TRUST IN HASHEM AM YISRAEL!

Trust in HaShem; be strong and of good courage! O Trust in HaShem!"

  (Psalms 27:14)

Tishrei 16, 5785/September 18, 2024

 

 

Safety! Security! We want it, we need it, we demand it! Bolted steel doors, padlocks, electric gates, security cameras, alarm systems, safe rooms, bomb shelters... We live in a frightening world and all we want is to feel safe and secure in our own homes.

 

Nowhere has home safety been so compromised as in Israel, as evident by the atrocities committed by Gazan terrorists one year ago on October 7th, when thousands broke into Israeli homes and murdered, tortured, raped, burned alive and kidnapped innocent families waking up on a sleepy Shabbat morning. Just one day later Hezbollah terrorists began firing into northern Israel the first of what would become more than 10,000 missiles, RPGs and suicide drones, forcing 100,000 people out of their homes.

 

This Wednesday evening, with the war on both fronts still raging, the entire population of Israel did the inconceivable: they left the (relative) safety of their concrete homes to spend the next seven days living in makeshift booths, barely strong enough to stand up to the elements, let alone enemy rocket fire.

 

These makeshift booths, known in Hebrew as sukkot, are the dwelling places of every Jew who celebrates the seven day holiday, also known as Sukkot, as commanded by Torah:

 

"For a seven day period you shall live in booths. Every resident among the Israelites shall live in booths, in order that your ensuing generations should know that I had the children of Israel live in booths when I took them out of the land of Egypt. I am HaShem, your G-d." (Leviticus 23:42-43)

 

There is no place on earth safer or more secure than the sukkot that G-d commanded Israel to dwell in. Just as the clouds of glory protected Israel in the wilderness, the sukkot protects Israel today. To dwell in the sukkah for seven days, to have one's meals in the sukkah, to invite guests into the sukkah and to sleep in the sukkah is an uncompromising act of faith in HaShem, and trusting in HaShem is the ultimate attainment of security.

 

One year ago, on the very day following Sukkot, when all Israel had left their fragile booths and returned to their permanent homes, disaster struck. This Thursday afternoon, while all Israel celebrated the first day of Sukkot in their fragile booths, a tank unit from the Israel Defense Forces eliminated the evil, despicable beast Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of last year's massacre, may he rot eternally in hell.

 

As the psalmist implores us, "Trust in HaShem; be strong and of good courage! O Trust in HaShem!" (Psalm 27:14)