Back To The Real World

It is not easy to make the transition from the Yomim Tovim to year-round life, but that is where we find ourselves right now. And that means a return to the usual news stories, rather than the uplifting experiences of Yom Tov and Chol Hamoed.

This past Shabbos, however, we were all able to enjoy the atmosphere of Parshas Bereishis. Of course, many shuls hosted the kiddush of chosson Bereishis; in fact, yours truly was honored with the aliyah of chosson Bereishis this year after someone purchased it for me, and I was therefore one of the chassanim at our kiddush. Not only that, but this Shabbos segued directly into Rosh Chodesh, making it even more of an exceptional day. At the same time, winter was already in the air. Today (Sunday) and tomorrow, we will watch as bochurim around the country stream back to their yeshivos. An opening shiur will be delivered in every yeshiva, and the zman will begin. At the same time, yungeleit will return to their kollelim. Standing outside the Mir yeshiva on the first morning of zman, one can watch dozens of buses discharge thousands of yungeleit, turning the streets into a sea of black as they make their way to their respective botei medrash. It is a sight that defies description. Even a thousand of the cruelest, most wicked attorneys general could never extinguish the love for Torah that blazes in the hearts of lomdei Torah—and, in fact, of all religious Jews.

The Media Joins the Battle Against Netanyahu

The election is on the way; in less than two weeks, the day will arrive when voters around Israel go to the polls to cast their ballots. Meanwhile, we are witnessing again how the media in Israel tends to be biased and politicized. And while we have always known this, one cannot help but be amazed time and again by the depth of their hypocrisy. There isn’t a single red line that they will refuse to cross. The anti-Bibi media has thrown itself into the battle to cause the prime minister to be reviled by the public. They hope that there are still a few mandates hanging in the balance, and they will succeed in convincing those voters to vote for the left-wing bloc, which has renamed itself the bloc of change or hope. And to change those voters’ minds, the media is willing to do anything, even if it means mounting a massive campaign to tarnish Netanyahu’s name with even the wildest accusations.

Last week, I reported that the media was claiming that Netanyahu had been warned about the October 7 massacre in advance and that he chose to ignore the warnings. This week, they added two more claims: that Netanyahu continued to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza even after October 7, and that his former military secretary, General Avi Gil, was interviewed by two media outlets (a television station and a newspaper) and claimed that he had personally warned Netanyahu several hours before the massacre began in the south. Now, it is certainly relevant to note that this military secretary was appointed by Naftoli Bennett when he was prime minister. Netanyahu inherited Gil and did not want him, but the chief of staff at the time, Herzi Halevi, refused to replace him.

This should give you an idea of what Netanyahu is facing.

Avi Gil made a very serious and specific accusation: He claimed that Netanyahu received information about the worsening situation and did nothing about it. The problem is that Gil himself was the conduit for most of that information to reach Netanyahu, which means that, by his own admission, he himself did nothing as well. Avi Gil has therefore quickly gone from being the accuser to being the accused, much like former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar. After all, whenever someone claims that he transmitted information to the prime minister and the latter did nothing about it, the obvious question is whether the accuser himself took action. And if he did not, then it makes him no less culpable than Netanyahu, and perhaps even more so.

In any event, Gil’s claims must be taken with more than a grain of salt. Avi Gil left the army two years ago; one year later, he was a business partner of Yoaz Hendel, who is running in the election. (The party led by Hendel and Zelicha is hovering in the vicinity of the electoral threshold.) Therefore, there is ample reason to suspect that Gil has his own political agenda. Besides, one must question why he kept his silence for three years. Gil’s answer to that question is that he refrained from speaking out publicly for three years because he planned to deliver the information to an investigative commission, but none was established. When he realized that there would be no committee, he reconsidered his decision.  He claims that he was influenced most of all by the requests he received from bereaved families, former hostages, and friends and other civilians whom he met on the street and who urged him to speak out. He said another factor that led to his decision was the attempted hijacking on the flight from Dubai, which he said made the importance of properly investigating such incidents even more tangible and immediate.

Forgive me for saying this, but I do not believe him. Personally, I think that he appeared on the scene three weeks before the election for the sole purpose of harming Netanyahu. But for the time being, he seems to have managed to harm only himself. The Likud attacked Gil harshly, proving that he had received intelligence on the night of October 7 about unusual events in the Gaza Strip and that he did not wake the prime minister. Even a focused warning that he received 14 minutes before the attack began did not prompt him to notify Netanyahu. It was only at 6:44, about 15 minutes after the Hamas invasion began, that Gil relayed the information he possessed to the prime minister.

