“Our people have no discipline.” This accusation is heard often in recent weeks, while at the same time everyone is also blaming the government for the failure to curb the coronavirus crisis. “The fish stinks from the head,” people say of the Netanyahu government. The nation could have been spared a second nationwide lockdown, and during the High Holidays of all times, if the government would have just had the courage to seal off the 40 “red” corona cities, as it said it would do at the beginning of September.

But political considerations ultimately trumped more sage advise on the health crisis. Many Jewish news commentary websites are reminding us that disobedience has always been a characteristic of the children of Israel. “Disobedience among the nation is always disobedience to God.”

The current unity government is the broadest coalition in Israel’s state history, but at the same time also the weakest. At the beginning of August, a Likud lawmaker was quoted as saying that “the Israeli government is not working The current situation is worse and more dangerous than going to...