In setting forth the rules of Yom Kippur, the Torah says nothing about refraining from food or drink, only commanding: “You shall afflict yourselves.” Examining talmudic passages in which the rabbis determine that the phrase in fact refers to fasting, Julian Sinclair finds clear hints at the purposes of the practice:

[After arguing over the exact way “to afflict” is to be interpreted as meaning “to fast”], Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Assi share a series of reflections about what happens when desire and fantasy slip out of control and restraints break down: you start to view anyone else’s property as legitimately yours, says Rabbi Ami; you see all the forbidden sexual relationships as fair game, claims Rabbi Assi.

This series of observations ends with a pair of comments about the snake in the Garden of Eden who is cursed that “its bread shall be the dust.” Rabbi Ami interprets: “even if it eats all the delicacies of the world, they taste [to the snake] like dust;” Rabbi Assi says, “even if it eats all the delicacies in the world, it isn’t satisfied until it eats dust.” . . .

I suggest that the rabbis interpret the snake, emblem of untamed desire in Genesis, as an image of addiction. One who surrenders to an insatiable lust for the food, drink, or substance that he craves is fated to a jaded state of sensuous degradation where everything tastes of that one thing or where only that one thing satisfies. . . .

On Yom Kippur, the Talmud is teaching, we withdraw from engagement in the world of eating, drinking, and bodily pleasure. This offers a chance to release ourselves from the thoughts, fantasies, and desires that can so preoccupy us, and rebalance our relationship to eating.

In a momentous meeting with the Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, President Trump announced that he is lifting sanctions on the beleaguered and war-torn country. On the one hand, Sharaa is an alumnus of Islamic State and al-Qaeda, who came to power as commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which itself began life as al-Qaeda’s Syrian offshoot; he also seems to enjoy the support of Qatar. On the other hand, he overthrew the Assad regime—a feat made possible by the battering Israel delivered to Hizballah—greatly improving Jerusalem’s strategic position, and ending one of the world’s most atrocious and brutal tyrannies. President Trump also announced that he hopes Syria will join the Abraham Accords.

This analysis by Eran Lerman was published a few days ago, and in some respects is already out of date, but more than anything else I’ve read it helps to make sense of Israel’s strategic position vis-à-vis Syria.

Israel’s primary security interest lies in defending against worst-case scenarios, particularly the potential collapse of the Syrian state or its transformation into an actively hostile force backed by a significant Turkish presence (considering that the Turkish military is the second largest in NATO) with all that this would imply. Hence the need to bolster the new buffer zone—not for territorial gain, but as a vital shield and guarantee against dangerous developments. Continued airstrikes aimed at diminishing the residual components of strategic military capabilities inherited from the Assad regime are essential.

At the same time, there is a need to create conditions that would enable those in Damascus who wish to reject the reduction of their once-proud country into a Turkish satrapy. Sharaa’s efforts to establish his legitimacy, including his visit to Paris and outreach to the U.S., other European nations, and key Gulf countries, may generate positive leverage in this regard. Israel’s role is to demonstrate through daily actions the severe costs of acceding to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions and accepting Turkish hegemony.

Israel should also assist those in Syria (and beyond: this may have an effect in Lebanon as well) who look to it as a strategic anchor in the region. The Druze in Syria—backed by their brethren in Israel—have openly expressed this expectation, breaking decades of loyalty to the central power in Damascus over their obligation to their kith and kin.