HaRav Shmuel Eliahu is Chief Rabbi of Tzvat
“And I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour its palaces.”
High-rise buildings are falling in Gaza one after another. Israel is bringing down these tall towers in order to break the spirit of all the Gaza terrorists. The prophet Amos foretold the destruction of these wicked towers when he said, "Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn it back... and I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour its palaces" (Amos 1). The ultimate goal is that this wickedness will no longer continue in the world: "And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God" (Amos 1).
Elimination of the Enemies in Lebanon
T
he prophet Amos speaks about all the evil nations that sin repeatedly and learn nothing. Among these recurring sinners is Lebanon. As then, so now, they err and are punished, then err again and are punished again. "Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn it back... I will send a complete exile to Edom, and they did not remember the covenant of brothers."
The punishment for the wicked of Lebanon will be like that of the wicked of Gaza: "And I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour its palaces" - a prophecy that we have seen fulfilled in the last year.
Elimination of the Houthi Rebels in Yemen
The prophet also speaks about the destruction of the wicked in Yemen and the breaking of their magnificent palaces. The prophet says: "And I will send fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah." Most commentators explain that the Yemen being referred to is an enemy state located in the south. The prophet foretells that Yemen will pay a heavy price for its stubbornness. The fire will consume the magnificent buildings of Yemen just as it will consume the palaces of Gaza and Lebanon, buildings that bring great pride to these nations, a pride that ultimately leads to their downfall.
The Great Sound of the Shofar
The sound goes from one end of the world to the other, and yet the people do not hear it. The prophecies of Amos are heard from Jerusalem: "And the Lord said, 'From Zion He will roar, and from Jerusalem He will give His voice.'" These prophecies were said with a roar, in a loud voice that was not heard by human ears - just like the great shofar that sounds on Rosh Hashanah and is not heard by the ear. Concerning this great voice, the verse says: "God thunders with His voice; He does marvelous things that we do not know" (Job 37:5). Rabbi Levi explained in the Midrash: "Three voices go out from the end of the world to its other end, and the people are between them and do not hear anything" (Shmot Rabba 5:9).
Rabbi Eliezer Azkiri explained: "You already know what the Zohar says, 'A voice goes out every day announcing: Return, O wayward children.' A voice goes out from Mount Horeb every day and says, 'Woe to the people who insult the Torah.' To whom is this being announced? Surely, we do not hear anything? But, as the Talmud says, ‘He who does not hear, his star hears.’" This means that even if a person cannot hear, his soul hears.
The soul hears the great sound of the shofar, the sound that calls Israel to return to the Land of Israel. It hears the "bat kol" (heavenly voice) that goes out from Mount Horeb, drawing us closer to Judaism. It hears the voices going from one end of the world to the other and awakens to act righteously in the world. "And sometimes a person’s soul awakens with a pure spirit from the voice calling to his soul's ear, and one will not be worthy of this unless he listens to the rebuke of a wise person. This is what is meant by the verse, 'And if you listen, you will hear' (Devarim 28:1). If you listen to the rebuke with your physical ear, you will merit to hear the proclamation of the King of the World with the ear of the heart." (Sefer Charedim, chapter 70).
In the book of Joel, it is written that the locusts come as the small-winged creatures sent by the Holy One, blessed be He, just as in the plague of locusts in Egypt. The locusts are soldiers whose sound the Lord sends to strike the world: "And the Lord gave His voice before His army, for it is very great and mighty, doing His word. For the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11). It is said: "The righteous are greater than the angels, for the angels cannot hear His voice, as it says, 'And the Lord gave His voice before His army' and they stand and tremble. But the righteous can hear His voice. On them it is said, 'For very great is the one who does His word' - this is the righteous person who does the will of the Creator." And so, it is said: "The strength of the righteous is greater, for they can hear His voice" (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayikra, Ch. 1).
