Idiocy of this government Part II: If there is no wisdom, there is no fear of G-d…

In Talmud, Tractate Tamid 32 identifies wisdom with understanding the consequences of one’s actions (In Pirkei Avot 3, Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel identifies this as the ‘good path’.)

Drawing on a similar message in Proverbs, a large chunk of Tractate Gittin describes the destruction that befell the Jewish people because people did not think about the consequences of their actions.

Even if, as a citizen of Rome-occupied Judea approximately 1960 years ago, you vehemently opposed the placement of idols in the Temple and the suppression of Jewish practice, as one should, it does not mean you have to burn the food stores of a besieged Jerusalem.

Even if as a citizen of 21st century Israel, you believe in the right of the Jewish people to dwell as a free people in and across their Land, observing our Torah, you do not need to commit acts of obscene idiocy that stand, G-d forbid, to make this outcome less sustainable.

Unfortunately there are many candidates in this Government for ministers who do not think about the consequences (let alone morality) of their actions – Ben Gvir’s failure to crack down on Arab organised crime, Smotrich’s refusal to fund Arab towns, the religious Zionist movement for failing to rein in the hilltop youth, the entire Charedi leadership for failing to anticipate the backlash against Charedi society and Torah observance as a whole for their role in this Government, and the comprehensive failures of Levin/Rothman to anticipate the public response to their ‘judicial reform’ as a result of presenting it not really as a reform at all but rather as a revolution.

However for me the prize is taken in the last few days by foreign minister, Eli Cohen, and his clandestine Libyan encounter after an apparent 6 years of preparation. Not because it is the most damaging, but because it is simply the most obvious and foolish. Why did you have to open your mouth, Eli?

The mind boggles…