By Phyllis Chesler

The Grapes of Canaan by James Jacques Tissot, c. 1896-1902

May God and my readers forgive me for taking a break from my Shabbat drash greetings. I am working on a new book and cannot do that and remain on the front lines of drashing and journalism. 

The other day it occurred to me that it is not only the ten Biblical spies who failed our people. Our contemporary Jewish (and anti-Israel) leadership has also been called to account for doing so—as have all the smaller Jewish groups who cannot seem to unite. Every Jew seems compelled to create, fund, and guard their own base, their own grassroots organization, their own synagogue, their own brand. May we all come together, speedily and in our day. But the plague of Jew-hatred does not only come from within.

In all of recorded history, God has been testing the nations: Will they or won’t they cease their endless hatred and persecution of God’s chosen people? Down the centuries, the nations seem to have failed. Today that failure has become a tsunami. And this is also why the Messiah has not yet come.

Have a thoughtful but peaceful Shabbat.

Phyllis