The Greatest Miracle: The Jewish Nation - Rabbi Benzion Shafier

[Music] sometimes it's difficult to understand God's plan sometimes it's difficult when you study history and you see his people oppressed you see his people exiled and sometimes you wonder is there a master plan and if there is what is it and I'd like to share with you a perspective that I believe sheds light on this very question after an exile that lasted almost 2,000 years the Jewish people have reclaimed their land not only have we as a people still managed somehow Aston inly to exist but we've actually gone back to our very land reclaimed it and built it up and you have to appreciate that from a historical vantage point it's something that has never been done before historically when a nation is exiled within a generation or two they assimilate into the countries in which they're sent within two or three generations they're never to be seen again they become part of the Melting Pot they become just part of the population but not only has the Jewish people remain distinct separate and unique astonishingly we've gone back to our very land reclaimed it and rebuilt it but you have to appreciate some of the astonishment that a person should be thinking when they focus on that Mark Twain visited Palestine in the 1880s and his description was an aere Barren Wasteland there was nothing there it was waste there was nothing it was an unbuilt uninhabitable land and basically that's all it was Tel Aviv today wasn't the city wasn't it was sand dunes there was yafa which was Jaffa Port which is a port and if you could see the pictures from back then it wasn't a port as we know a port some rickety things going out in the water and there were huts and there were few houses but the land of Palestine was completely uninhabitable it was Barren and it was a complete Wasteland and if you don't appreciate the fact that today it is a major nation that it's so built up that it's so established let's focus on one interesting part of History we were not exactly welcomed back into our land my father was born in Germany and in 1948 when Israel declared its independence he would was in the United States of America and he told me that his feeling at the time was dread and forbearing because everyone understood that there was no way that this fledgling small little country could possibly continue and everyone anticipated there'll be another Holocaust it was only three years after the end of the last one and there was no way that such a small nation could possibly win a war and to give you a perspective on what it really meant it wasn't just the fact that the entire Arab world declared war on this one small nation at the time there were 650,000 Jews living in what was Palestine surrounded on all sides by 50 million Arabs and the entire Armament of the Jewish Nation wasn't great Paul Johnson in his fantastic book of history of the Jews writes that on May 14th 1948 when the state of Israel was declared five mechanized armies attacked and the entire Armament of the Jewish people consisted of 177,000 rifles 2,000 Sten guns 1,000 machine guns and 45,000 Soldiers the land mass ratio of Arabs to Israel was 640 to1 but it wasn't just that there was a tremendous amount of land people resources everyone understood that the might of the Arab Nations all gathered together would clearly destroy this little new nation and as a matter of fact AAP Pasha Secretary General of the Arab League certainly anticipated it over the airwaves he decried this will be a war of extermination and a monumentous massacre and that's exactly what should have been according to any normal assessment any intelligent view of the situation would have predicted a massacre and if you don't appreciate why let's focus on one small detail prior to 1948 Palestine was ruled by the British and the British had a rule the rule was Jews were not allowed to own guns meaning there was no Army no normal Navy Coast Guard there was none of that if a Jew was found with a gun he was sarily arrested Ed potentially hung and the entire Jewish Army until 1948 consisted of some secret cells meeting trying to smuggle in arms but we didn't have real armies and to give you an appreciation of it I remember very clearly reading a book as a little boy who was called the birth of the Israel Air Force what was the Israeli Air Force in May of 1948 two Piper Cubs now a Piper Cub is a very small plane with a propell in the front kind of like a Go-Kart with a with wings what these Pilots would do would fly up fly low over the Egyptian lines and drop grenades fire handguns out of the it wasn't an Air Force and astonishingly there was one story that was told that sort of gave a a a perspective on it the pilot would go up drop his grenades come back to reload go up again well anyway after one number of sorties a number of times he went out the pilot comes back and he says to the fellow okay load it up put put the grenades in there were no grenades left remember Israel didn't have normal ammunition they didn't have a normal supply chain they had run out of grenades so the pilot being a fast thinking fellow says okay bring me soda bottles his friend thought it was crazy sod bring me soda bottles fellow went to the mesle brought him soda bottles put him in back the seat the pilot went up and he flew