ByZVIKA KLEIN

JULY 17, 2026 05:59

The 25th Knesset ends its session on Friday, the first to finish a complete four-year cycle since 1988, and national elections are now set for October 27.

The schedule leading up to that date is packed: Democratic primaries occur on July 20, the Religious Zionist Party meets on July 26, Likud gathers on August 4, and final candidate lists must be submitted by September 9. At least one emerging party has delayed its debut until after Tisha B’Av out of deference, or simply because polling during a fast period yields little value.

The outgoing government is rushing final measures on issues like military exemptions and judicial reforms, the most divisive topics in Israeli society, betting that actions taken now will endure beyond the October vote.

Leaders from multiple factions have visited The Jerusalem Post studio lately and voiced similar sentiments. Off camera they note this vote will determine if the nation remains united. On camera they insist the opposing side must be defeated. The same individuals express both views minutes apart without apparent concern.

Talmudic lessons on ruin offer sharper insight than standard sermons or routine reports

Next week congregations in Jerusalem and Johannesburg will hear familiar messages about the Second Temple’s fall due to senseless animosity and warnings about current divisions. Such remarks are accurate yet cautious since they fault everyone equally and thus no one in particular.

The Talmud presents a stricter version of events that proves more relevant three months before voting, since it identifies precise individuals rather than broad groups.

“Jerusalem was destroyed on account of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza,” the Gemara states (Gittin 55b). A well-known episode describes a guest wrongly invited to a feast, publicly shamed, and removed while city elders observe without intervening. The ejected man declares that the sages’ silence shows approval, prompting him to alert the authorities.

Bar Kamtza focused not on the host but on the passive onlookers.

Rome issues a challenge by sending an animal for Temple sacrifice on the emperor’s behalf. Bar Kamtza subtly damages it en route in a manner detectable only under religious law. The sages face a difficult choice; most favor proceeding to preserve peace with the empire.

Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulas objects, warning that others might claim defective offerings are acceptable. When the group considers eliminating the informer, he again objects, fearing it would suggest death for minor ritual infractions (Gittin 56a).

Zechariah offers no positive alternative. Each time he highlights risks of the proposed action, discussion ends without resolution, allowing Rome to advance toward conflict. Later inquiries into blame skip the informer, host, and emperor entirely.

Rabbi Yochanan concludes: “The humility of Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulas destroyed our Temple, burned our Sanctuary, and exiled us from our land” (Gittin 56a).

The judgment falls on the cautious figure who upheld rules while danger mounted.

No victor emerges from debate inside a city facing starvation

The Gemara next turns to provisions. At the siege’s outset Jerusalem held ample supplies; three wealthy citizens’ storehouses contained enough to feed the population for 21 years.

Such reserves would allow negotiation or endurance against an emperor. Militant factions known as biryonim demanded immediate battle. When sages suggested seeking peace, the militants rejected the idea and set the grain stores ablaze, triggering famine (Gittin 56a).

Arguments lose meaning once hunger sets in.

Contemporary reporting adds confirmation from Josephus, an eyewitness whose account aligns with the rabbinic record. Internal factions burned one another’s stocks “as if they had, on purpose, done it to serve the Romans,” destroying grain sufficient for years of resistance.

Josephus notes Jerusalem succumbed to a famine its own defenders had made inevitable (The Jewish War 5:1, Whiston translation).

Two independent sources, one religious and one aligned with Rome, converge on the same facts about the supplies. In reporting terms that convergence justifies publication.

The episodes connect. Torch-bearers acted because those in power failed to intervene. Tradition condemns the zealots, yet the Gemara directs its sharpest words at respected figures who allowed events to unfold.

Applying the storehouse standard across every political list

Here is a clear proposal. From now until October 27 this publication will measure every submitted party list by two questions: Which common national resource are you willing to destroy for victory? And which choice that may lose votes will you make regardless?

The reserves are evident. A military free of partisan control now strained by exemption disputes. Broad agreement on hostage matters that must remain outside coalition bargaining. Judicial decisions that bind all sides. And the basic expectation that election losers will accept results.

Figures in every camp are quietly considering one of these assets as political leverage. Readers who see the risk only among opponents sit silently at Bar Kamtza’s table.

Jews outside Israel should view this as relevant to their own communities. Tables that still gather people with differing views on Israel represent a reserve. So do campus alliances built over decades that could fracture quickly.

Discussions with leaders on three continents since October 7 reveal the same pattern regardless of location: every group contains militants preferring a smaller, purer circle and cautious chairs who raise procedural points then depart once no action occurs.

Earlier this week this column argued that Israeli politics is losing its steady voices and that the nation will face consequences. The bill arrives now, drawn from Gittin. Those who act responsibly do not abandon the field; it passes to those carrying the torches.

Fair assessment notes that finishing a full Knesset term after nearly forty years counts as a genuine achievement in a region where governments seldom complete their terms. Still, the Temple appeared grand on its final morning. Structures can remain standing long after their essential contents have vanished.

Thursday, during synagogue readings of the Kinot, between recollections of the ancient siege and the current campaign timeline, the grain supplies will come to mind: enough for 21 years. Destroyed by Jews. Allowed by Jews. This newspaper accepts the same standard.