Humash with Rashi? How About "Israel with Joshi"

Some quick takes on What's Happening Now

The bulwarks of Jerusalem. Psalm 48

I took a few days away from my proverbial pen to absorb what’s been happening. And now I want to share some quick takes on where I think things stand now, in Israel and back here in thre US. I model these terse bullet points after the most concise wordsmith of all time, the great medieval commentator Rashi, His comments on the Bible and Talmud were a veritable Twitter feed of key takeaways from any given verse, minus the grandstanding and hate-infested toxicity you routinely find on social media. In most traditional Yeshivas, no one studies the Torah without reading it through the prism of this commentator’s wisdom. Even in my Conservative Hebrew school, it was never just plain “Humash” (Torah); it was always “Humash with Rashi.”

So now, here’s something new for your virtual Jewish bookshelf. In addition to “Humash with Rashi,” I give you “Israel with Joshi.” Doubtless you will not agree with all of my points, but that's OK. Let's have a conversation, bullet point by bullet point.

• A ceasefire would be good. Even a lengthy one, but unless it includes two items, the war cannot be considered over.

• The two items are: a release of all the hostages and Hamas relinquishing control of Gaza.

• Those two items should be enough for Israel to declare "Mission Accomplished." That means the other stated Israeli goals, such as completely destroying Hamas or degrading 100 percent of its military infrastructure, may not be possible. To cling to those would be counterproductive, because Israel needs US support and Biden has political problems, not just among Muslim voters. Many Americans have become increasingly uncomfortable with the demonstrable suffering of the innocent people of Gaza.

• Yes, Israel is held to an unfair double standard, but in this case it has been given an enormous degree of latitude to conduct this war as it sees fit. We do not really know the extent to which the military plan has been executed successfully, but it's troubling that the results are not yet conclusive. We'll know Israel has won when the Egyptians, Saudis and Qataris show Hamas the door.

• It is increasingly clear that almost no one outside of the Iranian orbit (and some American college campuses) likes Hamas or tries to justify the crimes that Hamas has committed. That increasingly includes the people of Gaza.

• So the goal of removing Hamas from power and release of the hostages should be doable - but only if Israel shows a real willingness to consider long-term political solutions that include two states. I don't think anyone has the right to expect Israel to agree to a concrete timeline or any other specifics at this point - just not to dismiss it out of hand - and please God, to stop all the talk about resettling Gaza.

• Prime Minister Netanyahu has done just the opposite. It almost seems like he is playing to his old cronies in Washington in trying to make things more difficult politically for President Biden, while also trying to boost his street cred among right wingers in his own country. Where have we seen that before? Even though Bibi has been scorched by Trump, he feels he can manipulate him with flattery and will do anything to get him back into power. Autocracy loves company. Too bad for him that the GOP is not in a position to boast about its unconditional support for Israel when they are the ones blocking funding as we speak, and when they are hoping to foster tension between Biden and people of color while at the same time courting people of color (in the most offensive ways imaginable).

• Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to be replaced as soon as possible. Here's a Joshi exclusive: I actually agree with some of his current positions. If the non-political IDF assessment is that Israel needs to go into Rafah to degrade Hamas leadership and further the war aim of removing Hamas governance, and can do it with minimal civilian casualties, I agree with Bibi that they need to do it. If a narrow buffer zone in Gaza will enable Israelis to return to their homes with a little more security, I'm all for it.

• Bibi needs to go because everybody hates him, and he's become an easy excuse for people to express contempt for Israel. The problem with "It's Bibi who's bad, not Israelis," is that when Israel pursues legitimate military goals, the point person explaining them cannot be someone with zero credibility who is clearly looking foremost at own political survival. If Ganz and Lapid were speaking on behalf of Israel right now instead of Bibi, Smotrich and Ben Gvir, Israel's case would be getting a much fairer hearing. Even on 60 Minutes, where this week's feature on Gaza was very disheartening, given the degree of human suffering that has undeniably occurred there - no matter who is responsible - and the fact that Israel can't evade all responsibility for it.

• To state unequivocally that there will never be a Palestinian state, which Bibi is doing in the face of decades of consensus, is inflammatory political grandstanding unworthy of a serious world leader.

• I also think that this is the wrong time to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, which would be seen as a reward for terrorism.

• But unilateral US recognition could be a reward for a series of actions that would permanently sideline Hamas, demilitarize this state militarily AND ideologically (education, no celebration of terrorism, etc) and return all hostages, along with the Saudi initiatives and a regional Marshall Plan.

• This war is the worst thing that has happened to the Jewish people since the Shoah in large part because Israel can no longer be seen as a safe haven and bulwark against antisemitism. That aura of invincibility that has protected us at least since1967 has turned out to be an illusion. And as soon as that discovery occurred, the crazies came out of the woodwork, there, here, everywhere. Yes, hatred of Israel and hatred of Jews are enmeshed, even if it is also true that not all criticism of Israel is antisemitism. We've seen the truth and it is terrifying. Not as terrifying as the 1930s, but as bad, at least as the late 19th century. Pogroms in Russia, the KKK here, Dreyfus in Paris: Theodore Herzl took one look at it all and realized that the Jews needed a state of their own. He was right then and that same is true today.

• To thrive, or perhaps even to survive at all, the Jewish people needs both a strong, secure Israel and a secure, independent - and strongly Zionist - diaspora.

• This means that deterrence must be restored, ASAP. That means Hamas cannot be governing Gaza when the fighting stops. Hostages should be home. Everything else should be on the table - buffer zones, security forces with or without Israeli boots on the ground, Palestinian governance, and West Bank coordination too.

• Then the Saudi-US-Israel plan could bring much greater stability of the region and stand up to Iranian disruption. Which is where we were heading on October 6.

• Yes, for the betterment of the Jewish people and the world, Israel, the Saudis and US need to be a bulwark against Iranian and Russian nihilism.

• That nihilism has sadly metastasized here in the form of Trumpism. For that reason, Trump and his enablers may profess support for Israel, but in truth they only support Israel's far right wing, and primarily for Christian nationalist purposes. That is among the many reasons why a Trump return to the White House would be an existential threat to Israel, the US and democracy throughout the world, and why the Ukraine - Israel - Taiwan aid package must be passed, in some form (and of course humanitarian aid to Gaza is important too).

• The term bulwark is found in the Bible in reference to the citadels of Jerusalem, for instance in Psalm 48:13.

"Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark well her BULWARKS, (armenoteha-אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ) consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following."

• I believe that Israel, at her best, can be a bulwark against the ills that afflict our entire world, through technological, cultural, military and economic innovation and the unsurpassed resilience of her people. That has been proven perhaps more than ever over the past year. Israel showed us how to defend and preserve a democracy by organizing and taking to the streets, and how to nurture a traumatized populace faced with an existential war. We can only be awestruck at what the Israeli people have done. Now its current leadership needs to make way so that a new group, one worthy of the people it serves, can generate consensus on the hard decisions that need to be made.

• If that can happen, a brighter future lies ahead, for Israel, for the Jewish people and for the world. We need to redouble efforts now so that "we may tell it to the generation following," that out of one of the great disasters in history, a brighter future emerged.

Here ends this edition of Joshi's Commentary.