Six-Day War vs. Yom Kippur War: The BIG Difference! Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

I'll get that. >> Okay, so Joe reminded me uh of something that I saw earlier in the week. I uh I got distracted, so it wasn't going to be in the um in the in the schedule for today, but uh Joe reminded me. On the possuk ki seitzei l'milchama aleivacha. The Or Hachaim Hakadosh, of course, says this is referring to the war against the yetzer hara. But, I recently uh got a sefer this past week. It's called Me Minei Michael. He has a very interesting observation of the difference between the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Why was it in the Six-Day War we had such phenomenal supernatural success? And in the Yom Kippur War we were almost reeling. And it was a miracle that the Yishuv survived. How do you account for the discrepancy between the wild victory of the Six-Day War and uh what happened during the Yom Kippur War? And the Gerer Rebbe, the Bais Yisrael, said the difference is very simple and clear. The difference is found in the opening of this week's parsha. Did you notice in the opening of this week's parsha ki seitzei l'milchama aleivacha, what's the result? Unsonai Hashem Elokecha b'yadecha. Hashem's going to deliver them in your hands. You're going to be victorious. You'll be you'll take spoils. And you'll you can even take the yefas to'ar. Over a wild victory. You go out to war. Unsonai Hashem Elokecha b'yadecha v'shavisa shivya. And yet you look in parshas Balak, it says v'chi savoi umilchama b'artzechem, when war comes to your land, al hatzar hatzar acheim, you'll blow the trumpets, you'll be remembered before Hashem, you'll be saved. I don't understand. In this week's parsha, you go out to war, bam! When the son you have this sudden instantaneous victory. And in the least car it's a whole long drawn out process. If war comes to your land from the oppressor, you're going to blow the trumpets and Hashem's going to help you. Why all of a sudden in this week's parsha you have this sudden victory and in the least car you're you're lucky you escaped with with the skin on your back, with the shirt on your back. Says the guy Rebbe. The difference lies in where the war takes place. He said say the you were proactive. You took the first step. It's on your terms. You have the upper hand. They're reeling until they get their act together. By the time they get themselves together, you've struck decisively. And once you've so to speak gotten that beachhead and you you got you came out of the bottom of the you know the top of the first inning, you scored a run, you have them reeling already. So of course when the son I had it's you proactively went to war. Of course the result is sudden and decisive. But in parshas the they struck you first. They came into your land. You were unprepared. Now you have to figure out how you're going to there's an enemy in your territory. They've already been preparing. They've already been strategizing. They've already dealt the first critical blow. Now you need to defend yourself. You need to recover, you need to get your feet on the ground. No, it's not so easy. You're going to have to blow the trumpets, you're going to have to recover from that decisive victory. The difference between the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War is in the Six-Day War, we took the initiative, we took we made the first blow, we were proactive. The best defense is a good offense. Everybody knows, this is just on as an aside, I'm not saying on the sheer, but it used to be back in the day everybody was focused on the defense. Now, you know, in in sports they realized that the best defense is a good offense. If the other team is reeling, then they can't even begin to game plan. The the the Gare Rebbe, the base of Israel said the difference between the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War is the Six-Day War it was Ki Seitzei La Milchamah Al Oyvecha, but the Yom Kippur War is V'chi Savoyu Milchamah The Artzechem. By the way, you should know the United States of America was asked by Israel for help before the Yom Kippur War and uh the United States of America said, "Sorry, we can't help you. You know, if we allow you to if we assist you in being proactive then it's going to disturb our relationship with the Arab world. So, what you're what's going to have to happen is let yourself be attacked and then we'll we'll come defend you." Yeah, but by then it was almost too late. That's the decisive difference, the dramatic difference between Ki Seitzei and V'chi Savoyu. So, this sefer says, "Likewise, when it comes to the war against the yetzer hara you're going to wait until the yetzer hara starts annoying you and then you're going to say, "Hmm, let me control my anger." Now, you're done. You're finished. You need to You need to be proactive in a way where you avoid the situation. You think You think uh you're going to let the yetzer hara put you into situations and then you're going to try to recover and overcome? No, no, no. If you want to be successful in your war against the yetzer hara, you must be proactive against the yetzer hara. You got to strike first. It has to be on your turf. If you want to win a war, if you want to be successful in war, it's got to be on your turf and on your terms. But once the yetzer hara is proactive and now you have to defend yourself, now that's much more difficult. That's not as easy. But I This is an amazing uh historical observation based on uh the the de'ukim and the psukim and it's applicable to warfare and it's applicable to uh the way we deal with the yetzer hara. So, shkoyach Joe for bringing that up, okay. >> Recording >> That's That's a real