The Emunah Strategy for Judicial Reform 

When you go out to war against your enemies, and you see horse and chariot, a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord, your God is with you Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And it will be, when you approach the battle, that the kohen shall come near, and speak to the people. 

And he shall say to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are approaching the battle against your enemies. Let your hearts not be faint; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be alarmed, and you shall not be terrified because of them. For the Lord, your God, is the One Who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. (Devarim 20:1-4) 

We talk about conflict around judicial reform as if the conflict is about the makeup of the Israeli Supreme Court. It isn’t. If the conflict was simply about a legal matter, the most extreme secularists wouldn’t be harassing Torah-observant Jews.

Hasn’t the judicial reform been halted because of the Torah-observant parties? There should be 50,000 Tel Avivians on Kaplan Street hoisting the Rabbis up in their arms and reciting Hallel. Instead, the anger directed at the Torah-observant community is intensifying.  

The judicial reform hides the real issue: The left wants to keep Torah out of Israel. The left understands that the judicial system is core to maintaining a secular society. Changing any part of that system becomes an existential threat to the secular status quo.  

In reaction, the left threatened to withdraw defense of the entire country unless judicial reform was dropped. This threat is substantial because the State of Israel has been completely dependent on the IDF and Mossad for its continued existence.

Whose Army? 

Elitist reservists and active-duty military threaten to abandon their posts if we press on to transform the state of Israel into a place of Torah.  

If the elected government dares to neuter the justices’ ability to keep our Holy Land profane, the military protesters will ground the air force. They will flee the battlefield. They will leave their desks in cybersecurity and intelligence. Eretz Yisrael will be made vulnerable to attack.  

Really?! We should call their bluff.  

Jews who live by their emuna know that it’s not the IDF that protects them. In Shacharit morning prayers, Hashem is called the Master of Legions (Exodus 15: 3).  In this prayer, the word used for “legions” is צבא, which in modern Hebrew means “army.” Hashem is the real commander of the Jewish army. 

So, who is really going AWOL here? Those who abandon their military post rather than defend Israel, or those who abandon their emuna in Hashem and instead rely on the military? 

The true test of our emunah is to let the military protesters flee their posts. They protected us only as long as Hashem enabled them to do so. We need Hashem, but Hashem doesn’t need the military to protect Israel.  

Let the protesters sip coffee in Tel Aviv as Hizballah fires weapons at Israel. Let them protest judicial reform as Hamas burrows in underground tunnels.  

Whom Do We Rely Upon? 

The entire conflict is about the next step for Israel: The law of Torah and rule of King Mashiach versus the democracy of Greece and the licentiousness of Egypt.  

There will be sacrifices. There will be pain. There will be toil. For the Third Temple there can be no less.  

How can we allow our Jewish brothers and sisters on the right and the left to squander their lives without Torah? How can a Jewish society allow our sons and daughters to walk the streets, defenseless against the worst abominations that appeal to the physical senses?  

The judicial reforms can pave the way for our Jewish leaders to implement Torah Law. We are fighting for the soul of our country. We are fighting for Hashem and His nation. Measure for measure, Hashem will fight for us. Our history shows us over and over that our survival depends upon Hashem, not on our military force.  Ein od milvado – there is no Other!

The Egyptian empire was obliterated without a single Jewish soldier. We are commanded to remember this miracle every day. 

We didn’t need conventional warfare, state-of-the-art weaponry, or first-rate intel when we conquered the Land. For seven days, we marched around Jericho, an impregnable city. We marched behind the Ark of the Covenant and Kohanim, who blew shofars. This daily march showed the nations that Hashem was guiding the conquest. On the seventh day, when the Jews shouted out in prayer to Hashem, He brought down the walls of Jericho. Jericho was conquered with emuna in Hashem and prayer! 

A thousand years after Jericho, a handful of Kohanim and volunteers, massively outnumbered by Greek forces, fought the Greeks and destroyed them. The Jewish forces didn’t take credit because they knew that victory came from our Master of Legions.  

In 1948, the army was a hodgepodge of refugees and farmers who spoke Yiddish, German, and Arabic. Nobody knew Hebrew. Read about the decisive, miraculous Battle of Ad Halom. Without open miracles, the nascent State of Israel would not have survived. 

Our victories in 1948, 1967, and 1973 were Divine Miracles.  

If we want Redemption badly enough, we must rely only on the One Who will deliver it through Mashiach, a Torah Kingdom, and the Eternal Temple.  

When we all do teshuva, Hashem willing, we will be redeemed. Then we can all enjoy sipping coffee in Tel Aviv! 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, Center Stage Marketing, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.