The death of three Israeli hostages last Friday is one of the greatest military tragedies in the history of Israel. But in a curious twist, that event may have helped Israel break the will of Hamas to fight on.
I had said for a while that there would come a point when Israel would have to decide to risk the lives of the hostages for the sake of the goal of destroying Hamas. Until it did, Hamas would be in control.
It made no sense to me that Israel would negotiate with Hamas while trying to destroy it, even for the lives of its own citizens. Actually, to be precise: it made no sense for Hamas to be negotiating with Israel.
Hamas appears to have come to the same conclusion. It broke off hostage talks that were being revived around the time the 3 hostages were killed. Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire, not just a pause.
A Hamas spokesman (the same one who promised more Oct. 7 attacks) explained the group's reasoning to Al Jazeera, basically saying that even a long pause lasting weeks would not be good enough, because Israel would simply keep fighting afterwards.
In fact, he said, there would be no reason for Israel to stop fighting after Hamas had given back the hostages, because the hostages were the only cards Hamas had left to play. He is right, and what it clear from his remarks is that Hamas believes Israel really is trying to win.
Or: Hamas believes Israel is prepared to lose some hostages to win.
That is a psychological victory for Israel. Hamas may yet negotiate, but when it does, it will be negotiating for things like safe passage out of Gaza, or asylum in Qatar, not for a permanent ceasefire.
I would much rather have seen Israel rescue the hostages. But it is possible that Hamas, seeing that Israel was prepared -- like Keanu Reeves in "Speed" -- to shoot hostages, believes it is going to lose.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
