I cannot know if by the time you read this, the war against Iran will have broken out again or not. Whether yes or no, Jews in Israel and throughout the Diaspora are desperately in need of Mashiach, and so, indeed, is this entire conflict-ridden world.
Yet it’s hard to see if we are at all ready to receive Mashiach considering the raging divisions among Jews everywhere, an ongoing war waged by powerful forces in Israel against orthodox hareidim and idealistic nationalist youth, ever-increasing militarization in Israel, Europe, America, Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan etc. as wars and conflicts between and within nations continue everywhere without end.
This militarization brings in trillions in profits to investors in the armaments and related industries, but could not be further from the Messianic dream in which, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war (Isaiah 2:4).
One glaring example of the war waged by forces in Israel against Torah observers was seen in the incident in mid-May when IDF Chief of Staff Gen Eyal Zamir on a visit to the Hareidi Nahal Brigade noticed that one soldier had attached a “Mashiach” patch on his uniform. The general immediately tore it off, while the soldier was sentenced to thirty days in military prison for violating army discipline, and will lose his post-army-service benefits.
At the same time police and army forces repeatedly harass idealistic “Hill Youth” who live in “settlements” of huts, tents or caravans seeking to assert Jewish sovereignty over the hills of Judea and Samaria in face of vandalism by Arabs who are building furiously in these areas.
Israel’s secular deep state
The hatred against bearers of the Torah tradition, whether Hareidi, Religious Zionist or any authentically observant group, is deeply built into the government apparatus of the State of Israel, having originated in the 1700s and 1800s among prominent Jews who threw off the yoke of the Torah and despised traditional Judaism.
It was their descendants, students and proteges in the coming generations who formed the nucleus of the “Deep State” who laid down the basic institutions of the State of Israel, who did not see the new State as one that would be Torah-based but, while partially accommodating the orthodox where necessary, would in fact be preponderantly secular.
Thus the Supreme Court (whose building was designed and financed by the Rothschild family) looks for confirmation of its rulings not to the Torah but rather to the judges and lawyers of “liberal” Europe who are invariably prejudiced against Israel and traditional values.
The Israeli police are led by hardened secular law-enforcers, while the left-leaning secular officers who dominate the officer corps of the IDF will promote those who think their way while obstructing the entry into leading roles of religious officers, precisely those who are most passionately devoted to the cause of the Jewish state, for which they are willing to sacrifice their very lives.
Aside the site of Sodom
Meanwhile the Middle East’s largest LGBTQ+ four day event is scheduled for June 1-4 in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea, Israel,. No doubt it will be under heavy police and army security. This area will be transformed into a temporary “Pride City”, with around 15 participating hotels, beach complexes, nonstop round the clock parties, performances by leading Israeli artists and more. Yet anyone who stands up and publicly protests this obscenity on the soil of the Holy Land, will be mercilessly eviscerated in the media.
While this event will be under heavy security, the Israeli police have proven entirely unable to control the growing wave of lawlessness among Israel’s Arab and migrant worker communities, mafia and crime networks, with daily shootings, killings, assaults and other crimes in many areas.
“My power and the strength of my hand”
Amidst all this, dear friends, the Israeli Prime Minister faces wars in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran, and his response and that of his inner defense circle and top generals is to increase the general mobilization of Israel’s armed forces, and particularly the conscription of Hareidi soldiers, so as to expand the armed forces.
Daily the IDF spokesmen announce the successful “elimination” of x number of terrorists in Lebanon, Gaza, Judea and Samaria, including prominent terrorist leaders. Yet terror attacks on Israelis continue daily, with drones and missiles currently harassing communities near the northern border.
Without doubt Israel PM Netanyahu’s strategy of significantly weakening enemies in Gaza and Lebanon etc. has to some extent been successful. Yet the daily “eliminations” are like killing every cockroach you see inside your home, while not realizing that for every roach killed there are countless upcoming generations multiplying behind the woodwork, in the drainage system, etc.
From the prophetic point of view, all the attacks on Israel and the antisemitism Jews across the world are currently facing can only be seen as coming from G-d’s avenging agents as a rod of reproof and chastisement sent to purify and elevate His long-suffering people. Indeed our very enemies from numerous different organizations parade the fact that they come in the name of religion, namely Islam, and against Jews and Judaism.
In face of this hatred, many Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora are actually strengthening their connection with Torah Judaism and seeking to elevate their observance.
However, until now successive Israeli governments have never shown leadership in seriously invoking authentic Torah principles and ideals. Instead, they have pragmatically sought only to build Israel’s armed forces, promote weapons production and, as it were, to try to take the bull by its horns whether in Gaza, Lebanon or anywhere else. Yet in Gaza Hamas are currently reorganizing and in Lebanon Hezbollah are seeming entrenched in the country as strongly as ever.