In short, it seems that there is much more to investigate about this topic, but at this time, nothing has emerged that incriminates Netanyahu.

Yeshiva Bochur Arrested in His Home in Beer Sheva

There is much to write about the machinations of the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, who has resumed pressuring both the military police and their civilian counterparts to step up the arrests of yeshiva bochurim. We had a brief reprieve over the Yomim Tovim, but now the pressure has returned. The army and the police, neither of whom are especially eager to carry out the arrests, took advantage of the Yom Tov period to relax those efforts, but even before families across the country had a chance to dismantle their sukkos, this wicked woman—and I have no other word to describe Baharav-Miara—hurried to order the army to increase the pace of arrests. There were indeed a few arrests in recent days, which was infuriating. And what is no less infuriating is that the attorney general seems to be blatantly working to help the opposition win the election.

There are two core issues in the upcoming election: security and the economy. Prime Minister Netanyahu has outperformed his rivals by a wide margin on both counts. What can they offer to appeal to voters instead of him? Absolutely nothing! For that reason, all of Netanyahu’s political rivals—from Bennett to Lieberman, including Eizenkot and even the right-wing Ofer Winter—would rather refocus the election on a totally different topic—drafting chareidim. They hope to exploit the issue to stir up public animosity toward Netanyahu, who doesn’t appear to have taken any steps to see to it that “draft dodgers” enlist in the army. Nevertheless, the public isn’t particularly interested in this issue. According to polls published this week, forcing chareidim into the army is not an issue of concern for the average Israeli citizen. This left the anti-Netanyahu camp with a dilemma: How do they fan the flames of controversy and stir up passions over an issue that doesn’t really interest anyone? For that purpose, they have the attorney general, who can thrust the topic into the spotlight. The equation is simple: Arrests lead to protests, and protests stoke hatred for chareidim. And when the people hate chareidim, they may turn their wrath against Netanyahu and thus add another two or three mandates to the opposition, which might completely shift the balance of power when the new government is formed.

One of the incidents that sparked widespread anger was the arrest of Eliyohu Davda, a talmid in Yeshivas Orchos Meir in Yerushalayim. His rosh yeshiva, Rav Meir Vaknin, described him as a young man who is completely immersed in Torah learning. “This bochur has nothing in his life other than the four amos of halacha,” the rosh yeshiva asserted. “He is constantly immersed in Torah learning, davening, and serving Hashem.” Eliyohu was arrested at his home in Beer Sheva during bein hazemanim, when the military police took him from his bed. The issue became a highly politicized topic; some rumors were spread that the rosh yeshiva had asked for a meeting with Rav Yitzchok Yosef and was turned down, but these reports were false. In a radio interview, Rav Vaknin revealed that his family has received many offers of support: “All the organizations and rabbonim have been calling and trying to help.” Among others, he mentioned that Aryeh Deri and MK Moshe Abutbul have been active on behalf of the bochur. Davda and one other bochur who was arrested were tried in whirlwind proceedings and sentenced to twenty days in prison. How sad!

Former Attorney General on the Witness Stand

Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be enjoying special siyata d’shmaya. This week, Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, who served as attorney general when Netanyahu was first indicted many years ago, in November 2019, took the witness stand in his trial. Mandelblit had tried to avoid testifying in the trial, and the prosecution did not call him as a witness, but the defense team took the initiative of bringing him to court, and for good reason. They wanted to hear from Mandelblit if it is indeed true, as he has hinted several times, that the investigation was plagued by misconduct on the part of the prosecution and the police.

Mandelblit came under fire even before he took the witness stand. Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote, “Good morning, Avichai Mandelblit. Today you will be appearing as a witness on behalf of the defense in the trial of Prime Minister Netanyahu. You have a golden opportunity to respond to several questions to which the people of Israel would very much like to hear the answers: What was the explanation for the bizarre timing of the indictment of Prime Minister Netanyahu, which was filed while he stood on the White House lawn in the middle of the signing ceremony for the Deal of the Century? Why were you in such a rush to file an indictment against a sitting prime minister 34 days before an election, when the indictment wasn’t ready and additional work was still required? How did your comment about Shai Nitzan holding you by the throat affect your judgment when you filed the case? Were you actually extorted by him? Were the criminal extortion tactics used against the state witnesses carried out with your approval? When did you become aware of them? When did you find out that investigations were opened against the prime minister without the attorney general’s approval as required by law? Mr. Mandelblit, if you have even a drop of decency left, after the terrible injustice that has been committed against the prime minister, his family, the right-wing camp, and the entire State of Israel, you will tell us the entire truth.”

