Look in the Mirror: A Teshuvah Call to the World

In Parshat Vayelech, Moshe speaks his last words. He warns Israel that nations will rise against them, corruption will spread, and betrayal will be constant. Yet he charges them: “Chazak ve’ematz – Be strong and courageous, for God goes with you.”

The Torah knows the world’s hostility. It tells us history will not be easy. But it also tells us that covenantal truth will prevail over political lies.

The UN on Rosh Hashanah

This week, on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, as Jews prayed in synagogues across Israel and the globe, the UN Security Council decided to hold a high-level briefing on Gaza — knowing full well Israel could not attend.

As US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz rightly said:

“It is deeply regrettable that Council Members have opted to convene this high-level UN Security Council briefing on Gaza on Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year – knowing full well that that decision excludes Israel.
And frankly, colleagues, it’s a testament to how this Council has prioritized a lot of performance over serious efforts to actually advance peace.”

This was not diplomacy. It was a stunt. A calculated move to shame Israel and elevate Hamas — a terrorist organisation that slaughters civilians, kidnaps children, and fires rockets from hospitals and schools.

Parallel Worlds

• In the Synagogue: Jews proclaimed Unetaneh Tokef — that every life is judged, every soul accountable, that human dignity is sacred.
• At the UN: Delegates twisted morality, erasing Jewish victims while painting Hamas as freedom fighters.
• In the Synagogue: Jews cried Avinu Malkeinu — confessing sins, pleading for mercy.
• At the UN: Nations performed sanctimony, never confessing their own blood-soaked histories, never repenting for their complicity in terror.
• In the Synagogue: Jews prayed for a day when “all nations will come together to serve You.”
• At the UN: The nations did gather — but to serve lies, to side with Hamas, and to desecrate God’s name.

Reflection: Betrayal, Desperation, and the Call of Teshuvah

This is more than hypocrisy. It is betrayal.

• History: The Jewish people’s survival, their covenant, and their return to their homeland are among history’s enduring truths. The UN’s actions spit in the face of that history. One cannot colonise one’s own land — Israel is the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people.
• Law: International law is constantly skewed and manipulated to brand Israel as “occupiers.” In reality, the Jewish people have earned legal ownership through history, recognition, and survival. Recall that in the 1920s, the British Mandate divided the land, with the creation of Jordan (whose majority polulation is Palestinian). By every legal and historic measure, the Jewish people’s claim to their land is stronger than those who now deny it. Jordan is Palestine. Any solution for a Palestinian state that does not include Jordan is a farce !!
• Religion: On Rosh Hashanah, Jews around the world prayed for peace, for a better world, and for God’s mercy. The prayers are littered with references to the Land and Jerusalem. Yet while the Jewish people bent their hearts to Heaven, the world once again chose to side with evil and terror. The UN revealed its contempt for holiness, its disdain for the sacred, its distortion of Religion,  and its obsession with silencing Israel.

What remains is not moral clarity but empty shouting with no substance. The UN, once envisioned as a guardian of peace, has become a theatre of the absurd — a desperate institution trying to remain relevant by appeasing terrorists.

And yet, as Vayelech reminds us, we are not abandoned. Nations may betray, Hamas may terrorise, and the UN may perform. But the covenant endures. History is not written by the applause of nations but by the hand of God.

The World’s Teshuvah

As we now enter the Ten Days of Teshuvah, a period of repentance, reflection, and return, the world itself is called to account. Nations, leaders, and institutions must repent for siding with terror, for betraying justice, for abandoning truth.

• Just as individuals must stand before God and confess their sins, so too must the world confess its failures.
• Just as Jews cry out Avinu Malkeinu, aseh imanu tzedakah v’chesed — “Our Father, our King, act with righteousness and kindness toward us” — so too must humanity act with righteousness and kindness, not with hypocrisy and performance.

The world needs Teshuvah. Without it, the UN will remain a hollow stage, shouting emptiness. With it, perhaps nations can yet turn toward justice, peace, and truth.

