Every Shabbat, as we take the Torah scroll out of the ark, we recite two radically different verses in quick succession. The first speaks of war and conflict:
The second verse speaks of peace and teaching:
The combination of these two verses is jarring. Why do we join them together?
These verses capture a fundamental truth: before we can teach Torah, we must first confront those who seek to destroy us. The devastating consequences of failing to understand this principle were made clear during the reign of King Saul. Through the prophet Samuel, God commanded King Saul:
Saul, however, did not comply with God’s clear command, and spared King Agag, the King of the Amalekites:
The results of King Saul’s misplaced mercy to the cruel King Agag were disastrous. The Sages teach that in between the moment Saul spared Agag and when Samuel killed Agag, Agag succeeded in impregnating a maidservant and thereby preserved his Amalekite line. Centuries later, after the destruction of Israel, during the Persian exile, Agag’s descendant – Haman the Agagite – came dangerously close to perpetuating a Holocaust upon the people of Israel.
From this, our Sages derived a crucial principle: “Whoever is merciful to the cruel will ultimately be cruel to the merciful” (Midrash Tanchuma, Metzora). When we fail to confront evil decisively, we don’t just risk our own destruction – we guarantee the suffering of future generations.
The people of Israel carry a divine mission to bring God’s word to all nations. But we cannot fulfill this mission while we are under attack. We cannot teach God’s word while fighting for our survival. And so the sequential recitation of those two verses during the Torah service makes perfect sense ā first, we must scatter our enemies and make those who hate us flee. Only then can we fulfill our purpose of bringing forth Torah from Zion.
Many Bible scholars, men and women who pride themselves on being enlightened and dedicated to love and peace, are averse to war and uncomfortable with the Bibleās many stories about Israel waging war on its enemies. But their squeamishness about war doesn’t prove their love of peace – it proves they’ve never understood the Bible in the first place. These scholars miss what should be obvious: if we don’t confront and defeat evil, that evil will come back to kill us, forcing us to put down our Bibles and fight for our very existence. Only by defeating those who murder innocent Jews and seek to destroy all we hold sacred can we fulfill our mission – to send forth the Torah from Jerusalem.
We see this dangerous mindset today in the American Jewish establishment. The Israel office director of the Anti-Defamation League, for example, condemned proposals to permanently displace Palestinians in Gaza and reestablish Jewish settlements there: “We are deeply troubled by statements from Israeli government ministers and activists advocating for the emigration or ‘population thinning’ of Palestinians in Gaza. These views reflect an inhumane approach, tarnish Israel’s reputation, and are fundamentally immoral.”
This couldn’t be more wrong. After the Gazans elected Hamas and participated en masse in the brutal murder of Israelis on October 7, the only moral thing to do is to resettle them – as far away from Israel as possible! As Moses would say, “Arise, O Lord, may Your enemies be scattered and may those who hate You flee from You!”
These Jewish leaders refuse to accept what the sages have known for millennia: we cannot teach the Bible to the world if we deceive ourselves and refuse to fight and defeat the evil people seeking our destruction.
Those two verses we recite as we take out the Torah show us the way forward. First we must scatter our enemies, and only then can we teach God’s word. This is the order established by the Bible itself, demonstrated throughout Jewish history. The liberal establishment can deny it, but they cannot change it. The time has come to remove these failed leaders and replace them with those who understand what the Bible demands of us.
This moment demands new leadership aligned with biblical values. Israel365 Action, our party in the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections, represents a return to these biblical principles. We’re building a movement of proud, biblically-grounded leaders who understand that confronting evil isn’t just permissible ā it’s a divine imperative.
The World Zionist Congress elections offer a historic opportunity to transform Jewish institutional leadership. Your vote can help bring forth leaders who grasp the Bible’s clear teaching: evil must be defeated before we can effectively spread God’s word. The time for action is now. Register to vote today and help us restore biblical wisdom to our community’s leadership.
