(The following was transcribed by R’ Eliezer Parkoff, from a shiur given by R' Avrohom Ebstein shlita)
We are currently in the middle of a war between Iran and Israel. Iran is sending a steady stream of missiles into Eretz Yisroel. There have been casualties, and many have been injured. We are all thinking to ourselves, what should we do to give ourselves chizuk? What should we be doing that should be a zechus to protect over us, over our families, and over this entire Klal Yisroel? The Torah tells us in what we should strengthen ourselves at a time of war.
In Parshas Shoftim (Devorim 20:1) it says, “When you go out to battle against your enemies. and see horses, and chariots, and a people more numerous than you,” a large army. They have numerous tanks, they have ammunition, they have weapons, they have bombs, they have missiles, they have explosives.
The Torah tells us, לא תירא מה ם. Don’t be afraid of them. The Torah is instructing us not to be afraid of the enemy. “For the Lord your G-d is with you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” You have Hakadosh Baruch Hu at your side who took you out of Mitzrayim.
He's there with you. There's no need to be afraid of the enemy. The Torah tells us that at the time of war, לא תירא מה ם, don’t be afraid!
Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaarei Teshuvah, Shaar 3, ois 32) writes that this is the source for the mitzvah of bitachon in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He says that not just if a person is going out to war. In any situation, at any time of trouble, a person should strengthen himself to have bitachon in Hakadosh Baruch Hu and not to be afraid or worried.
He writes that we learn from these pasukim of לא תירא מהם, we are instructed, if a person sees that he's facing a tzora (a major trouble), he should put Hashem’s salvation on his heart and trust in Him. A person should strengthen his bitachon in Hakadosh Baruch Hu that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will send him the yeshua (salvation). Hakadosh Baruch Hu will save him from the tzora, and he should not be worried. לא תירא מה, tells us don’t be afraid of any tzora.
The Steipler Rav, zt”l. writes that Torah wasn’t given to angels. People by nature have feelings. And naturally, a person feels fear. When one hears a siren, and he's running to the bomb shelter, most people would be worried, afraid, what's going to be? The Steipler says that the prohibition in the Torah of לא ת ירא מהם is not referring to that fear, that a person is naturally afraid. It’s an automatic response.
The fear that a person could overcome, the fear that a person could push away, the fear that a person brings upon himself, that's the prohibition in the Torah of לא ת ירא מהם. This is what the Torah tells us what we should strengthen ourselves in at the time of war. We must strengthen our bitachon in the Ribono Shel Olam. It's a mitzvah in the Torah, and there's a prohibition of לא תירא מהם.
Why is a person afraid or worried? Because he’s thinking, “what's going to happen? what's going to be? Where is the missile going to fall?” That’s when a person is afraid. But someone who lives with bitachon, someone who lives with Hakadosh Baruch Hu and believes that He is there protecting him, he knows there's nothing to be worried about. He has Hakadosh Baruch Hu at his side, watching over him. He's guaranteed to be protected, and therefore there won't be any reason to worry.
Just imagine if they made a bomb shelter, and this bomb shelter is guaranteed to protect from anything that hits it. Anything that falls on it, even a direct hit from a ballistic missile, nothing will happen. A person sitting in that bomb shelter knows that he's protected. He knows that there's nothing to worry about. He's in good hands, he's in a good bomb shelter. Someone who lives with bitachon in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he knows
