In the book of Numbers, the Gentile prophet Balaam delivers an extended, divinely inspired blessing to the people of Israel, which includes the verse, “How fair are your tents, O Jacob; your encampments, O Israel!” Drawing on traditional rabbinic interpretations of this verse, Ari Berman sees in it lessons for the current moment, where modern technology and a culture of exhibitionism have led to serious ethical concerns about privacy:

The rabbis of antiquity [understood the words “How fair are your tents” to refer to] the manner in which the Israelites had arranged their tents; namely, the tent openings did not face one another, thus preventing peering eyes from seeing into a neighbor’s home. In Jewish law, in fact, privacy is not simply a matter of personal preference. It is rather a formal legal category, such that peering into another’s private space is considered a form of injury. . . .

But at the same time, consider the verse’s second clause, in which Balaam praises the Israelites’ encampments. . . . The classical Jewish commentators . . . taught that whereas the word “tents” refers to the Israelites’ private dwellings, “encampments” refers to public spaces dedicated to collective, communal endeavors. Balaam offered praise for these places as well, for there are enormous advantages to cultivating an integrated, active public square. . . .

Taken as a whole, then, the rabbinic interpretation of Balaam’s ancient words highlights the importance of . . . cultivating both a virtuous private life and a virtuous public life. This is a crucial message as we think about educating the next generation.

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.