The sixth chapter of Genesis begins with a puzzling episode in which “sons of gods” (to render the phrase literally) mate with human women to produce a race of giants. At this point, God announces that the human lifespan will henceforth be capped at 120 years. Benjamin Sommer notes that legends of deities begetting quasi-divine offspring with mortal consorts were common in ancient Near Eastern and Greek myth, but seem out of place in the monotheistic Torah. Yet the tale of the giants may not be so anomalous after all:

In Greek and Mesopotamian literature, gods become mortals, and humans divine—all of which points to a fundamental similarity between humanity and divinity in these ancient texts. The very core of polytheism is not simply that there are many gods but that gods and humans are made of the same stuff. Conversely, the Bible does not claim that God is the only heavenly being; after all, there are angels.

The core of biblical monotheism, as the German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen and the great Israeli biblical scholar Yehezkel Kaufmann showed, is something else: that God is unique. Even as Scripture demands that human beings attempt to imitate God, it also stresses they need to realize they will never fully succeed in doing so. It is for this reason that the book of Genesis includes this brief and surprising tale. . . .

It was hard for ancient people to admit it, and it’s even harder for moderns, but the Torah teaches that humanity has limits, and it’s not our role to play God.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.