Elsie『エルシ』 (she/they) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
![A thoughtful discussion from the fine folks at the Manchester synagogue (Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation)
on the ethics of breaking the Shabbat to kill Arabs.
While Jews readily agree that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, in the aftermath of Israel's 1967 victory and all the land it captured from its Arab enemies, people began arguing that returning pieces to the enemy states might bring about a lasting peace, and was therefore necessary according to the Halachic principle of "pikuach nefesh," or saving lives. While Judea, Samaria, and Old City of Jerusalem were very obviously the heartland of the Land of Israel and so important to the Jewish people, why should there be a problem to negotiate with the Egyptians, for example, over the vast Sinai peninsula, which had never been a part of the Land of Israel, even in biblical times, and so contained none of the Land's inherent holiness?
The Rebbe viewed this, too, through a strict Torah lens: any agreement, he declared, that risked Jewish lives in the here and now for an elusive, ill-defined, future state of peace, was-and remains-in contradiction to Torah law. For this he would tirelessly quote the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 329:6):
[When] non-Jews take up arms against Jewish towns, if [the non-Jews] come [to attack the towns] for financial gain, the Shabbat may not be desecrated because of them. If, however, [the non-Jews] come to kill, and even if they come with no expressed intent, but there is concern that perhaps they come to kill, one should confront [the non-Jews] while armed and desecrate the Shabbat because of them.
This is taken one step further in the case of a Jewish settlement defined as a border town. The Code continues:
In a town that is near the border, even if [the non-Jews] only seek to come for matters concerning hay and straw, the Shabbat may be desecrated because of them, lest they capture the town, and from there, the [entire] land will be easier for them to..](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:glhefwuu6nzd7ajlqk4nz7mu/bafkreigal3qvozd47aew3tnekof723kup2dw7yldup4dzxrdyhsplgcp3e)
![Private career
As of 2022, Schwartz was President of Insurance Solutions for United Healthcare. 18] She additionally joined the board of directors of Georgia-based home care provider Aveanna Healthcare in May 2021 for a three-year term, 141 and of medical imaging company Butterfly Network in September 2021.191 As of June 2026, Schwartz remained an employee of UnitedHealth Group as well as a board member of Aveanna Healthcare, Butterfly Network, and Searching for Solutions Institute.
[10]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:glhefwuu6nzd7ajlqk4nz7mu/bafkreige4bxeko6aqyre7kabfette5vkw3pmtprlik4roh2vzwryzollom)
Elsie『エルシ』 (she/they) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️