Some time ago, watching how Israeli forces were repeatedly handcuffed by external, and, worse still, self-imposed restraints even while fighting endlessly against vicious enemies, I came upon the closing verses of the prophet Habakuk. He was appalled at the vision he saw of the destined return of the exiles of Israel to our land, only to face the armies of Gog and Magog against us.
“I heard and my bowels quaked, my lips quivered at the sound. Rot entered into my bone, I trembled where I stood. Am I to come to my place of rest for a day of sorrow? To go up only for a people to come to attack us?
“For the fig tree does not flower and there is no yield on the vine. The olive crop has failed and the fields produced no grain. Sheep have vanished from the fold and no cattle are in the pen.
“Yet I shall rejoice in HaShem, I shall exult in the G-d of my salvation” (Habakuk 3:16-18 translated according to Metzudat David).
As to the somewhat obscure image of the fig tree not being in flower and the failure of the other crops, the commentator “Metzudat David” writes:
“Israel, who are compared to the fig tree, will not as yet have acquired the might and determination to stand in war against them.” (Metzudat David on Habakuk 3:17)
Yet today, as we watch the unfolding historic war against Iran and her proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and across the world, I believe that we may now indeed begin to rejoice with trepidation as we witness the rise of the nation of Israel with greater might and greater determination than ever before. For the first time in decades, the Israel Defense Forces are fighting our enemies not merely to contain an ongoing threat but to deliver them a crushing defeat.
Since the outbreak of the current war with Iran on Shabbat Zachor (Feb 28), Israelis throughout the country have been subjected to incessant barrages of Iranian and Hezbollah missile attacks, some of which have been deadly. Schools are closed, and businesses and public services are all working on emergency footing. At any hour of day or night alarms and warning sirens suddenly start, forcing old and young, parents with little children and everyone else to have to rush as quickly as possible to protected spaces and shelters.
In the prophetic perspective, it is noteworthy that in this war directed against us by Persia, a key player in the War of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38:5), the advice to today’s average citizen who is not on active service is precisely as prophesied:
“Go my people, come into your chambers and close your doors behind you, wait for just a moment until the indignation shall pass.” (Isaiah 26 20)
Today, every Israeli Home Front alert blaring on everyone’s phone together with the wailing sirens are a prompt to fulfill that prophecy. As the commentator Rashi writes on the verse in Isaiah: “The chambers are the synagogues and study houses.” (This past week throughout Israel many have used the communal shelters for prayer services and Torah study, for the reading of Megillat Esther and the Purim celebrations in spite of everything.) Rashi adds: “Think about your deeds in the chambers of your hearts.” We may all surely benefit from doing this!
Explaining the same verse in Isaiah, Rabbi David Kimche (“RaDaK”) writes:
“This verse was said of the War of Gog and Magog, which will be a time of trouble for Israel for a short time, and ‘going into the chambers’ is a metaphor for taking refuge in good deeds and complete Teshuvah, repentance. For the wrath shall be but for a moment and shall pass, and the good people will be saved.”
Edom and Persia
In the Talmud (Yoma 10a) we find a difference of opinion as to whether at the end of days Edom shall fall at the hands of Persia, or Persia at the hands of Edom. The latter is the accepted opinion.
In my view the current war will prove to be as historic as the defeat of Germany and Japan in the Second World War. For close to half a century the regime of the Iranian mullahs called unceasingly for the annihilation of Israel, and worked tirelessly to build the military might and proxy networks that were intended to do the job, just as Haman set up the tall tree on which he planned to hang Mordechai.
For all those years Iran seemed fearsome and unstoppable, not least because they enjoyed massive covert backing from a succession of US presidents prior to Donald Trump. But as I write these lines, it is reported that Israeli and American forces have total air supremacy over Iran and are continuing with a merciless rampage of destruction against government, regime, army, missile, nuclear and other sites, key infrastructure and national resources. In the words of Donald Trump, “We demand unconditional surrender.”
In desperation, the feral Iranian regime are currently striking any and every target within range including their Moslem neighbors and former allies, seemingly determined to set the entire region and the whole world ablaze. They can certainly still cause much pain, G-d forbid, including to Jews worldwide. Yet significantly, Iran’s strongest supposed allies, Russia and China, have offered little but condolences to the Mullahs over their plight, and her proxies are all significantly weakened.
We must still wait to see whether Edom (USA, Nato, UK, France, Germany, etc.) will indeed finally prevail over Paras in this war and at what cost in the short and long term. Yet according to current reports, it seems increasingly likely that within a matter of not more than a few weeks (by Pesach time?) the Iranian monster will be cut down, while Israel will have come through relatively unscathed and hopefully ready for the Final Redemption.
Edom and Paras at the End of Days
The Talmud Bavli Avodah Zarah 2b discusses G-d’s judgment of Edom, Paras and the other nations at the end of days. There the Tosafot comment that “Babylon was only compared to a lion when she ruled over the entire world, while now she is a lowly state” [like Iraq after the 2003-2011 Iraq war] “…But Paras now too is prominent after Edom and will continue in this prominence until shortly before the coming of Mashiach. As to the statement in Sanhedrin 98b that Paras is destined to fall at the hand of Edom, that is, close to the coming of Mashiach” (Tosafot on Avodah Zarah 2b).
