Absolutely nothing good can be said of October 7. And as much as I thought that I kept up with the activities of that day, I was stunned to read that Hamas terrorists penetrated as far as the town of Ofakim, which is over 15 miles inside of Israel proper (The Jewish Link – February 15).
Only the myopic fixation of Hamas on murder, rape, pillage and torture prevented the disaster from being a catastrophe. If after breaching the border fence, they had invaded not with an undisciplined mob of savages bent on as much terror as possible, but instead with a well-trained and equipped force of Hamas military, the results could have been too horrific to even imagine. Therefore, the only possible positive message we can glean from this nightmare is that it must have been Hashem’s intervention that kept it from being much worse.
We are told that there is an Amalek in every generation seeking the destruction of the Jewish people. In relatively recent times, we have witnessed the Holocaust and a series of wars against Israel aimed at doing just that. But with Hashem’s help we have prevailed.
With this in mind, perhaps October 7 was Hashem’s way of reminding us not to get too complacent and let down our guard, which in fact we had done, thinking our troubles were in the past. But the Amalekites are still out there, in the form of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Palestinian Authority who are surrounding Israel, as we have been so alarmed to see after October 7, they are all over the world, even in America, which we thought was a paradise for Jews.
Just as a father’s disciplining of his children may seem harsh and may be painful, ultimately it is learning the lesson that is important. I think Jews worldwide have now learned, once again, that there are no permanent safe havens. With Hashem’s help, we have to keep eternally vigilant and never get too complacent, wherever we live.
