A warship crossed 3,000 kilometres. Who do I still wait to greet?
When a person belongs to another country, language or camp, do I wait for him to prove warmth before I offer ordinary human regard?
Learn the source
After Abaye teaches about increasing peace with every person, Berachos records this about Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai: שלא הקדימו אדם שלום מעולם ואפילו נכרי בשוק—“No person ever greeted him first, even a non-Jew in the marketplace.”
The detail is not merely that he returned a greeting well. Nobody greeted him first because his regard did not wait for the other person to make the first move. The unfamiliar person in the market was not an exception.
The Gemara gives initiative a human scale. Shalom begins before agreement and before reciprocity, in the moment I decide whether the person approaching me is already worthy of being seen.
What happened
Armed pirates hijacked the Iranian fishing vessel Azini off Somalia on October 29; Indian forces completed a rescue on November 2 after an operation lasting more than 48 hours.
More than 3,000 kilometres from Mumbai, a warship and surveillance aircraft tracked the vessel before Marine Commandos, reinforced through a C-17 airdrop, secured it.
India reported that all 20 crew members were released without casualties or injuries.
AP noted that an earlier Puntland account listed 21 Iranian crew and two Somali guards; the difference remains unexplained, and India’s injury statement did not specify whom it covered.
Associated Press · Indian navy rescues Iranian fishing crew off Somalia · 3 November 2026, 12:21 UTC ↗Government of India Press Information Bureau · Azini rescue · 3 November 2026, 8:45 a.m. as displayed ↗
Return to the news
India’s forces did not rescue a label; they rescued sailors. That sentence does not erase the operation’s security purpose or settle the unexplained crew-count discrepancy. It notices the human fact inside it: people far from home were found and brought out alive. The Gemara’s image is smaller and therefore closer to our avodah. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai did not wait to see whether the other person would offer peace first. His greeting crossed the distance before reciprocity began. We are not commanded here to imitate a naval operation or ignore danger. The inward bechinah is ordinary: when a safe encounter offers itself, do I see the person before the category and initiate simple respect?
Stay with the thought
A warship, aircraft and commandos make the scale dramatic. The rescued people were Iranian sailors, not Indian citizens, and the action took place far from India’s coast. India also said the hijacked vessel could have become a base for attacks on commercial shipping. The human rescue and the security purpose can both be true; Torah Lens need not purify or guess anyone’s motives.
The physical fact still deserves attention: people far from home were found, approached and brought out alive. Their nationality identified them, but it did not make their lives somebody else’s abstraction. Human courage crossed the distance before the sailors could repay it.
The Gemara’s scene is deliberately smaller: one person meeting another in the market. It is not a naval doctrine and it does not ask anyone to ignore danger. It exposes the ordinary distance we preserve when we wait for the unfamiliar person to smile first, speak first or prove that warmth will be returned.
We may thank Hashem that the reported crew returned alive without claiming why this operation succeeded or what heavenly cheshbon stood behind it. The inward lesson is within reach: before nationality, clothing, accent or camp becomes an excuse for coolness, can I initiate one safe act of simple derech eretz?
Berachos 17a · Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai ↗Associated Press · Indian navy rescues Iranian fishing crew off Somalia · 3 November 2026, 12:21 UTC ↗Government of India Press Information Bureau · Azini rescue · 3 November 2026, 8:45 a.m. as displayed ↗
Take one thing with you
In one safe ordinary encounter today, greet first—especially where difference usually makes you wait—and let the person arrive before the label.
A reflection, not a personal halachic ruling.Sources & reporting notes 3 references
- Associated Press · Indian navy rescues Iranian fishing crew off Somalia · 3 November 2026, 12:21 UTC ↗
Fresh independent report retrieved November 4. AP reports the operation’s duration, distance, forces used and India’s rescue account while retaining the unexplained difference between India’s figure of 20 rescued crew and an earlier Puntland count of 21 Iranian crew plus two Somali guards.
- Government of India Press Information Bureau · Azini rescue · 3 November 2026, 8:45 a.m. as displayed ↗
Primary Ministry of Defence account retrieved November 4. It says the Navy used a warship, surveillance aircraft and Marine Commandos reinforced by a C-17 precision airdrop, and reports 20 crew members safely released without casualties or injuries. Its claims remain attributed to India.
- Berachos 17a · Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai ↗
Exact approved corpus excerpt. Following Abaye’s teaching about increasing peace with every person, the Gemara records that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai greeted others first, including a non-Jew in the marketplace. This is the Gemara’s account, not a modern reconstruction or a ruling about naval policy.
Hebrew passages are quoted sources; English renderings are our own. The event connection and suggested reflection are Torah Lens’s application. Prepared with AI assistance. Rabbinic supervision has not yet been established.