Indeed, these questions were posed to Mandelblit in the courtroom.

During the cross-examination of the former attorney general, there was a bit of a confrontation between Mandelblit and Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Chadad. Chadad announced to Mandelblit, “I intend to question you only to uncover the truth, not for the audience. In my view, there are large parts of the truth that were hidden, and you have made statements that imply that there were things that were hidden from you as well. We will explore that together.” Later in the questioning, Chadad asked, “You did not approve an investigation into the prime minister in Case 3000, correct?”

“Correct,” Mandelblit said. “I have clarified that publicly and in conversation with the investigators as well…. When the evidence was presented to me, I made it clear that there was no evidence against the prime minister. I did not identify any grounds to suspect him of criminal activity in Case 3000.”

Mandelblit explained, “There was a lot of noise in the media, and I thought it was proper to explain that to the public.” He added that if evidence against Netanyahu had been discovered, it would have been possible to open a probe or investigation at a later time. “I did approve collecting testimony from him, but I never identified any grounds for suspicion of Mr. Netanyahu in the case,” he emphasized.

When Chadad asked him to confirm that he had never ordered an investigation in Case 3000, the leading prosecutor, Yehudit Tirosh, objected to the question.

“Did you ever tell someone that the police were acting behind your back in that case?” Chadad asked.

“That’s possible,” Mandelblit acknowledged.

A Witch Hunt

Mandelblit’s testimony on Sunday evoked pained reactions, as it became clear that the police had broken the law while investigating the prime minister. Some of their actions, he revealed, angered Mandelblit when he later learned about them. Many details of the indictment, especially concerning the favorable news coverage of Netanyahu that was labeled as bribery, were never examined by the attorney general at all. During his cross-examination, Mandelblit discussed his oversight of the investigators’ activities and revealed that they did not seek his approval for all of their actions, although he had asked to personally approve their principal activities. Mandelblit explained that alongside examining the allegations, he also wanted to protect the office of prime minister. “The other leg of investigating the suspicions is protecting the standing and dignity of the prime minister,” he said. “I wasn’t willing to allow the involvement of political or diplomatic considerations; I needed to show sensitivity. Even in this case, I didn’t intend to exercise responsibility for approving every action, but I did want the principal actions to be referred to me.”

When Chadad asked if it was true that some actions were taken without his approval, Mandelblit said, “In retrospect, some things were done that I did not approve of. Yes, there were such things.”

“Including very serious matters?” Chadad asked.

“Correct,” Mandelblit said.

That day, a few senior figures in the Likud party were present in the court to show solidarity with Netanyahu, including Knesset speaker Amir Ochana. “Just as I have attended Netanyahu’s trial here before, on many occasions throughout the proceedings, I came again today to witness the truth emerging,” Ochana said. “It is unfortunate that this trial isn’t being broadcast publicly. Had it been broadcast to the public, the people of Israel would have seen that I am correct in my argument that the indictments are absurd and baseless. The general prosecutor who filed these indictments is standing here and saying that there were illegal acts on the part of the investigators and the police that were conducted without his knowledge, and based on those actions, this indictment, which is perhaps the most dramatic indictment in the history of the State of Israel, was filed against a sitting prime minister. They tried to evade this. They tried to avoid having this testimony heard before the elections. But the people of Israel need to see that this is an absurd, baseless indictment that should never have existed, and that it would be best if it were withdrawn immediately.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was present in the court as well and spoke out strongly against the “tainted” proceedings, asserting that Mandelblit’s testimony was evidence that a witch hunt had been conducted.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, for his part, asserted that he was confident that the truth would come to light.

Incidentally, Mandelblit made every possible effort to avoid appearing as a witness in the trial. He knew that he would face tough questions, such as whether he had approved the investigative measures that turned out to have been illegal, or what he meant when he said that the state prosecutor was “holding him by the throat.” But his efforts were in vain. He and his ilk, apparently, can flex their muscles when they sit in their comfortable offices in the Ministry of Justice, but they become cowards when they are out in the open. Avichai Mandelblit, the civilian, took the witness stand on Sunday; the only question now is whether he will testify there for only three days, as the prosecution insists, or for seven days, which the defense is demanding. Either way, it will certainly be interesting. Netanyahu only stands to benefit from every minute that Mandelblit spends on the stand.

