Rebukes among the nations: A new essay

La’asot nekama ba-goyim, tocheichot ba’le’umim                                                                      Executing requital among the peoples, rebukes among the nations   (Psalms 149:7)

We live in momentous times.

A few days ago, Israel’s prime minister brought the sacred words of King David to life.

In the penultimate psalm that makes up Sefer Tehilim, David looks to a time when “the devout (he uses the word chasidim in its broadest meaning, not in the narrow sense it is used today) will exult in glory …the lofty praises of G-D in their throats and a double-edged sword in their hand, executing requital among the peoples, rebukes among the nations”.

Both Rashi and Radak define the chasidim as “the righteous legions of Israel” going out to battle.  They place their confidence not in weapons so much as in prayer and Torah study, defined metaphorically by the Psalmist (149:6) as cherev pifiyot, a double-edged sword which is a particularly lethal weapon.

David haMelekh was of course an exemplary warrior king, scholar and  poet laureate of our nation.. He handled the weapons of war, Torah and tefilla with equal aplomb and expertise. He understood that military battles had to be fought and that it was G-D’s will that hishdadlut (doing what is in one’s power) be exercised; however he also knew that the ultimate warrior was G-D and that it was He who decided outcomes.

It is this perceived partnership between G-D and His “warriors” – the  faithful legions of Am Yisrael – that will together succeed in the mission of setting the world to rights by overcoming evil regimes – and issuing admonishment and chastisement to the nations where necessary.

Which leads us to Bibi Netanyahu.

During his recent visit to meet with President Trump in Washington DC – the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House under the new Trump administration – Bibi appeared as a guest on Fox News’s Life, Liberty and Levin, a political talk show hosted by Mark Levin, a prominent lawyer and media personality. Granted that the show attracts a right-of-centre audience, what Netanyahu had to say was confidently assertive, breathtakingly bold – and authentically Jewish. Donning the mantle of the Biblical prophets of old for a few magical moments, Bibi lambasted his targets with pinpoint effectiveness. Here is an extract of what he said:-

It’s unbelievable that 20% [of Americans] side with Hamas – but that’s the problem of your colleges, your elite universities. They are unrecognisable! I went to one of them …MIT …did some courses in Harvard …but what happened to them? They’ve been poisoned with this antisemitism, this anti-Americanism, this deranged woke culture. What is this?  Get back, America! Get back! You represent the hopes and prayers of most of humanity! .. America must be a force for good  And America has no greater ally than Israel …..We’re fighting our fight, but in doing so, we are defeating your enemies. Our victory is your victory We carry the load with our brave soldiers …. and our people who stand strong.

 I cannot recall in my lifetime an occasion when a secular Jewish leader speaking to a mass audience in a foreign country spoke more powerfully or more spiritually in the name of an authentic Jewish moral value.  Bibi has addressed US Congress in the past, very eloquently – but here, before an audience of two million people, he as Prime Minister of Israel told America, the world’s leading superpower, to “get back” to the moral values of yesteryear.  (I’m glad he resisted the temptation to break into the old Beatles classic!)

On February 8th this year, a small milestone in both political and Jewish history was achieved when the Prime Minister of the Jewish State partnered G-D in executing rebuke among the nations in the most dominant country in the world.

King David himself would have been immensely proud!