Israel has no option but to destroy Iran's capability to attack it again.
The first missile attack, in April (which I was in Israel to experience), crossed a new threshold. Israel's defenses, miraculously, held up, but the Biden administration restrained Israel from a full-scale response. Also, Israel may have worried about potential retaliation from Hezbollah, which could have launched tend of thousands of rockets and missiles at Israeli cities, overwhelming the Iron Dome.
Israel did respond, but in a limited way that simply demonstrated the limits of the Iranian air defense system. Evidently, that was not enough to deter Iran from firing again -- probably because Iran believes Biden will rein Israel in again.
But the rules of the game have changed. Israel has acted independently of the U.S. -- in Rafah, and in Lebanon -- and it has taken out Hezbollah's ability to fire in coordinated fashion. There is no Iranian deterrent anymore.
Iran has provided Israel with the perfect provocation to act. But also, it has provided Israel with a threat that it cannot allow again. This second attack was more frightening than the first, because Israel is already at war on 4 fronts.
Israel cannot take the risk that an Iranian missile might be tipped with a chemical or even nuclear warhead. Plus, the war is damaging the Israeli economy, which suffered a major investment downgrade a few days ago.
Therefore I believe today's missile attack will be the last. Israel will attack: Iran's missile launchers; its oil and gas industry; its ports; its nuclear sites; its government; or all of the above. Israel could use airstrikes, or internal sabotage.
There is a reason Netanyahu delivered a speech this week -- not to the Lebanese people, whom he addressed last week, but to the Iranian people. He intends to create the conditions for the regime to be overthrown. Watch.
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