Shabbat Shuva – A National Teshuva

This year Parshat Vayelech is read on Shabbat Shuva — the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the days of national reflection and return. The overlap is no coincidence.

• Moses’ Final Words: “I am 120 years old today; I can no longer go out and come in.” Leadership passes, but the covenant remains. Our destiny does not depend on one leader but on God and on our failings and step down.
• Shabbat Shuva’s Call: “Shuva Yisrael ad Hashem Elokecha — Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.” This is not only an individual appeal, but a national one as well. In a world still hostile, we are called to renew our covenant and build a society of justice and dignity.
• Memory as Witness: Vayelech emphasises writing down the Torah and teaching it publicly so the people never forget their story. In our time, after October 7 and amid the lies of the world, defending our memory and our narrative is itself an act of Teshuvah.
• Hiddenness and Responsibility: Even when God hides His face, Israel’s task is to reveal His presence through courage, compassion, and unity.

As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks taught, politics is too small a space for the Jewish spirit. National Teshuvah means more than political survival. It means covenantal renewal: sanctifying life, protecting the vulnerable, and carrying our memory with faith and moral courage.

Look in the Mirror: A Teshuvah Call to the World

Before demanding recognition of a one-sided Palestinian state, many countries should first examine their own histories and answer for the crimes they or their predecessors committed:

• France: From Algeria to its other former colonies, France must reckon with a brutal past and the suffering inflicted across North Africa and beyond.
• Belgium: The atrocities in the Congo under colonial rule claimed between 10 and 15 million lives, building Belgium’s wealth on blood and forced labor.
• Britain: The empire’s record — from famines in India to misrule in Ireland, Africa, and the Americas — left scars still felt today. Its irresponsible handling of Mandate Palestine laid the groundwork for today’s conflict.
• Spain: Spain must confront the legacy of forced conversions, the expulsion of Jews in 1492, the bloody conquest of the Americas, and centuries of imperial violence.
• Europe at large: The wealth of many nations rests on the sweat of 13.5 million African slaves and the deaths of millions more in the Middle Passage. Their grandchildren should show humility, not hypocrisy.
• And this doesn’t even take into account the Holaucast!

If these nations want to preach about self-determination, perhaps they should first recognise the peoples they colonised: Aboriginal Australians and Māori, Basques and Catalans, Indigenous Canadians, Algerians, Congolese, and countless others. Recognition and Teshuvah must be universal — not selectively weaponised against Israel.

Time to recognise these people and give them a State!!

Time to give the Kurds a State!! Anybody else, while we’re on the subject.

Israel’s Humanity and the Moral Reckoning

And yet, Israel stands apart. It is the only country in the region that consistently opens humanitarian corridors, warns civilians before strikes, and provides aid even to its enemies. Israel is not perfect — no nation is — but it faces an enemy sworn to its destruction, and it chooses humanity even while defending itself.

So let us be clear:

• Don’t judge Israel for protecting itself against a genocidal terrorist organisation.
• Don’t chant “From the River to the Sea” without admitting that you are calling for another genocide of the Jewish people.
• Don’t reward terror with statehood when, for over a century, it has chosen blood over peace.

Truth Over Lies — A Closing Call to Action

Vayelech and Shabbat Shuva together call us to courage and to covenant. These Ten Days of Teshuvah are not just for Jews — they are a summons to the world. To confess its hypocrisies, to repent of its betrayals, and to return to truth.

The UN may shout on its hollow stage, but Israel will continue to live, to pray, to defend itself, and to pursue life. History is not decided in the performance halls of New York. It is written by God — and by those who stand with Him.

Further Reflection – please follow and read me on Substack

 From Gedaliah to Charlie Kirk: The Violence That Kills Futures

The Fast of Gedaliah teaches us that assassination doesn’t just end a life — it destroys hope and silences potential. Today, we see painful echoes when political violence is compounded by slander and distorted narratives.

In a world quick to weaponize grief and blame, this ancient fast reminds us: debate is sacred, violence is ruinous.

The Violence That Kills Futures – Jeffrey Levine