In the Blink of An Eye

How many times does a situation arise when we pray to G-d for help, and He answers our prayers by making matters worse? How many times do we pray even more for salvation, and He makes things even harder? Often, He plans it that just as a situation is about to get worse than you can possibly imagine – it changes in a blink. Only in hindsight can we look back and understand that even the getting worse was a Divine answer to our prayers.
 
May 1967. Gamal Abdul Nasser is ranting about annihilating the Jewish State. For over a decade, a demilitarized Sinai gave Israel 24 hours advance warning of an Egyptian attack. On May 15, Egyptian troops repositioned inside the Sinai right on Israel’s border. They could now invade in a moment. Jews the world over began to pray for Israel.
 
The situation got worse. On May 23, Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran, starving Israel of oil, and much needed commerce to make up for so many citizens now in the army. The Egyptians could bleed us dry without having to fire a shot.
 
We prayed even harder.
 
The situation got even worse. On May 30, Jordan signed a defense pact with Egypt, joining the Arab attack force. Before the battle began, Israel was surrounded on all sides by an enemy openly proclaiming to “finish the job Hitler started.”
 
The Jewish nation was in a frenzy. We united. We fasted. We prayed. Jews who never knew what tefillin were started to pound on the door of the nearest Rabbi demanding to put them on. Jews which had seldom seen the inside of a Shul were so immersed in pleading with G-d for compassion towards their brothers they now seldom saw the outside of one.
 
Things got even worse. Worse than could possibly be imagined.
 
On June 4 the Iraqis joined the Arab coalition. They sent 10,000 troops to the West Bank. In response, the IDF Chief of staff had a breakdown. He offered his resignation. The Prime Minister started to mumble in public while trying to reassure the people. The IDF commissioned the chief Rabbis to start making plans to turn Tel Aviv’s central park into a mass cemetery.
 
What else was there to do? Our entire army and our collective prayers seemed completely helpless to what was happening. We had nobody to turn to. We couldn’t even rely on ourselves. The sword was right on our neck. There was nothing in this physical world that could change our situation.
 
A week later we were dancing at the Kotel.
 
The Six Day War is one of history’s greatest lessons in Emuna. Hashem was watching over us through the entire ordeal. He was executing His plan to the finest detail.
 
Had the war began a week earlier, Jordan would not have participated. To this day, Jerusalem would be theirs. Had the war began a month earlier, Egypt would not have advanced on the Sinai. Israel would not have been economically strangled. We would have been labeled the aggressors. Just like 1956, we would have been ordered to relinquish all lands taken. Had Iraq stalled their actions by a week, the great Cold War powers might have had time to reign in Nasser before fighting even began.
 
Hashem planned events perfectly. We never should have doubted.
 
How much more so for our own lives? How many times do we fall into a dire situation where we learn, fast, and pray to G-d that it will turn around? How many times do we fear that Hashem isn’t near because it looks like all of “our efforts” are doing nothing, and the situation keeps getting worse? How many times are we redeemed, only to find out that the whole process was a lesson in Emunah from our Father?
 
Forty eight hours before the war, Jews all over the world packed every Synagogue on earth. In unison, they heard the Torah portion for that Shabbos…
 
If you follow My decrees and perform and observe My Commandments, I will provide peace in the Land and you will lie down with no one to frighten you. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred will pursue ten thousand. Vayikra (26:1,6,7-8).
 
 
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Dovber Halevi is the author of Sex, Religion, and the Middle East, a book about personal holiness and happiness. He lives in Israel with his wife and three children.