I heard a story told by Rabbi Baruch Rosenblum who heard it from a commander within Gaza. (Chantelle told me last night that the story is all over Instagram, but for those like me without Instagram, let me share it).
The commander called the Rabbi and said, “I must share a miracle with you. I walked into our situation room in the morning where the strategy for the day is planned and an entire group of officers was seated at the table with ashen faces. They had just seen a video taken by a drone which showed three Namer troop transport tanks hit and destroyed by RPGs.”
This Meant that 36 Israeli Soldiers Had Just Perished
Each Namer tank holds 12 soldiers so to the group sitting there it meant that 36 Israeli soldiers had just perished, Lo Aleynu! How could this have happened? How could three tanks be hit and destroyed at the same time? How do they share this information with the families? How do they share the information with Jerusalem?
And as they are sitting there, one of the officers gets a call and it is from one of the Namer commanders. He asks the caller how is it possible? How are you calling me? We just saw the tanks hit and blown up.
So, the commander explains. The tanks rotator belt detached and we realized that we were sitting ducks so we quickly abandoned the tank. Without us noticing, those in the tank behind us saw us abandon the tank and assuming there was something wrong did the same. Seeing both tanks empty, those in the third tank reached the same conclusion and quickly ran for cover. As soon as they made it to safety, all three tanks were hit.
The Soldiers Saw This as an Open Miracle
The officer went on to explain to that Rabbi, “This is the impact of the prayers, the acts of kindness, the commitment to do misvot from everyone around us. The soldiers realized that their lives were saved in what they saw as an open miracle and they realized that the miracles are on account of everything that everyone is doing with them in mind.
B’H, we should continue in our jobs to back up each soldier with whatever they need to be successful and with the angels we create through the misvot we do.
Reprinted from the Parshat Toledot 5784 email of Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
