A Hard Look at the Brittney Griner Prisoner Exchange

Guidance from Modern Israel and Ancient Jewish Wisdom

Almost 1000 years ago a great rabbi was kidnapped at sea. The kidnappers demanded an exorbitant ransom from his community in Rothenburg, Germany.

Community leaders did not know what to do. Should they pay and risk encouraging more kidnappings? Or should they wait and see if the rabbi could somehow escape? They inclined toward paying the ransom.

The rabbi knew the community would struggle with this question. So he found a way to smuggle a letter from his prison cell back to them. In it, he explicitly forbid the community from paying any ransom money to his kidnappers.

Is this the right approach? What sources does Jewish wisdom use in making decisions about redeeming captured citizens? Let’s take a look.