I was discussing the tragedy of the killing of 3 Israeli hostages today with a friend when I suddenly remembered the story of Jephthah, or Yiftach, in the Book of Judges in the Old Testament.
Yiftach is an outcast until the leader of the Jewish people ask him to help them defend themselves against invading enemies. He agrees, but also makes a fateful vow: to sacrifice the first creature that greets him on his return.
He is victorious, and when he returns home, to his shock and dismay his daughter races out of his home to greet him, rather than a farm animal, as he had expected. It is a tragic end to a heroic adventure.
The message of the story is unclear. Obviously one should not make careless vows, but Yiftach could not imagine that a human being would come out from his home, or farm, before an animal did.
The parallel to our present situation is that none of the soldiers in Gaza when the hostages were killed -- not even their commander -- understood that it was possible hostages would emerge in the open.
We are sometimes undone by our own expectations, by the way we choose to interpret reality. We need to be open to other possibilities and perspectives. If we are not, we may end up destroying ourselves.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
