Rabbi Bloostein’s
Torah Corner

Please join us in shul for Shabbat, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah

Please note: Yizkor will take place tomorrow during Shemini Atzeret services

This past Tuesday, many of us woke up to the unbelievable news of the hijacking of a plane headed towards Israel, and the heroic passengers who took matters into their own hands and brought the plane under control. You can read about it on various news outlets including in this article. 

This was certainly an attempt at inciting terror in the Israeli public and the worldwide Jewish community. It is my sincerest hope that the State of Israel addresses the security vulnerabilities that such an attack made apparent, and that all who planned this attack are swiftly brought to justice.

Many are calling the acts of heroism that saved these passengers a Sukkot miracle. In my view, this was not a miracle, but a result of a country that, through its mandatory military service, trains is citizens in combat and emergency medical care. It is not a mistake that among this planeload of Israelis were former soldiers trained in combat who could identify, subdue, and detain the threat. 

In moments like these, in moments when we see Israeli military training in action, I hold two feelings. One is a feeling of pride. We are a people who rose from the ashes and are reborn stronger and more independent than ever. When greeting the Prime Minister after arriving in Tel Aviv, one of the heroes on the plane, Yaniv Hayun, said: “anachnu am shel arayot—we are a nation of lions.” When I see the incredible strength of body and spirit exhibited by people like Yaniv, I feel proud to be counted among this am shel arayot, this nation of lions. 

And yet, moments like these also bring me a feeling of sadness and despair. I am saddened by the continued attacks against Israelis and the Jewish people, disheartened by the very fact that we require such a strong military for our survival, and tired by the constant news of antisemitism around the world. Our strength is necessary, but a sad reminder that the world is a harsh environment for the Jewish people.

I do not think that what happened on that airplane was a miracle. Rather, it is the result of good planning, and of thousands of years of learning that sometimes we, the Jewish people, need to take matters into our own hands.

Every evening during the nightly maariv service we say the words “fros aleinu sukkat shelomecha—God, spread over us a canopy, a sukkah, of peace.” As Sukkot winds to an end, as we spend our last moments in the sukkah under our canopies of bamboo, corn stalks, or sticks, let us hope and pray that an eternal sukkah is erected over the entire world, and that we can take shelter beneath a canopy of peace.

Read more about the holiday of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah here.

I wish you a gut yontif and a chag sameach, a holiday filled with the deepest of joy.

-Rabbi Eitan Bloostein