Gidon: Faith Over Fear What it Takes to be a Leader by Adina Ellis

so talk about gon you know I unfort I missed this sheer the beautiful Shear on Shimon I think it's probably one of the most popular or wellknown of the G actually sorry Riel points out actually has the same number of psim as the story of Shimon exactly 97 psim I didn't double check and count it but I'm going to take his word for it but if you add the story of of a which is a continuation of the story of gon it adds another another 6im so really the story of gidon is the biggest Story the biggest the most text that we have of any of the prophets of any of the theim theim the leaders uh in the book so we're going to focus our attention on gidon and see what lessons we can take for ourselves I think when we look through the story carefully which is what we're going to try to do today we see a theme in between the text throughout the text there's a certain theme as we see from the title the theme of of Faith over fear there's an idea of fear we'll see in the First Source this idea of a leader representing the people the people themselves are afraid of midan right that's the that's the enemy Nation that's come to take over the land of Israel that Hashem has sent because of our sins because we've strayed from the path of hashm we're doing a and the people ofan are described as coming over right so they've been there for seven years already if you look on the the chart on the right side and they come and they just swoop over the land there there's a great sense of Oppression they come with their flocks of sheep there's nomadic tribes that are added to them the Amal and benm and piml and they come and they swoop over the land of Israel they eat all of our crops they take over everything there's a sense of total Dominion of midan and what's am's reaction what do we do if you look in in we're hiding the people are hiding it says we're hiding out in fortresses in tunnels and in mountains we we don't we trying to save our food our supplies protect our people from this immense power powerful group that it's described in the verses of this like the sand like so many like the sand like take over there's you can't count them innumerable people of midan and then we have our leader we're introduced to the Mana our time of gidon our hero of this story and we know that a lot of times the leader of a time of a generation represents the generation so we're not surprised if the people are described in the introduction in peric chapter six of shim as hiding we're not surprised that the leader himself is also hiding what's the scene that we know how are introduced to gidon what's he doing the ACT is doing is threshing wheat but where is he threshing wheat not outside where you would normally thresh the wheat but rather right it says in Al on the left side of the chart his threshing the wheat in the gut a gut is a wine press right when you stomp on the grapes it's a more hidden location where you thresh the wheat that's it's a place for grapes what are we doing there so it's another form of hiding so we see this parallel and that's why it's presented as a chart we see that the leader is acting in a way similar to the people we're doing an action where we're doing it in a more hidden place and then a Mal hasem an angel of God Appears to gon on the left side of number one and he says God is with you he gets this wonderful title right how does he deserve this title of a of a of a brave leader it's a it's a phrase that we know of by boas was also the time of the sh it's actually a phrase if you look in the C you look up this phrase it appears in many times around around soldiers right in groups but it's not so often by an individual so it's a unique parallel there with Boaz and G A sense of leadership so in some way we know Boaz went against the stream of his time we know shim is a time when every man for himself every shevet for themselves a sense of selfishness and similar to boas who went and go went to help brute has a SAT title right we know remember the story of Boaz so gidon also will see develops a sense of he doesn't care just about himself but when he's going to argue in the next Source in number two argue with the Mal it's for it's for others so there's a parallel there so a gior can also be military strength in these two examples of Boaz and gon it's a spiritual strength of caring for others so that's already an introduction to gon on one level he represents his people of being afraid of midan however he also cares about his people about the nation so this is our introduction to gon as a leader and we see that he represents the people they're afraid and this theme of fear is going to repeat itself throughout the story is interwoven throughout the story and perhaps thisor is it's either a reflection of who he is already or perhaps it's a reflection of who he is meant to become who he can be right perhaps it's a blessing the m is giving a blessing to gon you have the power within you the strength within you to become to be worthy of that title of gior so let's let's understand that the idea of gibor strength right we say we see somebody's M right any anybody say that to their kids or their grandchildren what does that mean it's the same show it's the same root of gibor what does it mean you overcame perhaps you overcame something a struggle so in our situation it's fear it's gon overcoming fear and it's that theme we're going to see throughout the story so we're all on the same page and we're going to