Note, however, that before Mashiach will actually arrive, “The wicked kingdom of Edom will spread across the entire world for nine months” (Tosafot there, Yoma 10a and Sanhedrin 98b).
The hoped-for imminent downfall of the latter-day fanatical Islamic regime of Iran is likely to impact Moslems and Islam generally, since Iran has been one of the primary promoters of chauvinistic Islamic expansion across Europe, America and elsewhere. Jihadi Moslems can be expected to intensify their terror and cyber attacks (which is a serious threat to Jews everywhere). But for the foreseeable future, the allegedly “moderate” Islamic states are likely to be less militant and more open to cooperation with Israel.
It is not implausible that among not a few in the Moslem world (many of whom actually have Jewish blood in their veins owing to the Moslem practice of capturing and enslaving Jewish women from whom they bred children), the downfall of the Islamic regime of the Mullahs at the hands of Israel will stir deep chords in the depths of their souls.
The “Nine Months of Travail”
So what about the “Nine Months Travail” of the prophesied Edomite expansion across the entire world following the fall of Paras?
Can we see a foretaste of this in Donald Trump’s overall strategy to weaken China, Russia and Europe, taking over Venezuelan oil, destroying Cuba, annexing Canada and Greenland etc.? He has made no secret of his determination to achieve total American military and economic supremacy over the entire globe with control over all its resources. His clearly stated goal is to make AMERICA, specifically America, great again, and everything else is secondary to this, including even little Israel, and is of value to him only if it serves that goal.
Trump has stated unequivocally that he will not allow Israel to annex Judea and Samaria despite their being the very heart of the Promised Land. This is because he is in no way prepared to countenance a true return to the Greater Israel (likely for fear of offending his wealthy Arab allies), which will inaugurate the return of all the exiles of Israel, including the Ten Tribes, leading to Israel’s supremacy forever.
You may or may not like Donald Trump, but undoubtedly he is mortal, and even if those pursuing his policies gain power in future elections, the political demographics of the USA are at this point quite unpredictable.
Today, some sectors are turning against the woke ideas that feminized the USA army, but the campuses are largely ideologically ruined for years to come through communist and Islamic infiltration. The cross-country disturbances in recent years in support of “Black Lives Matter”, “Free Palestine”, “Stop the War” and other left-wing causes shows that a sizable proportion of the present and future USA electorate might well choose as Great America’s leader a demon worse than Obama. Maybe then the real meaning of the “Nine Months of Travail” will be revealed.
As for now, in Israel and among Jewish people across the world, the events of the past years culminating in the present war have awakened increasing numbers who fully see that Israel is ultimately alone and can and must stand alone. With all the current American support, “We have none upon whom to depend except Our Father in Heaven, the Holy One blessed be He.” The return to Torah and Emunah in all sectors is miraculous.
As Israel builds its military strength in future years, the work of the non-combatants is as it always has been: Study of G-d’s Torah to know what He wants of us, prayer to Him to fulfill His commands, the practice of kindness, charity and justice and good deeds…
The Hand of the Almighty
We saw in Megillat Esther that nowhere is the Name of G-d directly mentioned, yet the entire miraculous story developed only because from beginning to end He was orchestrating all the players. What He did was to raise the vilest Jew-hater ever to be Ahashverosh’s chief minister and He put into the fickle king’s heart to let him plan a one-day holocaust to annihilate all Jews across 127 provinces of the Persian empire. Yet G-d’s whole purpose was to shake the Jews out of their deep spiritual sleep and rouse them to repent and beg and beseech Him for their very lives.
It was precisely the Jew’s repentance that led G-d to disturb Ahashverosh’s night-time sleep and make him fear if he had any real friends, until the eyes of the reader of the court records “just happened” to fall upon the record of Mordechai’s having years earlier saved the king’s life. This turned everything around and directly led to Haman’s downfall.
Today we need to understand that G-d is showing this present unfolding historic war, this global tapestry, only to force us to realize that we are in His hands alone, and that it is to Him alone that we must direct our service. He planted Donald Trump where he planted him and cultivated him all the years. He planted Obama and his heavy-muscled backers and allowed them to filch billions to build Iran. He planted the Mullahs with their nuclear dreams to scare the Jews…
So now as we witness all this before our eyes, let us pray for complete victory and offer our thanks for all He has done and is doing for us. As Rabbi Nachman stated: “Once all the beginnings were from the Exodus from Egypt, but now everything begins from Purim.” (Likutey Moharan II:74)
Let us not imagine that Purim is behind us, past and gone. In fact the actual Purim miracle in Shushan took place on Pesach itself! So let us hold onto the Purim faith and joy as we now prepare for Pesach, the Season of Our Redemption and our time of Song and Joy.
