Israel-Gaza War 5784: Metzorah – We Could All Use a Good Soaking

Metzorah describes the purification procedures for people, clothing, and houses with an affliction called tzara’at. While tzara’at has sometimes been translated as leprosy, this affliction was something else. It appeared on the skin of a person or the surface of a garment or wall. The person or object was quarantined until the condition cleared.

How can a wall or garment have an affliction? How can this affliction render someone—or something—impure? And why this particular skin condition, but not others? As a teenager, I would happily have undergone a week in quarantine if it would have rid me of acne.

But this Torah portion isn’t about dermatology. It’s about the harm caused by gossip. Traditional Jewish understanding is that tzara’at was the consequence of lashon hara, literally “evil tongue”: malicious gossip and slander. According to our sages, metzorah, the word for the afflicted person afflicted, was a contraction for motzi shem ra, meaning “bringing out a bad name.”

Later in the Torah, we will read that Miriam was afflicted with tzara’at for speaking ill of Moses. Malicious gossip and slander, the rabbis believed, caused tzara’at, and it afflicted first the dwelling place, then the clothing, and finally the skin of the slanderer. Some rabbis today say that tzara’at is a physical manifestation of a spiritual illness, hatred. The period of quarantine was not to protect others—for the affliction was not contagious—but so that the metzorah could reflect on and mend his or her ways. And purification was needed to return the person to a state where hateful speech did not contaminate the community.

Before October 7th, hateful speech had become a regular feature in Israel. Societal divisions between religious and secular, left and right, came to a head with a government proposal for judicial reform. People yelled at strangers on the street, based on their appearance and assumed lifestyle or beliefs. Politicians on opposite sides of the question badmouthed and insulted each other. This division caused Israel’s enemies to perceive weakness and attack.

And after October 7th? Before Israel had even cleared the terrorists from within its borders, let alone entered Gaza, there was an outburst of slander and libel such as the world has not seen since Goebbels’ Jew-hating propaganda. Israel has been accused of stealing organs from Palestinians killed in Gaza; purposely starving Gazans; and committing war crimes by deliberately targeting civilians, particularly children, but also journalists and NGO workers. Claims of ethnic cleansing of, and genocide against, Gazans are common. These accusations have come not only from radicals and propagandists in the Arab and Muslim world, but from “progressives” in Western democracies as well. And accusations are frequently accompanied by acts of pure, unreasoning hatred: spitting on Jews, physically assaulting them, ripping down posters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Indeed, respected news organizations have spread libels against Israel, claiming it bombed a hospital, attacked medical personnel and Arabic speakers, and summarily executed civilians.

This barrage of accusations is having its desired effect, as allies like France and America demand that Israel not invade Rafah or threaten to cut off needed arms. Unfortunately, we cannot quarantine the slanderers. Nor can we nullify the effect of their words. Although many eloquently argue Israel’s case, the damage has been done.

Our tradition tells the story of a man who gossips about another and is told by a rabbi to cut open a pillow and let the feathers scatter. Ordered to retrieve every feather, he protests it is impossible. So, too, with hateful speech, particularly in the internet age. Once people have heard lies, insults, and distortions, they cannot be unheard. In particular, libels against Jews—and now, against Israel, the Jewish nation—historically have resulted in pogroms, expulsions, and the Shoah. Since October 7th the number of antisemitic incidents has skyrocketed worldwide.

Eruptions on walls and skin have been replaced by eruptions of war and screaming mobs. An affliction of skin or garment is starting to sound like too mild a consequence for the damage caused by hateful speech.

Years ago, a company that makes cleaning products ran an ad in which a beautician had a customer soak her hands in a mysterious liquid. The customer was shocked to discover that the skin care product was ordinary dish detergent.

Where is the “detergent” that will heal the spiritual tzara’at of hatred, whether from antisemites and Israel-haters or from fellow Jews? We could all use a good soaking right about now. Our world cries out for purification. May it come soon, speedily, in our day.

POSTCRIPT:

With Pesach around the corner, I wish all who observe it chag Pesach kasher v’sameach, a happy and kosher Passover. In the middle of war and hatred, let us recall our deliverance from slavery. May all Israel be redeemed, and may our hostages especially be redeemed.

V’hi she-am’da la-avoteinu v’lanu.
Shelo echad bilvad, amad aleinu l’chaloteinu,
Ela sheb’chol dor vador, om’dim aleinu l’chaloteinu,
V’Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu matzileinu mi-yadam.

And it is this that has stood by our ancestors and for us.
For not only one has risen up against us to destroy us,
But in every generation they rise up to destroy us,
But the Holy One, blessed be He, delivers us from their hands.

LET MY PEOPLE GO!

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Tazria – Restoring Order and Atoning

Tazria describes the purification procedures for a woman after childbirth. She must undergo a period of quarantine, and then bring sacrificial offerings once she is pure.

