“It makes no difference who is sitting on the throne,” Moshe Feiglin writes from Jerusalem this week in his commentary on Torah. “What really matters is where the heart of the nation resides.” Feiglin is writing about how Pharaoh sees the great power he is, a power telling him he is god the river, and god the creator of all that is, as it disintegrates around him and the world awaken again from the wreckage with Aaron and Moses. It is a fully appropriate reading for this week as Israelis prepare to go to the polls. The creations of Pharaoh appear on the verge of falling into the river, and Israel on the verge of finding its heart.  The questions we have asked here since Sandy, the storm, and Sandy Hook — guns, federal aid, psychotic movies passing as high culture, fascist computer games — suggest symptoms. Mentioned here recently, China has stepped away. Germany recalls its gold from the world. And on Jan. 22, Israel steps away from America.

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