Transcript
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[Music]
The 1930s in Europe were the heyday of
the Yiddish theater. Now, the Yiddish
theater wasn't exactly known for being a
champion of Torah values. And one day, a
yeshiva student came running back to the
Briskarov, the rabbi of Brisque, to
report one of the plays that they put
on. He said, "Does the rabbi know about
the new play that the Yiddish theaters
put on? It's a disgrace. They've taken
the Torah portion of Chaft where there's
a scene where the Jewish army is about
to go out to war and one of the actors
stands up quoting the Torah says, "Who
is the man who has built a new house and
not inaugurated it? Let him go home and
return to his house lest he die in the
war and another man will inaugurate it."
So 10 people get up and walk off the
stage. And then he says, "And who is the
man who's betrod the woman and not yet
married? let him go home lest he die in
the war and another man marry her. So
another 20 people get up and walk off
the stage. And then he says, "Whoever is
afraid, let him go home so he won't
scare everyone else." So now everyone
else leaves the stage except two actors
who are playing the two Torah giants,
the Vil Nagon and the Shagus Arya. The
Vil Nagon says to the Shagas Arya,
"Kavode Rav, your honor, the rabbi,
please you take the first shot." The
Shagasaria says, "No, no, no. I insist
you take the first shot." The other
says, "No, no, no. I insist. You after
you, after you, after you, after you."
So, they go back like this, backwards
and forwards about who's going to take
the first shot. And the whole audience
collapses in laughter, and the curtain
rings down. It's It's terrible,
shameful, a disgrace.
Rabbi, you have to put a stop to this.
The briskar said, "Well, what's wrong
with that?" The students jaw dropped. He
gazed at the rabbi dumbfounded. The
Briskarov said to him, "There's nothing
wrong with what they did. They just
forgot the last scene." What last scene?
The last scene is where the Vilagon and
the Shagas area win the war. On June the
5th, 1967,
the Israel Defense Forces initiated
Operation Focus, a coordinated air
attack on Egypt. That morning, some 200
aircraft took off from Israel, flew west
over the Mediterranean, and attacked
Egypt from the north. They caught the
Egyptians by surprise, bombed 18
different airfields, and eliminated
approximately 90% of the Egyptian air
force as it sat on the ground.
The story is told of a general of the US
Military Academy at West Point who was
once asked why their curriculum includes
studies of the many different wars
throughout the world, but it doesn't
include any study of the Six-Day War.
The journal explained, "At West Point,
we're concerned with studying military
strategy and tactics, not miracles."
Major General Asa Whitesman, the then
IDF director of operations and
subsequently president of the state of
Israel, was once asked how it was that
after the first and the second wave of
the Israeli bombings that the Egyptians
didn't radio ahead to the other air
bases to warn them. Mr. Whitesman was
silent for a moment and then lifting his
hand to the heavens, he quoted from the
Torah, etimho.
It was the finger of God.
The strength of the Jewish people is not
in our numbers, nor in our military
might. The Torah calls us the smallest
of the nations. Our protection comes
only from God, the master of wars.
[Music]
