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Enemies Can Become Friends; Until Then, We Must Defend Ourselves
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
In last week’s Torah portion, we read about how Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their father. And in fact, they lived together at the same place, Be’er Lechai Roi. Their coming together seems to have been complete.
This week we are introduced to the rivalry between Esau and Jacob. The character of Esau is complex. He is a hunter; his father prefers him to stay-at-home. Esau betrays character faults that hint at why Rebecca thinks that Jacob would be the better heir. It is true that Esau honors, respects, and serves his father, but he is impulsive, demanding what Jacob is eating when he could so easily have turned to the other tents where at lunchtime his and other mothers were serving up lunch. He marries the first time against his parents’ wishes, even if he tried to make up for it the second time. When he realizes he will not get his father’s blessings, he weeps and yet follows this by swearing he will kill his brother. We know that in due course he will make peace with Jacob. Even so, in rabbinic literature, Esau is described very negatively as the everlasting enemy of Israel.
There is a well known Midrash, “Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai says it is well known (or it is a rule) that Esau will always hate Israel” (Midrash Sifri Bamidbar 69).
Rebbi Shimon lived during the reigns of two Roman emperors, Trajan and Hadrian, whose anti-Jewish decrees and persecution led to the Bar Kochba uprising from 132- 135 CE. And Esau became associated with Roman oppression. Why Esau? Because he was also called Edom, after the red lentils of the soup that Jacob had made. Red appears as a symbolic color in many ancient warrior peoples. In Roman mythology, it was associated with blood and courage. It was the color of the god of war, Mars, and the color of the army. Roman soldiers wore red tunics, gladiators were adorned in it.
And yet, according to the Talmud, the two succeeding emperors, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, had very good relations with R. Judah the Prince, the head of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel.
Things have changed a lot in Christianity these past hundred years since, particularly in the Catholic world. And although some liberal churches have joined the children of Stalin in attacking the Jews for having a homeland, most have not. And some are even our greatest supporters. So, it may be time to re-consider our history with them.
Today, we have new challenges — largely Arabic and Muslim mobs that have been chanting antisemitic slogans throughout the streets of the world. They don’t represent all Muslims, but it is clear many of the people we are seeing are endemically antisemitic.
We must not let hatred demean us or drag us down to the worst level of humanity. I pray that one day, enemies will become friends, and such expressions of antipathy will disappear altogether. But in the meantime, we must defend ourselves.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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Hostage Deal talks Stalled as Hamas Rejects New Israeli Framework – Report
US President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attend a signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
i24 News – i24NEWS’s diplomatic affairs correspondent, Amichai Stein, reported Sunday evening that negotiations over a potential hostage deal have hit a standstill.
According to political sources, “the negotiations are stalled, Hamas is refusing the new framework presented by Israel.”
Throughout the day, no direct negotiation meetings were held. Instead, the small security cabinet is set to convene this evening to discuss the state of the talks.
There is also speculation of a potential meeting between Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and US President Donald Trump to address the impasse and broader regional dynamics.
In parallel, Arab diplomats have reportedly issued a warning to Israel regarding its plan to construct a “humanitarian city” in Gaza. According to sources, diplomats cautioned that the initiative could harm the fragile fabric of the Abraham Accords and inflame regional tensions.
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Iran: ‘Israel Will Pay the Price’ for Allegedly Trying to Kill Pezeshkian
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 18, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was slightly injured in the leg during an Israeli airstrike, according to a report on Sunday by the Iranian news agency Fars, prompting Iran to launch a widespread probe to root out suspected moles that infiltrated the Islamic Republic’s highest ranks.
Al Jazeera cited an unnamed Iranian official who said, “The assassination attempt on President Pezeshkian will not go unanswered – Israel will pay the price.”
According to Fars, which has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the attack took place on the morning of Monday, June 16, while a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council was held on the lower floors of a building in western Tehran. In addition to the Iranian president, Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the head of the judiciary Mohseni Ajei, as well as other senior regime officials were attending this meeting.
Six bombs or missiles targeted the entry and exit points of the building in order to block evacuation routes and disrupt air circulation, the report said. This operation is said to have been inspired by the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last year. Following the explosions, power was cut on that floor, but the leaders managed to escape through an emergency exit prepared in advance.
Pezeshkian and several other officials sustained minor leg injuries during the evacuation, according to the agency. Given the accuracy of the information used in the attack, the media outlet reports that authorities are investigating the possibility of collaboration with Israel.
Official confirmation and reactions
A few days earlier, a high-ranking military leader in the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei, had stated on state television that Israel had “attacked six locations where the Supreme National Security Council had gathered, but none of its members had suffered even minor injuries.”
Pezeshkian had previously accused Israel of having attempted to assassinate him. “They tried, yes,” he told American journalist Tucker Carlson during an interview last week. “They acted accordingly, but they failed.”
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Hezbollah Violates Ceasefire 7 Times a Day on Average, IDF Figures Show
A drone view of buildings in Lebanon, next to the Israel-Lebanon border, following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, as seen from Metula in northern Israel, Dec. 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
i24 News – The Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah violate the ceasefire agreement with Israel more than seven times a day on average, according to Israel Defense Forces data obtained by i24NEWS and made public for the first time on Saturday.
Israel has flagged upward of 1,200 violations by Hezbollah in its report to the US-led five-country monitoring panel tasked with supervising the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
Of these, 650 violations were relayed to the Lebanese army for handling, while the rest of the times the IDF responded by attacking the violators.
The Lebanese army has identified 390 additional violations on its own initiative and filed a report saying that it had handled them.
Thus official data shows that the Lebanese army handled 52% of all violations, and 440 of the targets Israel flagged by Israel.
The majority of the infractions the Lebanese army manages to stem are concentrated in the south of the country.
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