Hot Air

"I feel so great. It must be the air. Never in my life have I breathed in so much healthy air."

My wife was so happy as we hiked through the forests among the Jezreel Valley right next to our home in Afula.

"You know, there is a company in Canada that sells mountain air. They bottle air and sell it to China where the pollution is insane."

"Does it help?"

"The doctors say no. But it's a novelty item for a lot of people. What if we bottled air from Israel? You think that would work?"

"Why not? We can call it Holy Air."

"We invested in gold and got killed, wouldn’t it be funny if we made it all back selling air?"

Then my wife said her trademark wit of wisdom:

"If Hashem wants, even a broom can shoot."

To quote my favorite American: So true.

The Story of Claire Peller

Claire Peller was an elderly Jewish woman from Chicago. For 60 years she worked as a manicurist. At the age of 80, she got a gig doing nails on a set for commercials. Known for her outspoken manners, they decided to hire her as an actress and see what would happen.

Mrs. Peller never made more than hand to mouth wages all her life. There was little reason to believe that would change from an acting career. At the age of 81, she couldn’t even recite lines because she suffered from emphysema. She got a simple role where her only line consisted of three words.

Is it possible for an octogenarian to achieve anything of substance like this? When Hashem wants, you can make it selling air. What were the three words Miss Peller belted out?

Where's the beef?

This famous 1984 Wendy's commercial made her instantly famous. It began a whirlwind career where Mrs. Peller earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for her family by the time she passed away just 4 years later.

Hashem redeems us even as the sword falls on our necks and makes contact with our throat.

A Sign for Our Times

The forces aligned against Hashem are united, strong, and have access to most of the wealth in this world and almost all the means to communicate their message of apathy and atheism.

Should we be worried?

Was Abraham worried when the powers that be did the same to him? Did he despair even as the wicked King Nimrod threw him in a pit with ravenous lions?

He knew the truth. He knew that even as the lies of this world are screamed to us at full volume, they are easily be drowned out by a silent Truth.

Truth doesn't have to speak. It doesn’t have to gain the upper hand. The way of the wicked will perish. (Psalms 1:6) Evil dies out on its own, no matter how powerful it appears to be. The Nazis looked invincible in 1940. The Romans dominated Europe and the Middle East while our Temple was destroyed and our nation reduced to scattered rubble. Egypt owned everything on earth during our national slavery.

We, the Jewish People, are still here to tell the tale of their extinction.

Do we need to worry about the domination of evil throughout the world?

Kings of nations stand up, and nobles take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. "Let us break their bands and cast off their cords from us." He Who dwells in Heaven laughs; the Lord mocks them. Then He speaks to them in His wrath; and He frightens them with His anger. (Psalms 2:2-5)

From a fortune in air, to Claire Peller, to today, Hashem acts in ways to demonstrate that it is He Who controls this world, and toys with all the illusions those who seek to deceive us into sin stake their lives upon.

He will win. It's up to each of us to resolve to stay on His side.

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David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.