Would the Torah Kill Baby Hitler?

Hi, this is Dr. Laski with that question. Answer. Series where we try in a few minutes to answer listeners' questions. We just read the parsha of Ben Sorer U'Morer. About the rebellious son. Who gets killed because we see from his behavior that eventually he's going to become a thief and a murderer. And so we say better that he should die before he does his sins. That's the parsha. As we approach Rosh Hashanah, we learn in the parsha of Yishmael where it says God judged him ba'asher hu sham as he was at the time. How are we properly able to understand this with the age-old baby Hitler question? Okay, so for those who are not familiar with the baby Hitler question, if you could go back into time and you see little Adolf Schicklgruber in his crib. That was his name originally, Schicklgruber. And you kill him. And thus prevent all of the evil that Hitler does, would you be justified in doing that? And that's apparently what we say by the Ben Sorer Morer. So how come when Yishmael is about to die of thirst and he's he's davening, Hagar is davening, and the malachim say, "This person who in the future is going to kill your children with thirst, you're going to make a miracle to provide water for him?" All right? Rashi brings this down, and Hashem says, "Right now, what is he? Tzaddik or rasha?" I judge him ba'asher hu sham, how he is now. Well, this is a great question. And the Sifsei Chachamim by Yishmael ask this question. What's the difference between him and the ben sorer umorer? Or baby Hitler question. In my opinion, if you were to go back into time and kill baby Hitler, would you be justified? Yes, cuz you know for sure how the story ends up. That's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us, wipe out Amalek because if you don't, they will grow up and kill you. I'm telling you this for sure. Not a question. I'm telling you absolutely Amalek will at any opportunity kill you. There's no redemption arc for Amalek. Yeah? And uh Hitler obviously was Amalek. All right? Whether or not you can check his genealogy back or not, I don't know. But when Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld said that the Germans show all the classic signs of Amalek. So, uh if you were to kill Amalek, would that be a good thing? That would for sure be a good thing. That's the way that Hakadosh Baruch Hu ideally, you know, is warning us beforehand and we know for sure. But when it came to Yishmael, Yishmael didn't do anything yet to deserve dying of thirst. The Malachim say, "Eventually his children will do something." And Hashem says, "Yeah, but that's not Yishmael right now. Right now, he didn't do it. That his generations in the future will do something, that's not enough reason to kill him who he is now." But the ben sorer umorer, the uh Torah tells us, you can see from his behavior that his addictions are such that after he's burnt through his parents money, his only other option to support his addictions are going to be to turn to a life of crime and eventually he's going to kill people to get their money. I'm telling you that for certain. And therefore stop him now. Just like I tell you by Amalek. But by Yishmael, he has not done anything that his descendants will eventually do something, that's not a reason to kill him now. And in fact, Yishmael at the end of time will do chuva. And they will come back into the family of nations. They do a lot of damage along the way, 100% but they're not a lost cause like Amalek as Balaam in his prophecy tells us will ultimately be destroyed cuz there is no redemption arc for an Amalek. But there is for a Yishmael. This is Dov Auerbach with our question and answer series.