In his new book In His Image: The Image of God in Man, Yuval Cherlow—a prominent Israeli rabbi involved in a wide range of social and political endeavors—seeks to recover ethical principles in the Torah that he believes are often underemphasized and adapt them to the modern Jewish situation. Key to his thought is the need to respond to both the Holocaust and the creation of a Jewish state. (Interview by Alan Brill):

Two [mutually reinforcing necessities arise] from the Holocaust. The first [is to turn the state of Israel] into the safest place in the world for Jews. The scar etched in us by the Holocaust obligates us never to rely fully on anybody in the world, and to maintain a political and national entity in which we defend ourselves. . . . I don’t mean an isolated state, but one which engages the world, in the manner that enlightened countries do. However, its foremost concern [must be] the safety of its citizens and the safety of Jewish people the world over. . . .

[Second], we must partner with the entire world in fortifying those elements that fight against the very possibility of repeating the Holocaust. [Above all], this should be done by promoting a world in which human rights, individual freedom, human dignity, and life are the fundamental principles that underlie any government. But that is not enough. . . .

The Torah itself teaches us about the great dangers that are intrinsic to power. [The book of Deuteronomy] warns of the danger that the king’s heart will be “lifted above his brethren,” meaning that the power he yields will corrupt [him]. It is important to emphasize [that the] Torah [recognizes the] importance [of] power and strength, manifested in a stable [government. However], the Torah does not ignore the great risks present in monarchy, and for that reason it orders restrictions [on the government’s power]. . . .

[T]he Torah [creates additional sources of public authority]: the priest, the judge, and the prophet, [thus anticipating] the principle of separation of powers [found in the writings of] Montesquieu. . . . [E]ven today we need institutions that limit the ruling power, and until we return to the days of prophecy and priesthood, it is very important that there be substitutes for those institutions.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.