The Timely War Against Iran’s Leadership |
At 0815 yesterday morning, I was at the synagogue waiting for the start of Shabbat prayers when the first sirens went off in Jerusalem, not heard since the last Iran war in June 2025.
Desirous of following the emergency preparedness instructions of Israel’s Home Front Command (HFC) against “gatherings indoors or outdoors,” the Rabbi approached the holy ark, removed a Torah which had been pre-rolled to the proper place for yesterday’s additional reading and chanted the following passage from Deuteronomy 25:17-19.
“Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”
The Torah was in its proper place because yesterday was Shabbat Zachor, the sabbath to remember, when every Jew has an obligation to hear these words. While it is normally read as an addition to the weekly Torah portion situated midway in the Shabbat morning service, the synagogue made it possible for those in attendance to fulfill their religious obligation and hear this portion before they may have wanted to leave for their homes, where they could more easily access their bomb shelters. Since that time, we here in Jerusalem have been in the shelter 13 times.
HFC later clarified that because of the joint US-Israel attack on Iran’s leadership, emergency regulations would remain in place at least through Monday evening. Gatherings of any kind are not permitted, schools are closed, all but essential workers are prohibited from going to their work places, Israel’s air space is closed to commercial traffic, and public transport, where it is available, is on a very reduced schedule.
It was, of course, extremely appropriate to have read that portion of the Torah that tells us what to do about modern day Amalekites who speak of destroying the Jewish people. The Iranian regime, which has been in place for 47 years, is a modern day version of the Amalekites whom we were directed to destroy. They have taken every opportunity during those 47 years to chant Death to Isreal and Death to America making it a major theme of their reign.
During those years the Iranian leadership has both ruled with an iron fist, successfully eliminating any opposition, while allocating the bulk of their resources to building a military machine that threatens not only Israel and the US, but the entire non-Muslim world. The wanton waste of their resources in this manner has caused their economy to collapse, along with the country’s physical infrastructure, brining them to the point where today they cannot even supply sufficient water to the population of Tehran.
Couple that with a nuclear development program which can lead them to the production of atomic warheads mounted on ballistic missiles capable of reaching Europe and possibly even America in the more distant future, and the opportunity to “choke the snake at its neck” before it becomes totally unmanageable is very attractive. The directive to “blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven” can have multiple interpretations one of which can be to do exactly what the joint US-Israel attack on Iran was meant to accomplish.
Frankly, I had taken the position these last months that President Trump would never actually authorize such an attack. But I was wrong on that score and applaud him and our Prime Minister for biting the bullet and taking pre-emptive action to disable a regime bent on our destruction.
It is possible, of course, that President Trump was in violation of the US Constitution which clearly says that only the US Congress has the power to authorize the country to go to war. But while the Declare War Clause is a central element of Congress’s war powers, its meaning is among those most heavily debated. The Supreme Court has observed that only Congress has the power to declare war, but the implications of this exclusive assignment are not well-settled. In particular, the relationship between Congress’s power to declare war and the President’s war powers granted under Article II of the Constitution remains a subject of significant disagreement.
Having said that, as an Israeli living less than 800 miles from Iran’s border with Iraq where hundreds of missiles are pointed at me, locked and loaded, I am actually quite happy that the military effort to defang the Iranian regime has begun and pray for its ultimate success.
Later this week we will celebrate the holiday of Purim, which marks the deliverance of the Jewish people of Persia (today’s Iran) from the clutches of Haman, whose stated desire was to kill every Jew in the kingdom. 2,500 years later, we are once again in modern day Persia with Khamenei (a variation on the name of Haman perhaps?) having the same desires but now no longer among the living. Let us hope that we will see a positive result now as well and that the world will understand that, if so, together with the US we will have made the world a safer place in which to live, to raise children and to savor the beneficence of a loving God.