This seems unfair to us moderns. Why is a woman seemingly denigrated by being designated impure after giving birth?

Last week in Shemini, we saw how important order was, both in G-d’s creation of the world, finite man’s dwelling place in an infinite cosmos, and man’s creation of the mishkan, a finite dwelling place for an infinite G-d . While G-d can exist in all space/time without differentiations, humans need orderly time and space.

Part of creation was making order from primeval chaos. Light was separated from darkness, waters above from waters below, land from sea, earth from heavens. The first order of creation was separating opposite or unlike things from each other.

In women’s wombs two opposing conditions, life and death, meet. Women who have had the misfortune to miscarry or experience a stillbirth sharply experience this incongruity, particularly if we have also been blessed with living children.

The concept of purity has come have connotations of moral judgement. But there is another concept of purity in the natural world. Pure gold does not contain other elements. If it contains traces of zinc or copper, the gold is not defective or bad; it is just not totally and only gold. In the female cycle, life and death, two opposing conditions, intermix. Sloughed-off endometrial lining, meant to provide a safe and nutrient-rich environment for the growing fetus, occurs with both miscarriage and childbirth, testifying equally to death or life.

In addition, childbirth can endanger the life of the mother. Bringing new life into the world risks ending another life. Life and death come close to each other, even if they do not touch. Like gold with traces of other elements, the postpartum woman is considered to have trace elements of death. She is deemed impure, with no implication of being defective. (Notably, purification is also required for those who have contact with dead bodies.) Purification restores the separation required for order.

For Israelis, order was replaced by chaos and life contaminated by death on October 7th. Mass rape, murder, and kidnappings paired with destruction of cars, homes, police stations, and military bases upended the orderly world Israelis had known. Quiet agricultural kibbutzim became charnel houses. A festival of joyful music and dance became a killing field. Bomb shelters meant to save life became death traps. The easy connection to loved ones taken for granted was destroyed as people were ripped from their families. The life-affirming joy of dancing to trance music, Simchat Torah, Shabbat, and family was contaminated by torture, rape, murder, and kidnapping. The sense of an ordered and predictable world was shattered.

Torture and rape inflicted maximum physical and psychic chaos. Victims could not control their own bodies nor protect themselves.

The hostages taken by Hamas also lost any vestige of control, existing entirely at the mercy and whim of their captors. Those who were freed have been carefully protected from news media and their interactions limited to medical personnel and close family and friends until such time as they felt able to expand their circle and tell their stories: a kind of quarantine meant to restore psychic order.

Another psychic disruption is survivor guilt for those who lived when others died, or were released while others still languish in captivity. Since these events, Israelis have told their stories, undergone therapy, and used other means to purify themselves of the PTSD induced by the intrusion of death into life and chaos into order.

But why did the postpartum woman bring sacrificial offerings, and how can we relate that to these events?

Torah commentator Ibn Ezra said that the sacrifices atoned for resentful thoughts or words against husband or G-d during the pain of childbirth. While these feelings are unfair, they are natural.

Survivors and hostages will have to deal with anger: children at their parents for not protecting them, or for dying and leaving them; adults at their spouses for the same. Family members may feel anger at their loved ones, as their trauma persists and recovery stretches on for months or even years. Psychologists working with these families will need to provide ways to deal with resentment and guilt, just as sacrifices did in Temple times.

And Israelis are justifiably furious with their government for not preventing October 7th. A senior Israeli intelligence officer, Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, has announced he will resign over the intelligence failures that led to the onslaught. And many Israelis blame their government for not freeing all the hostages, or not freeing them earlier; some have died or been murdered in captivity. There will be elections, and currently serving politicians will be ousted. Careers and reputations will be sacrificed.

Finally, those who perpetrated October 7th are being hunted down and captured or killed. There has been talk of Nuremberg-style trials of those living.

Atonement on the part of those to blame will be had, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. And atonement there must be, for without justice there is no sense of restored order.

Israel-Gaza War: Metzorah – We Could All Use a Good Soaking

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Beshalach – When Staying Comfortable Is Not an Option

This week’s Torah portion, Beshalach, tells us that when the children of Israel left Egypt, G-d did not send them by way of the land of the Philistines, “lest the people reconsider [pen yinakhem ha’am] when they see war and return to Egypt.” (Exodus 13:17) But the root of the word translated as “reconsider” also means “comfort.” Is this portion warning us that we should not seek comfort when confronted by war?

Conflict is uncomfortable, and armed conflict extremely so. When confronted with the choices to fight, take flight, or freeze in a life-or-death situation, most of us opt for one of the last two. Only a trained or unusually brave person relishes a fight with a mortally dangerous attacker.

During the last several years, Israel has sought to become comfortable with a neighbor that regularly rained rockets upon Israeli civilians. It deceived itself into thinking that work permits, free medical care, and aid would avert war with an enemy that wants to destroy it. But that way closed on Oct. 7th.

