The Daf Yomi studied around the world on the day that Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to meet with President Trump 47 (Sanhedrin 49) teaches some fundamental lessons of particular relevance to the main topics discussed by these two world leaders, and also happens to focus on Biblical personalities (incidentally highlighting the link of our land to our people), with lessons to learn from them, as much as if not more than on virtually all the other pages in the Talmud.
The opening line on this page is actually quite eye opening and seemingly counter-intuitive:
“Be the one who is cursed and not the one who curses.” On the surface, it would seem to be the other way around. The reasoning behind this advice is that in some instances people – and especially politicians – attempt to hide their insecurities by alleging that their opponents have the faults that they have, so that curses eventually redound upon the people who attempt to thrust them on others. G-d, and most good mortals, focus on bringing blessings to the world, not curses. Jewish history can actually be characterized or epitomized by the ways Jews have brought blessings to the world – from Abraham in the desert and Moses on Mount Sinai to the disproportionately Jewish Nobel prize winners. And unfortunately Jews have suffered from curses more than just about all other religious groups, but Jews as a whole have survived their oppressors from time immemorial. The hate emanating from Hamas and their sympathizers all over the world seems to be in the process of being overcome by the Jews of Israel and around the world, as censorship seems to be peeled back and the truth continues to come out. People who put their energy into negativity are simply not as likely to be as successful and happy as people who focus on positivity and getting good things done.
A proverb from elsewhere in the Talmud perhaps gets to the heart of the matter differently and more succinctly than I just did: Kol haposel pasul, b’mumo posel (Kidushin 70). Paraphrasing in context: Anyone who attempts to disqualify others by alleging that their lineage is flawed actually reveals inadvertently that his or her own lineage is flawed. (This is not always the case, but it happens all too often.) A person should be pretty sure an accusation is true before making it, but pretty reluctant to make any accusation, especially if it is not rock solid. Israel today continues to be accused of being colonialists, even before President Trump made his proposed land grab of Gaza at the time of their meeting, seeming on the surface to propose to make America real colonialists (though we all know that he often speaks as a negotiator and expects to end up with something quite different). And of course we also all know that if there were any colonialists breaking hearts and promises in the Promised Land, they were the Turks and then the British – and Arafat, who was born in Egypt; Israel has controlled the area it now occupies from the days of the Bible, and the Arabs of Gaza – and even the other Arabs of today – never had a country of their own encompassing the land “from the river to the sea.” And claiming it in the manner they did on October 7 certainly did not and does not justify the support of any court, country, or campus with a conscience and/or a brain.
Returning to the opening line on this page (49) in the Talmud, about the curser vs. the cursed, a quick look at some American expressions may lead to the conclusion that the seeming paradox may not be counter-intuitive at all! Consider “It takes one to know one,” “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” and “ a pot calling the kettle black.”
On this same meaningful page 49, a Biblical figure named Yoav was initially held accountable for his otherwise-legitimate avenge-killing of somebody who killed in self-defense instead of just incapacitating the aggressor. The catch is, however, that a self-defender has to be pretty certain – actually, absolutely certain – that he or she has the skill, the strength, the time, the timeliness, the coordination, and, let’s face it, the help of G-d, to incapacitate the aggressor without killing him or her, since when a life is at stake, there is no room for error – or a split-second mistake in calculations. It the self-defenders can’t be sure they will be able to merely incapacitate, they must absolutely neutralize the enemy, which is a nice way of saying make sure the enemy will never be able to continue its murderous ways. This, of course, calls to mind Israel’s wars of self defense ever since the country was re-established in 1948, and continuing in the current war triggered by Hamas.
There are those today – and ever since October 7 – who argue that the Israelis over-reacted to the Hamas massacres and kidnaps and could have achieved their objectives by just wounding the Hamas terrorists. It should be clear, however, that just wounding Hamas would not only not have been realistic but would not have been enough to stop them from continuing to launch rockets into densely populated areas or to release the hostages. “Mowing the lawn” would have just allowed the grass to grow another day, except that grass is harmless but rocket launchers are not.
The Talmud – and history – have generally looked kindly at Yoav overall, whose decision in the instance discussed above was ultimately deemed justified (though there is a lot of nuance that may not necessarily be fully understood or agreed upon). Later on in the same page (49), Rabbi Abba bar Kahana opined, Were it not for [King] David, who was engaged in Torah learning, Yoav would not have been successful in battle, and were it not for Yoav’s skills as a warrior, [King] David would not have been able to study the Torah. And, we might add, might not have been able to produce so much Torah through his classic writings that became an essential part of Tanach.
Of course this discussion goes far beyond Yoav and King David, and is more relevant now than ever, as we contemplate the importance and essential role of those who study the Torah in Israel and the important and essential role of the military, though arguments can be made on both sides – King David was able to excel in both areas. But to paraphrase Senator Lloyd Benson addressing Senator Dan Quayle in the great debate of 1988 (You, sir, are no Jack Kennedy): Not many of us (none, actually) can compare to King David, though many may strive to emulate him, each in his/her own way(s).
