A Modern Day Miracle . . .
This past week we celebrated the 40th anniversary of, perhaps, one of the greatest miracles our nation has experienced in the 2000 years since our exile from Israel – The Six Day War:
In 1967 the uneasy ceasefire between Israel and its neighbors was about to end with catastrophic results. The chief Rabbinate of Israel had plans to convert many public parks into cemeteries in preparation for the impending doom – the expected loss of tens of thousands of Jewish lives. Across the globe holocaust scenarios were being openly displayed as Egypt, Syria, and Jordan began tightening a noose around Israel’s neck.
Yet, in the six short days of June 1967, the miraculous historical victory of the Six Day War would grant us rightful ownership of the holiest city on earth - Jerusalem.
This week is therefore a time to thank G‑d. It is a time to take a moment and think about how we, as a nation, gain, earn, and receive our safety and security.
Our strength has never rested on military might alone. Our existence as a people for 3300 years is not a natural one and it continues to be a phenomenon that baffles historians and theologians.
As Mark Twain put it, “If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race ... the Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Roman … made a vast noise, and they are gone … what is the secret of his (the Jew’s) immortality?”
How many times have they tried to annihilate us? How many times has the world heard that “Judaism & the Jewish People will be but a relic of the past”? And yet time and time again, G‑d - our father and protector - has guarded and shielded his beloved children, Israel.
With this perspective, even those of us living in the Diaspora (ie: the Tri-Valley) can be a part of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). We provide the spiritual defense. Because each and every mitzvah we do and every bit of Torah we study, taps into and reveals the G‑dly force that carefully watches over the land of and entire People of Israel.
Actually, it was just before the Six Day War that the Rebbe (Rabbi M. Schneersohn) began encouraging men to don tefillin. He assured us that in the merit of this special mitzvah G‑d would surely protect us (click here to watch a historical short documentary).
I am proud to announce that this month alone 6 men in the Tri-Valley have purchased their very own pair of tefillin and many more have now joined the “Tefillin Club”, coming to Chabad once a week to don tefillin.
I encourage each and everyone to learn about this special and important mitzvah and make one step forward in its fulfillment (click here see our special tefillin website).
In the merit of all the mitzvahs we have done and continue to do, may G‑d grant our families, communities, our land and the entire nation of Israel peace and prosperity – AMEN!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick