Bereishis
The third anniversary of the terrorist attacks of October 7th passed this week. During Succos of this year, the Clal Yisroel dodged a major bullet when the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed safely with no injuries or casualties to any of the passengers. I have been considering what changed from the terrible “hester panim,” HaShem hiding His face from us, three years ago, and the miraculous salvation we saw two weeks ago.
Three years ago, Eretz Yisroel was experiencing some of the worst infighting among Jews in recent history. As we mentioned back then, Rav Simcha Wasserman, ztz”l, taught that just as in the natural world matter is held together either by internal cohesion or by external pressure, so too, the Jewish people are held together either by our internal achdus, or chas veshalom by external enemies that force us to be united by leaving us no other choice. Just as the Bais Sheini was destroyed, not by the Romans but by the sinas chinam of the Jewish population, the enemy from Gaza was victorious over a Jewish people that had largely defeated themselves.
Secondly, the Israeli government and army had put their faith in the multibillion dollar, high-tech, supposedly impenetrable fence that had been built on the Gaza border. By so doing they fell into the trap the Torah warned about in Parashas Eikev when it taught that we should never say, “It is my strength and the power of my hand that has made me successful.” Our help comes, as Dovid ha Melech said, from Hashem, who, as we read in this week’s parasha, “created shomayim v’aretz.”
In contrast, one of the passengers on the Dubai plane, someone not formally religious, pointed out two reasons that this Succos tragedy was avoided, reasons that became clear only when the dust had settled. First, that “every passenger on the flight had a role.” One communicated with Israeli security, one had a mobile hot spot, Jewish mothers said Tehilim, others kept children and fellow passengers calm, one passed the headphone cords used to tie up the terrorist, others kept track of the plane’s location using GPS maps, one Australian passenger could make calls from the enemy country, Saudi Arabia, to Israel (Israelis could not), and of course the young girl who alerted her mother to the tumult in the cockpit and informed her mother, to those who then subdued the terrorist, provided emergency medical care for the wounded pilot, etc. etc. Today, an Israeli fighter pilot counted what he called five different miracles that occured.
In other words, in the microcosm of the Jewish world that was that airplane, there existed total achdus. Not that everyone was the same, but that everyone had a role, fulfilled their role, and cooperated with each other in achieving a goal. Achdus creates a home for the Shechina. Machlokes drives the Shechina away.
Secondly, while attending shul on Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah to recite birkas hagomel (remember he is not a religious man), he heard the pasuk read at the end of Sefer Devarim, “There is none like the God of Yeshurun who rides the heavens to help you, and in His majesty rides the skies.” In other words, having seen how fine the line is between life and death, he came to realize that it is not our strength or the might of our hands, but as the pasuk that follows the one quoted above from Parashas Eikev concludes, “Remember, it is Hashem who gave you the knowledge to be successful.” Bitachon in Hashem this Succos, instead of the trust in electronic fences of Shemini Atzeres three years ago.
For tragedies to not be in vain, it is necessary to learn lessons and not repeat mistakes. As we greet a new year after seeing the clear hand of HaShem, “who rides the heavens to help us,” let’s carry these lessons forward: 1) Achdus; 2) Bitachon. Difficult to achieve as we have seen for the last couple of thousand years, but thankfully well within our reach.
Good Shabbos and Good Chodesh,
Rabbi Goldberg