What Happened to Religious Zionist Discourse? Power, Morality, and the Language of War (288)
April 27, 2026
AI Summary
5 min read“Am Yisrael Chai,” someone had handwritten onto a school banner in a religious-Zionist neighborhood during the war. Then, underneath, another hand added: “Al Ha’Charev”—by the sword. The phrase is a direct reference to Esau’s blessing, the one the midrash says Esau rejected the Torah to keep. For Rabbi Zach Truboff, that graffiti captured something deeply wrong in the discourse of his own community: a celebration of destruction dressed up as piety, and a growing inability to tell the difference between justified force and corrupting violence.
The Problem Isn’t Force—It’s Joy
The core argument of this episode is not that Israel lacks a right to self-defense. All three participants—host Scott Kahn, Rabbi Zach Truboff, and Daniel Goldman—affirm that right explicitly. The question is about discourse: how religious Zionists talk about power, what feels permissible to say, and what moral and religious costs are being ignored. The central mechanism they identify is the shift from reluctant necessity to joyful celebration. Truboff cites Rav Moshe Avigdor Amiel, the former chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, who taught that even when hatred is necessary, the mitzvah becomes invalid the moment you enjoy it. Enjoyment corrupts. And what Truboff and Goldman see in the last two and a half years is a discourse saturated with enjoyment of destruction—videos of soldiers gleefully bulldozing Gaz
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:00) **Introducing the Guests and the Episode's Thesis** - Host Scott Kahn frames the conversation as an internal critique of religious Zionist discourse, not a debate on Israel's right to self-defense, but an examination of how the community talks, thinks, and what is considered acceptable to say.
- 2 (06:15) **A Disturbing Image: "Am Yisrael Chai Al Ha'Cherev"** - Rabbi Truboff describes a banner outside a school where "Al Ha'Cherev" (by the sword) was added to "Am Yisrael Chai," turning a blessing into an identification with Esau's curse.
- 3 (08:36) **The Weight of Unresolved Sacrifice** - Rabbi Truboff contrasts the banner with the profound tragedy of funerals for young soldiers and fathers, creating a tension between the need to justify their sacrifice and the reality that the war's meaning remains unresolved.
- 4 (16:54) **Shifting the Overton Window: Political Context** - Daniel Goldman explains that the political rise of figures like Smotrich and Ben Gvir has rebranded religious Zionism and brought previously fringe ideas (like Kahanism) into mainstream discourse, forcing families to discuss why these views are unacceptable.
- 5 (25:55) **The Case of Rabbi Zarbiv: Joyful Destruction as Messianic Vengeance** - The discussion focuses on Rabbi Zarbiv, a dayan and reservist who became famous for joyfully bulldozing Gaza and was chosen to light a torch on Yom Ha'atzmaut, an act that sparked controversy.
- 6 (31:49) **The Problem is the Joy, Not the Act** - Rabbi Truboff cites Rav Moshe Avigdor Amiel, who taught that a mitzvah becomes invalid the moment you enjoy hating someone, because enjoyment has a corrupting influence.
- 7 (38:56) **IDF: Defender or Instrument of Divine Vengeance?** - Daniel Goldman argues that Zarbiv's glorification shifts the core mission of the IDF from defending Israel to carrying out divine vengeance, which undermines the consensual, professional nature of the army.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
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I'm joined by Rabbi Zach Truboff and Daniel Goldman for a conversation about the changing discourse within the Religious Zionist community.
Before diving in, a brief warning of sorts: this is an episode that listeners are likely to react to in very different ways.
This is not a critique from the outside. All of us are speaking from within the Religious Zionist world. And it is not a debate about whether Israel has the right or obligation to defend itself.
Instead, we focus on something more subtle, and more difficult: discourse. How we speak, how we think, and what feels legitimate to say within our community today.
Over the past couple of years, and especially since the war began, many have sensed a shift in tone, in language, and in the range of acceptable views. Others, however, would argue that nothing essential has changed, or that any shift reflects a necessary and even positive response to a changing reality.
That tension is at the heart of this episode.
This is not a conversation with easy answers. It is an attempt to surface a real disagreement, to articulate it honestly, and to ask whether we are still able, as a community, to listen to perspectives that challenge us, especially when they come from within our own camp.
Some listeners will find this framing compelling. Others may disagree strongly, even vehemently. But if we care about the health of our community, and about the integrity of our moral and religious language, this is a conversation worth having.
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