continue on I invite anyone to to chime in ask questions respond it's a it's a learning process together and the goal is to connect to the story and make it our own so that's number one is living with fear the leader represents the people and perhaps he starts off similar to the people and then he will shift course and be a leader to show the difference right but in the beginning they start off with a sense of fear but the gibor gives us a clue perhaps he is the G is the leader to go pave a different path of G ofab against the fear of hiding at similar to boas having his okay so we're going to see this process what does gura really mean okay let's look at number two what is gon's strength so we know the comes to gon and he says this God be with you it's like a nice blessing a nice you know how are you good morning Hashem be with you it's a nice way to talk to people and response is surprising he has these three phrases he says we're number two put is God really with us why are we in this situation with midan taking over everything and we're hiding out where's all the wonders of God all these wonders and miral mirales the M say that it was on P and the the weed is to make mat which we'll see he serves mat to this in this in the story we not we didn't bring it here but right if you remember he brings meat and he brings matah and then we have that sign which we'll talk about in a minute continues has left us and left us in the hand ofan what words I added in the exclamation points and the the question marks to give a sense of his speech what's the feeling we get from gon how does he speaking to the we' call it but it's a holy it reminds us of other people who anybody else think of someone else reminds us of who holy okay yeah great there's a a lot of parallels between mosenu and and and gon we'll see we'll see one of them here oh yeah good to her father yeah look at you parro decreed on on only on the boys and you're going to decree on everyone and you're separate from from IMA how could you what about KH when she Davin when she Davin to Hashem Hashem you made me this woman you gave me all these parts eyes to see a nose to smell right and breast to nurse a baby I want to suckle my child you can't give me a baby God right is a but it's because in the end she wants she who she dedicates to Hashem she wants it for Holy purposes similar we have also the phrase the phrase used in is she throws her words up to and similar the same phrase you know kind of like throw it on there throw it to God throw it to it's like a holy right and there's a strength in that and then the Mal answers sorry not the Mal see that mistake is already clue the is talking to gon all along we expect the Mal to answer and I accident said the but what do you have Hashem it's a change it's almost a test the m hasem is coming to see what's gon all about how's he going to speak what's he saying he gives this whole holy speech and it's all about am Isel protect save Amel even if they're not worthy they're doing AAR they're not worthy save them anyway he's angry for the sake of I steps in it's the voice of God steps in speaks go with this strength I'm sending you so of course the question is what is this strength so the first answer is the holy is the strength the holy and what does that mean what's another element of that he's not worrying about himself look at me me I'm in the save me it's not about me it's about the people right and that's that's what we said similar to to Bo looking outwards to helping others this is his strength is it's in the plural it's and that's another understanding is that the is he he saw positive in the generation Hashem should still save them we also have a the mid tells us that gon said to his father Yash AB if the medum come and find you you're not gonna be able to run away you're you're already older it's going to be hard for you to run away from the MIM who are going to come if they come and catch us I'm younger let me do it I'll take the risk and if they come I can run away more quickly it comes from the south yeah from the south well where's ofra the map there's yeah it's not the ofra today I know that but he's from Mas so we can I mean I didn't bring a map to show you it's from sh Mas which we'll see but it it's always great to have a sense of location where we are in the ma also Amal they're from the south they're coming and their nomadic tribes that come and they swoop in and take over but they're coming they're coming from the south great question so so there's this answer that mid highlights something first highlights K perhaps that's k but it also highlights kidon doesn't say Aba I'm not afraid I'll do it he just says practically I'm also afraid of midan but I can run faster there's something very profound there and that's that's again if you the Nuance of the fear the fear is present but it it doesn't mean that we ignore it Courage isn't the absence of fear right and that's that's part of the G the gior that gon has he's a gior because he recognizes his fear and he fights through it for a greater purpose through connecting with Hashem and that's the message of the she if you want it one sentence that's going to be our message connecting with Hashem in order to fight through the fear and that's ultimately what courage really is okay so let's continue number three finding faith in ourselves so that's an element that we have and we only brought this one example of gon compared to sha really it's a whole another she in the next round in the next round we have