and marital fidelity. Comparison of classical and contemporary  commentaries  and the lessons they might teach about couple relations. Approaches to sexual sin and pastoral therapy.
Vol one - Heruta and Rav Hiyya - the conflict between the pursuit of freedom (Heruta) and of life (Hiyya).