of live terrorists.

Says Brackman, "In reality, however, the only people they [Hizbullah] humiliated were themselves. It appears he doesn't understand what that word means. My dictionary defines humiliate as "make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect, esp. publicly". Yet Hizbullah hardly feels ashamed or foolish; indeed, they're proud their "resistance" has handed Israel yet another defeat. The Mishnaic reference to one ha'malbin panav shel havero - who "whitens" the face of his fellow - condemns one who shames another, the latter now humiliated. We rightfully condemn Hizbullah for their celebration of murderers, but it is Israel which should feel ashamed and foolish and has thus been humiliated by this deal. Hizbullah (and Hamas, which has read this deal correctly) have only been emboldened. It hardly matters if "Israel has triumphed in the court of decency and morality" - a vague notion to be sure - if such deals only get more Israelis killed.

let a convicted murderer go free, regardless of "humiliation". Is this allowed for redeeming captives. Isnt there any prohibition being violated here, Rabbi?

If a Rabbi is going to comment, I would expect himto enlighten us on the halachic view of such a swap. It is clear that the chances of the soldiers being alive were nil or nearly nil. This precedent of returning live terrorists for a dead soldier gives no chance of life to present and future captured soldiers (G-d forbid). Why would these blood thirsty maniacs keep any soldier alive if they have nothing to lose?

His point is our reality: we live amongst cultures whose dominant values are night and day different than ours, while the rightous among them stay silent. This is humiliation to them, not us. And to AB #4 - I liked this piece from Levi Brackman the human being -- and I don't care if he wasn't speaking with so-called halachic legal authority.

Israel, in order to receive the bodies of murdered IDF soldiers, released terrorists with blood on their hands. Rabbi Brackman thinks that this deal put Israel on a higher moral ground than the barbarians from Hamas and Hezbollah. I would like him to rethink his position and consider the following: 1. Kuntar, the brutal murderer of a 4 year old Jewish child has expressed the desire to resume his war against Israel. Suppose he murders other Jewish children. How would you feel then, Rabbi? 2. Israel was willing to give up murderers for the bodies of IDF soldiers. Thus, what incentive do terrorists have in keeping Israeli captives alive? What about that Rabbi ? 3. Rabbi Brackman, do you really believe that the world cares who is moral and ethical? If Israel has to go to war again, do you think that media coverage will be any fairer to Israel? Do you think that the UN will condemn Israel's enemies? Do you think that the world will stop pressuring the Israelis to reduce security at the checkpoints in order to make it more convenient for Palestinians? If you do, I suggest you get a good substance abuse therapist to help you. Rabbi, your final paragraph, telling Israel must do what is right, no matter how difficult, are empty words. What is right is to protect Israeli lives and that includes captured Israeli soldiers. The terrorists must be made to understand that mistreating captured Israelis will result in dire consequences for the terrorists leaders----not joyful celebrations that glorify monsters such as Nasrallah and Kuntar. That is what's right.

Wrong, worng, wrong, Rabbi Brackman, wrong, wrong, worng. IT was known full well that these soldiers were dead, and that the great ikelihood is that Kuntar & his cohorts will return to Jew killing. There is nothing halachically or ethically or Jewishly right and moral about taking such risks, On the contrary, this exchange was the height of immorality. I would ahve expected you to know better.

thank you mainstream media editors for still allowing SOME talkbacks, and for your edits, we, the great unwashed, are so grateful you filter out views you find unpalatable.

...they are learning to spin victories out of defeats and humiliations. Witness the dismal Israeli performance in the Lebanon wars (1 and 2) and now this sorry excuse for a a "so-called" deal to exchange prisoners. Good thing Germany facilitated the deal. They probably prevented Olmert from giving all of Israel to Hizbullah in this "deal". As for me, I'd rather trade in 1000 dead Arab terrorist for one live Israeli.

This guy should learn a bit of Jewish Law first, then call himself a rabbi. "Turn the other cheek "is a different religion, y'know, pal?

There was no way to know for sure that both of our soldiers were dead. It may have looked 99% sure that they were, but on the 1% chance that they were alive, we had to get them back. Unfortunately we are dealing with a super cruel and inhumane enemy who enjoys making us suffer as much as possible, and thus we had to pay a very, very high price. There are so many problems with these exchanges, but we have no choice. What if our other missing soldiers are alive? We have to keep looking for them and try to get them back. And as for Kuntar the child murderer, if this is their hero, then the whole world should see the other side's values.

R.Brackman's search which he calls 'wishful thinking' is DELUSIONAL THINKING.' The life of Israel is in serious phyical danger.Deluding ourselves with niceties now will only destroy us.

Rabbi Brackman is right: Israel should feel proud that it cares about human life and does not want to leave its soldiers behind. But at some point (long past, I would argue), that pride should be mixed with stupidity. Should Israel feel proud if it surrendered the Shebaa farms to effect the return of a couple of prisoners? What about if Syria captured a couple of Israelis soldiers? Is the Kinneret fair game? The more Israel gives, the more will be asked for in the future, and pride in valuing human life should take a back seat to governing the country with an eye to its future and the health and safety of its citizens.

Israel cannot fight a war if it worries about casualties and body parts. It is now being held hostage to legitimate feelings of hostage families.Barrackman, forget about morality and light unto nations. It did 6 milion a lot of good eh. Each of them should have had a gun to kill nazis and more of them would have survived.Israeli history is infected by this light of nations bull which has harmed israel. Given our current rotten cowardly leadership, there is no light unto other nations-its more like cowards and beggars to other nations.You make me sick with your rabinnic pleadings which do not have god's ear as he seems to side with the hassan and iran more. So spare us your rubbish. Go pray with ehud olmert and you can share in your pleadings.

"The prisoner exchange between Israel and Hizbullah was so painful and disturbing that, in my eternal search for optimism, I tried to find some light and hope." Really? Here is a news flash for you, Levi: Happy thoughts don't win wars. As a matter of fact, war isn't positive AT ALL. What you are really saying is this: "I reject your reality and substitute my own." Exactly how does that help? Painting a happy face on an obvious defeat helps none of us. This is a war. The more we ignore it, the more we lose. It is NOT time to tell the Israeli people that this disgrace is not so bad, there is still good to come of it, that there is a positive side. No matter how horrendous the outcome is, apparently to you the most important aspect is to find a happy smiley good feely in it. When Iran has 1000 nuclear-tipped Shahab-3 missiles pointing at us, will you find something positive in that for us to think about? When Tel Aviv is renamed "Tel Purple Glowing Aviv", will you find something positive to say about that?

"In reality, however, the only people they humiliated were themselves." You mean the same way that Saddam Hussien was humiliated by the Kurds? Or do you mean in the same way that the North Vietnamese were humiliated by the US? Or do you mean in the same way Nazi Germany was humiliated by the Jewish people? ---

I believe the gov't have proven this axiom over and over and over and over. Morality has been hijacked to mean "good" No, it means just and honest. Do you think Kuntar and his ilk will be embarrassed after they murder more Jews---as he has avenged to do? Another axiom plays out here too...."insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result"

If what you said were true then we would see a lot more aggressive moves against Palestinians after every terrorist attack. But we don't. Whenever there's a terrorist attack, the ratio seems to dip way, way down. It's only in the exchanges that these silly ratios go way up - against Israel's interests. I wouldn't mind this ratio on the exchanges if Israel applied the same ratio when calculating responses to terror attacks.