The Spiritual Battlefield of Modern Israel
Israel’s history shows miracles of victory when defeat seemed certain — and surprising defeats when victory seemed guaranteed. While the IDF fights on the ground, our service of God forms a second front. See how purity, speech, and mitzvot directly influence the outcome of our wars.
May He Who makes peace in the heights, may He make peace for us, and for all Yisrael. End of daily Amida Prayer
Hashem makes the Torah perfect. Every word, letter, and syllable is there for a specific purpose. When parshat Vayeitzei1 begins with a simple statement, it makes us think.
Yaakov left Be’er Sheva and went to Haran. Bereishit 28:10
Why do we need to know that Yaakov left Be’er Sheva? Can’t we assume that going to Haran meant he left Be’er Sheva?
These words are a special treasure that God gives His children. To the world, the first half of this sentence seems superfluous. For Israel, God is giving us a powerful weapon to defeat our enemies.
Rashi teaches in this pasuk that when a righteous person leaves a city, the city loses. It loses its blessing. It loses its protection. It loses on every level. Hashem would have continued to bless the millions of people living in Sodom and the neighboring four cities if just 50 righteous men lived there. If there were even 10, He would have let an entire city survive.
The Gemara tells us to see the world as balanced on a tightrope. On one side are all of humanity’s mitzvot. On the other side are its sins. Every single act we do tips the balance to one side . . . or the other.
A single tzaddik can impact the welfare of millions of people.
The Miracle of Victory
The IDF is a very Jewish army: It wins when defeat seems certain, and it loses when victory seems guaranteed.
War of Independence, 1948
On the eve of the 1948 War of Independence, seven Arab armies united under the military leadership of World War II battle-hardened British generals2 to face off against 630,000 Jews armed with rifles and pitchforks. To make the odds even worse, the Jews comprised a minority of the Palestinian population – there were about two Muslims to every Jew.3
The war began with Egypt mercilessly pounding Tel Aviv while our entire “air force” was in chutz l’aretz. Aircraft were smuggled out of the United States (Burbank) to Tijuana, and then on to Nicaragua, Panama, Brazil, Dakar, Rome, and finally to Czechoslovakia.4 Also joining the nascent IAF in Czechoslovakia were four Nazi Messerschmidts.5
According to every piece of military logic, we were supposed to lose.
Hashem decreed our victory, and we won.
Six Day War, 1967
We weren’t supposed to win the Six Day War either. Even if we survived, the rosiest projections from internal Israeli government and intelligence assessments estimated over 10,000 casualties.
The Six Day War was like the war fought by Gidon the Judge.6 Gidon could have used the 22,000 troops at his command, but Hashem wanted us to know that He fought this war, not us. He commanded Gidon to fight against over 120,000 Midianites, Edomites, Amalekites, and Ishmaelites with only 300 men just so we would know it was He Who won the war.
We won the Six Day War in 72 hours. By day three, we had liberated Gaza, Sinai, Judea, Shomron, and Jerusalem. After that, our biggest battle was in preventing the UN from declaring a ceasefire so we could take the Golan Heights.
On the eve of the Six Day War, we all feared another Holocaust. Instead, God gave us redemption.
Inexplicable Losses
Equally inexplicable is that when we are supposed to win, we lose.
Shortly after the Six Day War ended, the Israeli government transferred control of our precious Temple Mount site to the Islamic Waqf, a Muslim religious authority. For no reason, we gave the Temple Mount back to the very people who had just tried to kill us!
Since then, God has not decreed victory for Israel.
Yom Kippur War, 1973
In 1973, we had territory, deterrence over our enemies, and a powerful military to hold our ground. We lost. Egypt shocked us, and then used diplomacy to regain the Sinai Peninsula from Israel five years later.
Lebanon Wars
The Lebanon wars of 1978, 1982, 2006, and 2024 have not stopped Hezbollah from continuing to attack our civilians along our northern border.
War of Redemption, 2023
The October 7th War is a come-from-behind draw with Hamas bludgeoned but still intact. Hezbollah has been greatly weakened but vows to rebuild itself. Iran faces severe internal and environmental crises, but the regime remains intact. Further, it intends to rebuild its nuclear program.
Has a larger army, bigger air force, dominant technology, and superior intelligence done anything for us?
In fact, our country today is more than two-thirds smaller than it was just after the Six Day War in 1967!7 When we returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt (about 60,000 km2), we became the only nation in the last 100 years to lose most of our country. Even Russia didn’t lose this much when the Soviet Union collapsed.
Modern Israeli history teaches us the most powerful lesson: It is not the government, the IDF, or high technology that wins wars: For Hashem’s nation, Hashem Himself decrees victory.
Our Duty
Right now, tens of thousands of our sons are serving in Gaza. Even as the ceasefire goes into effect, not a day goes by without incident. Regardless of what country we live in, those of us who are not currently in active service are commanded to be like our father Yaakov in Be’er Sheva.
We must intensify our efforts to be as righteous as possible in our actions, thoughts, and words to draw Hashem’s protection over am Yisrael. The greater our actions in both quantity and quality, the greater His protection over all of us.
Two areas carry tremendous power: purity of physical conduct and purity of speech.
We must seize the countless opportunities every day to guard our eyes, guard our mouths, guard our ears, and elevate ourselves.
We can rise higher by:
- Removing inappropriate materials from our homes
- Installing filters to protect us online
- Avoiding speaking or listening to profanity like the plague
- Never embarrassing or insulting a fellow Jew
- Working with all our heart not to hate a fellow Jew
Like a solider who must be vigilant every moment of the day to fulfill his mission in protecting our nation, we must be vigilant to serve our King so He will bless us with victory over those who wish to harm our children.
Every improvement is a blessing to your soul and our nation.
We must all fight for each other under the banner of Hashem.
God Willing, we will feel, once again, the pure joy of triumphant redemption.
***
David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, 60,000 passionate Israelis, and Matilda, our local camel.
Notes:
1 Bereishit (Genesis) 28:10 – 32:3
2 The Conduct of Operations: Glubb Pasha, the Arab Legion, and the First Arab–Israeli War, 1948–49 General Sir John Bagot Glubb (“Glubb Pasha”)
3 Tenfold: How Israel became ‘The Jewish State’ in numbers
4 American Veterans of Israel Newsletter: Fall 2006. Personal Stories, “Evelyn (Fay McDaniel) and Fred Dahms”
6 Book of Judges, Chapters 6-8
7 Wikipedia, Six-Day War, Conclusion
12/15/2025
Amen!
12/02/2025
I suggest an additional reason why we have not won any war since returning the Temple Mount to Jordanian Muslim authority (1967) – the tremendous hubris of military elite to claim credit for the stunning victory of the Six Day War.
The belief of “My strength and my power has created all this.” (Devarim 8:17) plays a huge part in creating inappropriate self-confidence and arrogance.
Yes, there were military and intel blunders of catastrophic proportions to explain losing wars, but the bottom-line failure was a spiritual one.
We needed to learn “Unless G-d protects the city, in vain is the watchman wakeful.” (Psalm 127:1)