This is the path to victory today – faith, not despair and sadness. Unity, not division. Strength, not weakness and a broken spirit. Confidence and determination, not despair and frailty.
HaRav Shmuel Eliahu- is Chief Rabbi of Tzfat and a leading rabbi of the Religious Zionist sector.
Though Israel is still engaged in a blood-filled war, although a wildfire is raging in the Jerusalem hills, we must celebrate our Independence Day this year with faith and with joy.
When Rabbi Akiva saw foxes coming out of the destroyed Temple, from the Holy of Holies itself, he chose to laugh while his companions cried. He understood that the way to succeed in the long and difficult mission facing the nation was to constantly keep the future redemption in sight — and to smile. He envisioned Jerusalem rebuilt, with children playing in its streets, even as his physical eyes saw it desolate, degraded, and ruined without signs of life for the future.
Through this choice, Rabbi Akiva succeeded in raising five students who continued his path and established generations of disciples, who all their lives strove to realize the vision of redemption — students who chose laughter over tears. Generations of students who had the strength to endure the hardships for nearly two thousand years.
Rabbi Akiva learned this path from King David, who, after being anointed to kingship, was expelled from his home, his people, and his inheritance. He found refuge but from there too he was expelled, as it says: “Of David, when he changed his demeanor before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.”
At that difficult hour, David chose to give thanks rather than to weep, declaring: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
David taught his descendants that this is the path to proper leadership. This tradition passed from father to son until it reached King Hezekiah, who said: “This tradition I have received from the house of my father’s father: even if a sharp sword rests upon a person’s neck, he should not despair of Divine mercy.”
As David himself wrote in Psalms: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
This is contrary to the wicked Esau who said when he lacked lentils and bread as he was accustomed: “Behold, I am going to die; what good is this birthright to me?” It is also different from Haman’s way who became enraged and said that everything was worthless to him when one man (Mordechai) would not bow to him.
Our way is entirely different.
That is why, in many Sefardi synagogues, on Saturday night (Motza’ei Shabbat), the Psalm “Of David: Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war” is sung. This Psalm has an upbeat melody, different from the tunes of other chapters of Psalms.
I once heard from my revered teacher and father, HaRav Mordechai Eliahu, of blessed memory, that there is a tradition that these were the words and the tune sung by King David’s soldiers when they went out to battle — to remember that one must go into battle with confidence and with song. From that song, the Divine Presence rested upon them, and they were victorious.
Similarly, when a musician played before the prophet Elisha during the war of Israel and Judah against Mesha king of Moab, it is written: “Now bring me a musician. And it came to pass, when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.” This “hand of the Lord” and the joy it inspired, saved the armies, who were then in distress, and they returned victorious.
Thus, David’s soldiers sang: “O God, I will sing a new song to You; on a ten-stringed harp I will sing praises to You,” and from that, they gave thanks and prayed: “Who gives victory to kings, who saves David His servant from the evil sword. Save me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak falsehood and whose right hand is a right hand of lies” — a prayer for all generations.
This tradition was forgotten by King Jehoshaphat, David’s descendant. When the Ammonites and Moabites attacked him, he aroused the people through a fast, like Saul: “Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” He did not understand that the people needed strength at that time. God prophesied through Jahaziel son of Zechariah to save the situation. The prophet strengthened the people, saying: “Thus says the Lord to you: Do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Thus Jehoshaphat recovered and changed direction “to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.” From this praise, he called to the people: “Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper,”
and the victory came: “And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.”
Similarly, this is the path to victory today – faith, not despair and sadness. Unity, not division. Strength, not weakness and a broken spirit. Confidence and determination, not despair and frailty.
This is especially when we are fighting a lowly people whose vision is destruction and violence — a nation that delights in oppression, torture, murder, and the burning of infants, that loves to humiliate and torment others to the extreme. Even within their own homes, they humiliate their wives, beat their children, abuse their brothers, and drag bodies through the streets while the crowds cheer.
We are fighting a lowly people who loves death more than life, that loves suffering more than hope, and that draws strength from the tears and sorrow of others. So it was in the days of Samson, when thenow-extinct Philistines all rejoiced and climbed to their rooftops to see the suffering of the blinded Samson, and so it is today.
We will defeat them with determined warfare.
We will defeat them with light and faith.
We will defeat and overcome them and their corrupt way of life.
We will defeat them through unity and strength.
We will defeat them through great gratitude for the past and great prayer for the future. We will defeat them. Amen and Amen.
