Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

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בלה תובשחמ
since. Even in the horrors of the camps He protected us as a nation – look at how
we have been rebuilt! Hitler yemach shemo is gone but we are here, our nation in
its land once more with Torah study thriving and communities growing. Only a
G-dly, protected people can be secure that they will endure. As Mark Twain said:
The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet
with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed
away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise,
and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch
high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or
have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what
he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no
weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his
alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other
forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?
The answer is what we raise our fourth cup to – G-d took us as His nation, into
His protection – guaranteeing our eternal survival, something not granted to any
other nation.
There’s a story – all armies study wars to learn military strategy. A Jewish Soldier
in the American army once asked why they never studied Israeli wars. The general
ignored his question and finished his talk on a war they were learning. At the end
of the class he called the soldier to the side and said, “we don’t study Israel’s wars
because no one can understand how they win from a military perspective.” Let
us raise our cups for a final time tonight - VELAKACHTI – and I will take you
to be for Me a people.