Now Israel is locked in an existential fight with the modern-day equivalent of Pharaoh’s pursuing chariots. As the Song of the Sea says:

“Said the enemy, “I will pursue, overtake, divide plunder, satisfy my desires. I will unsheathe my sword, impoverish them will my hand.'” (Exodus 15:9) These terrifying images were realized on Oct. 7th as both Hamas fighters and Gazan civilians tortured, raped, murdered, kidnapped, and looted. Many Israelis fought, and many, quite understandably, fled or froze in terror. Listening to the testimonies of the unarmed survivors and hearing the horrors they endured, the heart breaks.

Even now, it would be so easy for Israel to yield to both internal and external pressures and take the easier, softer way out. How easy it would be to give in to the demands of not only Hamas but many who call themselves allies, and agree to a ceasefire. Perhaps this would end the discomfort of an impossible war against a callous enemy that embeds itself in a civilian populace. Maybe it would bring the hostages home, stop the tragic loss of IDF soldiers, and avoid condemnation from enemies and pressure from allies, including a claim of genocide before the International Court of Justice.

If I, a non-Israeli 6,000 miles away, long for surcease when confronting local anti-Israel resolutions in my city council and weekly demonstrations downtown, how much more so the Israelis. What a relief—what a comfort—it would be to stop meeting with my mayor and city councilors, giving verbal testimony at bimonthly council meetings, hearing neo-Nazi Zoom-bombers and radical leftist commenters spout their hate there, and writing letters to the local paper to make Israel’s case.

But the Torah reminds us that the only way out is through—through the Reed Sea, through this fight. “Armed, they did go up, the children of Israel.” (Exodus 13:18) The way is guided by the pillars of cloud and fire created by Israeli bombs. Salvation now will not come through seeking comfort, but through fighting. “My might and my praise is G-d, and He was for me a salvation…Hashem is a Man of War, Hashem is His name.” (Exodus 15:2-3)

“Then came Amalek and warred with Israel…” (Exodus 17:8) Whether Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran, Israel will defeat these modern-day Amaleks. “For there is a war for Hashem against Amalek, from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17:16) Staying comfortable is no longer an option.

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Yitro – I Wish That I Had Jessie’s Girl

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Bo – I Shall Execute Judgements

It’s not fair. That’s what some might say about this week’s portion, Bo. Why did the plagues torment all the Egyptians, not just Pharaoh? Even though the plagues hurt the parts of the population that actively participated in the oppression of the Jews, surely, not every Egyptian was guilty.

Some would argue that in the current war, Israel does not differentiate between Hamas fighters and Gazan civilians, or between the latter and those civilians who actively participated in rape, murder, torture, and hostage-taking. As in any conflict, innocents inevitable suffer in war.

Indeed, some of the plagues tormented the Hebrews, too: blood in the water, frogs, lice, possibly boils, and locusts, which make their appearance in Bo, along with the two final plagues: darkness and the killing of the firstborn, both of which affect Egyptians only.

Out of a total of ten plagues, five do not affect the children of Israel. It’s almost as if G-d is trying to be, in modern parlance, equitable. And repeatedly, before initiating a plague, He has Moses demand that Pharaoh let the Hebrew slaves go. Pharaoh does not accede, and with each plague, the ante is upped, until the final, horrifying killing of first-born Egyptians.

When describing how He will slay the Egyptian first-born, G-d reveals another motive besides freeing the children of Israel: “…and against all the gods of Egypt I shall execute judgements of destruction…” (Exodus 12:12)

Initial Israeli attacks on Gaza inspired Hamas to make deals, releasing hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but ultimately they reneged and 136 hostages are still held. So Israel continues to fight, sending ever more “plagues” on the Gazan people, just as G-d sent plagues on the Egyptians. In both cases, there are two shared goals. To free prisoners, whether Hebrew slaves or today’s hostages, and to topple oppressive rulers, be they the gods of Egypt or the “gods” of Gaza, Hamas.

Israel goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. Often, the IDF is successful. For example, a recent targeted strike in a densely populated area of Lebanon killed the Hamas second-in-command, along with six other Hamas members. Nonetheless, in Gaza civilians, many of them innocent children, die. The hostages held there are affected by the shortages and assaults experienced by Gazans. Three were killed in a horrific case of mistaken identity by IDF soldiers who thought they were terrorists feigning surrender.

Such is the sad and horrific nature of war, that the innocent suffer along with the guilty. But can this be reduced, or even completely prevented?

There seem to be three approaches to war: pacifism, just war, and anything goes (all is fair in love and war, as they say). Dr. Idit Shafran Gittleman of the Israeli Democracy Institute says that the first and last approaches, while seemingly opposites, agree that war and morality cannot coexist.

