The prophet Malachi, last of the nevi'im, declares, "And you say: wherefore should we serve Hashem, and what gain have we in keeping His words."
To our shame, we are living in a time when many words are expressed as if it is futile to serve Hashem. Words spoken against religion and faith, against chareidim and yeshivos. What are we expected to do in such situations?
The possibility is either-or, like Eliyohu proposed to the prophets of the Baal at Mt. Carmel: "If Hashem is the A-mighty, follow Him. If the Baal is god, follow him."
But, says HaRav Yosef Tzvi Ben Porat, whatever Hashem has presented us with in these past years, has come to make us repent, to make us return unto Him. The wicked ones who tamper with this process will surely be punished but let us relate to this present period from a different angle.
The situation is very confusing and disconcerting. War after war, America supportive and then suddenly, Trump reverses his attitude. What is going on here?
HaRav Ben Porat: Look here, we are finding ourselves in a state of war for the past three years. There was a pogrom in the South from an organization which prepared itself for it for two-and-a-half years. We saw them in the process, training for it in Gaza across the border. This was a warning from Heaven: if you don't repent, the Arabs will storm in a massacre.
They prepared for it all the time, but all the commentators, the learned professors and generals, the experts and members of the various institutes failed to react, "a boor will not know and a fool will not understand this."
They arrived at opposite conclusions Hamas is intimidated, which is why it needs more money. More money was supplied to Hamas, precisely what they lacked in order to create more bombs and purchase more arms.
Actually, everything that was going on in training camps across the border should have served us as glowing red alarms, shouting loudly: "Return O Israel unto Hashem for you have stumbled in your sins."
Almost three years have elapsed since then and we find ourselves today in a terrible situation. Listen to what President Trump said a week ago at a conference which took place in France: the Iranians have the right to have missiles like any other country; why should other countries possess ballistic missiles and they not?
And I ask: President Trump is continuously disturbed that Iran possesses enriched uranium and fission resources. Why does he not overlook that, saying that just like America, Pakistan and China possess atom bombs, why shouldn't Iran also be allowed to have them? They are allowed ballistic missiles, correct? So why shouldn't they possess atom bombs as well? Foreign sources claim that there is such a bomb in Dimona, if not several. So why shouldn't Iran be allowed these as well? Why, then, President Trump, did you not speak up and say so then?
These are questions that could be asked by someone who thinks Trump is doing what he wants to do. But the truth is that Hashem is doing this. Hashem puts words in his mouth. What he said recently could have been foreseen. Neither the terrible slaughter on Simchas Torah 5784 nor the great successes in Iran in the past year are bringing people closer to Hashem. The Leftists are not beaten when they block roads, but to those who learn Torah who did not light bonfires on the main roads they beat worse than the forces of Hamas. If they were to beat Arabs like that, just imagine what the reaction would be.
When the situation is so bad, when the hatred of bnei Torah is so strong, HaKodosh Boruch Hu puts words into Trump's mouth: Why shouldn't the Iranians have missiles like everyone else? Notice that the intermediaries are the Pakistanis who hate us.
All this is so that we should understand the hint. Hashem wants us to get closer to him. To do teshuvoh.
On the other hand we see successes...
HaRav Ben Porat: Just look at what happened two weeks ago. For a few hours it looked like the war would return but then suddenly everything stopped. In those few hours they managed to attack petrochemical plants that made things for their rockets. Then Iran attacked us. Then suddenly everything stopped. What happened?
It was on a special date that goes back a long time. When Mordechai wrote the letters that the Jews could "gather and defend themselves..." It was not just any old day. It was 23 Sivan. The same as here. On that day I remembered that it says in Siddur Yaavetz: "HaKodosh Boruch Hu preceded the refuah to the makkah on that day that Mordechai wrote to counteract the earlier letters of anger so that Yisroel in its exile can have a rescue." It was on that special day that there was an attack on Persia.
This comes to show us the Hand of Hashem. Also last year on that day Israel killed all the senior leadership.
When they left for the attack, the commander of the air force told them that statistically they should expect that ten percent will not come back. They make twenty thousand sorties and all of them returned. That also took place on that special day!
