Dear Friends:
I am privileged to be writing from Eretz Yisroel. Our oldest daughter lives in Beit El, north of Yerushalayim, where we stayed during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, davening at Yeshivat Beit El. One looks out upon the outskirts of the city of Ramallah, which seems each year to be creeping closer and closer to the Jewish settlement. On Yom Tov itself, we saw a squad of soldiers, weapons at the ready, camouflaged from head to toe, on ceaseless patrol around the settlement perimeter under the blazing sun.
And now we prepare to sit in the sukkah. What, in fact, is the sukkah but flimsy walls covered by dead branches? Our “weapons” are sword-shaped lulavim which we wave in six directions! And we read Haftaras describing world-engulfing conflict! Is this “Zman Simchasainu”?
"Behold, G-d’s awaited day is coming…. I shall gather all the nations to Jerusalem to wage war. The city will be conquered ….” (Zechariah 14)
“It shall be … on the day that Gog comes on the soil of Israel … I take an oath that … a great earthquake shall come upon the soil of Israel. And there shall quake before Me the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and beasts of the field, all creeping things…. Mountains shall be overthrown, cliffs shall topple and every wall shall topple to the ground.” (Yechezkel 38)
Beautiful, peaceful Sukkos! Why must we read of such pandemonium and chaos? Well, think about it. What protection does the sukkah offer? Of what use is the “lulav-sword”? Are they not simply illusions? Are we not living in fantasy? The nations gather around us with countless soldiers and mighty weapons while we sit, surrounded by flimsy walls topped by dead branches, waving “the fruit of the esrog tree, date palm branches, twigs of the myrtle and brook willows.”
Well, my friends, it’s not like that!
"Toras Hashem temimah … Hashem’s Torah is perfect” (Psalm 19:8) If the sukkah offered no protection and the lulav had no bite, then we would not be here today! But we are here! Clearly, our weapons are real and the sukkah is our greatest defense.
What is the proof?
My friends, the very existence of the Torah-loving and Torah-living Nation of Israel is proof that we are not living a fantasy! Am Yisroel chai! Find an argument against this! Find a flaw! The odds have never been with us! By the “logic” of the nations there should not be one Child of Israel alive today, not one son or daughter of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov Avinu carrying the banner of Torah. But the banner flies high!
How does the sukkah protect us? Why does the “lulav-sword” strike fear into our enemies? Because He Who commanded us to live in the sukkah and wave the Arba Minim protects us!
“I will summon the sword against him… I will punish him with pestilence and blood, torrential rain, hailstones and sulfurous fire upon him and his cohorts…. I will dispatch a fire against Magog and against those who dwell confidently in the islands… and the nations shall know that I am Hashem, the Holy One in Israel…. Behold! It has come and happened, the
words of my Lord/Hashem/Elokim. This is the day of which I have spoken…. Thus they will cleanse the Land. (Yechezkel Ch. 38)
“Though an army would besiege me, my heart would not fear; though war would arise against me, in this I trust. One thing I asked of Hashem, that shall I seek; that I dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life to behold the sweetness of Hashem and to contemplate in His Sanctuary. Indeed He will hide me in His shelter on the day of evil. He will conceal me in His tent…. He will lift me upon a rock. Now my head is raised above my enemies… Had I not trusted that I would see the goodness of Hashem in the land of life! Ka’ve el Hashem… Hope to Hashem, strengthen yourself and He will give you courage, and hope to Hashem.” (Psalm 27)
The nations mock us, but we do not listen, because we are listening to the voice of the Ribono shel Olam! Golias mocked Am Yisroel, but Dovid ben Yishai walked unafraid with Hashem’s Name upon his lips. Let them mock; it will not help them.
It is incredible that, after almost six thousand years, the inhabitants of this world doubt the existence of their own Creator! Just examine the Torah and see: everything described and predicted has come to pass! So what are they waiting for? What will make them believe?
I will tell you. What will make them believe is the same thing that made Pharaoh believe! Those who mock G-d will see Him rescuing His children! They will see Him uprooting mountains and toppling cliffs!
"And then you shall fall upon Israel’s mountains, you and all your cohorts and the nations that are with you….” (Yechezkel 38)
On that day there will be no more mockers!
"Their flesh will rot while they still stand erect; their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongue will rot in their mouths….” (Zechariah 14)
The day is surely near, my friends, when “Hashem will go out and wage war against those nations as on the day He warred (in Mitzraim), the day of battle. On that day His feet will stand astride the mount of Olives… then Hashem my G-d will come with all the angels to your aid [and] on that day Hashem will be One and His Name One!” (Zechariah)
© Copyright 2010 by Roy S. Neuberger
