Rabbi's Blog

I’ve listened to words from the survivors and from descendants of the Holocaust ask the question, ”Where was God?” No one has the right or the ability to judge any person who experienced living through the years of 1939-1945 - whether they survived or not. The simple answer we offer to this question is that we cannot see or understand God’s plan regarding the mastery of His world. Nevertheless, there were survivors who attested to the fact that when asked where was God during those years, replied with fervor: “He was right there.”

Fast forward almost eighty years later to Shabbat, October 7th, 2023, both Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah in Eretz Yisrael, when an unexplainable, complete breakdown of the Israeli security system led to the worst massacre of Jews in one day since the Holocaust. For days, weeks, and months, continuing to this very day, we do not have a definitive cause or reason how such a catastrophe as this can occur. For religious Jews, the answer is simple. This was decided by Hashem for reasons we neither know nor understand. Furthermore, we may never know, let alone understand, why such a horrific tragedy should occur. October 7th was, in essence, horrific and inexplainable.  But when we look back at the prototype of the darkest and the brightest time in Jewish history, we refer to the Torah’s description of Mitzrayim/Egypt. This was the same God who sent the Jews into Egypt for four hundred years of slavery and all the accompanying hardships. And it is the same God who performed the miracles for the Jewish People, leading us into the land of Canaan.

This week, almost a year since that dreadful Simchas Torah, we witnessed the hand of God in an incredible display of greatness for the Jewish people against our enemy Hezbollah. It was nothing short of a miracle how Hashem orchestrated and held the hands of those in charge to follow a course of action that, without Hashem’s direct involvement, we never would have been able to pull off. We probably will never learn how the Israeli (Jewish) government with its security and defense establishments “supposedly” were able to somehow, with a push of a button, detonate thousands of beepers/pagers over the course of two days, causing  enemy terrorists to click, resulting in exploding, killing, maiming and injuring over four thousand of them. This was nothing short of a miracle, a visible attestation to the direct hand and support of HaKadosh Boruch Hu. The same God that brought a terrible, unexplainable tragedy brought about an unexplainable retaliation in defense. Surely it does not bring back the dead, maimed, and injured of Jews from October 7, but it does reveal  who is in charge. This idea of how we are able to see, hear and even feel things in our hearts yet  are not understood but are CLEARLY stated and seen in the Torah.

In this week’s Torah portion, it is stated in Devarim 29:1-3 "ויקרא משה אל כל ישראל ויאמר אלהם, אתם ראיתם את כל אשר עשה ה' לעיניכם בארץ מצרים ולכל עבדיו ולכל ארצו. המסות הגדלת אשר ראו עיניך, האתת והמפתים הגדלים ההם. ולא נתן ה' לכם לב לדעת ועינים לראות ואזנים לשמע, עד היום הזה."   “Moshe summoned all of Israel and said to them: You have seen all that God did in Egypt before your very eyes, to Pharoah, to all his servants, and to all his land. Your own eyes saw the great miracles, signs and wonders. But until this day, God did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.”  The first passuk indicates a mass communication to the entire Jewish people simultaneously. Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, 1696, known as the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, comments on “Moshe called the entire Jewish people” to indicate that until now he spoke to the men but now Moshe added and gathered the women, children and converts. One may think how is it possible to communicate to so many people at the very same time?  

The third passuk illustrates how the Jewish people, despite hearing and seeing something, did not know or appreciate the significance and magnitude of the message until that very day - was over forty years later. Rashi on this passuk explains it was that very day, and it needed to be on that precise day ‘to understand the kindness of the Holy One Blessed Be He and to cleave to Him’. It was on that very day, the day when Moshe gave the scroll of the Torah to the sons of Levi, followed by all of Israel who came before Moshe demanding that they also receive the Torah. Moshe was ecstatic at hearing the Jewish people had a desire to cleave to and long for the Ribbono Shel Olam. 

We all need to be aware of the history of us, the Jewish people. Time and time again, terrible events have befallen us. Time and time again, beyond our human ability to comprehend, there is a reason for everything. We often will never see the reasons behind such tragedies. Nonetheless, there are times when we can connect retribution to our enemies that are directly connected to past tragedies. This past week we witnessed the Yad Hashem, the hand of God, Who directs the Jews of Israel to complete the incredible feat of attacking so many terrorists at the very same moment. This current-day event is openly connected to the way Hashem, over three thousand years ago, gathered all the Jews together to speak with them at the same moment, one for good and one for evil. The events of October 7^th brought misery and tragedy, breaking the confidence all previously felt regarding the security of Israel’s borders. Now, almost one year later, on that very day blew up the security system of our enemy. It does not make October 7 go away, but it does show that Hashem was there on October 7^th and allowed that security system to fail. And simultaneously, it is the same God Who miraculously allowed the planning of the disruption of Hezbollah’s security by Israel, the Jewish state. For Israel to pull off and accomplish the near impossible, happened because Hashem was here this week, culminating the orchestrated plan that was devised months ago.  

The historical events of this week will not bring back the dead or heal the wounded from the October 7^th massacre, but it did bring back a sense of renewed security in the people defending Eretz Yisrael. Nevertheless, we can never ever forget, it is the bitachon, the trust, faith, confidence of knowing that security comes directly from Hashem; it just sometimes takes a while to see it.

Ah Gutten Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky