The 10 or the 2? -- CHRONICLE Online/The WORD 06/19/25

Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah

June 19, 2025

23 Sivan 5785

Parashat Sh'lach

Let me tell you a story of two hospitals.

Khan Younis’ European Hospital is a hospital trying to treat people during a war. It has concrete structures deep in the ground underneath it. There were people in those concrete structures when it was bombed on May 13.

Beersheba’s Soroka Hospital is a hospital trying to treat people during a war. It has concrete structures deep in the ground underneath it. There were people in those concrete structures when it was bombed early this morning.

It would be easy to look at these two hospitals and think that they are equivalent, and that targeting either one of them is just as horrible as targeting the other. However, in order to come to such a conclusion, one would have to ignore a lot of details. Let me first say unequivocally that the death of any civilian—regardless of which side of the war they’re on—is tragic. The question is: Whose fault is it that civilians are being killed? Let’s look a little more carefully at the two hospitals.

The people in the tunnels under the European Hospital were Hamas leaders including Mohammed Sinwar, who was the top leader of Hamas at the time and one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack on Israel. They were using the hospital as either a base of operations or as a shield (or both!). No civilians were allowed to take shelter under the hospital. Hamas wanted to maximize civilian casualties if Israel was going to go after Sinwar—a legitimate military target. Hamas claims that 28 people were killed when Israel did, in fact, assassinate Sinwar. No one can really say if that number is accurate. But, Israel was clearly targeting Sinwar.

The people in the underground parking structure and shelters at Soroka Hospital were the patients and hospital staff. They had all been evacuated from the regular hospital wards to ensure their safety. It appears that Iran used rockets with multiple warheads to maximize damage and casualties in a civilian area. There was no military presence at Soroka hospital other than as security. The closest military base is over 2 kilometers away. Iran fired there anyway. Although some civilians were injured, there were no deaths as a result of Iran’s attack because Israel values and protects its civilians.

These are two very different situations. And yet, there are people who were very quick to condemn Israel for targeting the tunnel under the European Hospital in order to kill their #1 target, who are silent today. They look at the rocket attack on the Soroka Hospital and somehow can’t see what I see.

This week’s Torah portion offers another example of this phenomenon. Moses sent twelve scouts to check out the Land of Canaan, the Israelites’ future home. Ten of these scouts agreed with one another. Upon returning from their tour of the land, they said in one voice: “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers (Numbers 13:32).” They recommended returning to Egypt.

However, the other two clearly saw something different. They stood up in front of their fellow Israelites and declared that it was “a land that flows with milk and honey (Numbers 14:8).” These two—Joshua and Caleb—were ready to proceed into the Promised Land.

So, who was right? Was it a land that devoured its inhabitants or was it a land that nourished its people with milk and honey?

It seems to me that the answer is that the land was a little bit of both. It was both scary and beautiful. The 10 pessimistic scouts didn’t take the time to look deeply. Caleb and Joshua examined the land more carefully and saw things that the others didn’t.

When comes to the war between Israel and Iran (and all of Iran’s proxies), a quick look at the surface may allow a person to think that the two sides are morally equivalent. However, if we take the time to do our own analysis—without the biased reporting that has vilified Israel since October 8 before the counterattack even started—then we’ll see which side endangers civilians to win the media war and which side tries to protect civilians as much as possible in the middle of a war. Do we want to be one of the 10 scouts? Or, do we want to be like Caleb and Joshua—even if it’s unpopular.

Shalom,

RAF.