MIRACLES IN OUR DAYS
The very first Shabbos which my wife and I experienced was at Kibbutz Lavi in the Galil. The view is spectacular. Looking east, one sees on the horizon the mighty wall of the Golan Heights. At that time, in the spring of 1974, we actually saw smoke rising as Syrian rockets continued to pound the Golan in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War!
The Golan Heights are an incredibly strategic location. From the western side, one has a commanding view, looking directly down on the Kinneret, the entire Galil and the Jordan Valley to the south. On the Eastern side, at the northern border adjacent to Mount Hermon, the land gradually slopes into Syria. Kuneitra is visible, and Damascus, Syria’s capital, is a mere forty miles away. Today, the Army of Israel controls the eastern slopes of Mount Hermon and is well inside the borders of Syria!
We must proclaim this to be a miracle of major magnitude.
Now, in Chodesh Kislev in the year 5785, we are seeing open miracles like those of Chanukah. As our enemies threaten us -- with hatred in their eyes and deadly missiles aimed at us from every direction -- we are witnessing superhuman salvations which could only have come from beyond this world.
We bless the dedication and self-sacrifice of our courageous soldiers (some of whom are my own grandsons). And we bless the heroic army of Bnai Torah who sustain and guard the entire world. But what we are seeing is beyond human capability.
Over the past year, thousands of enemy leaders and fighters have been killed in military operations that seem logically impossible. An air raid from Iran involving hundreds of deadly missiles was completely thwarted. The Israeli air force conducted a massive raid inside Iran -- which is over 1200 miles from Israel! -- destroying hundreds of military targets, without a single mishap or loss of life or equipment. And then, within the past week, the government of Syria suddenly collapsed, allowing the Israeli army to occupy wide areas of hostile territory and destroy deadly military capability which was destined to be used – G-d forbid – against us. These miraculous victories also closed the supply route to Lebanon, causing in turn the collapse of the threat from that direction.
My friends, these events can be characterized only by the term “miracle.”
Regarding the geography of the Holy Land, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch zt”l says explicitly that “all of Lebanon up to the Euphrates River is included in the land originally promised to Israel.” (Dvarim 1:7 with reference to Beraishis 15:18.)
Rabbi Hirsch says that the Temple (which is called ‘Levanon’ in the Torah) is at the southern extremity of the Lebanon Mountains. “Our Sages, therefore, interpret that the whiteness of snow, to which the name ‘Lebanon’ alludes, symbolizes the moral meaning of white as the color of purity and refinement…. In this conception, the entire Lebanon Range is named after … the Holy Temple, which was founded on its southern extension.” (Dvarim 3:25)
Rabbi Yair Hoffman Shlita”h, explaining the words of Yechezkel ha Novi (47:13ff), told me that the future borders of Israel, at the time of the Third Bais Hamikdosh, will extend as far north as southern Turkey and as far east as the Euphrates River. At this moment, it appears that the Israeli army is in control of the entire eastern slope of Mount Hermon and western Syria up to about fifteen miles from Damascus.
May we all bow in submission and gratitude to the Master of the Universe.
When we say Hallel during Chanukah these thoughts should fill our heart and mind. May we all soon merit to see the lighting of the Menorah in the Third Temple in the Rebuilt Yerushalayim!
Looking westward toward the Kinneret & Galil from the Golan Heights
Looking eastward into Syria from the Golan Heights
GLOSSARY
Bnai Torah: students of Torah
Chodesh Kislev: this month, the month is which Chanukah falls
Kinneret: Sea of Galilee
Third Bais Hamikdosh: the Holy Temple which will exist in the Days of Moshiach
Yechezkel ha Novi: Ezekiel the Prophet
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