Fears of a Loss of Right–Wing Votes

With less than two weeks remaining until the election, tensions are steadily mounting. United Torah Judaism (the party consisting of the merger of Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel) is working hard to display a united front, despite the fact that there have been a number of splits within Agudas Yisroel. Their message to the public is simple and true: The chareidi community is in grave danger. Almost everyone who speaks on behalf of the opposition has been focusing their rhetoric on drafting bnei Torah, and Yair Golan has gone even further, calling for the draft of religious girls as well. The danger that awaits the chareidi community if the enemies of Judaism win this election cannot be overstated.

The Shas party, too, has focused on the threat to the Jewish identity and practice of the State of Israel, in election propaganda aimed at the traditional community as well as religious voters. We can only hope that these messages will penetrate the periphery of the country as well and that the chareidi parties will amass enough political power that they cannot be ignored. The working assumption is that even if the left-wing bloc wins the election, they will be willing to compromise on the draft issue if it allows them to come to power. It is presumed that the left-wing bloc will not be able to win 61 mandates on their own, and if they need a handful of mandates to form a coalition, they will prefer the chareidim over the Arabs as political allies. Therefore, if the chareidim have a substantial presence in the Knesset, they are more likely to be able to exact concessions from the left-wing bloc.

Meanwhile, UTJ and Shas have signed a surplus-vote agreement, with the goal of preventing the parties from losing votes. Whenever such an agreement is signed by two parties, it increases their chances of gaining an additional mandate, since the surplus votes earned by both parties can be combined to award an extra mandate to one of them. In this case, the surplus votes are those that remain after all the votes have been tallied and the mandates have been distributed. There are many calculations involved, which I may discuss in greater detail next week. The leaders of both parties, Yaakov Asher and Aryeh Deri, emphasized that the agreement indicates the continued collaboration between the two parties, “which takes place on the instructions of the zekeinim and chachamim of the generation.” They also emphasized that the two parties will continue to work together completely, in full collaboration and with a shared vision, on all the issues concerning the protection of the Torah world, the status of yeshiva students, and the needs of the chareidi educational systems.

There is much more to write about the election, but perhaps the most important point to note is the very real concern that right-wing votes might be squandered. For instance, if Avi Maoz decides to remain in the race until the end—and it seems that his rebbi, Rav Tzvi Tau, is guiding him in that direction—there is no question that one or two mandates will be lost. And then there is a bizarre party run by the talmidim of Rav Aberjil of Netivot. They will not even come close to the electoral threshold, but they are liable to cause a loss of 10,000 votes, and possibly even more than that—and no one can be certain that those votes will not cost us the crucial mandate that would have been the key to a right-wing government. There are also a few other parties that are bound to be short-lived but might cause damage to the right wing in the interim. Alas, this has been the case in every election, as politicians have allowed their egos to blind them to the greater good.

Netanyahu: Winter Is the Next Bennett

One of the people who is liable to cause significant harm is Ofer Winter, leader of the party known as Amcha Yisroel. Winter, who is alternately rising and falling in the polls, seems to present a double-edged threat. If he does not cross the electoral threshold, his failure is liable to cause a loss of almost four full mandates’ worth of votes for the political right, which would undoubtedly be a disaster. But Netanyahu fears that even if Winter makes it into the Knesset, he might join forces with Lieberman and the left-wing bloc. Of course, Winter has publicly scoffed at this notion, repeatedly emphasizing that he considers himself part of the right. But one does not need to have a long memory to recall that the same assertion was made by Naftoli Bennett, who went on to award power to Yair Lapid and Mansour Abbas. That is the reason that the Likud has chosen to wage a fierce campaign against Winter, attacking both him and his running mate, Arab activist Yuseph Haddad.

In his most recent interview with the media, Winter insisted that his party will remain in the race until the very end, irrespective of its performance in the polls. He also reiterated that he plans to recommend Netanyahu for the office of prime minister, although he stressed that his support is not unconditional. Winter ruled out sitting in a government with Yair Golan and did not reject the possibility of an alliance with the chareidim; however, he declared that he would demand a government that would not be dependent on Goldknopf as the 61st vote. “I have never abandoned my soldiers, and I will not abandon them now,” he said. “I will run until the end, regardless of the results of the polls.”

