Writing for a ḥaredi audience, Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky considers what lessons pious Jews should draw from the attack on the Capitol last week. To Lopiansky, the rioters’ actions “should have been unthinkable,” and thus the relevant question is not what motivated them, but what made them thinkable. He blames a lack of two cardinal Jewish virtues: da’at (wisdom or “cerebral and calm deliberation”) and civility, or being a mensch:

If people don’t see mentshlikhkeyt (civility) as a virtue, then what is to stop them, when they become distraught or frustrated, from behaving the way that mob did? . . . If patience and civility are the hallmark of a “loser,” who would want to be a loser?

Perhaps the Torah’s most powerful description of mob behavior is that surrounding the Golden Calf. When Joshua hears the revelry, he is unsure as to what he hears. Moses responds, “it is not the sounds of victory; nor is it a cry of the weak. Rather it is the sound of mocking denigration, intended to hurt and cause anguish” [as per the 11th-century commentator Rashi’s understanding of the verse]. The sounds of a roaring mob are not an expression of self; rather they are a destructive cacophony.

A society where dignified and calm interaction is fostered is a good society to live in.

Lopiansky then turns to consider what he sees as the specific failings of his own community, beginning with the growing “plague” of “emotional involvement with the political candidates and their parties.”

No candidate or party represents Torah values. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic platform is Torah. And this is beside the fact that their political “ideologies” are shifting sand. A Torah Jew has no business identifying with either party.

The Jewish people have many needs and sensitivities. We weigh the different options and vote for a candidate or party based on what is important to us. We engage in political barter: a vote from the community in return for advancing values important to us and allocating vital resources. We are courteous and respectful to all, but we do not identify emotionally with any candidate or party. In fact, emotional enthusiasm for a candidate or a party is an “eysh zarah”!

This last term, literally a “strange fire,” is used to in the Bible (Leviticus 10:1) to refer to the unholy offering brought into the Tabernacle by Aaron’s sons—a desecration for which God punished them with instant immolation.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.