Select your language

לימוד תורה

The high percentage of victims from the Religious Zionism - and the conclusions drawn.

Parashat Hashavua - Parashat Noah - and the war of the 'Iron Swords' 5785

Rabbi Eliezer Haim Shenvald

Praying for the IDF soldiers' success, to safeguard them lest any harm come to them, to the healing of all the wounded and the return of the abducted.

It is impossible to ignore the high percentage of Zionist observant Jews who have fallen and have been injured throughout the war. This fact has risen in the last month. This reflects their large presence in the fighting reserve units, far beyond their percentage in the general population, as fighters and commanders. There are those who seek to hide this information, with a certain degree of justice, since in war there should be unity between all parts of the nation, where soldiers come with dedication and sacrifice, including among our Druze brothers. And it is wrong to differentiate and segregate between populations.

However, there is a reason why it should be pointed out!

On the one-year anniversary of the war, we must investigate and draw immediate conclusions about things that cannot be delayed, and act accordingly.

In the months before the war, we were all exposed to Major General Itzhak Brik's predictions about the state of the IDF and the danger from war. Today, in light of the unprecedented successes in the war, some claim that he was wrong. Really?

In my decades of service as a commander in the reserves, in the armored corps, I have never examined the soldiers’ identity or their origin, but in many contexts (E.g. prayers, holidays, etc.) the percentage of religious Zionists, graduates of Hesder Yeshivot, Yeshivot Gevohot, and Mechinot (pre-military preparatory institutions) stood out very much. Many continued to serve, even when they could be discharged: older ages, those with large families, despite the danger. What is the reason for this?

In the last twenty years dozens of non-religious Mechinot have been established. Their graduates are found as well on a very large scale relative to their percentage of the population.

There is a connection between the percentage of religious Zionist and non-religious Mechinot graduates in units, and the Jewish and Zionist ​​education they received at home, in Yeshivot and Mechinot. It is important to point this out, because the conclusion to be drawn must be that the 'moral aspect' is very important for national security, and it is imperative to strengthen and expand it.

In my opinion, Brik was not wrong! He evaluated the quantitative ('physical') aspects of the military power, which was in a borderline situation, mainly on land.

What turned the bowl upside down was the moral, ethical aspect of the fighters, because this is what invigorates the units with fighting spirit. 'The fighting spirit is a force multiplier' on the battlefield. This element Brik could not assess.

This is also an important lesson because just as the IDF is responsible for building the military force and power, there is a need for frameworks that strengthen the spirit and build the ‘moral aspect’ of national security, among military service candidates, for those serving and fighting, and in society in general.

At the center of Parashat Noah we find the flood that destroyed a corrupted world, and the lessons with the infrastructure to create a new and improved world.

Hamas called the war that started on Simchat Torah: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, טוּפַאן אלְ־אַקְצַא "Tufan al-Aqsa". "Tufan" is the "flood" from the Bible, which they took to the Quran (Surah 71 - Prophet Noah). In expectation that the 'heroism' and evil of these satanic terrorists, and the sudden surprise would destroy the Jewish presence "like the flood, which will wash the face of the earth and cleanse it of the Zionist filth". (Hamas website 12/22). The attribution of the attack is to 'Al Aqsa' - and Jerusalem, since in their view the war with the Jewish people is a religious-moral war and not a territorial-national one. The timing was chosen by calculating the most damage to the IDF fighting capacity, following the times of divisiveness, factionalism and insubordination.

There is indeed an element of biblical 'heroism' in the flood as well as in war, but in the opposite direction, of the destruction of evil and Hamas:

וַתִּשָּׁחֵ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ לִפְנֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹקים וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ חָמָֽס׃

“The earth also was corrupt before G-d, and the earth was filled with violence”. (Bereshit 6:11) For this, the 'heroism of the water' was needed, a creation of special 'heroism':

וַיִּגְבְּר֥וּ הַמַּ֛יִם וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ מְאֹ֖ד עַל הָאָ֑רֶץ... וְהַמַּ֗יִם גָּ֥בְר֛וּ מְאֹ֥ד מְאֹ֖ד עַל הָאָ֑רֶץ...

