Our return flight from New York was scheduled to land in Tel Aviv at 6:50 a.m. I was pleased because it meant that I would not have to put on tallis and tefillin on the plane, which is difficult at best, especially if one has to daven in the middle of the night, a few hours after takeoff.
But no! It did not work out that way. “Rabos Machashavos …. Many thoughts are in man’s heart, but only the will of Hashem prevails.” (Mishlei 19:21)
About forty-five minutes before landing, I noticed a Yid davening intensely, wearing tallis and tefillin. I looked out the window and saw that the sun had just arisen on a beautiful dawn.
Why am I not davening now?
I thought about zerizus for mitzvos. I thought about Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l, who always performed mitzvos at the earliest opportunity. I ran back to my seat, reached for my tallis and tefillin and started to daven. There was just enough time before landing.
Granted that I was davening without a minyan, but this was one of the most powerful tefillos I can remember. I looked at the interactive map on the screen in front of me and I realized that this was the first time in my life I had entered the Land of Israel wearing tallis and tefillin! This was huge! This is the way to enter Israel!
At precisely the moment when the plane crossed the border into the Holy Land, I was saying the words, “Uva l’Tzion goail … a Redeemer will come to Tzion!” (Yeshiah 59:20)
Amen! Amen! Amen! May it be soon in our days!
My friends, it is time to reassess our outlook. Baruch Hashem, we have returned to the Land of Israel. Since the founding of the modern state, there have been many well-meaning political leaders, some of whom have loved the Jewish People and the Land of Israel. Some have been brilliant and some idealistic. Many dedicated Jews have contributed to the development of this State.
But there is something that we are just not understanding. And because we are not understanding this basic truth, we are in terrible trouble throughout the world. In country after country, city after city, they are attacking us. A tsunami of hatred is rolling in. When it reaches the shoreline, it will be unstoppable by all the normal, logical plans of rational mankind.
This is not a question of “bad PR.” This is a question of teshuva!
It is clear to me that, unless we enter Eretz Yisroel “wearing tallis and tefillin,” we are not going to be able to survive. There is no plan or strategy, however logical or brilliant, which can prevent us from being overwhelmed by our enemies. The haters comprise an army which cannot be counted and, this time, they are determined not to fail in their plan to make the world “Judenrein,” G-d forbid. There is only one way to stop them, and that is to develop absolute trust in the King of the Universe and to live with that trust.
The following may seem a bit controversial, but I want to tell you a story. As a teenager, I was far from Yiddishkeit, but I yearned to be on a high spiritual level. At that time, I was enamored of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. I remember listening to a recording of one of his speeches which made a huge impression on me. Here is a paraphrase: “I was sitting alone in my home in the middle of the night. I could not sleep. My wife and children were sleeping peacefully, but I sat up, thinking about all the threats against my life and the life of my family, how they would bomb my house. As I sat there alone, I suddenly realized that there is only one thing which could save me: G-d had to become real to me! Yes, that was the only way. G-d had to become real, otherwise I could not go on and we could not survive!”
My friends, we can learn from everyone, and those words of Dr. Martin Luther King still ring in my ears: “G-d had to become real to me.”
Today, as the Children of Israel face the onslaught of millions, perhaps billions, of enemies whose entire desire is to destroy us, G-d forbid, we are totally unable to stand in the path of this tsunami and say “stop!” All our brilliant schemes are nothing if G-d is not real to us!
“Al tira … Do not fear sudden terror or the holocaust of the wicked when it comes … for G-d is with us. Even until your old age I will endure … and rescue!” (Tefillah)
We have to enter the Land of Israel with tallis and tefillin.
We have only one Friend in the world. “Hu Elokainu! Hu Avinu! Hu Malkainu.” He is the King and nothing can stand in His way. In Parshas Bamidbar a beautiful picture is presented of Am Yisroel standing in its holy formations around the Mishkan. My friends, our eyes have to be directed toward our Father in Heaven. He will save us, but we have to discard the empty designs of man and give total allegiance to the Torah which was revealed to us on Har Sinai.
GLOSSARY
Davening: praying
Har Sinai: Mount Sinai
Mishkan: the Tabernacle during the days of Moses, forerunner of the Holy Temple
Tefillos: prayer
Zerizis: alacrity in performing mitzvos
