The successful operations in the north can serve as a parallel to our constant war against weaknesses and urges; especially in the month of Elul. In Talmudic Tractate Sukkah (52a) the verse "I will distance the tzifoni [northerner] from you" [Joel 2, 30] is interpreted to mean that "this is the evil inclination that is always tzafun [hidden] in the heart of man." It is also related to Jeremiah's prophecy that "from the tzafon [north] the evil shall break forth".
Here are several principles on the wars in the north :
1) The enemy seems far more frightening than it really is. This is not to underestimate the threat, but also not to overinflate it. Regarding the evil inclination, our Sages say that it is like "a fly and dwells between the two entrances of the heart" (Berakhot 61a). An annoying nuisance, which ends up making more noise than actual damage. After months of fear of Hezbollah's "terrible" power, it turns out, at least for now, that the fiend is less frightening than it seemed.
2) "One should always incite the good inclination against the evil inclination" (Berakhot 5a). Be active in the war against evil and not passive. The reason we reached this situation is because of years of fleeing inevitable confrontation (thanks to Ehud Barak who listened to the Four Mothers anti-war protest movement and ordered the IDF to leave the Lebanon buffer zone - but then he also said we need a small, smart army so he eliminated two IDF divisions and then he also stopped much of Israeli munitions manufacture saying we could always purchase it from the US - and how did all that work out, Ehud?); it is impossible to escape the enemy – both external and internal; the best defense is a good offense.
3) King Solomon recommends that "with strategies you will wage war for yourself" (Proverbs 24). The current war surpasses its predecessors in terms of sophistication; the world of personal coping can learn from this.
4) Our Sages attribute the verse "like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces" to the evil inclination – "if it is iron it will shatter [into fragments]" (Kiddushin 30b). Projecting onto the actual war: in the end, the enemy must be completely destroyed. I do not know if we will achieve this in the present campaign; but eventually it will happen.
Meanwhile, the month of Elul 5784 is advancing us big time.