Will it go down in history as the “12-Day War?” Time will tell. But there can be no doubt whatsoever that we have just lived through some historic, momentous and miraculous moments.
For years, indeed decades, Israel, particularly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been warning the world about Iran’s impending nuclear capability. Would Israel be brave and bold enough to take them on? Would the United States help them or deter them? These were the questions on the minds of millions for a very long time.
And now, it has happened. Israel acted with tremendous courage, military brilliance, extraordinary intelligence and a military plan that was years in the making. The precision airstrikes and total dominance in the skies over Iran were reminiscent of what the Israel Defense Forces did to the Egyptian Air Force on day one of the Six-Day War in 1967.
Remarkable! Mind-blowing! Miraculous!
Sadly, during the 12 days of war, Israel suffered 28 fatalities, and more than 1,100 people were injured, some seriously. But when you see the damage from just one ballistic missile and its 882-pound payload of explosives in a place like Beersheva, you realize how astonishing it is that Israel was spared tens of thousands of casualties or more from the hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones that attacked our homeland. Thank God, the vast majority were intercepted. If not, one shudders to think what utter devastation might have been wrought upon us. Miraculous, indeed!
Our Torah portion this week also tells the story of a great miracle that happened back in the days of Moses. The prophet’s leadership was challenged by his aristocratic cousin, Korach. He accused Moses of nepotism for appointing his older brother, Aaron, as High Priest, a position Korach coveted. In the end, and incredibly, the Earth opened, swallowing Korach and his henchmen. It was a Divine revelation that reaffirmed the positions of Moses and Aaron as coming from God’s clear instructions, rather than a personal partiality determined by Moses.
But today, it is the calendar that inspires me even more than this week’s Torah portion. Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Tamuz, a new moon and the beginning of a new Hebrew month.
Ours is a lunar calendar, and one of the reasons for this is that Jews are like the moon. No, we’re not lunatics, but we do wax and wane. The moon begins to shine on Rosh Chodesh and gets brighter in the sky until we see a magnificent full moon on the 15th of the Hebrew month. And then, it begins to diminish. We see less and less of it until it is virtually imperceptible. But then, as it appears to have disappeared from the sky completely, a new moon appears. And every Rosh Chodesh, a new cycle of growth begins, and the lunar cycle improves with each passing night.
The Jewish people have had more than their fair share of ups and downs, in the extreme, throughout the centuries of Jewish life. And every time, we were very nearly destroyed. On so many occasions throughout history, it was touch and go for us. Forces greater and mightier than ours were determined to wipe us off the face of the earth, just like the jihadist ayatollahs of Iran. And every time we survived. By the skin of our teeth, but we survived.
I believe that it is highly significant that we are now at the very end of a Hebrew month and about to begin a brand-new one. Rosh Chodesh Tamuz is on June 26-27 this year, and it will certainly mark a new light and a new beginning for our people in Israel and the world over.
The world has become accustomed to Israel and its miracles. Often, we forget how unusual and exceptional our national experience is.
Our very existence is impossible to explain in conventional terms. Melumad b’nissim is a Hebrew term reflecting this phenomenon. We are “accustomed to miracles.” We virtually take them for granted. We barely raise an eyebrow when we experience them. Of course, we should not take them for granted, but they happen so regularly that I guess we can be forgiven. The trick is to appreciate it and acknowledge God’s mercies and His special providential protection over our eternal people.
On June 29, the Jewish world will commemorate the 31st yahrzeit of my teacher, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, more familiarly known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Throughout four decades of leadership, the Rebbe regularly appealed to Israel’s political leaders to act with faith, strength and valor in confronting their mortal enemies. After the miraculous rescue of hostages in Entebbe in 1976, he said that when we show faith and strength, God can be relied upon to respond with His infinite protection. Provided we do what we have to do, the Almighty will do what he has to do, and the heavenly shield will be there to protect us.
Long before “Peace through strength” became a Trumpian slogan, the Rebbe preached it repeatedly. Throughout many decades, it was his recurring theme. When Israel is strong, bold, unafraid, and unapologetic to world opinion, our enemies will be silenced, lose their brazenness and be afraid to attack us.
He often quoted the verse in Psalm 29: “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.” First comes strength, then peace.
I pray that the job hasn’t been left uncompleted, and that U.S. President Donald Trump, who must be acknowledged for his courageous strike on the dreaded underground Fordow nuclear site in Iran, did not stop the campaign prematurely.
This time, the people of Israel certainly fulfilled the biblical verse that became the codename for the Iranian campaign. In the words of Netanyahu, “The people of Israel rose like a lion. Together, we accomplished the unimaginable. With God’s help, the eternal nation will secure the eternity of Israel.”