How so? The pacifist, unable to reconcile war with morality, ditches war; the proponent of “anything goes,” similarly challenged, ditches morality. That leaves the middle way of just war, which presumes that war is sometimes necessary but sets limits as to when it is justified and how it may be fought. From this approach stem the laws of war reflected in international conventions. War must be fought only as a last resort, with the intention of ultimately bringing peace; the evil caused by war must not outweigh the good it seeks. When wars are fought, civilians are protected and prisoners must be treated well; force must not be disproportionate to the military objective. Civilian casualties must be avoided to the extent possible, with the realization that there will inevitably be civilian deaths.

Hamas and its allies have broken every one of these principles, while Israel has adhered to them. Hamas fights to eliminate Israel, not to make peace. The evil done on Oct. 7th far outweighed any benefit that might have been gained, even if one believes the attack was made to stop oppression (it was not). Civilians were brutally attacked, and as released hostages open up about their experiences, we learn how badly they were treated. Hamas uses its people as human shields, increasing the number of civilian deaths.

Israel went to war to prevent more assaults like Oct. 7th, which Hamas had vowed to repeat. Israel seeks not to eliminate Gaza but the terror organization in charge of it, with peace with its neighbors the ultimate objective. The Jewish state telephones Gazans and warns them to evacuate before bombing legitimate military targets. Unfortunately, because Hamas embeds itself within the civilian population to a never-before-seen extent, even with the greatest of care, there are many civilian casualties and much suffering for the ordinary citizens of Gaza. The hostages still in Gaza share that suffering.

Some say that the number of Gazan civilian deaths, so much greater than that of Israeli civilians, makes the war disproportionate and unfair. But only G-d has the power to make casualties “equitable”; we do not.

Will Hamas/Pharaoh finally accede to Israeli demands and let them go? And, equally important, will the “gods” ruling Gaza with an iron fist, shooting those who resist them, depriving them of humanitarian aid, be struck down? Only if they are deposed will the good from this war outweigh its evil. May judgements be executed against Hamas and their allies, and the hostages freed.

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Beshalach – When Staying Comfortable Is Not an Option

Israel-Gaza War: Va’eira – I Shall Make a Distinction Between My People and Your People

Va’eira, the second portion of Exodus, is particularly relevant to the hostages held in Gaza. It relates the first seven plagues G-d sends against the Egyptians to redeem His people, the Jews, from slavery. Mitzrayim, the Hebrew word for Egypt, means a narrow place. The Jews are literally being squeezed and constricted by the Egyptians.

The parallels with the hostages kept in Gaza are unmistakable. Kept in the dark, they were not allowed to raise their voices above a whisper, deprived of food and medicine, beaten, and subjected to psychological torture. And like the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt, they awaited—many still are awaiting—a miraculous liberation.

In the first plague, water is turned to blood, rendering it undrinkable. Similarly, after months of war, Gaza’s wastewater and desalination facilities have shut down. Water is filthy, bacteria-ridden, and tastes of salt.

In the next two plagues, frogs and lice are let loose on the populace. Currently in Gaza, a lack of fuel has led to a widespread and rapid proliferation of disease-carrying insects and rodents.

But three of the next four plagues are different. G-d specifically tells Moses that there will be a “swarm” (Biblical commentators are unsure whether this “swarm” refers to hornets, mosquitoes, or wild beasts) upon Egypt. However, they will not afflict the land of Goshen, where the Jews reside. G-d then sends an epidemic that afflicts only Egyptian livestock but not that belonging to the Jews. Next come boils on the people, though the Torah does not tell us whether they strike the Jews. Finally, there is a storm of thunder, hail, and fire that strikes every man and beast in Egypt—but not in Goshen.

Humanitarian organizations warn of the threat of epidemics in Gaza from the unsanitary conditions. Thundering, fiery bombs have fallen like hail on the strip since Oct. 7th. We read of skin lesions from biting sandflies that are also affecting IDF soldiers; one has already died from a secondary infection.

The IDF’s campaign to eliminate Hamas from Gaza—and prevent more atrocities like Oct. 7th—undoubtedly affects not only Gazans, but the remaining hostages held there. It is horrible to imagine the suffering of all in Gaza under these conditions (except Hamas, who divert humanitarian aid from the populace to themselves and their families). Knowing how these conditions must affect their loved ones can only increase the agony of the hostages’ families and friends.

Perhaps we can hope that, miraculously, the horrors of war in Gaza will not affect the hostages. That the epidemics of disease from dirty water, rats, and mosquitoes and the “hail” of bombs will not touch them. But surely a merciful G-d will spare them at least some of the plagues loosed upon Gaza, as He spared our ancestors in Egypt.

May they be returned to their homes and families soon, speedily in our day. Amen.

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Bo – I Shall Execute Judgements

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Shemot – How Paranoia Leads to Murder

This week, we start the second book of the Torah. We began our journey with the book of Breishit (Genesis in English), which tells how G-d created the world and all that is in it, including humanity.

