He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:3 (KJV)

The “Man of Sorrows” passage is one of my favorite Bible passages (and a fantastic Iron Maiden song, too). For Christians, it foretells the coming of Jesus and his horrible suffering; for Jews, it’s commonly seen as an allegory for the hardships inflicted on the Jewish people.

And for atheists, it’s poetic prose — and nothing more.

I’m not here to debate the true meaning of the Bible: Arguing to death about what happens after we die is a poor use of your time, and besides, I’d have to lie about how much I really know. (My personal theory: Assuming they’re real, whatever we’re imagining God and Heaven are like, we’re almost certainly imagining them incorrectly.) 

After all, both are infinitely greater than our greatest imagination… because we are but man.

It also seems reasonable to assume that the Bible of an all-powerful, all-knowing God must work on not just one level, but on levels so numerous and complex, they demand study, knowledge, and sacrifice. To a child, the tale of Eden says one thing; to a theologian, it says something else entirely.

The mind of man is, all too often, binary: either/or. The unknowable Mind of God, however, must ripple with complexities of an incomprehensible magnitude.

So instead of limiting Isaiah 53:3 to just one thing, I’d like to use it as a launching point for the following thought experiment: 

Imagine there are 30 leftists on a street corner. Each has a dozen eggs in his or her backpack (which was made of hemp, or course). Walking right in from of them are three world leaders. 

The first is Xi Jinping, the dictator of China, who yearns to swallow Tibet and Taiwan, and is committing cultural/actual genocide against millions of Uyghur Muslims. The second is Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator who has already launched one war in Europe with over a million deaths, and is currently threatening the U.S. with nuclear Armageddon.

The third is Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. Unlike the other two, he was democratically elected. Unlike the other two, his nation was attacked on Oct. 7, 2023. Unlike the other two, his military response has resulted in exponentially fewer casualties: According to the (likely inflated) numbers self-reported by Hamas, the total number of Palestinians fatalities after 720+ days of urban warfare was about 65,000. (Notably, Hamas makes no distinction between armed soldiers and civilians, which is kinda/sorta important.)

Your question is, who do you think all those leftists are gonna pelt with eggs?

Right: Benjamin Netanyahu, a million times over! (The only way Xi or Putin would get hit would be if an egg ricocheted off Netanyahu’s head.)

For liberals, he’s the most hated, despised world leader on the planet — bar none. As Pew Research reported:

In many countries where we asked about political ideology, people who place themselves on the left have a more negative view of Israel than those on the right. In Australia, for example, those on the left are about twice as likely as those on the right to have an unfavorable opinion (90% vs. 46%). The ideological gap in the U.S. is also one of the largest of the countries surveyed; 74% of liberals have a negative view of Israel, compared with 30% of conservatives.

According to the latest Gallup poll, 71% of Republicans support Israel’s action in Gaza — a 5%-point increase. For independents, just 1 in 4 support Israel’s action. And that’s a low number.

But it’s still MORE than four times higher than the 8% of Democrats who currently support Israel. That’s fewer than 1 in 10! 

So over 7 in 10 Republicans now support Israel, but fewer than 1 in 10 Democrats do. Of all the domestic and international problems we face, that small sliver of land has become Ground Zero of America’s partisan divide: More than abortion, immigration, tax cuts, or gay rights, supporting Israel has become the unlikely litmus test of which way someone’s gonna vote.

And more than anyone else, Benjamin Netanyahu has become the personification of liberals’ hatred for Israel. But not just amongst Christians and Muslims: An increasing number of American Jews disapprove of his actions in Gaza:

Only about one-third of American Jews support Israel’s military operation in Gaza, according to a new survey by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Rochester. The poll, conducted among 1,166 Jewish respondents, found 31% back the military campaign over the past two years, while 58% oppose it. 

[…]

The survey also highlighted concerns about rising antisemitism on U.S. campuses, with 72% of respondents worried and 40% reporting personal experiences in the past two years. 

Those two paragraphs above are directly linked: A big reason why so many American Jews are opposed to Netanyahu’s actions (aside from a higher percentage of Jews voting Democrat anyway) is that they believe Israel’s conduct is making life more difficult for them and their children.

None other than South Park (whose co-creator is Jewish) voiced that sentiment three days ago when the Jewish character of Sheila Broflovski — a stereotype of the bossy, intrusive Jewish mother — barged into Netanyahu’s office:

There you are, Mr. Netanyahu! Just who do you think you are, killing thousands and flattening neighborhoods, then wrapping yourself in Judaism, like it’s some seal from criticism? You’re making life for Jews miserable and life for American Jews impossible!

American Jews have the luxury of ignoring radical Islamic terrorism in a way that Israeli Jews do not. They live in different realities: Whereas Israelis are fearful of Hamas invaders slaughtering thousands, injuring thousands more, and kidnapping hundreds (again), American Jews are more afraid of the local antisemites who’ll attack their children because they’re mad at Israel.

“It’s Netanyahu’s fault for making the Jew-haters hate us.”

Even in the bizarre, cartoonish world of South Park, where one of the main characters' defining personality traits is his antisemitism (and has attempted to recreate the Holocaust), the REAL villain wasn’t the Jew-haters, but the Jew-defenders.

And maybe Israel’s critics have a point. Maybe the war in Gaza has gone on too long. Maybe there’s a better way to achieve peace, free the hostages, and end all the suffering. It’s certainly possible: Like all of us, Benjamin Netanyahu is but a man — flawed, fleeting, and capable of sin.

But because he’s been in power for so long — and because he’s so synonymous with Israeli politics and foreign policy decisions — he also has an opportunity to do something special:

Become the scapegoat.

This Wednesday night marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Among the Bible passages Jews will read is Leviticus 16:21-22 (KJV):

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Historically, precious few world leaders have had the strength of moral character to voluntarily abdicate power. Other than Lucius Cincinnatus and George Washington, the cupboard is virtually threadbare.

Benjamin Netanyahu is 75-years-old. He won’t rule or live forever.

Perhaps he’s the kind of man who’ll cling to power for as long as possible. Perhaps he’s just another arrogant, power-hungry politician.

Or perhaps he’ll voluntarily ride off into the wilderness as the scapegoat, absorbing as much of the world’s hatred, grief, and sorrows as possible.

One path will prolong his Earthly power for a few months — or even a few years. The other path will last forever; his final sacrifice for the Chosen People.

For his sake, and all our sake, I hope he chooses wisely.

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