Winter’s rhetoric in recent times has been extremely anti-religious. In the same interview, trying to remain ambiguous, he said, “We are here to make demands and to make the decisions. Otherwise, let me tell you; Bibi can jump in a lake. I am saying this in all seriousness. I do not work for anyone else.” Regarding the possibility of a government with Eizenkot, Winter said, “That type of narrow government would be a problem for Israel.” But despite his protestations, the Likud and the chareidim fear that he might ultimately join with the left. When Netanyahu was asked about Winter’s interview, including his comments about the prime minister himself, he said, “Winter is the next Bennett.”

According to political commentators, the election is likely to result in a deadlock. This has sparked competition between the parties to recruit defectors from each other’s ranks. This week, it was reported that the Likud has been working behind the scenes to attract defectors from the opposition, especially Gadi Eizenkot’s Yashar party. In response, the opposition decided to launch their own initiative to attract politicians from the right. What this demonstrates is that both sides understand that in the current political reality, with the two blocs essentially running neck and neck, even one or two defectors would have the ability to determine the fate of the next coalition. As a result, the best strategy for each side is to search for the cracks in the opposing bloc.

Alongside the efforts to attract defectors, the opposition has been working on a plan to take over the position of Knesset speaker. The speaker of the Knesset controls the Knesset’s daily agenda, and when the two blocs vie to be appointed by the president to put together the next government, the speaker may wield critical influence.

Left-Wing Leaders Were Asked to Be Silent

Several of the candidates in the election were clearly told by their media advisors to take a very simple step—to be silent. Yair Golan, for instance, has managed to anger innumerable people with every word he utters; in his case, no matter how much he is begged to remain silent, it seems that he is simply incapable of it. Bennett, too, cannot seem to hold his tongue and has been causing himself damage. Yair Lapid, on the other hand, has managed to remain silent, and the reason is clear: Every one of his statements has backfired on him, since someone typically manages to locate a past statement in which he said the exact opposite. That, of course, is quite embarrassing. Yair Golan, too, has demonstrated his capacity for reversals; most recently he attacked the government for assassinating Nasrallah, even though he praised Netanyahu for the operation when it occurred.

Speaking of Lapid’s reversals, a journalist named Geulah Even-Saar wrote on Friday, “Not long ago, Lapid issued a letter demanding that the foreign minister (full disclosure: my husband, Gideon Saar) refrain from appointing diplomats to head diplomatic missions during the election period. The argument was that this was supposedly an attempt to establish facts on the ground during an election campaign.” The minister’s wife emphasized that she wasn’t referring to the quota of political appointments, which does exist, but rather to the professional appointments made by the Foreign Ministry. Not only is there no reason to delay those appointments until after the election, she pointed out, but any delay is also damaging to Israel’s foreign policy. Furthermore, she wrote, “Lapid himself, as both prime minister and foreign minister, did exactly what he is calling on the current government not to do. During the previous election period, less than a month before Election Day, Lapid personally brought five new appointments of heads of diplomatic missions before the government for approval. The government held a brief discussion and approved all of them.”

The article goes on to take another swipe at Lapid: “Lapid attacked Netanyahu, accusing him of using IDF soldiers and facilities as backdrops for his election videos. A bit of cursory research leads to a video of Lapid himself on an air force base during the previous election campaign, with a fighter jet in the background.”

Let us put aside, for a moment, the issue of Gideon Saar, who is universally recognized as a highly successful foreign minister whose track record puts him light years beyond Lapid. Instead, we’ll focus on the second point, which gives rise to a compelling question: What, exactly, takes place in Lapid’s psyche when he publicly criticizes a public figure for something that he has done as well? One must wonder if there is some sort of deficiency that requires evaluation. Did Lapid actually think that the public would forget the things he did in the past? Or does he believe that what is permissible for him is forbidden to others? I am really posing a simple question: What psychological mechanism within Yair Lapid causes him to trap himself repeatedly in foolish statements and meaningless rhetoric?

Arab–Israeli Pharmacist Caught Planning Mass Slaughter

There is much more to write about this week. For instance, there were the October 7 memorial events that became highly politicized, and the hostage survivors who were pilloried by the media after speaking in favor of Netanyahu. There is the Nobel Prize that was awarded to Navi Pillay, a woman who is an outspoken opponent of Israel, and there is the ominous sense that we are on the eve of another war, perhaps even before the election. But I will focus instead on a subject that I have warned about in the past: the Arab Israelis who reside in this country and have been recruited by terror organizations. Last week, I wrote about an Arab who had performed national service in the firefighting service and went on to plot a terror attack. There has also been much talk recently about Arab doctors who support terror and are in a position to harm helpless Israeli patients. This week, another story broke, about an Arab pharmacist who was plotting a terror attack.