Could it not be that if the Israeli government and armed forces were to embrace a genuine spiritual dimension to these wars, proudly parading Emunah in G-d’s Torah and genuine respect for Jewish tradition – then perhaps the IDF would have greater success without the terrible losses and life-changing injuries sustained by soldiers, who in many cases are traumatized for life.
Trump’s On-Off War
As I write this, it is quite unclear if the seemingly fickle USA President will or will not bomb Iran into submission, if that would even be possible. The Iranian government, armed forces and IRCG are dominated by fanatic Moslem extremists who believe they are initiating the coming of the world’s savior, and show no signs of being willing to submit to Trump’s demands.
It seems ironic that while touting himself as the greatest peace-maker and deal-maker ever, Trump is now faced with a war that he has publicly undertaken to wage against great internal opposition within America and among her allies. He has to take into account the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer matches in June-July, the USA midterm elections in November, the increasingly high costs of fuel to ordinary consumers and many other factors.
As a self-proclaimed “dealmaker” he has in the case of Iran so far been singularly unsuccessful. I cannot recall a single world-class statesman who opens his mouth so undiplomatically time after time, publicly demanding that Iran must surrender unilaterally and submit to all America’s demands regarding stores of nuclear materials and production of nuclear weapons and missiles. Many of his threatening messages in press conferences and on social media are indeed at times quite puerile.
The interminable on-off USA-Iran negotiations are conducted on one side by a President who is treated as infallible by himself and his obsequious aides, as if his every word is heaven-sent, against Iran’s practiced slippery oriental wheeler-dealers who continue to maintain the tightest control over their country while daily finding every way to delay.
Shavuot
Meanwhile as Israelis and Jews everywhere prepare to embrace the coming festival of Shavuot this Thursday evening May 21-Shabbat May 23, commemorating and reaffirming our acceptance of the Torah for all time, we likewise brace ourselves for a new outbreak of the war against Iran, with inestimable numbers of missiles and drones likely to be sent in our direction.
In the early days of the Iran war just before last Purim, Trump repeatedly boasted about the high percentages of Iran’s missile arsenals and nuclear development sites having been successfully destroyed. Yet today several more sober military experts consider that Iranian weapons supplies and nuclear sites have not been significantly depleted, and nobody in Israel or in Jewish communities knows what to expect if President Trump decides to renew the war.
As one deeply disillusioned not only in my hopes for the Trump presidency but also in my hopes over many decades for a genuinely Torah-based State of Israel, I fortify myself with the prophetic hope that is at the center of the coming festival of Shavuot.
Immediately prior to the synagogue Torah reading on Shavuot morning which recounts the awesome Revelation with the Giving of the Torah at Sinai, it is customary to read Megillat Ruth, the Scroll of Ruth. This profound and beautiful allegory recounts the embrace of the Torah with absolute acceptance by a Moabite princess, who humbled herself to glean ears of corn in the fields after the reapers at harvest time.
Yet the climax of the story of Ruth is when she bravely comes into Bo’az and lies at his feet in a dramatic appeal to him to be the redeemer of the souls of her late husband and brother-in-law. Boaz, now an old man, agrees, and after the consummation of the marriage is said to passed away, while Ruth received his seed and gave birth to Oveid who bore Yishai who fathered David King of Israel, paradigm for Melekh Mashiach. The genealogy of King David is the triumphant climax of the Scroll of Ruth.
Melekh Mashiach
At the end of II Samuel we see that Israel were in dire straits at the hands of the Philistines after the death of King Saul and his sons on Mount Gilboa. It was precisely in this dire emergency that King David began to rule. He showed no restraint in his battles against the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites and the kings of Aram etc. punishing them mercilessly and destroying their weapons and chariots etc.
Yet King David, Sweet Singer of Israel’s outstanding success was in his spiritual leadership of his people, inspiring them with his Psalms and Songs, which were performed generation after generation in the Temple itself.
If we dream and yearn for Melekh Masiach this Festival of Shavuot, let us understand that King David’s birth and death on 7 Sivan (considered by some sages to have been the actual date of the Giving of the Torah – Bavli Shabbat 86b) is the day of the entry the prototype of Melekh Mashiach into the world. Throughout David’s Psalms and Prayers, his words have been bringing and continue to bring hope, inspiration and trust in G-d that in the end His will shall prevail.
King David had no place among his advisors and officers for flatterers, sycophants, slippery cheats and those with a wicked eye and a wicked tongue.
All of our Torah literature of Mussar, spiritual self-purification in all aspects of one’s character, and likewise Chassidut and other such literature are essentially founded on the traits of kindness, charity, rectitude, honesty, piety and devotion etc. that Tehillim, the Psalms, teach.
On Shavuot it is customary to read the book of Psalms, for it is the Torah of King David that we must all now embrace to be ready and prepared to receive Mashiach Ben David, Melekh Yisrael in our time.
May you have an inspiring and elevating Shavuot celebration.
Shalom from the Holy City of Safed.
Avraham ben Yaakov