Now we begin Shemot, or Exodus in English. Shemot, which is the name of the book, as well as this week’s Torah portion, tells a different story, moving from the universal to the particular. It recounts the birth of a distinct people, the Jews. Like many births, this one is difficult, accompanied by blood and pain.

The Torah tells us that the original group of Hebrews who came to Egypt comprised just 70 people in all. The Torah further says they were fruitful and increased greatly. How greatly, we are not told. But a new Pharaoh fears them, telling his people that the Hebrews are more numerous and stronger than the Egyptians. Surely this is an exaggeration. The population of ancient Egypt is estimated to have been 3 to 4 million; various authorities have estimated the number of Hebrews at the time of the exodus would have been anywhere from 6,000 to 140,000.

This exaggerated perception of the Jews has not changed. A 2022 survey also wildly overestimated the numbers of Jews both in the U.S. and the world. We punch above our weight, rising to the top in whatever professions are allowed us. Joseph rises rapidly as a slave to run his master’s household; in prison, the warden puts him in charge of the prisoners. Later Pharaoh plucks him from the pit and appoints him as his second-in-command over all of Egypt because he interprets dreams so well. When Joseph’s brothers join him, Pharaoh, assumes they will be similarly competent and instructs Joseph to appoint them as chiefs of his livestock.

But it doesn’t take long, whether in ancient Egypt or today, for admiration to turn to suspicion and dread. Just how is it that we end up in high places everywhere? And what will we do with our power? asks the world. In country after country, in era after era, we are first prized by kings, then persecuted or expelled.

Modern-day Israel, too, was first admired for its pluck and grit. Born in ghettos and mellahs, forged in pogroms and concentration camps, Jews built a nation, turning arid desert and malarial swamps into lush farms. Israel went from a socialist to a world-class, high-tech economy. Israeli military and intelligence agencies were forced by constant terrorism and wars to excel. Not content to succeed within its borders, Israel exports drip irrigation, life-saving medical help, training, and emergency rescue teams around the world to places of greatest need.

But still the nations grow suspicious. That cutting-edge medical capability? Why, it’s used to harvest organs from dead Palestinian terrorists or victims of hurricanes and earthquakes. Those counter-terror techniques? Used by American police to kill people of color. That world-class military? It commits genocide and ethnic cleansing. That amazing defensive system, the Iron Dome, that shoots down incoming rockets from Gaza? Congressional representatives who voted against funding it labeled it part of Israel’s war crimes, human rights abuses, and violence. In the eyes of those who fear Jewish power, self-defense becomes violence. A shield becomes an attack weapon.

The wild conspiracy theories floating around in the Arab world would be laughable if they had not proved so deadly: rumors of Mossad sharks, spying birds, plague-infested rats, and lizards that can detect nuclear facilities. More serious are conspiracy theories that have gained traction or are duplicated in the Western world: spreading AIDS; distributing narcotics; poisoning produce; murdering gentile children to use their blood in Jewish rituals; conspiring against Islam; planning to desecrate, destroy, or take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; ISIL as a Mossad front; Protocols of the Elders of Zion; Holocaust denial; and the aforementioned libel of organ-harvesting. No wonder the fear and hatred of Jews and Israel is so great in Gaza. The population has literally been brainwashed to believe their neighbors are the epitome of evil and destroying them is only self-defense.

Pharaoh incited his people with outlandish claims that the Hebrews were a fifth column who would endanger them. In his paranoia, he sought to kill Jewish babies, utilizing first mid-wives and, when that failed, enlisting the entire Egyptian population. For generations, mosque sermons and school curricula in Gaza and the West Bank have incited their populations with outlandish claims. Hamas, its allied terror groups, and thousands of Gazan civilians also slaughtered babies on Oct. 7th. Some things, it seems, never change.

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Va’eira – I Shall Make a Distinction Between My People and Your People

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Vayechi – How Do We Fight Redux*, and Welcome to the Hotel Mitzrayim

Vayechi continues the uneasy theme of Jews as guests in a land not their own. It also makes clear that there are two types of warriors, one type honorable, the other not. The deaths of Joseph and, before him, his father Jacob, illustrate these themes.

Jacob, old and knowing his time is near, calls together his 12 sons to tell them what will happen to them in “latter days.” Really, he is prophesying the future of the 12 tribes that will descend from them and giving them guidelines for behavior as a free and independent people.

Shimon and Levi come in for some heavy criticism for their reaction to the rape of their sister, Dina, in Shechem after having left Paddan Aram and returned to Canaan. Outraged, they tricked the men of Shechem into circumcising themselves, then attacked them as they lay in pain and helpless. They killed every male and took the women, children, and livestock as slaves and booty. Sound familiar? Hamas and its associates also went on a spree of murder, rape, and hostage-taking. We know that the women—and some of the men as well—were sexually assaulted and abused in captivity. Islam permits treating defeated prisoners as sex slaves.

