“When you go out to war… do not be afraid of them [your enemy] because Hashem, your G-d, is with you.” (Devarim 20:1)

Rav Bentzion Shafier (www.theshmuz.com) once told the following story. A chaplain on an army base noticed that one of the Jewish soldiers suddenly started wearing a yarmulka on his head. This man never wore one before and the chaplain became curious why he started wearing it. He questioned the soldier about it and the soldier replied it was because of one of his professors. This soldier was in a class which discussed the history of great wars. In one of the last sessions of the semester, this man raised his hand and asked the professor why they did not study any of the Jewish wars, either ancient wars with Joshua or modern wars in Israel. The professor became very strict and told the soldier to meet him after class in his office. The soldier nervously arrived at the office and the professor told him to take a seat. This non-Jewish professor then explained that they had been working on the syllabus for this class for a long time and were trying to decide if they should include the Jewish wars in it or not. They had people researching the military strategies from all angles but all of them came to the same conclusion. There was no logical reason why the Jews or Israel had won any of the wars they fought. They did so many things incorrectly. When the researchers discussed this, a young professor said as a joke “Maybe it is that G-d is on their side.” The only problem was that no one laughed at this. All realized that this is the truth. Here in the US Army, though, G-d is not part of the strategy. Therefore, the US Army does not include these wars in the syllabus and then the man was dismissed. The man immediately ran back to his dorm and searched in his duffle bag for his yarmulka.

G-d is with us!

When I was in high school, there was a boy that sat behind me in my World History class that once told me, “I believe G-d existed when the world was created and during the Exodus from Egypt, but He does not exist anymore.” I would like to respond that there is nothing further from the truth. Anyone that seriously studies history can see that there is clearly no logical way the Jews have survived. Looking closely at the events in the past, a person easily sees that G-d has made sure the Jews are never exterminated. In 1991, the terrible, wicked man fired 39 SCUD missiles at Eretz Yisrael. These deadly missiles did much damage, but only one person was killed! So, you might think that maybe it is because these missiles are not really that strong. Well, Iraq also fired SCUD missiles at the US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. During one of these attacks almost 40 people died and over 100 were injured. These are definitely dangerous warheads. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Israelis should have died, but G-d orchestrated the events to protect His people.

G-d is with us! Our job is to open our eyes to the miracles happening around us. Unfortunately, tragedies do sometimes happen, but if we look at the complete picture, we can clearly see that it could have been much, much worse. G-d is in charge of every war that is being fought. G-d is in charge of everything.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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