Esther Wachsman, mother of slain Hamas kidnap victim Nachshon Wachsman, made a bold appeal today to Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. She asked the prime minister to consider freeing her son’s murderers in order to secure the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas for 900 days.

Wachsman said she told the premier that “if Gilad comes home, give them my son’s murderer. I give up on the murderer of my son. My Nachshon will forgive me.”

Perhaps honoring Ms. Wachsman’s request is not good public policy. Perhaps it creates a situation which rewards the kidnappers and killers in a way that invites more attacks. I think not, but that is for a subsequent post.
There is no question, that whatever one thinks about this bereaved mother’s plea from a policy standpoint, she is a model of spiritual greatness from whom we can all learn. Esther Wachsman’s bold request flows neither from naiveté or a simplistic desire to appease her enemies as is often the case with such requests. She is unwavering in her knowledge that those who murdered her son and kidnapped Shalit are terrorists, pure and simple. But she also knows that acting for justice in ways that drive out mercy is not right either.
Esther Wachsman knows that just because there are many reasons to keep her dead sons’ murderers in jail forever, there is one better reason to free them – a living son named Gilad Shalit. What we can all learn from Ms. Wachsman is that even in the most righteous of causes, real people’s lives must always come before theoretical principles. In fact, the ability to keep those priorities in the proper order may be the most significant difference between a just cause and one that is not.
Thank you Ms. Wachsman for the kind of spiritual greatness and genuine wisdom from which we all can, and must learn.