If you wish to defeat your enemies, fulfill their every wish. Only in such a state, when they are satiated, will you be able to lead them to their demise.
In this week's haftara we encounter the two radically different attitudes of Eliyahu and Ovadyahu - the former isolating himself from the sinful nation and the latter remaining involved with them, even when it entailed compromising his principles.
The question of relating to a mass of people vs. relating to an individual comes to a head in this week's parasha, when the Jewish people are counted in a census.
The haftara of Parashat Ki Tisa (Melakhim I 18:1-39) recounts one of the most famous stories in the Early Prophets – the prophet Eliyahu's contest with the prophets of Ba'al on Mount Carmel.
