Israel At War 5785: Yitro – May the Best God Win, Bimheira v’Yameinu

“G-d is always on the side of the big battalions,” declared the French philosopher Voltaire. This was a cynical view, imputing victory not to a higher power, but to man’s strength.

But if Voltaire is right, it follows that winning a battle means G-d is on your side.

In this week’s Torah portion, Yitro, we read that Moses’ father-in-law met him in the wilderness after Hashem’s culminating victory at the Sea of Reeds and said to him:

“Now I know that Hashem is greater than all the gods…” (Exodus 18:11)

In ancient times, people believed that whichever side won a battle had the more powerful god, who was, therefore, deserving of worship. Hashem intended that the ten plagues would prove to the Egyptians that their gods were no-gods and that He alone was the only G-d.

This was a turning point and a major paradigm change. The belief in multiple gods contending for primacy was challenged. In our day, most of the world has come to believe in a single G-d who rules alone.

Since the redemption from Egypt, even when Israel has been defeated by other powers, such as Babylon, Jews have not abandoned Hashem, either to worship foreign gods or to give up on G-d altogether. Our practice has been to reflect and look to our own behavior to see how we have sinned, and whether this motivated Hashem to withhold His protection.

Islam, on the other hand, sees defeats as Allah testing his people, with ultimate victory eventually guaranteed. Rather than reflecting on mistakes or shortcomings, and perhaps seeing that the cause being fought for is unjust, the believer is encouraged to be steadfast and persist.

Both Judaism and Islam believe there is only one G-d. Therefore, the wars fought between Israel and various Arab nations and nonstate actors are not a test of whose god is stronger.

However, religions can have wildly varying interpretations of what G-d wants. The radical Islam currently driving Palestinian attacks says that land conquered by Muslims cannot be lost. It preaches that Allah wants Muslims to kill Jews and welcomes martyrs in this pursuit. Jewish Israelis, on the other hand, believe G-d values life and all lives, whether Jewish or not.

It is important to note that not all Muslims share the radical Islamist idea. After October 7th, many Israeli Muslims and other Muslims around the world declared that what was done that day was decidedly not Islam.

The present war is a battle not between two gods but between two conceptions of G-d and what He wants from people. A 7th-century Muslim commander, Khalid ibn al-Walid, wrote a letter to a Persian governor urging him to surrender, because “I bring the men that desire death as ardently as you desire life.” Since then, radical Islamists from the Islamic State fighting in Syria to Hamas officials have quoted him. Just four days after October 7th, Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka specifically referenced Israelis’ love of life and contrasted it to his people’s willingness to sacrifice themselves. (It is not known how many Palestinians agree with Baraka that they are should be martyrs.)

These two conceptions of G-d have resulted in two diametrically opposed world views that cannot coexist. One must yield to the other. Israel cannot continue to live with a neighbor actively seeking its destruction. President Trump’s suggestion to banish Gazans from the Strip, along with that of right-wingers in the Israeli government to settle it again, have generated controversy and accusations of ethnic cleansing.

Yet decades of negotiations, giving up land for peace and offering to give up more, letting Palestinians earn money in Israel that they cannot at home, and giving them medical care have not changed their goals of conquest and extermination. If someone has better ideas than those on offer so far, Israel would love to hear them, especially as the prospect of renewed fighting looms with Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages. In the meantime, the god of conquest and supremacy must be roundly defeated. May we have complete victory, bimheira v’yameinu, speedily in our day.