Remembering and Winning
Jews everywhere, even in formerly friendly host countries, are threatened as never before. The world is in shock at the evil that is being perpetrated. Can anything be done? Is there a solution? YES, answers Rabbi Arush.
Victory on All Fronts
The Torah has solutions and advice for every situation in life, any difficulty and any problem of the individual and of the people as a whole. Israel is threatened from several directions, and everyone is asking: What can be done? Is there a solution? Yes! The Torah gives us advice as to how to win the war, even when battling many different enemies; this is written explicitly in our parasha:
“You might say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I. How can I possibly dispossess them?’” And then the Torah tells us: “Do not be afraid of them! Remember well what Hashem your G-d did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. Your own eyes saw the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the arm stretched forth,” 1 and then the Torah goes on to describe at great length all the miracles that Hashem had already done for us, and all the wars in which He had fought for us.
Do you want to beat many enemies? Remember all the kindnesses!
So, we find that our ability to stand strong in the war and defeat our enemies and to be of staunch spirit and have courage in our hearts – comes from remembering Hashem’s kindnesses and all the miracles and wonders that He has already done for us. In other words: gratitude. And so, recognizing the good that Hashem does is the best advice as to how to win a war, even if “these nations are more numerous than I.”
And therefore, David Hamelech was not impressed by the enemies’ advantage in numbers, and in Psalm 118 beginning with “Thank Hashem for He is good; His loving-kindness is forever,” he says: “The nations all surrounded me… They surrounded me on every side, but in Hashem’s name I drove them off.” 2 When I am grateful to Hashem, and when I see in front of my eyes at every moment His kindnesses that last forever – I am strengthened and have complete trust, and I am sure things will be only good, and so I am able to stand against all the nations together – and vanquish them!
Open Miracles
And indeed, gratitude is the theme of our parasha: “Remember that Hashem, your G-d has led you through all this journey… then feeding you man… your clothes did not wear out… For Hashem, your G-d is bringing you into a good land… Take care not to forget Hashem, your G-d… Remember Hashem your G-d for it is He who gives you the power to do great things…” 3
And the Torah warns the Jews not to forget Hashem and all His kindnesses and not to claim all the success and abundance to themselves, be it financial, material or military success, as well as spiritual success. Because the moment one forgets Hashem, one begins to engage in avoda zara – idolatry. “If you do forget Hashem, your G-d – and follow other gods, serving and worshiping them…” 4
And especially in this war. Only a blind person could fail to see the immense miracles that Hashem is performing for us. Even in Egypt there was no such thing as tens of thousands of missiles being fired, with almost zero casualties! And despite the painful events of Simchat Torah, everyone understands that it could have been a lot worse, even from the direction of Gaza, and even more so if all our enemies would have united and attacked together, may that never happen.
Observing these miracles and giving thanks for them and for all the miracles we’ve seen during history, and for our very existence here between seventy wolves who are scheming against us day and night – the observation and the gratitude in themselves are the greatest defense and Iron Dome. And they are good not only for protection and defense, but for attack as well: this is what annihilates and destroys all the enemies.
Without belittling our soldiers’ and all the defense systems’ tremendous mesirut nefesh (complete devotion) even a little bit, every intelligent person understands that the soldiers need spirit, courage, trust, and a lot of aid and protection from Above, and there is nothing that increases the aid from Above in all realms of life like thankfulness and gratitude!
A Lowly Nation
We have written endlessly about gratitude and giving thanks: books, booklets, articles, and amazing stories of salvation. But now it’s already a matter of saving our lives! Gratitude is the secret of Jewish victory as well as the secret of conquering and settling the Land of Israel!
The generation that was ungrateful and cried needlessly – lost the Land. And we are here in the place of our forefathers, coming to correct their sins, and our entire hold on the land depends on our being aware of the good, seeing Hashem’s goodness, His miracles and kindnesses, and thanking Him endlessly, thus meriting to settle in the land. And if there are difficulties and we are faced with this fierce war with our enemies – we must increase our gratitude more and more.
All of this is being expressed more strongly now, precisely because one of the most despicable traits of our cruel enemies, the Arabs, is their lack of gratitude.