This weekend, the state prosecution filed an indictment against Mohammed Shalbi, a 22-year-old pharmacy student from Beit Chanina in Yerushalayim, for preparing to carry out murder for terrorist purposes and receiving training for terrorism. According to the indictment, Shalbi planned to carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security personnel using explosives and deadly toxins, with the aim of committing mass murder. Shalbi is a third-year student in pharmacy school who also worked as an assistant pharmacist and underwent a process of radicalization partly in the wake of the events of October 7 and the Iron Swords War. The prosecution claims that he systematically studied materials associated with Hamas and ISIS and that he decided to use the knowledge he had obtained through his studies, as well as his access to chemical substances, to carry out deadly terror attacks.

The indictment states that at the beginning of 2025, Shalbi planned to hide an explosive device near a place where law enforcement personnel typically stood outside the mosque in his neighborhood of Beit Chanina. He was allegedly motivated by anger over parking tickets issued to worshipers in the mosque. Shalbi spent about two months observing the Israeli police stationed in the area while studying how to prepare homemade bombs. Nevertheless, his plan did not come to fruition since the police stopped arriving in the area. The indictment goes on to claim that Shalbi later planned a broad-scale terror attack in which he asserted that he hoped to kill many Jews. For that purpose, he joined social media groups identified with terror organizations, including a group linked to ISIS, and received dozens of files containing instructions on the preparation of explosives, incendiary devices, and toxins. The indictment also claims that Shalbi copied instructions into a notebook for the preparation of toxins that could kill through touch, smell, or consumption, and took pictures of substances that could be used to create explosives. He also made two trips to Ramallah, where he acquired chemicals and equipment, splitting his purchases to avoid attracting suspicion. The materials were then stored in his bedroom.

This is a chilling reminder of the sort of terrorists who are being developed right here, in the heart of the State of Israel, and the nefarious plans being hatched by citizens of Israel who move freely through the country and receive all the rights and entitlements of any Israeli citizen.

Rav Avigdor Miller’s Prescience

Let us conclude with some hashkofah. The year 5786 has become known as a year of persecution of the Torah and those who learn it. It is deeply saddening to see how the representatives of the Jewish state repeatedly raised their hands against the Torah while ensconced in their ivory towers. It is chilling to think about the kitrug they are eliciting at a time when Heavenly judgment is in force and our enemies sharpen their swords. The year was also a time of polarization and division between the religious and secular, and between the right and the left.

Rav Avigdor Miller once made the following comments: “Our sages wanted us to know that an apikores isn’t necessarily someone who doesn’t have emunah. It can include a person who rebels against the Torah, someone who says, ‘What do these rabbonim do for me? Their learning benefits only themselves.’ This apikores concedes that it is good for a person to learn Torah, and he even recognizes that it is good for a person in this world and in the next, but he remains an apikores! An ordinary Jew, someone who isn’t an apikores, is expected to understand and believe that a Jew who learns Torah is not only benefiting himself in this world and for eternity but is also evoking tremendous blessings for the entire nation.”

This is a concept that an apikores finds difficult to accept, even if he wears a yarmulke, and even if he sits on the Supreme Court. There is a limit to his capacity for emunah. Rav Miller continued, “An ordinary Jew must understand and believe that when Jews in Bnei Brak, Yerushalayim, Brooklyn, or anywhere else sit all day and toil over the sugyos of Shas, they are performing the greatest favors for the nation. A kollel student in Lakewood is protecting the entire nation from its enemies…. That is why Reish Lokish disagreed with Rabi Yehuda Hanasi and said that talmidei chachomim do not require protection; on the contrary, they protect the city. They must continue learning; they should not be required to engage in fortifying the city. We need to build fortifications, but we must recognize that they are useless without the people who sit in the bais medrash and learn Torah…. We need walls, a police force, and an army, but those things will help us only when there are talmidei chachomim learning Torah. Protection, peace, and parnossah come to us in the merit of those who learn Torah. What use are defenses, weapons, and military might if we lack this basic recognition?”

These words, spoken over 25 years ago, are followed by a few lines that could easily have been written today: “This is what is happening in Eretz Yisroel today. How can the army help if Hashem sees that the nation does not value people who learn Torah? The apikorsim in Israel, including religious apikorsim, think that their little toy army is what protects them. I know that it is hard for them to hear these words, but I hope that they will not have to discover their mistake in a tragic way….”