DAS Blog

What does this last week's parsha have to say about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? It can be applied in multiple ways ranging from "the land is all ours" to "Zionism is right, but we shoulda bought the land from the Palestinians themselves, like Abraham got the concent of the Am Ha-aretz, rather than had the British partition land that wasn't theirs to partition" to "c.f. the reconcilliation between Ishmael and Isaac" ...

So which tack do y'all take?

Also, from last Shabbos, a local Rabbi raised a very interesting point: what is the real meaning of Antigonus of Sokho's (in)famous lesson in Pirke Avos? E.g., what if by "Rav" (master), he's not referring to God but to a religious leader? What is he after really? Is he really after the kind of mentality of "if I serve the (cult) leader well, I'll be rewarded" the helps supply cults with cultists? Is he after undermining cult-leaders by discouraging a quid-pro-quo mentality amongst potential cultists?