This linked article discussing the legality of Jewish claims in Judea and Samaria inspired today’s blog, filtered by Compassion (the random Virtues card I pulled as a focal point). Jewish Religious law, i.e. the Torah, has its Genesis in Compassion, as indicated by this story.
Exodus 2:2-5 “And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
The mother sent this baby down the river to protect him from Pharaoh’s evil edict. Pharaoh’s daughter then named this child Moses, the same Moses who later freed the people Pharaoh was oppressing. The same Moses who still later carried the tablets of Divine Law, written with the Finger of God, down from Mount Sinai. This law was given to educate and protect the entire Nation from the misery they had, and would again, experience. It was a Compassionate law, designed to secure permanent peace and freedom.
And compassion was prophesied, towards the tribes who would unfortunately fail to live according to that Divine Law. A prophesied period of 2,520 years of suffering was to follow, after which God would show His Divine Compassion in a very specific way.
Deuteronomy 30:1-5 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
Which brings us back to the question of Jewish Legal Claims. Many would claim that compassion requires the Jews to refrain from assuming the rights they have been granted in modern times. Many today withhold the compassion that led to these rulings in the first place, during a time when rabid antisemitism was destroying the entire ethnic grouping known as “Jews”. Many deny that Jewish Society is more compassionate than those societies around it, which still, today, seek to destroy the Jews. The same societies which oppress their own people’s mercilessly, in the name of intolerance, hate, and without any shred of compassion.
Reports are currently out that the White House is considering sanctions against Israel for building settlements in these areas which they believe they have a legal right to. Such sanctions are portrayed as somehow being compassionate towards Palestinians who also live in those areas. Aside from whether a logical, rational analysis of the actual situation on the ground supports such a view, the Virtue of Compassion, like any other Virtue, must be used in conjunction with them all, including Truth and Justice.
Compassion is a virtuous reaction, but the action of compassion must be in alignment with reality. It should help those who are actually hurt, in some way. One doesn’t need to look far for opportunities to extend compassion in the Middle East. There are many examples of people who, today, like the Jews historically, are hated and hunted.
Those impacted negatively, in some way, by Jewish settlements are not the ones I am referring to.