Groundhogs, King David, and the Midrash

The hibernation of the groundhog holds an important place in American folklore; much less well-known is its possible appearance in rabbinic folklore. According to one major midrashic work, “There are three types of slumber: that of sleep, that of prophecy, and that of marmita.” The Midrash goes on to cite a story in Samuel I in which David sneaks into the camp of his rival, King Saul, while Saul and his men are asleep. David then steals the king’s spear and water jug and sneaks out. According to the Midrash, Saul and his comrades were lost in the “slumber of the marmita.” Natan Slifkin explains:

The slumber of the mysterious marmita is the deepest type of sleep—but what is a marmita?

Opinions vary. But several opinions . . . argue that it is the animal known in Europe as the marmot, which is known to North Americans as the groundhog. Marmots enter a deep hibernation during the cold winter; their heartbeat slows to around five beats a minute, while they take only one to three breaths a minute. The Midrash says that such a deep sleep was placed upon Saul’s camp by God, so that David was able to steal in and out undetected. Nobody in Saul’s camp woke up; it was as though time itself was frozen.

Read more at Rationalist Judaism

More about: Bible, King David, King Saul, Midrash, Religion & Holidays

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023