Michael Freund

These words are a declaration of faith and a clear-cut explanation of Jewish survival.

In Josephus’s account, Judah repeatedly stresses that Israel does not seek dominion over others, only the right to live according to its ancestral traditions in its own land.

With this resolution, Israel has stated clearly: We are responsible for all Jews, including those whose journeys were interrupted by the tides of exile.

If Israel, like Jacob, holds fast to its mission – even in exile, even in danger, even in darkness – then the promise of Hosea still stands.

Pope Leo XIV must state clearly and publicly – by name – that Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens do not represent Catholic teaching or Catholic values and that their antisemitism is sinful and dangerous.

If the parasha is a saga of inheritance, of blessings fought over and destinies forged, then the haftarah is its echo, reminding us that a spiritual legacy must not merely be received, but upheld.

Politics, the haftarah reminds us, is not inherently corrupt. It becomes corrupt when it forgets that leadership is service, not self-promotion.

For Israel, a nation forged in the aftermath of the Holocaust, the moral imperative could not be clearer.

Can faith prevail over reason and reality? Scripture’s answer is clear. What seems impossible to man is never beyond the power of God.

Zohran Mamdani’s triumph is not only his; it is the triumph of an ideological shift in which antisemitism no longer carries a political cost. Just the opposite. It has become socially acceptable.