In Reason to Believe: Rational Explanations of Orthodox Jewish Faith, Chaim Jachter sets out to provide exactly what his subtitle promises. In so doing, he draws on a variety of medieval and modern rabbinic approaches to fundamental theological questions. While finding many of Jachter’s arguments both “compelling” and “convincing,” and others less so, David Wolkenfeld doubts that such appeals to reason can ever be the basis for true religious commitment. He cites his experience as a campus rabbi to explain why:

[S]tudents were deeply interested in all of the questions and answers that thinking people ask about God and the Torah. How was the Torah written? Does archaeology discredit or reinforce the biblical narrative? Can Judaism become consistent with feminism while preserving its continuity with the past? And many students shift their relationship to Torah and mitzvot [commandments] dramatically while they are in college. But I can’t recall a single student who changed his or her relationship to the Torah and mitzvot because of a question or an answer to a question.

One helpful description of the nature of contemporary religious faith was provided by the late philosopher of religion Peter Berger. Berger argued that religious commitments are built on the ability to live within a “sacred canopy” that provides meaning and orientation to our lives. Communities enable their members to live under a sacred canopy by constructing what he calls a “plausibility structure” in which religious commitments can still make sense and be reinforced by something outside ourselves.

It is extremely uncommon for someone to abandon a commitment to a faith because of a question he cannot answer or an argument that she cannot countenance. But it is quite common for faith to be undermined by a visit to an unfriendly or unwelcoming synagogue, or by a religious leader whose serious ethical lapses are exposed. From one perspective, acceptance of a religious worldview shouldn’t depend on whether people are nice in synagogue! Either the Torah is true or it is not. But Berger’s paradigm helps us understand this common phenomenon. Faith is maintained by the communities and relationships that sustain a plausibility structure. When those relationships are strained or those communities shut us out, or we can no longer find religious leadership that is ethically compelling to us, faith itself can be lost or undermined.

And the corollary is equally true. Religious commitments are reinforced by religious leaders whose good will and good character help us see the world through their eyes and motivate us to want to [follow their example].

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.