a a chart already started of gon and sha how much they parallel you see there's you know tens of parallels between gon and sha they're similar and then there's amazing diff differences that lie in them and also the downfall of sha when he becomes the r and then we have with of course the continuation of gon which is and his behavior parallels sha as well it's a whole another very fascinating she in it of itself and I want to highlight here first what's on our source sheet and then highlight one difference between gon and Cha so the parallel is quite clear when you look at the language gon responds to hasem and he says me you're choosing me to to say to be the to save the people how am I going to save them you know I'm the young I'm small were divided into groups of a thousand the way they're counted excuse me so we're just who am I you know me who am I and Sha's response when he was chosen to be the Mel that's of course another par because gon had the potential to be the first m in isra right he was asked to be the king and he refused it anding the first M we have so many pars between gon and we're going to focus here just on this one that he talks about his I'm from right how can you speak to me about this such similar language such similar message right who am I from this sh really I'm gonna I'm worthy of saving the people also similarly if you look at who they are bamin is from is from ra and is from ysf which is from Rael so they're both B Rael right that's also already there a similarity and they both struggle they both struggle to accept the leadership and when they do there's many par many many similarities between how they tactical military efforts and how they act and many things the difference we'll see is is gon asking for signs which of course we could see is negative and we'll compare that to Moshe raenu Hashem offers the signs to Moshe but youon request them perhaps it's a weakness in gidon we're going to PA it here it's a strength he recognizes his own fear and he fights through it by asking Hashem for help and that is a strength to recognize your weakness and struggle with it is the greatest of all strengths this is a message we learned from gon because we'll see in the next Source he asks Hashem for an please hem I want to know that you're give me a sign that you're speaking with me this is a Mal hasem representing you and then we have the sign as we said with the food and he pours the mar over it remember the soup to make it wet to make it more of a miracle and then the Mal lights it with fire and the disappears andon says Ah it was a okay that was my first sign I know it was God but that it doesn't end there we know there's a total of four signs and we have the two signs we're going to discuss with the tow right the do on the fleece and then the do on the land that's another two and then the last sign is we're going to also see in our sources with the dream so we have a total of four signs that gidone requests really three requests and the last one is a gift from Hashem which is something to note as well we're going to see it inside I'm just giving a an O overview of what lays ahead of these four signs and that's a difference between gon and Shaul if we're not going to go in depth with their parallel Shaul becomes afraid of the people if you remember and he goes to bring carbot and he does it before alavi arrives he said no but the people put pressure on me and I he was nervous and anxious and he let the fear take over but of course the K Were Meant To Be connecting with Hashem and showing Hashem is helping you the difference with gidon is gon continually requests hashem's presence communicates with Hashem connects with Hashem and through that connection plows through the fear and becomes a great leader so without going into that in detail we'll save that you know batem in another two years when we finish the next round of uh ofi paralleling and gon but the difference is communicating with Hashem which we'll see is strength of gidon okay so we see the comparison the need to find faith in ourselves but through that need gon asks Hashem for help he asks for an oat and Hashem provides it similarly we have this need for the reassurance which we've already said there's many parallels between gidon and the most obvious being theot what other parallels what did we just say we had a hasem right a hasem with gidon certainly Theo right we have the voice of the Mal the the Revelation speaking to mhu with also a fire there and the fire by the with and a reluctant leader and that's here exactly we have MOS raenu ends up having five different reassurances we're going to mention just the first one here who am I and the most the most significant of of parallels with most rabeno is what we brought here but we could have made a whole a bigger chart as well we needed to streamline for the time allignment but the most most significant most obvious parallel is the phrase we'll see in the next sentence in the next inem says to him and inl of and then it continues and then provides the oat for Moshe whereas in our story on the right side in in the gon is the one to request the oat so you have what's similar is there need for reassurance who am I the resistance you have the same phrase Hashem using and you have both of them have an ALT where gon requests it Moshe is given it and of course some say as I said some say the request is a negative thing it shows a weakness and I I I think it shows a strength we have to know where our weaknesses are and that's what