I wanted to write long ago. Here I am.
I teach Torah classes near where I live, to a group of elderly women (and a couple of men too). Sometime in September, I talked about the Yom Kippur war (the war in which my father fought and was badly injured - an injury that eventually killed him, years later, an injury that has affected my life even though I was not even born back then). What I said in that shiur is that I believe that the terrible Yom Kippur war (1973) happened because of our arrogance. Six years earlier, in 1967, there was the famed Six Day War, in which tiny Israel, a nation that was just born by some holocaust survivors and Jewish immigrants from Arab countries, was in war with great and mighty Arab armies, merciless armies who had one goal in mind - annihilate the Jewish state. No one gave us a chance. Not even we did. I was told that back then, people told wryly to each other that when we are defeated and all killed (when, not if), the last one to survive should turn off the lights. It was a dark, dry joke that showed how hopeless everybody was. But - G-d had a different plan. He was fighting for us, and the incredible thing happened - in just six days, we won all the armies that fought against us, and not only that, we released East Jerusalem, and tripled the size of our country. I was told that people all over the world were recognizing G-d's hand in this. There was no other explanation for such a victory. We fought six mighty armies and military delegations (from Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia) and won against every possible odd.
And then what happened? While some of us acknowledged the great miracle and praised Hashem for it, others didn't. Some voices cried "The IDF is great! The IDF did it!". Some of our leaders "gallantly" gave away parts of the released territories to the Arabs, as if it was their own land to give, not our G-d given land. We were so proud of ourselves. Not enough voices thanked Hashem for long for this incredible miracle and salvation.
And then what happened? Six years later, a year for every day of the war, a year for every country that fought us in that war, the self-proclaimed "great" Israeli army was caught unprepared and the Yom Kippur war broke. It was very painful. Our intelligence corps and our leaders failed to see the signs for what they were, reached the wrong conclusion, and we were beaten painfully. I myself suffer from the results of that war till today - I practically grew up without a father for most of my childhood as a result, and this has affected my life in a negative way.
We were proud and arrogant, and God showed us that without Him, we are nothing. This was what I told my group of old ladies in September this year. I felt the message was very relevant because of the increasing arrogance in our society again. I had no idea what was coming just a couple of weeks later. All I knew was that large segments of our society fight the Jewish identity of Israel, fight Judaism, fight the Torah, fight God. Arrogance. Their fear has been that Israel will be a religious state. But this is what Israel should be. This is what Hashem chose us for. And they fight it with all their might. After October 7th, when the IDF captured a Hamas terrorist and interrogated him, he said that what encouraged them to do it was those voices and the unrelenting protests of the left wing within Israel. It was not a surprise to hear it, but it was heart rending. How cruel. Sure enough, when the war broke, they drafted immediately into the army to fight - but what a dear price we paid! The most horrible attack we've ever ever known.
Oct. 7th was Hashem's hiding his face momentarily from us. To show us what we are worth without him. To show us what our intelligence corps is worth without him, what the Iron Dome anti-missile system is worth without him, what is our army (and police, and Mossad, and Shabbaq) worth without him - not much. Without G-d, we are nothing. Our victories are all from Him.
I will write more about it and also about my experiences from that Shabbat and more. Stay tuned. I'm available by email as well, if you'd like to write by any improbable chance.
Yours,
R.
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