The final-scene addiction

Modern power keeps trying to look like a final scene: a villain, a righteous strike, a body, a clean hinge in history. The crowd exhales, credits roll. That is the emotional offer behind the language of “Devil,” behind the idea that killing a leader is the climax of an era. But politics is not a genre. It’s machinery.

Why this isn’t Jewish

Armageddon, as it circulates in public speech today, is not Jewish. It is post-Christian end-time logic—one Beast, one ultimate confrontation, one decisive end where evil is removed by a closing act. Judaism knows end-time language too, but its reflex is anti-idolatrous: don’t crown forces, don’t turn enemies into metaphysical sovereigns, don’t give evil a throne by narrating it as a final boss. The oldest Jewish instinct is to deny evil the dignity of ultimate personhood.

“Devil” as a permission device

This matters the moment Trump declares someone “evil,” the moment the public repeats “Devil,” the moment the political imagination reaches for “the last battle.” Calling a leader Devil is not merely an insult; it is a theological import. It drags the conflict into a screenplay where proof becomes secondary, hesitation becomes suspect, and escalation becomes........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)