we talk to Hashem for that's why we talk to Hashem we ask for help we can take gon as a model of how to turn to Hashem and ask for help so he contemplates this he asks and he respected the fact that Hashem provides it is I think also an answer that it wasn't a bad thing Hashem provides the OT that gon requests we're on page two courage is not the absence of fear as we said gidon is is asked to do something very brave and perhaps this also reflects the fact that he was afraid and he had to fight through the fear right we know the people do have V Zara and there's these seven years it's in there's we already saw the midan was in the land for seven years that's how they're introduced right in the source number one in seven years it's not a coincidence that here we have this par this this um there's a par and aim the same seven years that mid taken over for seven years they have this part that they're raising this cow that they're this calf that they've been raising for aara purposes and gon is told go and take this cow destroy the of the right and instead you should come and and bring a carbon to Hashem it's a scary thing when all the people are adamant um supporters of OD Zar what are you gon to do and of course the mid fascinating Raba takes this story the text we have in theim gon and takes that and uses it for the famous mid about aam destroying the idols right there's a parallels there which is also a whole separate very interesting uh scene but we have the parallel there taken taken with this with this um story where he has to go and Destroy his fathers ofar it's his own father it's Yash right it's his own father is running the show just like ter the father of ab was running the show with all his Idol shop he goes and destroys it that takes a tremendous amount of Courage and the P tells us that gidon was afraid and he did it anyway he takes 10 people with him he does what hem requests to destroy the because he was afraid he was afraid of the reaction of his own family and the people of the city of ofra which will see they are afraid they are very angry with gidon and they come they come attacking gon after his after what he does so he does it in the night he doesn't go in the day again is that a sign of weakness of kidon or is that his recognizing his own fear and he figures out okay I'm afraid so I won't do it in the day but I'm G to do it it's fighting through the fear recognizing your limitations and still listening to the word of God there's a message here that's very profound he does it he brings people with him perhaps to give them strength to give them courage to give them protection he does it at night but the PK tells us he was afraid and he still doesn't he finds the courage to become a gior sorry yeah yeah yeah ver vodar exactly wonderful example that shows us as a nation that made us worthy of that Redemption did it of them could of right fascinating it's working through that fear and believing in God and doing it anyway yes yeah okay yeah Fair yeah he brings a minion right a quorum of men yeah it gives power and numbers it makes it more symbolic more significant he's not working as a rogue individual but there is a quorum of man there's something powerful in that as Welling he's not hiding he's doing it at night but he's still not hiding it right yeah very good thank you he then did a carbon and there's a whole discussion how could use something that was used for aara normally it's not allowed in this his case he was allowed there's a whole discussion but he actually becomes brings a carbon we didn't bring on theim here yeah he brings the carbon but he destroys theara in a very Fierce way and then the people the people of ofra the people his own family and the community leaders they come and they see it destroyed and they're very angry with kidon and um and his father Yash in a fascinating scene which I didn't bring here but we'll mention it because hopefully we'll get back to it if we have time his father Yash is able to defend gon protect gon while still giving legitimacy so to speak to the B he knows how to calm the people and Soo them and say you know if the Bal is strong enough let the Bal fight against gon and that's how he gets the name I just brought that the ending in because his was destroyed as if it has its own power his was destroyed so if he wants to let the B be the one to go and fight against gidon you guys take it easy it's okay he settles the people so they don't come and attack gidon in such a fascinating way it's really The Diplomatic skills that yash's father shows which again is is a direct opposite of what we see in the midash and Raba there with ter what does ter do he takes a he brings him to nimro right that's the story of K so it's really amazing how the mid works it took the story of gon and flipped it on its head for the for the mid of Abraham but that's that's a whole another side point which I think is really interesting we see here the Father the relationship between the father between Yash and gon protecting his son and he gets his name yubal okay let the Bal fight him then we have number four we'll just mention it briefly another two signs right as we know this this two scenes of the T the is the D going to be wet the it's wet only on the Giza on the fleece is the first sign and then he asks for a second sign again he says please hashm you know don't be angry with me but I just want another sign what about if it's if it's it's dry on the fleece and it's wet the tall is wet on the land right that's p is