To go through everything that the kibbutzim experienced is very painful. But for those who lived in the kibbutzim, it hurt even more because they loved the Gaza residents and supported them; They were always ready to help them as much as they could, to the point of mesirut nefesh – and the pain of the ingratitude, being spat on by the Arabs, that’s the greatest pain.
We have all seen in the Arabs many moral faults, to put it mildly: unbelievable cruelty, bloodthirstiness, sanctification of death and murder – but the root of all bad things is ingratitude. The Arabs in general, and the Gazan Arabs in particular, owe us for endless favors. They received from us free electricity, water, money, and so much merchandise and jobs. The constant expectation is that there will be a minimum of regard from the other side. But they saved their money and invested everything in killing Hashem’s people.
There is nothing that Hashem hates more than ingratitude. And with Hashem’s help, that tremendous lack of gratitude of the wicked Arabs will be their own downfall and end. And may it be that this will be the last straw, causing them to lose all their right and hold on the Holy Land.
Spiritual Warfare
And especially when we are suffering so much from lack of gratitude, we must understand that that is exactly what is being demanded from us now. This is one of the messages that Hashem wants to send us, as part of this entire painful lesson that we have learning since Simchat Torah: that we should fight them spiritually as well and do battle with their klipa (evil side), the klipa of ingratitude, by increasing our gratitude.
We must strengthen ourselves in the midda of gratitude. Be grateful to the Holy One, Blessed Be He for all the tremendous kindnesses that we are experiencing and be grateful to parents, teachers, friends, and to anyone who has ever done us a favor. Rabbeinu says that one should not belittle anyone who has ever done you even one favor!
Because just like ingratitude is the source of all evil, gratitude is the root of all the good traits and everything good. Emuna (belief) and gratitude go hand in hand. And just like anyone who denies a friend’s favor will end up denying Hashem’s goodness, so the emuna itself is built on gratitude. A grateful person will achieve a true connection and relationship with Hashem.
Ingratitude is considered the most despicable thing by human society. The passuk says: “A person who returns evil for good – evil will never depart from his house.” 5 The commentators explain that this is true both for the person’s relationships within his society and for his relationship with Hashem. Because someone who lacks gratitude, no one in his social group will help him; and with Hashem, as well, this bad trait prevents him from receiving all the blessings and all the good things; indeed, this midda (trait) will bring him to apostasy.
Ingratitude is embedded in the human race, starting with Adam, who denied the favor done to him, and said after the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge, “[It was] the woman you gave me,” 6 and that is the tikkun (rectification) that all humanity needs. And therefore, gratitude always needs buttressing and renewal.
On Simchat Torah we received a painful slap in the face. But we all understand that it was just a wake-up call, and it could have been much, much more painful. But practically speaking, it’s not over yet. Perhaps it hasn’t even begun (!). So, we must internalize the messages from the huge mussar (morality) lesson the Creator of the World is teaching us.
The whole world is in shock. So much evil! And rectifying the world means adding thankfulness to it. To add good to the world means to add gratitude to it. The more grateful people there are in the world – the more beautiful and sweeter the world will be. True mercy will prevail, and evil will be banished from the world. We will add good, increase light, the holiness of the Land of Israel will be revealed, and we will merit to settle in the Land and live in it lives of Torah and kedusha (holiness), with joy and security, and Hashem will fight for us, destroying all our enemies, and will always protect us, Amen.
Editor’s Notes:
1 Devarim (Deuteronomy) 7:17-18
2 Tehillim (Psalms) 118: 10-11
3 Devarim 8: 2-18
4 Devarim 8: 18-20
5 Mishlei (Proverbs) 17:13
6 Bereishit (Genesis) 3:12
8/23/2024
The true wisdom and depth of what I have just finished reading goes to the very core of my being. My life has been dramatically changed by my beginning to study Torah and my ability to become more righteous. My orthodox son is also a rabbi and we have conversations daily that have enabled me to focus more more on my spiritual growth.
As negative as the world seems to be now towards the Jewish people, with the shams miracles the Jewish people will survive these terrible situations and overcome all the obstacles presented before us presently.
8/22/2024
Interesting…I never thought about a causal relationship between “receivers” and their betrayal of their benefactors.
This phenomena isn’t just in Israel – you can see it in the States. Jews were in the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. Blacks are joining anti-Israel/pro-Palestine and antisemitic movements and demonstrations in growing numbers.