Jacob condemns the two brothers both right after their murderous spree and now again on his deathbed. His words reject their actions unequivocally: “Into their conspiracy, let not my soul enter! Into their congregation, do not join…Accursed is their rage, for it is intense…” Thus does Jacob, renamed Israel by G-d, condemn the type of warfare practiced on October 7th.

Yet lest we think that Jacob/Israel is condemning all war, his words about other sons make plain that, as Ecclesiastes states, “A season is set for everything, and a time for every experience under heaven…a time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 8)

In the very next verse, Jacob praises Judah, saying, “…your hand at the neck of your enemies…A cub of a lion is Judah; from prey, my son, you have risen…who would provoke him?” About Dan, he says, “Dan will be a serpent…one that bites the heels of a horse, so that fall shall its rider backward.” Of Gad, “A troop will troop forth…” Finally, he predicts that “Benjamin is a wolf that tears, in the morning he will devour prey…”

These are not the words of a pacifist, and the future Jacob predicts for his people is not always peaceful. There will be enemies. It is just and right to fight and defeat one’s enemies, just not in the way of Shimon and Levi. Israel now fights a just war against those of accursed and intense rage that would wipe out and enslave all in its path: men, women, and children; babies and the elderly; Jewish and Muslim Israelis both; foreign workers with no part in this dispute. All were murdered, tortured, raped, and kidnapped on Oct. 7th, without discrimination or mercy.

Israel is fighting by different rules, using targeted airstrikes rather than indiscriminate carpet-bombing, warning civilians to evacuate and opening routes for them to do so, and taking prisoners when fighters surrender. Yet they are fighting with determination and force and will not stop until Hamas and its allied groups in Gaza are utterly defeated. While many civilians have died, it is not because they have been targeted, but because Hamas stations its fighters, weapons, and command centers in, around, and under hospitals, schools, mosques, and private residences.

When Jacob expires, Joseph must get permission for he and his brothers to leave Egypt for the burial. He tells Pharaoh that his father made him swear to bury him with his wife and ancestors in Hebron. They leave their children and flocks behind, in a foreshadowing of the exodus from Egypt, when another Pharaoh will demand the same as a guarantee of their return.

And when Joseph in his turn dies, his brothers will not be able to leave Egypt (Mitzrayim in Hebrew) to bury him in Hebron. He must ask them to swear that, when their descendants leave for good some hundreds of years in the future, they will bring his bones with them and bury them with those of his ancestors. The Hotel Mitzrayim—such a lovely place. You can check out any time you like, but eventually, you will not be allowed to leave.

*This post continues issues explored in Israel-Gaza War 5784: Vayishlach – How Do We Fight

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Shemot – How Paranoia Leads to Murder

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Vayigash – The Jew Among the Nations

Vayigash foreshadows our history as a minority living under alien rule.

Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, who have come down to Egypt to purchase food during a famine in Canaan. He urges them to go home, collect their families and their father Isaac, and relocate to Egypt. There they will wait out the remaining 5 years of the famine.

What could go wrong with this plan? Joseph is second in power only to Pharaoh, who trusted him to manage the effort to accumulate surplus food during the 7 years of plenty, as well as disbursing it during the 7 years of famine.

Pharaoh agrees to the plan. He gives wagons to the brothers to bring back their people, along with provisions for the journey, promising to provide new belongings to replace what they leave behind.

No wonder Joseph promises his brothers they will have the best of Egypt and the fat of the land.

But a red flag appears. Joseph advises his brothers to say they are shepherds of flocks. Such work is looked down on as an abomination by the Egyptians. Indeed, we know from the previous week’s Torah portion that the Egyptians will not even eat with the Hebrews, who are not regarded as equals in dignity or humanity.

Therefore, they will agree to let the Hebrews settle, but only in Goshen, far away from Egypt’s urban centers. And this is ominous, a harbinger of things to come—eventually, the Egyptians will enslave Joseph’s descendants—and a foretaste of what the Jewish people will experience in other lands not our own where we are forced to dwell over the centuries.

Throughout our history, it was ever thus. We were often welcomed and even invited to other countries. But we were always regarded as “other.” Sooner or later, we were resented for our success, hated for our imagined malign power, or feared as a potential fifth column.

Then the miracle happened. After millennia of dispersion, we gathered in our ancestral land of Israel and became again a nation with a territory of its own, a true home. Not guests in other’s homes, existing on their sufferance, no matter how well we were treated. Finally, we thought, we could live in freedom, dignity, and peace.

But things did not turn out that way. From the inception of modern-day Israel, we have fought war after war for our survival. And not just military wars against physical enemies. We have also had to fight the war for public opinion, as the world turned against us with accusations of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide.