the second sign I put it in bold just to highlight the these two signs that come together and there's just different ways of understanding this is it about um the leadership of gon is he worthy to be a leader is one test perhaps and is am worthy of being saved is another and that's what brought in by rig galel perhaps it was a way to show to show gon really the people is worthy of being saved and Hashem will save them and perhaps it's also symbolic of the midan and and Amel because we know that midan comes with all their sheep and their sheep come and they eat all the crops and we are the farmers so perhaps the fleece represents midan when it's all wet hasem the tal is a symbol of tal Hashem Hashem will destroy them and when the land is all wet with the tal the blessing of Hashem Hashem is also with the people so it's both Hashem is against the enemy Hashem is with the people there's many analyses of what those two OT are but for our purposes there's signs that gon needs to give him strength and courage to continue with this mission to fight these massive massive armies of midan number five what's fascinating is now that we've had gon strengthen himself we turn back to the people we started with the people and their fear and they're hiding out now we're going to turn back to the people our title number five is if you're fearful and anxious you can still play a part because we know there's fear among the people and here we have the army of gidon they go to a place called there it's not a coincidence what does a mean we know a like a right a spring what does mean fear trembling anxiety we say right anxious people it's not a coincidence the people are there and they're told inim who is fearful and anxious can go we explain that word go to harad and how many people left it's in B there and pasim 20 2,000 and how many are left only 10,000 remain wow 23s right that's a tremendous amount are are fearful what's fascinating though is that they don't get sent home the Malin brings in the next test when they have the by the water right who's going to Bow Crouch down and we for for our argument we'll say that's like a vodar of course there's also different discussions what the two that that second test means there's sort of like two two filterings here the first one is voluntary who will Who who wants to leave you can go but they don't get sent home the malum points out they don't get sent home they get sent topad we'll explain thator like the word like a bird vpor and they're a lookout at harad because after the battle itself the more intense battle on the ground those people who left those 22,000 they're all Lookout they're waiting so when the people of midan are running away they're going to help at the end to chase them out they still play a role and I think this is an amazing thing gon knowing his own fear and how fear can be so debilitating but he knows these people showed up they still want to play a part they want to be a part of the NIT and they're leaving not because of AAR the people who fail that test of the licking of the water they were sent home you will have no part in the success of am against midan go home you're not part of this but this first filtering so to speak the people who said I'm I'm I'm too anxious I'm too afraid those 22,000 they weren't set home they were sent with a mission lpor you still have a job to do you can still be part of the success of Amel against midan you won't have the same intense Frontline combat but you're still part of this Mission and there's a powerful message there right kakim right it's obviously we can relate to many messages here related to war in our days there's a strength to those who are supporting they're supporting the unit that's going in the front lines and that's an important message also within this theme of fear that's teased within the whole story you don't have to leave completely you can still play part of the story you can still be part of it and they're they're worthy they're worthy of it and they can as as the maim says in the second it says it says um they're not told right away to go home because because he knew that this night the Salvation is going to come now this military Victory is going to happen now and they'll be the ones they're the ones who are going to chase after after them when they go towards haran chase after the minites and they'll be part of that so I think that's also a very important message as well that dealing with the fear and struggling through the fear doesn't mean it's all or none you can be afraid you can leave that intensity just like you don't left and didn't fight break the aara in the daytime but he still went went ahead and did it so these people they left out of fear they were still part of the N the success the salvation of am Israel we're going to continue on page three and here we said that gidon had was had three OT three signs he requested those three signs in number six here Hashem offers gidon a sign and again you have this word of fear Hashem says gidon listen I understand you've asked for three signs and I've given them to you and we've I've shown here the support for the people who also can be afraid and we can still work through the fear and now we're about to actually go and have the military combat we're going to go down to the people of midan to their M to their camp and I know you might still be afraid and this time Hashem offers a sign which I think is so moving so powerful Hashem says listen gon I hear what's in your heart I know you have fear