Greetings!

My name is Y.B. ben Avraham. I am honored to have been asked by the inestimable Claire Wolfe to join this new venture; the Zelman Partisans.

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Nearly twenty-six hundred years ago the once-great land of Israel was a shambles. After generations of internal strife, the mighty army of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II had utterly defeated Judah, sacked Jerusalem, and destroyed the focal point of the Jewish People; the Holy Temple. Their last King, Zedekiah, was blinded and led into exile. The wealthy, industrious, and educated were marched towards Babylonia, stopping briefly at an encampment at Riblah, wherein the majority of these exiles were simply slaughtered. Most of what remained was a scattering of dispirited farmers & shepherds.

Hoping to rebuild his new colony, the Babylonian king appointed one Gedaliah ben Ahikam as territorial Governor. Gedaliah’s father had saved the life of the prophet Jeremiah. When given the option of staying, or accompanying the remaining exiles to Babylonia, Jeremiah stayed and helped Gedaliah govern from Mizpah. Their intent was to rebuild from scratch, and in following Torah, fulfill the Covenant with G-d.

So successful was this effort that many Jews, having fled the war to neighboring lands, began to return and rebuild. One Ishmael ben Netanya was among the refugees. A descendant of Zedekiah’s household, he was also a close ally of the King of Ammon. Intensely jealous of Gedaliah’s successes, ben Netanya plotted to kill Gedaliah and with the help of Ammon, gain power over the colony.

The plot was discovered and reported to Gedaliah, but such was his nature, that he refused urgings that the plot be ended by the capture and killing of Ishmael ben Netanya and his men. Instead, Gedaliah accepted Ismael’s request to attend the Rosh Hashanah feast at Mizpah. Gedaliah arrived with ten men, and when opportune, Ishmael and his men killed the garrison, murdered Gedaliah, and taking hostages, fled towards Ammon.

Terrified that Nebuchadnezzar, in revenge at the murder of his appointed governor, Gedaliah, would order the wholesale slaughter the rest of the Jews, the people fled, in a stunning reversal of the events which forged their Covenant some nine hundred years before, towards Egypt.

At the urging of the prophet Jeremiah they stopped at Beit Lechem for his advice. Jeremiah prayed to G-d for ten days and obtained a divine message. G-d told the people that if they remained in the land he would rebuild them and that Babylonia would not destroy them, but that if they fled to Egypt their misfortunes would follow and they would suffer the very fate they feared.

The people abjectly refused. Furthermore, they accused Jeremiah of plotting to turn them over to Nebbuchadnezzar’s Chaldean Guard himself, and forced Jeremiah to accompany them. At the border, he tried again, and they refused again. The people settled in Egypt, abandoning faith in G-d and descending once again to the practices of the Egyptians.

A few years later the Egyptian Pharaoh Hophra was assassinated and Nebuchadnezzar seized to opportunity. He invaded and destroyed the land, and most of the Jewish exiles died in the invasion and war. Jeremiah’s prophesy had been tragically fulfilled.

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Several lessons might be learned from this tragedy. First and foremost (for those so disposed) is that faith in G-d and obeying his will is the only truly successful path. Second, is that civil war carries horrific, long-term consequences, often worse than war in general, and should be strenuously avoided.

Also, strangely, is the lesson that sometimes collaborators can be good and nationalist rebels can be bad. Gedaliah was unquestionably a collaborator; an appointee of a savage invader, protected by their garrison. Ishmael ben Netanya was from the royal family. He sought an alliance with Ammon to kill a puppet governor, defeat the garrison, and drive out the Babylonian invaders from his ancestral lands.

And yet, what was Gedaliah’s true goal? It was to slowly, yet inexorably, restore the people, the land, and the Covenant. So firm was his conviction and his love, that he risked his own death in seeking the noble goal. On the other hand, Ishmael’s true heart was revealed as he fled to the protection of Ammon and faded into history. His goal was merely glory and power over others.

As this nation slides again towards probable civil war, we should look very closely at those who seek to lead us, influence us, or speak for us.  While standing on principle is crucial, it is very easy to be both manipulated by others and to fall victim to passion, fear, and rash judgement.