Total Victory
How can we quickly bring about the final downfall of our enemies? Is the answer more prayer, more tzedakah, more learning? Rabbi Arush gives an amazing solution!
Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter.
What Should I Do?
How can we all harness ourselves to the cause, and do real deeds to further the victory of the Jewish People over its enemies – who are also enemies of Hashem – and see the truly great revenge against them, soon, in our days?
Well, Hashem yitbarach Himself gives us the answer to this question:
When Bnei Yisrael were standing next to the sea, in extreme danger from the Egyptians chasing after them, Moshe called out to Hashem yitbarach. Hashem’s reply to him was: “Why are you crying out to Me?”1 The midrash says that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu that now that the Jewish people are in such trouble, this is not the time to pray and cry out to Hashem. “Moshe, my children are in trouble, and the sea is closing them in, and an enemy is chasing, and you are standing and praying at length?!”2
I hope I can assume that all of you are asking yourselves the same question: If that was not the time to pray, when is it the time to pray? Is there a more suitable time to pray than under such circumstances?
Good question. And it is precisely what Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hashem yitbarach: You are telling me not to pray, so what is it that I am supposed to do?! In the language of the midrash: “What have I to do?”
And Hashem says to him: “Raise your staff.” You have a staff in your hand – lift it. What does this mean? The midrash says something wonderous and amazing: “And you will elevate and praise and sing and give praise and thanks and greatness and grandeur and splendor and glory to He who owns the wars.”2
Do you hear that?! What does one do when at war? You don’t call out to Hashem and pray at length; rather, you elevate and praise, sing songs, give thanks and glory to the Holy One Blessed be He. The wars are His.
Messages from the Depths of the Soul
How can one explain this?
Hashem is the Warrior: “Hashem is a Master of War.”3 In the recent war we saw that Hashem was fighting for us. The Jewish people are not blind. Everyone sees clearly that it was not our own power that brought all this about. Non-Jews as well, and even Islamic religious leaders are in shock, saying, “This is the hand of G-d”. Hashem is fighting for you.
And what is our role?
We are Hashem’s nation and flock. We give the Holy One, Blessed be He, the strength to win, as it were; in other words, to reveal His midah (trait) of victory in the world, as it says, “Give might to G-d”4 – Give G-d strength, as it were.
Hashem has all the powers, and He is victorious over all. But this is not always evident in this world. Sometimes it looks like Hashem’s enemies are raising their ugly heads. The level of revelation of Hashem’s middot in the world depends on our deeds.
If we want Hashem’s midah of victory to be revealed in this world, in its reality, we have to, as it were, give Hashem might. How does one do that? By using the staff – “raise your staff”. The staff is called “a staff of might”5 – “Your mighty staff Hashem has sent forth from Zion.”6
According to the midrash we brought above, what is that mighty staff? Chazal say that this staff consists of song and thanks and praises to He Who owns the wars.
The holy Jews, if they aren’t prophets, they are descendants of prophets, and that is why we saw and heard Jews stop everything when there were air raid sirens and sing, “Hashem yitbarach always loves me” and “Mizmor l’toda” (a song of thanks).
How did they come to do this? Because their soul felt the words of the midrash, because the Torah is inscribed on the hearts of all Jews: “For this covenant which I will make with the House of Israel after these days, declares Hashem, I will deliver My teaching into their midst and inscribe it upon their hearts, and I will be their G-d, and they will be My people.”7
Creation’s Operation Code
This is not just a segula (auspicious act), but rather it is a set of spiritual rules that are deeply rooted in the secrets of the Torah!
Even if you are not a great mekubal (a sage versed in Kabbala), it is very encouraging to know what Kabbala says about this matter.
The Kabbala reveals to us that Hashem reveals Himself in this world through ten middot, known as ten sefirot, and there are holy names of Hashem yitbarach, to match each one.
It is brought in one of the holy books that when Hashem’s Holy Name, Ad-nai, is clothed in a garment called Hod (glory), He wins all wars, takes revenge on our enemies, and punishes all those who oppose us.
How is this done? How do we cause the Holy Name to be clothed in Hod? Hod comes from the word hoda’a (thanks). This holy mekubal says that thanking Hashem arouses the Holy Name to clothe itself in Hod, and then the blessing of “G-d of thanks, Master of wonders”8 comes true – the name Adon does great wonders for us.
How is this connected with victory?
The connection is that there are middot that always go in tandem, such as Chochma and Bina, Chessed and Gevura. So too, the two middot of Netzach and Hod go together. The midah of Netzach is the midah of victory, and the midah of Hod is that of hoda’a.
Eliyahu Hanavi says, according to the holy Zohar, that the supreme middot of Hashem yitbarach are revealed in the world according to the deeds of the Jewish people. And when the Jews arouse themselves to express gratitude to Hashem, that arouses the clothing of Hod. And when the midah of Hod awakens, it brings with it the midah of Netzach – and then Hashem’s victory manifests itself in this world.
Chazak Venitchazek (Let us be strong and remain strong)
And so, dear Jews, do not be afraid and do not let your spirits fall. Hashem loves us and fights for us and protects us and saves us, and Hashem will also vanquish and destroy all our enemies and wreak much vengeance on them.
That is why Hashem brought into the world the cure before the illness – the wonderful song, “Hashem yitbarach always loves me.” We have seen the extent to which the Jewish nation has been empowered by this song – it seems it was only a preparation for these great days and for the immense yeshuot that are yet to come.
Hashem again brought the cure before the illness and had the amazing booklet Hineni Beyadcha in Hebrew (“I am in Your Hand” – not yet in English) published, which connects the reader to a deep trust in Hashem, based on the knowledge that Hashem loves him.
All we have to do is to hold on tightly to these notions and simply sing to Hashem.
In our week’s parsha we learn about the song of the well. Shirat habe’er speaks of Hashem’s wars: “That is why the Book of the wars of Hashem records…”9 It is full of praise and thankfulness to Hashem yitbarach for all the great miracles He does for us, whether we know about them or not. Because just like in those days, in our days as well the enemies of Yisrael make their murderous plans and want to attack the Jewish people. The Jewish people just go on their way and sing to Hashem, and Hashem yitbarach smites and crushes and destroys these enemies.
Almost all the songs in the Tanach are about wars: Shirat Hayam, Shirat Devora, Shirat David, and also Shirat Habe’er here. Because the greatest way to bring about victory in the wars is the shirah. Singing to Hashem, as we learn in the midrash that we brought here about the Splitting of the Sea, is not only a song of thanks after the victory; rather, it is what brings about victory and salvation.
And so, we ought to sing with all our might and power to Hashem yitbarach, and then we will arouse not only the victory in this war, but also the Geula sheleima (complete Redemption), as well as the new song that will be sung in the future and will rectify the entire world.
Editor’s Notes:
1 Shemot (Exodus) 14:15
2 Mechilta on Shemot 14:15
3 Shemot 15:3
4 Tehillim (Psalms) 68:35
5 Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 48:17
6 Tehillim 110:2
7 Yirmiyahu 31:32
8 Birchat Yishtabach (Blessing of “May Your Name be praised”)
9 Bamidbar (Numbers) 21:14
7/04/2025
Thank you again for the insight. It is only Hashem who fight for us. For me it is only to praise Him and give thanks for the seemingly bad situations for the victory is in His hands. Hashem yitbarach always loves me!