and I'm going to work with you through the fear and Hashem says on this night you're going to go down to the Mah I'm giving them in your hands meaning the military Victory but then in in per in number six he says if you're afraid to go down to fight the military fight so you go down with your n with fura your n Go and listen listen to what they're talking about it's going to strengthen you it's going to strengthen your hand and then they wres the then you're going to really go down for the military fight and what happens there right you don't overhears people talking about a about a dream about a dream about this this bread rolling through the gim and it comes to the oh it comes to the tent and we know and part of why we said one of the explanations of the sign of the fleece and the land is because that represents I'm with the land right and the Earth and what grows from the earth which would be here like this that's and theim The Barley growing and then we know that midan had their tents and when they introduced the tents they're ohim they're nomadic people and they have their sheep so similarly to that explanation of that o we have the the dream is quite similar the ohel represents the midianites the nomadic people with their oalen that they travel and they set up their tents and they move and they set up their tents and this represents gon so there's a parallel between those two and the dream here and that's what gon hears he hears this dream and he also overhears their interpretation of the dream and they're speaking to each other and this must be he is going through the camp his the this the symbol of Amel the people of the land destroying the ohim of the midianites it must mean that they're going to succeed against us in war gon overhears this in he hears this dream and its interpretation and he comes back to the m is to our camp and he says Kum get up and here he said it's all the God he tells his people it's Hashem who's going to save us when he calls in the next Source number seven and they call out you're going to say but don't think that it's his own ego getting in the way at least not yet because AB Bara now says he says that he uses that phrase in order to instill fear in the midianites cuz they had that dream that dream was felt in their camp and they knew that gidon had a power they sensed gidon as the one going into their camp but has but gon's mind and heart were with Hashem Hashem is going to lead us in battle Hashem is going to make our story a success and I think it's a beautiful thing that Hashem offers this support to gon gon didn't request it but Hashem knew perhaps you're afraid let me give you some it'll strengthen you how beautiful I think there's something here about listening to messages Hashem sends us m messages all the time sometimes it's as subtle as a dream this reminds me of story I first heard it in the if you've read Pala The Alchemist a well-known book um there's a parable there which is quite similar here to this but the original source is really a rabman story it's a famous cidic story actually I I'm pretty sure a story about a a man who has a dream about a treasure under a bridge in Vienna you've heard this story it's a well it's in kids books well-known story he goes he travels to Vienna and he says oh I'm not going to go dig for a treasure in the daytime I'll wait I'm going to look like you know I'm going to do it I'll wait and there's a soldier guarding the bridge and the soldier says excuse me what are you doing here for hours waiting here and he says listen I I'm going to tell you I had a dream I had a dream about a treasure under buried under the bridge and I came I came here to check it out and the soldier scoffs he laughs at him and says oh you Jew you and your dreams you really think that has any value I had a dream I had a dream about a treasure and he describes in great detail a village this house a Cellar and in that Cellar is a treasure the Jew Hears A Soldier nods thank you very much sir he goes back home and in that Village in that house in his Cellar which was described in painstaking detail by this this guarding soldier in Vienna on the bridge he finds a treasure in his own home I love that story it's simple and it's short and it's so profound sometimes we have to listen to our own dreams in order to find the dream of someone else tells us the treasure is with us all along sometimes we don't know our own strength gidon had tremendous strength and he also had tremendous fear and he was able to work through that fear by hearing the messages that Hashem sends him through others dreams to find the strength in himself that Hashem is with him and Hashem is going to bring and hisem is going to fight the battle for them and that's why he can say and feel strength and he ends up being the ultimate leader and number seven per P this phrase is found today in ER Israel in am Israel on the walls of the for leaders in the Army byah I haven't seen it with my own eyes but so I've heard how powerful how relevant today what does gon do he becomes the ultimate leader seemingly a fearless leader but a true leader of course has fear he fights through the fear look at what I do look what I do and follow after me as I do it's repeated twice these two phrases I put it in bold I'm the leader I will do it and you fall after me and that's today inel and our amazing army of Tava in our sahal our leaders fight they come in the front lines our commanders they lead our people unlike other armies where the commander might be