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Israel at War With Iran
In today’s Torah reading, Gd instructs Moses to make 2 silver trumpets and tells him (Num. 10:9): When you go to wage war … against an enemy who oppresses you, you shall blast … the trumpets. I couldn’t help but think of this passage as Cheryl and I spoke to our niece in Rishon Letziyon near Tel Aviv Thursday night as we heard the blasts of the sirens, warning about the possibility of incoming drones.
Yes, Israel is at war—at war with Iran. As of before Shabbat, Iran launched approximately 150 ballistic missiles with 54 injured and 1 fatality. May the injured have a complete healing.
We in Shaarei Shamayim reaffirm our solidarity and support for our brethren whose lives are now one line. So far, Israel’s defense of Iran’s repeated threat to exterminate her has been nothing short of miraculous. Baruch Hashem! As former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman said: What happened Thursday night is up there with the splitting of the Red Sea, the 6 Day War and the raid on Entebbe. It’s that significant.
Israel had intercepted 100 out of 100 drones. It even had help from unusual places: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Qatar shooting down Iranian drones. It’s befitting that Israel has named this Operation K’lavi Yakum Like a Lion Rising (Num. 23:24).
We in America should feel a lot safer because this is not only Israel’s problem, but also a threat to America as well. Do you know how long it takes for one of Iran’s hypersonic missiles to reach America? 10 minutes! Israel is now fighting a war also on behalf of America—what Iran calls “The Great Satan.” Americans as well as Israelis are now safer. Israel needs to focus—along with destroying Iran’s nuclear capability—on Iran’s remaining missiles.
Danny Danon Israeli Ambassador to UN commented: Israel uncovered clear evidence that Iran was planning a surprise attack in coordination with their proxies. They had planned to attack Israel from all sides with thousands of terrorists and thousands of projectiles.
Even the UN’s IAEA charged with inspecting Iran’s nuclear program—no friend of Israel—said Iran was only a few days away from enriching uranium for a nuclear weapon.
Most Israelis probably are in shelters and not able to pray in shul this Shabbat. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has called upon us and Jews around the world to intensify our tefilot/prayers on behalf of our people.
FATHER’S DAY SERMON 5785
Israel’s Most Famous Father
2 men were playing golf, when a funeral procession drove by the road adjacent to the 7th fairway. One of the men paused for a moment, placed his hat over his heart, and stood silently as the procession passed. The other golfer was impressed and said, “That was really nice of you.”
He answered, “It’s the least I can do. We were married more than 50 years!”
Thank Gd, few of us would miss a family member’s funeral for a golf game, although I once had a man ask me to schedule a funeral later in the day so that he wouldn’t miss his early morning tee-time. Let’s face it, how often do we ignore family, because something more important came up?
Besides Father’s Day, this is a special weekend in professional golf—the US Open. With the US Open come together with Father’s Day, I’m reminded of Phil Mickelson, championship golfer, whose fatherly priorities are in the right place:
Mickelson won every major tournament but the US Open. He came in 2nd 6 times! He wanted desperately to win it. One year while in his prime, Mickelson withdrew as the tournament began. Why? His 18-year-old daughter Amanda graduated from high school on Thursday—the day of the opening round—and she was giving the commencement speech. For Mickelson, choosing between attending the graduation and missing the tournament was a no-brainer. He would always choose family.
But Mickelson hoped to make both. The graduation was in California and the tournament in Wisconsin. The weather forecast potential storms over Wisconsin and if there would be a 4-hour delay—not unheard of…that would allow him to watch his daughter graduate and then zoom across the country in his private jet. But it was not to be. The U.S. Open began Thursday under clear skies. Mickelson said: “This is one of those moments where you look back on life and are really glad that you were there and present.” Phil Mickelson knew that the most important thing in being a good father is to be present!
The Talmud (Ketubot 3a) teaches that if a man goes off to war worrying that he may not return, he should write his wife a conditional get (writ of divorce). If he’s not back in 30 days the get will take effect and she won’t have to live a life as a “chained” woman, unable to remarry if his body could not found. The Talmud asks an interesting question: What if he’s across the river and there’s no ferry when the 30 days are almost up and cries out, “I have returned, I have returned”? The Talmud rules that it doesn’t count. One must actually be there to be considered present.
