It’s an early Passover this year, so I’m cooking these up a little earlier than usual. And while these questions feel intensely relevant right now, the probability that at least some of this won’t be super on point in three weeks is…high. It’s very high.

Oh well.

Question 1: Is this the end?

Rewind the clock to Oct. 7, 2023, and consider the shock and trauma of the day; Iranian proxies lined up on Israel’s borders, and Iran’s missile and nuclear programs under constant, unchecked development. I can’t believe how much things have changed, nor how quickly, with the significant weakening of Hezbollah, the fall of Assad, and the damage done to Hamas. Lebanon (Lebanon!) is even talking about peace with Israel. Kosher pigs are flying somewhere.

Speaking of things happening fast: Last summer, it took just a few hours to destroy Iran’s air defenses, and 12 days to wreck their nuclear facilities and most of their ballistic missile program, with a special assist from some American B-2s. This time around, it took mere minutes to decapitate the ruling regime’s religious and military leadership. As I write this, the campaign continues unabated.

But to what end? Will this unprecedented, coordinated operation, on top of the clandestine work that seeks to topple the regime, result in the end of the Islamic Republic? And, if not, what will we have accomplished?

These are unanswerable. Feel free to debate after a few cups of wine.

Question 2: Win the war, lose the battle?

No matter what happens in Iran, it’s going to be hard to declare a clear victory unless the regime falls. If that doesn’t happen, will the destruction of the ballistic missile and nuclear programs count as winning? A partial one?

Without getting into the weeds, for the sake of this question, I’ll stipulate that a significant degradation of both will take place, and I will call that a win…mostly.

But my, oh my, how the world has twisted itself into a pretzel to take the side of Iran in this one. Trump was trying to deflect attention from the Epstein files! Israel forced the U.S. into the war! It’s all Israel’s fault! The war is a ploy by Chabad for world domination! Stop me when you’ve heard this antisemitic trope before; it’s like watching Purim, except Haman has a publicist.

My personal favorite? “The war destabilized the Middle East.” Yes, the selfsame Middle East that suddenly lost the trademark stability it’s famous for. Truly, a golden age has been shattered.

Stop it.

So, the PR battle will be lost again, but what else is new? Only in 2026 would the world rally to the side of the single largest state sponsor of anti-American and anti-Israeli terror. The optics of this war have been twisted in a most Purim-like way, with the good guys turned into villains and the bad guys into sympathetic figures. (Really, NYT obit authors, REALLY? At this rate Haman’s obituary in the Times would have read: “Controversial Persian official known for ambitious urban planning.”)

Well, kids, optics are for holidays. Survival is for moments like this.

So, will we win the war and lose the PR battle? You bet.

But it’s a battle worth losing.

Every time.

Question 3: Four more years?

I’ve been writing these fun little Passover asides for 15 years (wow), and not a few times I have asked about the end date of Bibi’s prime ministership. If there were a Jewish equivalent of a cat with nine lives, Bibi would be it. (The closest I can offer is, “For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again,” from Proverbs 24:16, but I’m not granting him “righteous” status.)

At this point, Israeli politics has two constants: gravity and Netanyahu. Scientists are still trying to figure out which one is stronger.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that every election is the most important one in Israel’s history. This is the first since Oct. 7, 2023, and it still feels that way; there is a LOT on the line this time around. So, will the Israeli public reward Netanyahu for an astonishing series of military and intelligence victories, or oust him because of Oct. 7 and the endless series of scandals that surround him?

My guess: He’s not going anywhere just yet. After all, Israeli politics has buried Netanyahu many times.

Somehow, he always attends the funeral.

And usually gives the eulogy.

Question 4: Changes afoot?

I always try to throw in a not-so-serious fourth question in this spot.

In Israeli Premier League, Ligat Ha’al, it’s usually a two-horse race, with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa having won the championship 19 years out of the last 25 and every year since 2018. This year, however, it’s getting real at the top of the table, with Hapoel Beer Sheva and Beitar Jerusalem sitting one-two in the standings, and Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa nine and 16 points off the top, respectively.

If things hold, Maccabi Haifa will be totally out of UEFA competitions and MTA will need to hold onto third place to reach the Conference League qualification playoffs, or win the State Cup just to qualify for the Europa League play-in rounds. Odds are that the first one will happen, even though the second one is more lucrative.

I hope…everybody wins? But it’s a disappointing campaign for my favorite squad; at least as a Sox fan I can remind our friends in Haifa that there’s always next year.

So, our fourth, and final, question: Will a new champion be crowned this year for the first time in eight years?

Seems so.

Dayenu.

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