The student described the scene. An actor stands up and quotes the Torah, saying, '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 inaugurate it.' At this, ten people get up and walk off the stage. Then the actor says, 'And who is the man who has betrothed a woman and not yet married her? Let him go home, lest he die in the war and another man marry her.' Another twenty people get up and leave. Finally, the actor says, 'Whoever is afraid, let him go home so he won’t scare everyone else.'
Now, everyone except two actors leave the stage. These two are playing the Vilna Gaon and the Shaagas Aryeh. They start arguing about who should take the first shot in the battle, each insisting that the other go first. They go back and forth, and the audience collapses in laughter. The curtain falls and that’s it.
“It's a terrible, shameful disgrace!” said the student, appalled. “Rav, you have to put a stop to this."
The Brisker Rav listened and then calmly asked, "Well, what's wrong with that?"
The student was shocked, unable to understand the Rav's reaction. The Brisker Rav explained. "There's nothing wrong with what they did. They just forgot the last scene."
Confused, the student asked, "What last scene?"
The Brisker Rav replied, "The last scene is where the Vilna Gaon and the Shaagas Aryeh win the war."
Fast forward to June 5th, 1967, when the Israel Defense Forces initiated Operation Focus, a coordinated air attack on Egypt. That morning, around 200 aircraft took off from Israel, flew west over the Mediterranean, and attacked Egypt from the north. They caught the Egyptian forces by surprise, bombing 18 different airfields and eliminating approximately 90% of the Egyptian Air Force while it was still on the ground.
There's a story about a general at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who was asked why their curriculum included studies of many wars but not the Six-Day War. The general explained, "At West Point, we’re concerned with studying military strategy and tactics, not miracles."
Major General Ezer Weizman, the IDF's director of operations during the Six-Day War and later the president of Israel, was once asked how it was that after the first and second waves of Israeli bombings, the Egyptians didn't radio ahead to warn other air bases. Weizman paused, lifted his hand to the heavens, and quoted from the Torah, "It was the finger of G-d."
The strength of the Jewish people doesn’t lie in our numbers or military might. The Torah calls us, "The smallest of the nations." Our protection comes from G-d, the Master of Wars.
Reprinted from the Parashat Shoftim 5784 edition of the Torahanytimes Newsletter.