The rage and hatred engendered by our existence and success persisted even after the massacre of Oct. 7th, as university students, unions, churches, city councils, and national governments turned against us. Antisemitic incidents skyrocketed almost 400% in the U.S. and included verbal harassment, vandalism, bomb threats and swatting, and physical assaults. Things are even worse in European nations, with many more attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. A 2003 poll showed that Europeans regard Israel as the greatest threat to world peace—not North Korea, not China, not Iran, but Israel. Conspiracy theories abound that we control world governments, will betray our countries of residence, and plan to exterminate the Palestinians and steal their land. No longer strangers without a nation, we are now “the Jew among the nations”—outcasts to be hated, feared, and threatened.

The United Nations has been unceasing for decades in its one-sided condemnations of Israel and support for the Palestinians. The extreme wing of leftist parties in Europe and the U.S. puts pressure on its moderate leaders at the local and national level with demonstrations, city council resolutions, and opinion pieces in mainstream media.

It is not that Israel has been without allies. Israel has had support from most Western nations, including the United States, which provides weapons and aid, and has even sent aircraft carriers to send a message to Iran, the Houthis, and Hezbollah not to cross the line.

But, as with Pharaoh’s warm welcome in this week’s Torah portion, there is another, subtler message from these allies: Don’t make us look bad for supporting you. Fight with one hand tied behind your back. Risk the lives of your soldiers and hostages by going to unprecedented lengths to avoid collateral damage to civilians. Call a ceasefire, even though that will give Hamas a chance to regroup. Allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, even though Hamas will hijack it and use it for their fighters and families. .

We had thought our diaspora problems were solved when we regained a state of our own. But in an increasingly flat world with open borders, global media, near-instantaneous communication, and a population who increasingly consider themselves more citizens of the world than of their countries, we once again find ourselves a despised minority too much at the mercy of our fellow world citizens. Is this always to be our fate?

For centuries, our people have looked to a messianic age where peace, harmony, and true brotherhood will reign under the kingship of the Almighty. Judaism prophesied a messiah who would usher in this final age. Now would be a great time for him to show up.

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Vayechi – How Do We Fight Redux*, and Welcome to the Hotel Mitzrayim

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Mikeitz – Wisdom and the Good Mother

In Mikeitz, the tenth portion of the Torah, Pharaoh has the most unlikely dreams. Seven lean cows swallow seven fat ones—how? Unlike pythons, cows cannot expand to swallow something bigger than themselves. Then, seven dried-up ears of grain swallow seven healthy ones. Shouldn’t the dry, brittle ears split apart?

Joseph is asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and he explains how to avoid the dream scenario. Joseph is called wise and discerning, and Pharaoh rewards him handsomely.

More than 3,000 years later, Israel has become the fat cow, with a thriving, high-tech economy, a highly educated and creative populace, and a strong military. It is Hamas that is the lean cow and dried-out ear of grain. Its radical Islamism is an authoritarian, fundamentalist ideology that creates neither material nor spiritual wealth for its followers and subjects.

And yet, on Oct. 7th, the lean cows devoured the fat cows and the parched ears ate the flourishing ears. How did that happen?

Wealthy, successful societies can become complacent. Pharaoh had a wealthy kingdom and the power of a god, but he was unprepared for the lean times of a famine, which neither money nor power could prevent.

Israel, too, grew complacent. Hamas was quiet and, Israel thought, did not want a fight. Surveillance soldiers on the border with Gaza, mostly female, observed Hamas drills for breaching the fence and taking over kibbutzim take place in plain sight. They saw Hamas train with drones and a Merkava tank replica. They watched as Hamas practiced taking over an observation post just like theirs. Their warnings were pooh-poohed and ignored by senior male officers.

If Israel is to not only win this battle, but the war, they will need leadership with the wisdom of a Joseph to point the way. And if other nations of good will truly want to help Israel in this fight, rather than sabotaging them by demanding ceasefires and humanitarian aid that will only strengthen Hamas and prolong the misery, they will need the wisdom of a Solomon.

Each Shabbat, after the Torah portion for that week is read, there is a reading from the prophets. As it happens, the prophetic reading that accompanies Mikeitz tells the story of how Solomon used his wisdom and insight to resolve a knotty problem. Two prostitutes claim the same baby. Each says the child is hers and was taken by the other when the other’s baby died soon after birth. Solomon declares he will divide the baby in half with a sword and give each woman half. The liar agrees, but the real mother begs Solomon to let the other woman have the child rather than kill it.

Hamas acts just like the lying mother, sacrificing its civilian human shields, stealing donated humanitarian supplies, while Israel protects Gazan civilians to the best of its ability during the difficult urban combat necessary to defeat its enemy. Israel warns civilians before it bombs, warning Hamas as well. Israel trucks in those supplies, knowing some will be diverted, enabling Hamas to fight longer and harder. Israel risks its soldiers’ safety to protect Gazans; Hamas sacrifices the people it claims to defend. Israel traded 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one kidnapped soldier in 2011; they just traded prisoners for hostages in a ration of 3:1. The world would do well to recognize who is the “good mother” in this scenario.