in the back was yelling orders and protecting himself I'm we we lead in the fight we do it with tremendous courage with bravery we follow the words of gon and true bravery means fighting through the fear recognizing that Hashem is with us Hashem is with us how relevant today when this is the story ofel today this is a story of of our people um personally I live in Yamin I'm sure many of you know we just had the theur of of Danielle Shimon um parrot who was the leader he was a Cene there there you go who led our people he was a Kine in the in the tanks and he led us to protect our people this is what this is what we do this is how t is so relevant this isn't just some story from ancient times from the midianites this is am today this is what it takes to be a leader today and if any Soldier says oh no I'm not afraid I I don't believe it everybody's afraid but we go through the fear and and when you go into the army you know they give you a tanak still today we have and they can read through the about gon gon was afraid and he talked to hasem Hashem Give Me A Sign Hashem be with me Hashem send me the messages that you're with me and we're going to fight our enemy how powerful how relevant how inspiring to be part of the history is not a history book this is our messages and this is what we learned from gon and then they go and they fight with thear and the kadim and theim they they blow the the far and we only have 300 people and what's amazing is that through the story of fear which we said is a theme throughout we know gona leads us to instill fear in the enemy sometimes your greatest weakness can be your source of strength because we know the power of fear fear can be debilitating fear was what we caused Mahan to be so afraid that they end up fighting one another in this sense of they are fighting each other they're Shing fighting they have they they're fighting one another they hear the noise thear the breaking of the kadim all the Torches they think 300 they think usually it's one liter has the flame but now they see 300 they think each one represents a thousand they think it's massive armies really it's only 300 people it's 300 because 22,000 were afraid and and many of the we're doing aara how ironic in the end it's only 300 worthy soldiers and yet they are the ones who manag to instill fear in in our enemy in midan D because there's so few they could spread out they get spread out with their flames and the noise just Echoes all the breaking of their kadim and the sounds of the chaar it's amazing we're able to create the sense of fear in midan we have the fear I'm started off as being afraid and we're hiding out gidon is afraid that's a theme throughout and yet we are able to then take that understand it and instill it in our enemy sometimes our greatest weakness can be our strength because we understand how many times the Torah tell us you were slaves in in in You Were Strangers so how should you treat the gear how should you treat others you struggled with something it gives you an Insight it gives you empathy it gives you understanding into the other and here we use the fear to instill it into our enemy how profound the story comes full circle yes okay fascinating I love that thank you so much for sharing m alive and when you learn it in depth you're like wow we are living another chapter of tanak it's not written but it's we are living it we are creating another chapter and it's it's so moving and so inspiring so we're ending our time is coming to a close and I want to end with the Las thing impression we don't have to read it inside but just gidone who perhaps started off as a fearful individual ends up being a symbol a la leaves a lasting impression in in theu when we're blessing it's according to Rashi there in Source in number8 is referencing kidon and the great win over midyan and it's referencing yahu in perak 10 and per you'll see here as being a source a strength to say wow just like this amazing salvation happened with midan it can happen with you and the the last page shows us really a Timeless prayer of T where it mentions it mentions our enemies and as we're saying today the enemies of today um you could read the English um this mism more I feel like is so relevant and it's it's referencing how Hashem will be with us just like he was with midan and if you'd read it with me inside you can look at the English as we read it as we talk about our enemies rage our foes assert themselves they plot craftily against your people they say let us swipe them out as a nation Israel's name will be mentioned no more and then we talk about Hashem saving us and all these other examples including right those are the leaders of midan against our enemy our enemy of today we askem to destroy them cover their faces with shame so that they seek your name Hashem and we ask may they be frustrated and terrified disgraced and doomed forever may they know may all the world know that Hashem your name yours alone is supreme over all the Earth this is M Mor piml in theory a reference to the past but we see how it's so current and so relevant for us today May Hashem be with our people and save our people and instill Leaders with faith in Hashem to work through their fear to fear Hashem with us with every step to instill fear in our enemy may we have Hashem with us in every step of our journey against against our current our current foes and Hashem should be with us always and we could be inspired by the Journey of gidon to work through our fear and feel hasem with us