In the days of the dire straits

Judges 16:30

As many of us who have a familiarity with the Tanach watch the events unfolding in Israel under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of bad actors, extremists, and incompetents whose failures have led to and kept this war going on far longer than needed, we cannot help but worry that they are repeating a history of terrible failures and actions that have, in our people’s biblical history, led to repeated defeats, loss of sovereignty in this land, and tragedy. In the Jewish calendar, we are in the three weeks between the 17^th of Tammuz and the 9^th Av, the so-called “days between the dire straits,” (בין המיצרים), according to the Talmud’s reading of the Tanach what is an historically repeated period of national calamity and loss. In that some people might worry that the past is prologue to the present.

The recent spate of targeted assassinations of enemy leaders might arouse such thoughts. I include here the killings of Hamas’s second in command Mohammad Deif in Gaza and its political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Hezbollah’s commander Fuad Shukr near Beirut, along with many others. These dramatic and headline-grabbing events recall for me the biblical story of Samson as told in Judges 16. This account of a once seemingly invincible leader, who because of his overconfidence about his prowess was surprised, captured, and blinded by the Philistines who dwelt in Gaza.  Taken hostage and chained to the columns of a great hall in which his captors celebrated his weakness and capture, Samson began praying that the Almighty “give me strength just this once, O God, to take revenge of the Philistines,” while he wrapped his chained arms around the columns and famously pulled down the house while calling out, ““Let me die with the Philistines!”

As we citizens of Israel, observers in the media, and world leaders watch and wait for the reaction of the leaders of Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas along with their allies to Israeli acts of vengeance, many of us wonder if our government’s actions are simply repeating the story of Samson. Are we, like Samson, driven by our desire for revenge engaged in a suicidal act?

Watching this government’s leaders act with hubris and abandon to control Gaza and the occupied areas of Judea and Samaria, as they are called by many here, leaving Palestinians no path to citizenship and no hope for a state of their own on the land on which they have lived for generations, also brings up thoughts of earlier days of biblical history. Additionally, ignoring our most important allies who urge us to cease fire and while imagining that should we alienate those allies we can go it alone, recalls the story of King Zedekiah, a foolish and vain vassal leader who owed his throne to the Babylonians but ignored their will and believed he and his nation could find new allies or, if necessary, go it alone. This occurred in these very days of the dire straits when, in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s rule, when the Babylonians threw up their hands and decided that these actions were too much. Instead of victory, his tactics led to the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem, the end of any semblance of local rule over this land and exile.

When beforehand, the prophet Jeremiah urged the leaders not to ignore their patron’s interests, royal officials and Jewish notables denounced him and he was accused of desertion and imprisoned. Years (66 CE) later when over-confident Judeans rebelled against Rome, the brief sovereignty of Judea ended. Once again the overreach of local leaders who believed in their own might above all else. Such reactions are reminiscent of the reactions of many in this Netanyahu government and its extremist supporters who called for the arrest of those opposing it. And it recalls the hubris of Netanyahu’s repeated calls for “absolute victory” over all of Israel’s enemies, with or without the help of our American allies.

Once again a leader’s desire to hold onto power and the unrealistic aspirations of this government threaten to repeat history. In the meantime, the hope for the return of our hostages and the future of our beloved country diminishes as those who once looked to Israel with hope now point at us with contempt at worst and grief at best. As we shall recite the Kinot on the 9^th of Av, we will recall the prime responsibility this Netanyahu government has shirked.” צִיּוֹן, הֲלֹא תִשְׁאֲלִי לִשְׁלוֹם אֲסִירַיִךְ,”

Zion wilt thou not seek the peace of those who are being held as hostages? This alas is far from the agenda of this government.