Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

It’s been a week since the world changed. Again.

The past week has been painful for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael. Overwhelmingly, however, spirits are high, national pride is strong, and Jewish unity is transcending the political divides.

There is a deep knowledge that we will win. It might take time. It might be painful. But we will win.

So why is the US so astounded? Why are they so impressed by Israels achievements? And how did Iran get it so wrong? How did they so significantly underestimate Israel’s capacity?

The truth is, by all conventional measurements, they got it right.

Iran is roughly 75 times the size of Israel. Its population is almost ten times that of our home land. Logically, Israel has the far weaker hand.

Consider that after three years of war, Russia still had not achieved air superiority over Ukraine. The possibility that one nation would achieve such dominance over a country 2000 kilometers away, is a long shot, at best. Or at least it was until this week.

All this is to say that events of the past week break all military expectations. The world was all betting on a very different trajectory, and rationally speaking, they are correct.

Indeed, this was the argument of the spies who went to scout out Eretz Yisrael:

אֶפֶס כִּי־עַז הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּאָרֶץ וְהֶעָרִים בְּצֻרוֹת גְּדֹלֹת... לֹא נוּכַל לַעֲלוֹת אֶל־הָעָם כִּי־חָזָק הוּא מִמֶּנּוּ... אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ הִוא But the people are strong that dwell in the land... We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we... it is a land that eats up its inhabitants.

The Sfas Emes explains their claim as being perfectly reasonable:

כי בודאי הרגישו המרגלים כי אינם מוכנים לכנוס לארץ ישראל The spies felt that the Jewish people were not ready for entry into the Land of Israel.

But all measures, the nations of Canaan were a formidable force. They had been hardened and tested by years of warfare, whereas the Jewish people had just recently escaped Mitzraim.

Of course, if Hashem wanted us to sit back and watch Him conquering the Land, we would have no problems doing so. The issue is not believing in the power of Hashem’s miracles. But taking on the seven nations of Canaan without miracles? That’s fundamentally impossible. We simply were not prepared for it.

Answering this claim, Kalev stands up and says something seemingly insane: עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה וְיָרַשְׁנוּ אֹתָהּ כִּי־יָכוֹל נוּכַל לָהּ – We will go up and inherit it, for we certainly can do it.

Rav Kook writes (שמונה קבצים ז׳:ר״א):

שואלים במה זכה דורנו לגאולה. התשובה פשוטה היא, הוא זכה מפני שעסק במצוה היותר גדולה שבכל המצוות, במצווה השקולה ככל התורה כולה, מפני שהוא עסק בגאולת ישראל. ולא רק עסק, אלא הוא עוסק ויעסוק בלא הרף בגאולתו, וכח אלהי זה מרוממהו ומשגבהו בישועה. גם כל אלה שעומדים מרחוק או שמתנגדים לכל הפעולות המביאות את הגאולה הגלויה, גם הם בכלל הזוכים הם, מפני שעל ידי תביעותיהם, התוכן של התעסקות הגאולה מתבהר ומתברר יותר, ונעשה יותר זך, יותר מאיר...

People ask: How did our generation merit redemption? The answer is simple. Our generation merits redemption by doing one mitzvah which is greater than all the other mitzvos: The mitzvah of redeeming the Jewish people. We have not simply engaged in it, but we do so ceaselessly, and Godly strength is lifting us up to salvation. Even those Jews who stand far away and oppose it are included in this great merit, since the opposition forces us to achieve greater clarity, greater purity and greater illumination.

That’s what Kalev was talking about. We might not be the biggest tzadikim. We might not have sufficient military might. By all natural measures, we don’t really stand a chance again the well trained warriors who stand against us.

But by doing it, we will merit success.

That’s the secret of Am Yisrael that no-one understands, because it defies understanding. When we do what Hashem wants us to do, we, as a nation, are successful against all odds.

And of course, that which is true for the nation is true for us as individuals as well. The greatest support that we can offer our brave chalayim is to model ourselves after their incredible example. We can and should be pushing ourselves to achieve unreasonable success in our Avoda as well.

With Hashem’s help, we can overcome all of our adversaries, internal, external, national and personal. We will merit the Geulah by working towards Geulah.