An unprecedented deal has come our way! At the Danube, a ship full of meat and salmon is stuck in ice and can’t move. The owner’s tossing it all out – steaks, salmon, amazing food you’ve never tasted! Come, you’ll enjoy it.” Three hundred foxes, like Shimshon’s pack, follow. The fox says, “Bring buckets – you’ll eat a piece and take more for your family!” They grab 300 buckets and set out, but see a river ahead, knowing they can’t swim while holding buckets. “Tie your bucket tightly to the next fox’s tail, then untie it on the other side.” Each fox ties to the next, checks it’s secure, and they march on. At the river, the head fox shouts, “Everyone in!” He swims first, and 300 follow. But the buckets quickly fill with water, pulling them down. The foxes scream, “Help! Help!” as they drown. The tailless fox, already across, yells, “Watch out! Each one, with your teeth, bite off the tail of the fox in front!” They bite, and 300 foxes lose their tails and buckets. They reach the other side, and the head fox, back on land, says, “Goodbye, all! By the way, no meat for anyone without a tail!”
This Tunisian Midrash teaches that Korach caused chaos to hide his true target. He claimed everyone wanted roles, cutting off their tails. בֹּקֶר וְיֹדַע ה' אֶת־אֲשׁ ֶר־לוֹ – Morning, and Hashem will make known who is His. One emerges, and the rest all lose their tails! This teaches us to avoid a fox’s trap. When a fox offers proposals, don’t follow. Chazal teach how careful we must be not to enter disputes with foxes.
Now, with your permission, two or three more minutes, with Siyata Dishmaya, to discuss the current events we just experienced. We’ve just merited miracles mei’al hateva – beyond nature, and we must see and appreciate how much Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves us. Boundless love. A twelve-day war, or perhaps fourteen-day war – I don’t recall when the ceasefire was called or when it did or didn’t take effect – with overt miracles for everyone to see and internalize. But the more open the miracles, the more we need Rachamei Shamayim – heaven’s mercy. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu performs open miracles, He demands something from us!
We discussed last week the 28 “times”, and how we are right now moving from עֵ ת מִ לְ חָ מָ ה to ע ֵ ת שׁ ָ ל ו ֹ ם – from a time of war to a time of peace. I received some 200 phone calls after that shiur, which above all else, let me know that a few people listen to my shiur. Some pointed out that the final time, that of שׁ ָ ל ו ֹ ם, is only next year (5786) according to a slightly more accurate calculation. Others expressed that all these times are divided up differently, not necessarily spanning the full 6000 years. Others, happily agreed with what was presented. And yet others not only agreed, but stressed it was even more right than what was presented! Rabbotai, what I take from all feedback and all the permutations, is one thing: The time we’re in is a special one – ָ דוֹּכַּ מָּ ה הַ ק הוּא שׁ וֹמֵר עָלֵינוּ שׁ בָּרוּך. The smart one analyzes what took place and sees this clearly. How many giant missiles were thrown at us and how many hit – only a fraction. Each hit was tragic and horrific, with terrible damage to body and soul, property and belongings, Rachmana litzlan. But only a fraction landed, and we need to appreciate that miracle while in parallel mourning the casualties and losses.
כׇּל־תַּגְמוּלוֹהִי עָלָי 'מָה־אָשִׁיב לַה – What shall I render to Hashem for all His benefits to me? You can’t just return to routine. You’ll see in today’s newspapers: ח ו ֹ ז ְ רִ י ם ל ַ שׁ ּ ִ ג ְ רָ ה – A return to routine. What routine?! What did you gain from it? Thirty dead, three thousand injured, tens of thousands homeless. Can you really say return to routine? You’re fine, Baruch Hashem, and you survived, but it’s a true miracle, a miracle beyond nature. You cannot simply treat it indifferently and go back to the routine that was interrupted. “Ah, it was nice... we remember... Trump sent his machines... boom... total destruction... but all’s fine now. We remember how the greatest king misled them all, said three weeks, and then swooped in fast... and all’s fine now.” It cannot be this way.
I had a jarring thought this week that I would like to share. How long has Russia been fighting Zelensky and Ukraine? Four years, right? When it happened, I said, what does this lunatic Putin want? What is he lacking? A multi-billionaire. Can you tell me what he’s missing? Russia’s yours – run it as you want! But no, he goes to war. Four years of bombing each other, destroying bridges, fighting like kids. So much blood spilled – hundreds of thousands dead in this foolish war. Looking back, imagine if Putin was free these last ten days. You know what would’ve happened? Syria wouldn’t have fallen; he’d have protected it. He was busy, so he couldn’t. Instead, Assad was abandoned, and he fled to Russia with a Soviet plane. Khamenei, too, prepared to flee. To Russia, the refuge for all these cholerot. Hezbollah, if Putin wasn’t busy, would have been defended by him without needing their beepers. Hamas too. He’s the address and patron of the entire axis of evil. Israel’s army did something; Russia declared, “Do it again and we’ll shut your airspace and shoot down your planes.” But Putin was too busy with Zelensky and couldn’t open an eighth front. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, “You’re buried there for four years.” Putin, Zelensky, fighting. And in the meanwhile, Assad’s gone, yimach shemo; Hezbollah’s gone, yimach shemam; Khamenei’s buried underground, yimach shemo. Baruch Hashem, a madhouse.
Someone told me there’s a victory celebration in Tehran today. A genuine madhouse! “We defeated Israel! We defeated America!” And the tembelim follow along. What victory?! They’re completely destroyed, Baruch Hashem. Victory over what? Over a hardware store? Who on earth did you beat?! There’s barely anything left of them, yet they’re inviting everyone to a huge imaginary victory celebration in Tehran! This whole Islam is one big fantasy world, a bluff built on imaginations – Mohammad came down from the sky, and all the make-believe nonsense that stems from it. The entire Islam is built on delusions. They defeated by coordinating a hollow revenge attack in a way guaranteed not to harm even a single American bird! Because had they not done in that way and had they touched an American strand of hair, Trump – the hyperactive one who hitched a tremp on us – would have no issue taking them down with full force.
