Our Most Powerful But Unused Weapon

I’ve been writing these past few weeks on the massacre in Har Nof. We have yet to fully explore the messages we can glean from that tragedy.

“Oh no, not Har Nof again” some of you might be protesting. “How many times do we have to read about this? Rebbetzin, it’s enough.”

I’m still writing about Har Nof for the simple reason that my conscience does not allow me to remain silent.

As most of you know, I’m a child of the Holocaust – another subject that many people – even many Jews – are tired of hearing about.

I remember once researching Jewish newspapers from those ominous pre-Holocaust days in Europe. To my dismay I discovered the pages were filled with all kinds of trivia – gossip as well as meaningless and silly local news items. Not much if anything, however, about the gathering storm that soon would engulf the Jewish people.

I do not want to be guilty of the same mistake. I love my people too much to remain silent in this time of crisis.

Prior to the Har Nof massacre there had been renewed strife over Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount. Officials of the Palestinian Authority proclaimed that while Jews would be permitted to come near, they would not be allowed to pray there. Now, why should it bother them if we pray? And, mind you, it wasn’t as if they were referring to Jews building a synagogue or even holding a minyan there.

What is it about our prayers that evokes such ire in our enemies? Do they really believe Jewish prayers can overcome missiles and other deadly weapons? On the surface it seems the answer would be a resounding “no.” But let me tell you a little secret: Even those who reject our beliefs, and who claim that theirs is the true religion, know in the depths of their souls that the power of the Jews is to be found in our faith and in our prayers.

Interestingly, the Torah portion for the week during which the Har Nof atrocity occurred was Toldos, in which our father Isaac proclaimed, “The voice is the voice of Jacob [Israel] and the hands are the hands of Esau.” Meaning that the power of the Jewish people is to be found in their voice – prayer –while the strength of the nations is to be found in their weapons.

Somehow over the centuries we came to forget the source of our power.

Many years ago I was speaking on Israeli radio and said that the word tillim – Hebrew for missiles – should be accompanied by the word Tehillim (Psalms) because the missiles of a Jewish army can only be as powerful as the prayers that accompany them.

Just as Jewish soldiers have to be trained to fight with weapons, they also must be trained to fight with the invisible but potent weapon of prayer. Even as armies need to hold military exercises if they are to acquire and maintain expertise in warfare, so too must a Jewish army introduce spiritual exercises that emanate from the heart.

We must forever bear in mind that our fight for survival can only be successful if our weapons are accompanied by Tehillim, by prayer. Yes, Hashem has enabled us to develop and possess weapons – but at the same time we must remember that our missiles, our tanks, our planes are only as powerful as G-d will allow them to be. Our strength, our might, can only come from the G-d of Israel.

When Jacob our patriarch was ill and knew his days were few and numbered, he gathered his children and imparted to them his last will and testament. When it came to conquering the land of Israel he referred to “the land I took from the hands of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.” What were his sword and bow? The Torah teaches us they were prayers – prayers that were powerful weapons, for therein is found the real strength of Am Yisrael.

Yaakov Avinu spoke soft words of prayer that in essence were his swords and bows. Yes, he fortified himself with weapons of war but he remembered at all times that those weapons were only as powerful as G-d allowed them to be, and he therefore kept calling upon G-d to lead him in battle.

Whatever our father Jacob said was meant not only for his sons who were standing before him but for the sons of the Jewish people for all time. It behooves us to search our hearts and ask whether we have taken possession of those powerful unconquerable weapons our father Jacob bequeathed to us.

Everything in Jewish history is replay. “Ma’asei avos siman l’banim – whatever happened to our forefathers is a sign for the children.”

Fast forward to the 21st century. Once again we are in the position of Jacob, surrounded by enemies and in constant danger of attack. We must defend ourselves and our land. We must take the sword and bow of Jacob into our hands and cry out in prayer – prayer so powerful it will make the angles tremble and reach the very Throne of G-d.

Those of you who regularly read my columns and/or attend my classes and programs know how often I express my awe at our Hebrew language. Time and again I have noted that by digging deeply into G-d’s holy words we can discover treasures of untold wisdom.

As I pointed out in last week’s column, the word “why” in earthly languages leaves you frustrated. There are no easy answers to it. But in Hebrew the word why madua (“why”) means mah-deah – what wisdom do we learn from this?

There is yet a second term in the holy tongue for “why” – l’mah, to what end is this happening, for what purpose? In other words, we are challenged to search our souls and examine our hearts and probe our minds so that we might come to the truth.

With that in mind, what can we learn for the Har Nof tragedy? Surely we should stop and consider how it was that this unspeakable evil played out in a peaceful community where men of Torah were enveloped in prayer?

What danger did these pious people represent to their killers? Could it be that the answer is to be found in prayer – the prayer of Jacob that rendered his weapons invincible? (This same message was imparted to us by Moshe Rabbeinu: when Israel when forth in battle he would raise his arms toward the Heavens and thereby signal that our victory could come from only one source – Hashem.)

Let us search for further clarification from our Torah. Before Ishmael was born, an angel told his mother the name of the child she was carrying would be Ishmael, which means “G-d will listen.” And so it was that Ishmael discovered the powerful strength of prayer.

The descendants of Ishmael pray five times a day while we Jews, the heirs of prayer, have forgotten our mission. By our indifference we have allowed Ishmael to take possession of our most potent weapon. True, observant Jews pray three times a day, but the vast majority of our people do not pray at all; they have completely abandoned the holy language of prayer.

Ishmael is very much aware of this power of Jewish prayer and so the Muslims try to prevent us from praying in the proximity of the Temple Mount. Fanatics took that to the next step and brought the battle the holy sanctuary of a synagogue where they barbarically slew our rabbis – holy men who epitomized prayer.

During this week that marks the sheloshim of the kedoshim of Har Nof, let us listen to the inner voice that whispers the words we say every Friday night in the awesome prayer of Lecha Dodi: “Arise, shake off your dust and don your majestic priestly garments.”

Yes, let us rise and shake off the dust of the modern world that has us believing our might is to be found in money and deadly weapons. Let us discover who we really are. Let us don our priestly garments – garments of prayer, garments of sanctity. Garments that can rejuvenate our souls and invigorate our very being with the power that comes only from G-d and that transforms us into royalty.