Building God’s Kingdom
by Tzvi Fishman, Teacher of Jewish Studies at Yeshivat Machon Meir.
Lo and behold – tune in to Fox News this morning and you will see their international correspondent saying: “Over the past few days Israel is making the world a better place to live.”
What an incredible sanctification of God! Everyone knows that Israel is God’s chosen messenger in the world. The armies of Israel are the armies of Hashem. When Israeli jet bombers appear in the skies of Iran with thunderous roars, everyone knows they’ve been sent by the Almighty. The evil forces in the world can’t fight Hashem so they send their missiles against Israel, hoping that by removing the Nation of Israel from the globe, Heaven forbid, they can get rid of God and continue on with their immoral and malignant ways.
Rabbi Kook writes: “When there is a great war in the world, the power of the Mashiach awakens. The time of the songbird has come, the weeding away of tyrants…” (Orot,2:1).
Make no mistake. Israel’s mass and ongoing elimination of tyrants which the world has witnessed this year via the spectacular killings of the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and hopefully Houtis, is not merely a sign of Jewish cleverness and technological wizardry, it is the hidden “hand” of Hashem doing some housecleaning through His secret agents on earth.
Just like in the Torah portion which we read on Shabbat, there are complainers today who cry out that Tzahal isn’t kosher enough for their exalted level of holiness. Yet it this very same “non-kosher” army which is bringing about this worldwide Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of God) in the eyes of the nations. It is precisely the very secular pilots of the Israel Airforce who are paving the way for a new stage of Israel’s Redemption and for the Redemption of the world. As Rabbi Kook writes:
“The sin of those who shed blood is saturated with stain – the evil kings of the world and the murderers who bring terror on the earth. ‘The land will not be atoned for the blood which has been spilled upon it except through the blood of those who spilled it’ (Jeremiah, 2:22), and atonement is sure to come – the total annulment of all of today’s man-made edifices, with all of their lies and deceit, with all of their evil pollutions and venomous poisons. The entire culture which flatters itself with melodious lies must be erased from the world, and in their stead will be established the kingdom of the High Holy Ones.”
The way to this new world order – to the “new light on Zion” which we pray for – comes about through the heroism of the Israel Defense Forces which, in fact, is fighting the wars of Mashiach! Yes! The forerunner of Mashiach is now – in the holy camouflaged guise of the IDF!
As Rabbi Kook writes:
“The light of Israel will appear, to establish a world whose nations are possessed of a new spirit, nations who will no longer speak emptiness, and who will no longer act contemptuously against Hashem and against His Mashiach, against the life-light of the world, and against the perfection and belief embodied in the eternal covenant of the Torah… Then it will be known and proven that only in Him, in the God of Israel, is there salvation, and the salvation of Hashem will surely come.”
Whether you are following the war on Fox News or on INN, you are watching the “salvation of Hashem!”
“Hashem has opened His arsenal and taken out His weapons of war. Then the present-day culture will be totally erased, with all of its foundations, libraries, and theaters. And all of the vain and cruel laws, and the evil and sinful customs of life, will all pass away to oblivion. And Hashem alone will be exalted above all on that day…” (Orot, 2:8).
As we say every day in our morning prayers: “Master of wars, the sower of righteousness, Who causes salvation to sprout… cause a new light to shine upon Zion. May we all be speedily privileged to enjoy its light.”
Amen!