Redemption for Israel and Destruction for Its Enemies
In the Midrash there is a teaching: "Rabbi Reuven said: At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moses in Midian, 'Go return to Egypt,' the divine word was split into two voices and became two-faced. Moses heard 'Go return to Egypt,' while Aaron heard 'Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.' This is the meaning of the verse, 'He will thunder with His voice, He does great things, and we do not know' (Job 37:5)."
Rabbi Tanchuma said that the same thing occurred when the Divine Voice was heard at Mount Sinai, "it came out with two faces." Those who received it received the dew of life. But for those who did not receive the word of the Lord, it was like a mountain of fire threatening to destroy them.
The Shofar on One Side - Redemption for Israel
Thus, the voice of God through the great shofar is, on one hand, a call to redeem Israel from the oppression of the nations. It calls us to return to the Land of Israel and to bow down to Hashem in Jerusalem. On the other hand, this same voice strikes fear into the wicked and consumes the kingdom of wickedness in smoke. Zechariah the prophet describes the voice of the redeeming shofar for Israel and the shofar of destruction for Israel’s enemies. The same shofar and the same voice that is divided into two.
Zechariah the prophet speaks of redemption: "I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem will be called the city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the holy mountain... Thus says the Lord of Hosts, 'Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.'" This will all happen after the ingathering of the exiles: "Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the setting sun, and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness." Even the Land will yield its fruits in this redemption: "The vine will give its fruit, and the ground will give its produce, and the heavens will give their dew" (Zechariah 8).
A Blow to Wickedness
This same shofar, on the other hand, strikes Damascus and the cities of Lebanon. "And also the wrath of the Lord will be against Tyre and Sidon, because they were very wise," and their fate is destruction: "Behold, the Lord will possess it, and He will strike its army, and it shall be consumed in fire" (Zechariah 9). Thus, the Lord will strike Gaza, and they will be filled with great fear: "And the king shall perish from Gaza." The leadership of Gaza will be lost under its ruins. "And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines." Their great pride will be shattered. "And I will remove their blood from their mouths and their detestable things from between their teeth, and they will remain for our God." All the sparks of holiness hidden in them will be transferred to serve the holy purpose of Israel.
Therefore, the Righteous Will Rejoice
The destruction and purification that happens in the world should be a cause for joy because it heralds the coming of the Redeemer, as it says in another prophecy: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zechariah 9:9). We pray on Rosh Hashanah about the connection between the destruction of the wicked and redemption: "And therefore the righteous will see and rejoice, and the upright will exult, and the pious will sing with joy. And the evil will be consumed in smoke. For You will remove the rule of wickedness from the earth." The shofar’s action on one hand destroys the wicked, and on the other hand elevates and glorifies the kingdom of the Messiah.
The Sound of the Shofar that Destroys Yemen
Zechariah says that Israel is like the sword of the Lord that strikes the enemies. He describes how the Lord uses Israel as a sword in the hand of a mighty warrior: "And I will make you like a mighty warrior's sword." The young men of Israel choose to be like arrows in the Lord’s bow, striking His enemies, who are also our enemies: "For I have bent Judah for Me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim, and I will raise up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword." In this battle, the Lord will sound the shofar: "And the Lord will be seen over them, and His arrow will go out like lightning. The Lord God will blow the shofar and go in the storms of the south."
The arrow of the Lord has already been released to strike the Houthis, and it cannot be returned. In our time, there is no need to elaborate on the self-evident meaning.
The Shofar that Strengthens the Might of Israel
The power of the shofar also gives great strength to the soldiers of Israel: "And they will fight, for the Lord is with them, and they will be ashamed of the horsemen: And I will strengthen the house of Judah and I will save the house of Joseph" (Zechariah 10). This strength brings joy: "They will be like mighty Ephraim, and their hearts will rejoice like wine, and their children will see and rejoice, their hearts will be glad in the Lord." This strength gathers the exiles and increases their children: "I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they will increase like they increased before." This strength destroys the wicked and sanctifies the name of the Lord: "And the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart, and I will strengthen them in the Lord, and in His name they will walk" (Zechariah 10).
