Holy War in Judaism

Holy war, sanctioned or even commanded by God, is a common and recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible. Rabbinic Judaism, however, largely avoided discussion of holy war in the Talmud and related literatures for the simple reason that it became dangerous and self-destructive. Reuven Firestone''s Holy War in Judaism is the first book to consider how the concept of ''''holy war'''' disappeared from Jewi...