Today Cheryl and I are sponsoring Kiddush on the occasion of Cheryl’s father’s Yahrtzeit. Harold Goodman was one of those fathers who was always present. He was always there to support his family whenever possible. He orchestrated the whole family’s move from South Africa to London to Atlanta—all for the benefit of family. Whenever there was an event or occasion to celebrate or to mourn, Patriarch Harold Goodman was always there cheering or holding up the family. Whoever needed advice, or help with fixing something, or just a ride to the airport, Harold was there. He even went to all his grandchildren’s ball games and events. Yes, Harold inspires us to always be present for the ones we love.
Today, we desperately need fathers like Harold Goodman—fathers who have the courage to stand up and be a real dad—because fatherhood today is under assault as never before. 25 million children—or 1/3 of all children in America—live in a home without the physical presence of a father. Millions more have dads who are physically present, but emotionally absent. The impact of fatherlessness can be seen in our homes, schools, hospitals and prisons—in almost every societal ill.
And at the same time, many young fathers today are more involved than ever in parenting than their fathers ever were. One of my favorite stories about new fathers is the story of a new dad whose wife went out to do some errands a week after they brought their newborn home from the hospital. Soon after the mother left, the baby started to cry. The father did everything he could think of to get the baby to stop. He picked him up, he rocked him, he sang to him, he fed him, but the baby wouldn’t stop crying.
Finally, the dad got so worried he took the infant to the pediatrician. After the doctor listened to the father tell all that he had done to get the baby to stop the crying. He then examined the baby’s ears, chest and then down to the diaper area. When he undid the diaper, he found that the diaper was indeed full. “Here’s the problem,” the Dr. said, giving the father an impatient look, “Why didn’t you change his diaper?”
The new father was very perplexed and said, “But the diaper box says the diaper’s good for up to 10 lbs.!”
Yes, being a parent is every bit as much a growth opportunity as being a child. So like Phil Mickelson and Harold Goodman, find a way to be present, to be involved in your kids’ lives. Even if you mess up from time to time like the new father in the story, what matters is that you’re there and trying.
Let me tell you the story of Israel’s most famous dad today, Noam Tibon—a father and grandfather—who taught us what it means to show up when it matters most. 60 minutes did an in-depth profile on him last year:
Noam Tibon is a retired Major General, who led forces on the West Bank and Lebanon. Early morning October 7th, 2023, Noam and his wife Gila at their home in Tel Aviv, heard rocket sirens. Unfortunately, that in itself was not too unusual. Soon they began receiving messages from their son, Amir, who was sheltering in the safe room of his home in Kibbutz Nachal Oz on the border of Gaza, with his wife and 2 toddler daughters. “Dad,” he texted, “there are terrorists right outside our house. They may even be inside.”
Noam grabbed his pistol. He and his wife Gila drove as fast as possible to save their son and his family. Imagine, 2 grandparents heading into battel against Hamas. As Gila drove, he messaged contacts he had in the military, but no one knew how to help. It became more and more apparent that he was his son’s only hope. He called Amir saying: “Don’t get out of the safe room, no matter what. We’re coming to get you out.”
Almost there, they picked up a young couple in the middle of a shootout running towards them from the Nova music festival massacre shouting, “Save us. Save us.” Then they picked up a soldier on the road to help them with the rescue and dropped Gali and the young couple off at a shelter.
Soon they then came upon a military jeep fighting Hamas terrorists. Several soldiers were killed and injured. Noam and the soldier got out of their jeep to help in the firefight. After they killed the terrorists, Noam realized the wounded soldiers needed immediate medical care, and so he took them back to where he dropped off Gila and she drove them to a hospital.
Noam noticed an old army buddy heading to save his children and grandchildren and joined him with his soldier. Once they got to the Kibbutz, they joined a group of Israeli special forces going house to house clearing out the terrorists. Noam shared his expertise as a commander with the young soldiers by his side, and even though he was anxious to save his family, and even though he had been sidetracked twice—with the young couple and with the wounded soldiers—his training told him if they didn’t to this methodically, they could easily get shot from behind.
It had been almost 9 hours since the attack began when they finally got to Amir’s house. Can you imagine? Noam went to the window of the safe room and knocked saying, “Amir, ani po, I’m here.” His oldest daughter then cried out, “Saba po (Grandfather is here)!”
Amir said, “My father found the doorway and embraced me. For at least a few minutes we just stood there silently, holding each other.”
So, my friends, on this Father’s Day weekend, may all of us who are fortunate enough to have children be grateful to Gd. We fathers will receive an assortment of shirts and ties and wallets. But among all these gifts will be one—the one gift that really matters the most—and that is to realize what a blessing it is to be a parent who is present. Let it be said of us, as it was said of Noam by his granddaughter: “Aba po (Father is here).” Amen!
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