A Double Shofar That Is Heard This Year
The shofar of Zechariah sounds in a great voice in our days. This is a blast that began from the time the ingathering of exiles began. It is not heard with the ear of flesh, but the soul certainly hears it and acts by its power. Also liberation from bondage of kingdoms. Also ascent to the Land. Also heroism. Also eradication of the enemies. We are doing things we would not have dared to do in the past. All with great courage and a strong hand. All to silence our enemies and haters.
The Beepers Operation
With great courage and sophistication we blew up the beepers of the wicked. Thousands of terrorists were struck in the operation that was on the 14th of Elul. Dozens were killed, 4,500 accursed terrorists were wounded. Some became blind, some crippled. They were struck with astonishment that Israel entered into their home, and the world was struck with astonishment at the courage and the wisdom and the daring of Israel. Lovers of the Lord and lovers of Israel throughout the world rejoiced, and our enemies cried and were pained and tore the hair of their heads.
The next day thousands of other communication devices in Lebanon exploded. Those who were not struck in the first wave were struck in the second. All these wounded became a walking testimony to the might of the People of Israel and to the great assistance that the Lord assists us in His war against the kingdoms of wickedness and evil.
Israel Eliminated Hundreds of Thousands of Missiles
Thus we overcame the fear that gripped us for decades and we bombed in Lebanon giant stockpiles of about 200,000 precision missiles that threatened Israel. They threatened army camps and threatened all population centers in Israel. Afterwards the leaders of Israel and its commanders received even greater courage and eliminated Nasrallah, head of the kingdom of evil and cruelty.
They bombed the bunker in which the coward was hiding together with his senior commanders and they are no more.
Following the fall of Hezbollah, the rule of Assad fell on the 7th of Kislev, 5785. And he fled to Russia together with all the leadership of the kingdom of evil that persecuted us for more than 50 years. After his fall Israel bombed the giant weapon stockpiles of Syria and eliminated them.
Afterwards the kingdom of evil of Iran received a mortal blow. From the 17th of Sivan until the 28th of Sivan we bombed, together with the Americans, the places where they had built, for thirty years, the bombs that were intended to annihilate the State of Israel, Heaven forbid. About this tremendous miracle it is said: “Speak of all His wonders.”
Afterwards we destroyed the government of the Houthis who had fired at us about 180 ballistic missiles and another about 170 UAVs. About this one prays and says every year: “And all wickedness shall vanish like smoke, for You will remove the dominion of arrogance from the earth.”
Stopping the Missiles
Israel was blessed with Heavenly assistance in wisdom to neutralize tens of thousands of missiles that were fired upon it in this war. From Gaza 4,000 missiles on Simchat Torah. Many more thousands were fired afterwards. In total tens of thousands of missiles. From Iran 400 ballistic missiles and up to hundreds of UAVs, from Lebanon 17,500 missiles and UAVs, also from Syria missiles were fired and now almost all have been silenced.
The destruction of the missiles was done by all the advanced weapon systems that the world is now purchasing for billions. The innovation is the laser that knows how to neutralize UAVs and missiles with much greater precision and efficiency. This wonder, in which the State of Israel succeeds to defend the People of Israel with means that no nation or tongue possesses, is a wonder in itself. For it we give thanks in every prayer and say: “You graciously endow man with knowledge and teach mortals understanding.”
The Fall of the Kingdom of Evil and Wickedness
After the fall of evil comes the Kingship of the Lord. After we say: “For You will remove the dominion of arrogance from the earth,” we pray and say: “And You shall reign, You alone, Lord our God, speedily over all Your works. On Mount Zion, the dwelling of Your glory. And in Jerusalem, Your holy city. As it is written in Your holy words:the words of Your holiness: The Lord shall reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations, Hallelujah.”
So too it happened in the Exodus from Egypt. After the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in the Sea of Reeds, the Kingship of the Lord was revealed in the world and the People of Israel declare: “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” - “When will You reign in Zion? Soon, in our days, forever You shall dwell. Be magnified and sanctified within Jerusalem, Your city, from generation to generation and to everlasting eternity.” Amen!