“The waters surged and multiplied exceedingly on the earth…” “And the waters surged more and more mightily on the earth…” (Bereshit 7:18-19)

וְטַעַם וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם וְהַמַּיִם גָּבְרוּ, שֶׁנִּתְרַבּוּ מְאֹד, כִּי לָרִבּוּי הַגָּדוֹל יִקְרָא הַלָּשׁוֹן גְּבוּרָה, וְכֵן "וּפִשְׁעֵיהֶם כִּי יִתְגַּבָּרוּ" (איוב לו ט), רַבּוּ מְאֹד…

וְיִתָּכֵן כִּי טַעַם "וַיִּגְבְּרוּ" שֶׁהָיוּ בָּאִים בְּשֶׁטֶף וְעוֹקְרִים הָאִילָנוֹת וּמַפִּילִים הַבִּנְיָנִים, כִּי לְכֹחַ יִקְרְאוּ גְּבוּרָה בַּעֲבוּר כִּי הַגְּבוּרָה בְּכֹחַ, וְכֵן "גַּם גָּבְרוּ חָיִל" (איוב כא ז) "וְהִגְבִּיר בְּרִית לָרַבִּים שָׁבוּעַ אֶחָד" (דניאל ט כז), יַעֲמִידֶנּוּ בְּחֹזֶק. וּלְשׁוֹן חֲכָמִים (תענית ב) גְּבוּרַת גְּשָׁמִים, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁיּוֹרְדִין בִּגְבוּרָה. וְאֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיִּהְיֶה מִזֶּה "וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה", שֶׁאִם הָיוּ עַצְמוֹתָיו וְגוּפוֹ חֲזָקִים וְהוּא בַּעַל כֹּחַ יִחְיֶה שְׁמוֹנִים. וְאִם כֵּן יִהְיֶה פֵּרוּשׁ גָּבְרוּ עַל הָאָרֶץ, שֶׁהָיוּ בִּגְבוּרָתָם כֻּלָּם אַף עַל הֶהָרִים הַגְּבוֹהִים וְשׁוֹטְפִים אוֹתָם:

“And The Waters Prevailed ('Vayigb'ru'). And The Waters 'Gavru' (Prevailed). This means that they increased exceedingly, for the Hebrew language calls great abundance Gvurah (strength, power). So too, and their transgressions which 'Yitgavru' (have prevailed),⁠ (Job 36:9) meaning increased exceedingly…

It is conceivable that the meaning of Vayigb'ru is that the rains came in a rushing downpour, uprooting trees and toppling buildings, since power is called in Hebrew Gvurah (strength) because strength lies in power. In a similar sense are the verses: They also 'Gavru' (wax mighty) in power (Job 21:7); 'Vehigbir brit' (And he shall make a strong covenant) with many for one week (Daniel 9:27), meaning he will establish the covenant with firmness. And in the words of the Sages, [we find the expression], Gvurot Geshamim (the powers of the rains),⁠ (Talmud Babli Taanit 2a) because they come down with strength. It is possible that the verse, if 'Bigvurot' four-score years,⁠ (Ibid., 90:10) is of the same sense, i.e., if his bones and body be strong, and he is a man of power, he will live four-score years. And if so, 'Gavru' upon the earth (19) will mean that the waters were in their complete strength, overcoming even the high mountains and inundating them”. (Ramban Bereshit 7:18-19)

As it turned out, in "Tufan al-Aqsa" the true Gvurah (strength) of the 'flood' came precisely from the hidden reserves of strength and power within the people of Israel. Despite the failure, the disaster, the massacre and the painful price to pay, the nation bravely set out to fight the evil, managed to stop the attack, fought back fiercely and destroyed Hamas cities and their infrastructure on an unprecedented scale. (One of the fighters told me recently: "The destroyed Gaza looks like a place that has been flooded").

Hamas was wrong! They do not really know the unique Israeli Gvurah, that

וְכַאֲשֶׁר יְעַנּוּ אֹתוֹ כֵּן יִרְבֶּה וְכֵן יִפְרֹץ

“As they would oppress them, so would they multiply and so they would spread out...” (Shmot 1:12). That when they are harmed, they unite and fight back:

הֶן עָם כְּלָבִיא יָקוּם וְכַאֲרִי יִתְנַשָּׂא

“Behold, the people rise up as a lioness; as a lion he lifts himself up...” (Bamidbar 23:24)

On Simchat Torah, in the course of battle, we began to mention the גְּבוּרוֹת גְּשָׁמִים ‘might of the rains’ by inserting the phrase: מַשִּׁיב הָרוּחַ וּמוֹרִיד הַגֶּשֶׁם ‘He makes the wind blow and rain fall’, literally, Hashem’s Gvurah who makes the wind blow and rain fall, but also as a metaphorical expression for the "strength of the people of Israel, whose Gvurah in battle does not depend only on physical elements: the weapons and the number of soldiers, it depends on the 'fighting spirit' - the physical components of strength, as a 'force multiplier'.

לֹא בְחַיִל וְלֹא בְכֹחַ כִּי אִם בְּרוּחִי אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת

'Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit,' says Hashem of Hosts. (Zechariah 4:6).

Contact Form

Please type your full name.
Invalid email address.
Invalid Input
Invalid Input
Invalid Input