As Jews around the world celebrate Shabbat and read Parshat Beha’alotcha, we do so with a deep sense of awe and gratitude.
This has been a night of open miracles, the kind our ancestors would speak about for generations — and now, we are the generation living them. And we must be so grateful to Hashem!!!
At 3am, we were woken up to run to our safe rooms, as over 200 Israeli pilots and planes flew and returned safely from one of the most daring preemptive strikes in our nation’s history — deep inside Iran, the very heart of the regime that has vowed to annihilate us and already launched two missile attacks on us since Oct. 7th.
In five coordinated waves, the Israeli Air Force:
1. Eliminated senior Iranian regime officials.
2. Took out top nuclear scientists.
3. Struck the Natanz nuclear facility and missile systems in Tehran.
4. Destroyed missile infrastructure in western Iran.
5. Followed up with another wave of precise strikes.
And then, not one of the Iranian drones sent in retaliation entered Israeli airspace. Our air force successfully shot down all of them before they could do harm. Every single pilot came home. The scale of this success is not just military — it is miraculous!
And it didn’t happen in a vacuum. This miracle was built on months — and years — of courageous, strategic decisions:
– We destroyed Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in Lebanon…
– Which led to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, ending Iran’s land bridge to Israel, and allowing open skies for the Israeli Air Force.
– We took out Iran’s missile defense systems in earlier retaliatory strikes.
– And heroic covert missions inside Iran, the stuff of future films, neutralized threats before they could emerge.
While still hard to truly internalize, all of this only became possible because of the horror of October 7th.
The major miracle of Oct. 7th is that Hamas launched its attack early, without coordination with Iran, exposing Iran’s grand plan for a multi-front war of destruction of Israel, from Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq etc. That plan was thwarted!!!
Yes, we experienced a horrific tragedy, but a much greater disaster was planned.
That brutal day shattered illusions. But it also awakened something in us: a fire of truth, strength, and national unity. And from that fire, this week’s victory emerged.
The Fiery Light of Parshat Beha’alotcha
It is no coincidence that all of this happened in the week of Beha’alotcha, a parsha filled with divine messages for our time.
God commands Aaron the High Priest to light the Menorah — “beha’alotcha,” to raise the flame, until it rises on its own. This isn’t just about lighting candles. It’s about igniting a nation, elevating the soul of Israel until we stand tall, proud, and unstoppable — radiating light to the world from our own eternal source.
Beha’alotcha also recounts how the Jewish people begin to move forward in formation, with the Ark of the Covenant leading them. The cloud of God rests above them by day, and fire guides them by night. It’s a parsha of motion, purpose, and divine protection — exactly what we are witnessing now — as the people of Israel move with determination and clarity through the greatest threats of our time.
And then there are the prophetic, spine-tingling words of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook, who during this very parsha in 1981, addressed the destruction of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor in Iraq — also carried out by the Israeli Air Force in a bold, preemptive strike.
With holy conviction, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda declared:
“This operation is a sanctification of God’s name in the world. Just as the lighting of the Menorah in the Mishkan represented the spreading of divine light and truth, so too the act of protecting Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael — with clarity, with courage, with divine purpose — is itself a form of light. It is our sacred duty. This is not politics. This is prophecy unfolding.”
And he ends with, “And remember that it is He (God) who gives you the strength to wage war.”
Those words were true then. They are even more true now.
We are not simply reading about our ancestors this week, we are walking in their footsteps.
We are seeing the Menorah lit anew in our generation — the eternal flame of Jewish destiny, burning bright through the darkness.
May we never take for granted the privilege of living in this time. May we continue to rise, to shine, and to stand as proud guardians of our land, our people, and our truth.
With awe, with pride, and with unshakable faith:
Am Yisrael Chai.
More and more reminders to all Jews to come home.
Thank you Hashem, for everything!!!
Shabbat Shalom!!!