A Voice From the Frontlines

Guest post

Never forget

I wanted to write something about the current situation, but was unsure if this blog was an appropriate place for it, and as somebody sitting in the US, doubted I could be an appropriate author. Nevertheless, I was contacted again by the author of a previous post who is actually serving right now, and who is fighting for all us. We need to daven and do teshuva, and may Hashem look kindly upon His nation.

This past Simchat Torah a war broke out in Israel. It was totally unexpected, and led to a complete breakdown of all of the army's plans regarding how to respond to attacks from Gaza. The attacking forces were clever and well prepared, and for over 48 hours they ran circles around the IDF. Their incredible military success was matched only by their brutality and barbarism,  as they slaughtered civilians and engaged in behaviors that even the non Jewish world finds unacceptable. As others have pointed out, this resulted in the largest one day slaughter of Jews since the holocaust. 

I happened to already have been summoned to reserve duty for unrelated reasons before Simchat Torah, so I was in the army witnessing events in real time, although from a slight distance. The total breakdown of command and control was worse than what had happened during the Yom Kippur war. With no forces available and civilians being butchered, the army did the only thing that it could, throwing elite forces (because they could be mobilized the most quickly), in to combat in a disorganized fashion resulting in very heavy casualties to those forces. 

Once the war is over there will no doubt be the usual investigation as to what caused this massive failure. The appropriate scapegoats will be designated, and the dead will be mourned. Some people will never recover physically or emotionally from these events, while most people will go back to their regular lives. Until the next time. 

As religious Jews our first question that we must ask ourselves is what is God trying to teach us? Why did He remove the siyata dishmaya that we have grown so used to, that we take it for granted? No doubt with the clarity that comes with distance, and the input of our chachamim, we will one day be able to learn a great number of important lessons. But right now one thing stands out and needs to be addressed. Otherwise all of this carnage and suffering will have been wasted. 

We, even charedi Jews, have begun to believe that the incredible military and economic success enjoyed by the state of Israel in recent years is the result of human efforts. We pay lip service to the idea of אם השם לא ישמר עיר שווא שקט שומר, but we don't internalize it. We talk about how important it is to "also" have לומדי תורה in the yeshivot, as if the IDF is the main thing and yeshiva buchurim are some sort of תומכי לחימה, when the truth is that we have nothing without the yeshivot. They are not only the basis of our spiritual survival, they are the most important aspect of our physical survival as well. 

The soldiers on the Frontline are performing a great mitzvah, which is compounded by their willingness to be מוסר נפש. Both I and my son find ourselves on the Frontlines at this time, and while I pray that neither of us (especially my son) will have to die על קידוש השם, I recognize that that is a real possibility. I don't think that this is unimportant in Hashem's eyes, and hopefully the מסירת נפש of all those that sacrificed or stand ready to sacrifice for the safety of כלל ישראל will be a great merit in Hashem's eyes, such that He will bring us immediate relief from our great distress and wreak vengeance upon our tormentors. But that having been said, we need to realize that we can do nothing, and any success that we have is a result of Hashem allowing us to be his agents. The most important thing that we can do for our success in עולם הזה, let alone עולם הבא, is find favor in his eyes through תשובה/תפילה and dedication to his Torah.