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Vayigash – The Jew Among the Nations

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Vayeisheiv – Who You Gonna Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes?

An interesting phrase is repeated in two very different instances in this week’s Torah portion: …hacer na… “…identify, please…” In both instances, deception is involved.

Just as Hamas used deception to lull Israel into a false sense of security before launching a savage attack upon unsuspecting civilians.

The first time the phrase is used, it is spoken by Joseph’s brothers, as they ask their father to identify Joseph’s coat. After the brothers left Joseph in a pit to be picked up by a caravan and sold into slavery in Egypt, they slaughtered a kid and dipped his coat in his blood, tricking their father into believing that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. Cruelly, they ask him to identify the bloody garment as belonging to his favorite child.

After this, one of Joseph’s brothers, Judah, has a son who dies childless after marrying a woman named Tamar. Judah follows the law of the time and gives a second son in marriage to Tamar; the child born to them will be considered that of the deceased brother, so that his name does not die out. After this second son also dies, Judah refuses to let his last remaining son wed Tamar, fearing that he will meet the same fate as the first two. Tamar dresses as a prostitute and tricks Judah into a sexual encounter with her, demanding his staff and signet as security against future payment. But when Judah tries to pay this “prostitute” and reclaim his property, she is nowhere to be found.

When Tamar becomes pregnant, accused of adultery, Judah orders her to be put to death. She then sends him his signet and staff, demanding that he identify them as his own so he will realize just who made her pregnant and why she tricked him into doing so.

The first deception was obviously a cruel and immoral ruse to cover up a crime. The second, not so much. Tamar was cheated of her right to have a husband and children by her father-in-law. She used deception to get her due.

Hamas has used deception for years in its war against Israel. Most recently, it has forced hostages being released to shake hands and wave goodbye. In one propaganda video that should have been better edited, you hear the terrorist direct children to “keep waving.” In another instance a hostage wrote a letter praising the treatment received while in captivity.

There is a reason the hostages are not being released as whole family units. The knowledge that a family member remains behind is no doubt a great motivator to pretend their captors were humane. But Hamas also perpetrated a gross deception. We are learning that captives were beaten. Children were burned to mark them in case they escaped. Kids were forced to watch Hamas videos of the horrors they inflicted on Oct. 7th and threatened with guns if they cried.

Yahyah Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, claimed that Hamas wanted a truce, knowing it didn’t have the military ability to confront Israel. For years, Hamas refrained from attacking Israel, pretending it valued permits for its citizens to work in Israel more than it sought armed struggle. This pragmatism was a facade, and Israel was caught unawares on Oct. 7th, paying a very high price.

Yet another Hamas deception has been pretending Gazan hospitals, ambulances, and mosques are solely institutions for treating the sick and practicing religion. Israel has revealed conclusively to the world with video footage, recorded phone calls between fighters, and interviews with captured Hamas terrorists that they double as command centers, weapons storage facilities, and means to transport fighters.

Hamas fighters also frequently dress in civilian clothing or medical garb, pretending to be ordinary citizens or medical personnel. In reporting the numbers of deaths and injuries from Israeli attacks they do not differentiate between civilians and their own fighters, thus inflating the number of “civilian” casualties. See this bloody coat? A wild beast killed your son!

Israel, in fighting Palestinian terror, uses an elite undercover unit of men and women, the Mista’arvim, who speak Arabic and dress as Palestinians to infiltrate Palestinian terror cells. The hit Israeli television series Fauda is about this unit. These daring deceivers capture or kill terrorists who have murdered or organized the murders of Israeli civilians. In this instance, the “prostitute” is not what she seems.

“All war is deception,” said Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese general and philosopher. And thus it has ever been, from Shimon and Levi’s trickery of the men of Shechem to the Allied deception as to where the D-Day invasion would take place.

So, is deception, particularly in wartime, moral or immoral? That depends on the reason it is practiced. Stopping terror attacks and assassinating murderous terrorists is moral. Fighting evil men, from Nazis to Hamas, is moral. But using one’s population as human shields and pretending benevolence while torturing children is evil. Attempting a genocide of a people, whether you are a Nazi, a Hutu, a Turk, or Hamas, is evil.

There are the deceivers, and then there are those who allow themselves to be deceived. Despite the overwhelming evidence, there are people out there who insist that Israel massacred its own people, that the IDF videos of terror bunkers under Shifa Hospital are fake, and that the Holocaust didn’t happen. It behooves us not to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked. The truth of Hamas is plain to those willing to see it, but those who insist on being blind are easy prey for the deceivers. As Groucho Marx put it: Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Israel-Gaza War 5784: Mikeitz – Wisdom and the Good Mother