This is a GEMINI AI translation of the essay by Rabbi Yehuda Epstein, dated Tuesday, 7th of Adar, 5786 (February 24, 2026).
Mike Huckabee, You Have Shamed Us!
By Rabbi Yehuda Epstein – Chairman of Agudat Kedushat Zion
In one of the most moving, uplifting, and foundational passages of The Kuzari by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, the King of the Khazars rebukes the Jewish Colleague (The Haver) for his negligence in fulfilling the duty to ascend to the Land of Israel. The King did not rebuke the Colleague alone, but the entire People of Israel.
Rabbi Yehuda Halevi—whose longing for the Holy Land was expressed in his entire monumental poetic output and his very being, until he fulfilled in himself the verse “For Your servants hold her stones dear” and ascended to cherish her dust—presents a sharp indictment against the nation for its immersion in the Diaspora and its abandonment of its destiny. We bring these words according to the traditional translation of Ibn Tibbon (Kuzari, Book II, 23-24):
The Kuzari King said: “If so, you fall short of the duty of your Torah. You do not make this place [Israel] your goal, the house of your life and your death. Yet you say, ‘Have mercy on Zion, for she is the house of our life,’ and you believe that the Divine Presence (Shekhinah) returned to it… I see that your bowing and kneeling toward it is either hypocrisy or a habit without intention… Your earliest ancestors chose to dwell there more than in their own birthplaces… they had no desire but to remain in it.”
The Haver replied: “You have shamed me, King of Khazar! It is this sin which prevented us from fulfilling what God promised us for the Second Temple… The Divine matter was ready to dwell as it did originally, had they all agreed to return with a willing soul; but only some returned, while the majority and the leaders remained in Babylon, preferring exile and their affairs so as not to part from their dwellings… Our words ‘Bow to His holy mountain’ and ‘He who restores His Shekhinah to Zion’ are like the chirping of a starling (Tziptzuf HaZarzir), for we do not think about what is being said.”
The Modern Rebuke
It is difficult not to recall these trembling words, spoken in the name of a gentile king regarding our negligence in awakening the old love between us and our Father, our Shepherd, when Mike Huckabee—the U.S. Ambassador and former Baptist minister—speaks so clearly. He states that Israel’s right, based on God’s promise to the Forefathers, is to possess the entire expanse of the Promised Land, from the Nile to the Euphrates.
He went even further, saying this in an interview with one of the greatest anti-Semites and Israel-haters in America today—a man of immense influence—thereby drawing the ire of the Arab world.
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When have we heard an Israeli leader speak of this right? * When have we heard clear words about the Land being given to us by the Creator without apologies or stuttering? Even the terrible massacre of two and a half years ago (October 7th) failed to elicit a clear statement from the “Full-Right” government that Gaza is part of that same destiny promised to our ancestors. Consequently, we have arrived where we are: facing Trump’s “imaginary peace council,” which provides cover for the continued rule of murderers.
And here comes a representative of a foreign country, a Christian minister no less, to remind us of the duty we have neglected.
The Chirping of the Starling
Is it true of us as well, that when we say the verses of promise every day, it is nothing more than the “chirping of a starling”?
What does a Jew think every day in the synagogue when he hears the explicit verses in the Torah reading: “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates'” (Genesis 15:18)?
What does he think every morning during Shacharit when he says the verses in Nehemiah 9:7-8: “You are the Lord God who chose Abram… and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite… to give it to his descendants, and You have kept Your word, for You are righteous”?
Is it a religious ritual? A meaningless statement? The chirping of a starling? A mindless recitation?
Indeed, Mike Huckabee, you have shamed us!