Home › Forums › Decaffeinated Coffee › D-day and hallel › Reply To: D-day and hallel
The secular Israelis, the Hareidim, i.e. the Satmar Rebbe, and most of the world attribute the Israeli victories to having better trained, better led and better armed soldiers.
1)There is only so much one can attribute to skill. To get some facts straight, Israel fought against:
a.Egypt
b.Syria
c.Jordan
d.Arab Expeditionary Forces
e.Iraq
f.Saudi Arabia
g.Morocco
h.Algeria
i.Libya
j.Tunisia
k.Sudan
l.PLO
The IDF consisted of 275,000 troops, compared to the 456,000 soldiers of the combined Iraqi, Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian armies. The united Arab forces also had a decided edge with regards to weaponry and military equipment: they had more than double the amount of tanks, and close to four times the amount of combat aircraft.
Think before you claim that it is natural to win such a war.
2)A story: My 8th grade rebbe, when he was serving in the American Army (he didn’t grow up frum), was studying military strategy in the military academy. They examined strategies of many wars, but never any of Israel’s wars. My rebbe, who was very proud of being Jewish, asked the commander why they never studied Israel’s battled. The commander, a typical stonehearted muscular guy, barked at him “FRIED, MEET ME BEHIND THE CAFETERIA AFTER CLASS!!”. Obviously, my rebbe thought he was going to get beaten up or the like. What happened, instead is amazing. The commander said in his gruff voice “the reason we don’t study Israel’s battle strategies is because we can’t. Israel does not fight like everybody else, according to the normal laws of war, they should have lost every fight they fought. But they don’t. I have no explenation for this, nor do any of my colleagues. They have something out of this world that is helping them.”. This is what this agnostic commander said.
3)Another related story: The Satmer Rebba, as is well known, denied that the war was a miracle. Rav Goren, when he heard this responded: “With all kavod to The Rebba, Hashem does not need his permission to do a miracle”. Think about this line deeply, not on its superficial level.