down very low over the Egyptian lines and he dropped the soda bottles when the soda bottles hit the ground they exploded made a noise the Egyptians went running they thought it was still the bombs the grenades now that's a cute story but you don't win Wars with soda bottles but if you'd like to appreciate the perspective let's focus on one little event betel was a Kutz two miles outside of Beva was in a right near it was a very well stocked well-armed Egyptian army base an entire Garrison of jeeps and tanks and this small kibot B eel knew that they would be the first point of attack because they were the closest to the army base before the declaration of war they prepared they put up sandbags they got ready and they knew what would happen and once war was declared first began the artillery barrage and the kutnik settled down they knew what was coming and the Egyptian Army surrounded them and attacked with 700 Men full Jeeps everything that they had and it was a bitter bitter battle and astonishingly the kutnik were able to hold off this complete Garrison of jeeps tanks the entire Egyptian part they had thrown at it but that wasn't the amazing part after the war they did an analysis the entire arsenal of the kibuts consisted of two rifles and 12 machine guns that's all they had they were fighting off Jeep's tanks with nothing and Fantasies aside in the real world 650,000 Jews who were not soldiers who had no training who had no Army had no Navy had no Air Force cannot fight against five fully mobilized fully mechanized armies in the real world the victory goes to the Mighty the vanquisher becomes the most powerful most best armed and the Jewish Nation certainly the Jewish land of Israel should have been wiped out and astonishingly it wasn't and to appreciate what that means let me share with you an article that was written in maiv an Israeli secular newspaper not religious in any perspective not friendly to any concept of God or anything of that ilk but this is their article written in May 17 1983 is this how things really happened just as they tell us in history books that 650,000 Jews escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and somehow fought against the British really establish this infantry on their own efforts could these people possibly made a nation state from emptiness and desolation could they have stood in Warfare against the organized armies of five Arab countries 5% of the Jewish people standing up against the might could they possibly strike such a hammer blow against the Arabs that after one month the Arabs sue for Peace by all logic and by all reason everything that happened in 1948 is in the category of the impossible it was impossible without International support it was impossible to bring Public Services into operation from nothing it was impossible to create a military industry from its Beginnings it was impossible to sustain these front lines and rear lines everything that happened could not have been these are the words words of a secular Israeli newspaper and if you look at Israel today the most powerful Nation by far in the region but that's not really our source of Pride the most developed the most Humane the most sophisticated Nation rivaling any other nation in Europe maybe in the world certainly per capita and certainly for its size but if you don't appreciate what's so astonishing our I'll share with you one observation I give you a challenge find today an American Indian in full Regala an American Indian find me today a old-fashioned American Indian wearing the moccasins the headdress with a tomahawk search this country from coast to coast and you're not going to find them on the reservations you'll find some Indians left wearing jeans but no longer keeping their ways there were millions and millions and millions of American Indians here far outnumbering the white settlers where are they today mostly assimilated what's left on the reservations are but a shell of a fraction and very little of the Indian ways are left today yet go to any major city in this country any major city in the world and certainly if you go to Israel today you will find thousands upon thousands of Jews learning the exact same Torah that their grandfathers learned 2,000 years ago you'll find Jews wearing the same tiits the same garment with strings on them that their grandfathers wore 3,000 years ago putting on the same Fillin with exactly the same nuances exactly the color exactly the same words written inside and when you study a nation that still exists the spite every effort of mankind to annihilate it when you see a nation that has reclaimed its land against such astonishing odds and built it up to be that which it is and when you see a nation that has returned to its ways as it never has before you're beginning to see a unique people in the course of history there has never been such a phenomena that a nation exists continues to exist comes back to its land but more than anything keeps the very same Traditions ways of its father you're looking at a unique people you're looking at God's people you're looking at a people with a very specific purpose in the world our role in history is clear it's our job to understand what it is that God wants from us it's our job to understand what God has destined to be the Jewish role in [Music] history