The Wake-Up Call

October 1, 2024– Iran said that they sent more than 400 missiles; Israel counted 181. THANK GOD we didn’t have more incoming missiles, because we couldn’t intercept them! Also in April, more than half the missiles didn’t get out of Iran. You can choose to blame faulty engineering of Iran – or see God’s Hand. 
 

The one casualty in Israel was a man from Gaza living in the terrorist city of Jenin – he was worthy of being struck down special by God Himself. And of course, the 5 terrorists in Iran whose bomb blew up on them, with another 7 seriously wounded. I saw one post saying: “Great job, Iran! Casualties: Israel – 0; Palestinian territory – 1; Iran – 5.”  

That post cannot be taken for granted. I saw one comment that some of the missiles landed just meters from very critical infrastructure. Another who works in high tech commented that he began to believe in God that night, when his house rocked with booms all around him. In the end it was clarified that not one bomb hit a house, falling in between the houses. And this bombardment was of a densely populated area in the center of the country!  

If just one missile had hit an apartment building, or a retail center… we could be talking tens, even hundreds of casualties plus many more maimed for life. For that man, he understood clearly that there are no odds for every last missile falling around him without hitting anything whatsoever. Statistically impossible, and he knows it. Well, there couldn’t be a better time to start repenting than the night before Rosh Hashanah…  

All of this, of course the media won’t tell you…  

I’ve been saying since it happened that there are more miracles now than the first attack in April. This time, we had much less help, far fewer missiles were intercepted “easily” before even reaching Israeli airspace, and MANY more bombs that landed.  

I don’t know if that makes you worry more about me or less, but the reality is that we see even stronger now that God Himself protects the Jewish people. 

Let’s face it – Israel shouldn’t have won any of its wars, and it shouldn’t be around right now to win this one either, let alone protect its citizens. So, while we certainly must pray for the soldiers in every arena, we also must recognize that they are just helping to hide a bit the big miracles taking place under our noses. 

All of this does beg the million-dollar question – if God is going to protect us anyway, then why is He sending the bombs in the first place? Why do the entire show? 

The answer is simple, and in fact, I’ve already explained it. That man in high-tech needed to see God’s Hand in order to believe – and now, he does. Rabbi Arush has explained more than once that unfortunately, some people need to be scared a bit to shock them into coming back to God. Others like this man, need to see miracles to recognize that clearly there is Someone Who orchestrated them. And even more importantly, to recognize that God is not “out there somewhere” but right here, protecting me, and you, and our children, literally moving missiles to protect us.  

Hence, we need this war to help more Jews return to God and to recognize that there is a God who is right here with us. God Who loves each of us like an only child, Who protects us and sustains us, even against all odds. This is why Rabbi Arush thanks Hashem for the war^* – emuna never changes, and everything is for the best even if we don’t understand. Now, we can understand just a sliver of how this war is ultimately for our spiritual best: to push and nudge another Jew and another Jew to recognize God and return to Him.  

Let’s get the message now, especially now during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Let’s each choose one commandment to strengthen ourselves in now, without waiting for G-d forbid the next missile barrage. Let’s strengthen mitzvot if not for our own merit, then at least for the soldiers out there on the front lines, fighting terrorists and dismantling tunnels and other infrastructure to protect us. 

May Hashem protect them and bring them home alive, whole, and safe. The same goes for the hostages, the suffering of which I cannot even start to let myself fathom, and when I try just a little, I completely break down in uncontrollable sobbing. And may Hashem bring all of us a happy, sweet new year, full of blessing and goodness, salvations and mercy, for us, and all the Jewish people, and the entire world – amen. 

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Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of the university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.   
 
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.