The Strength of Jews is in Torah

by Kollel Ateres Mordechai

In December of 1973, Rav Mordechai Gifter addressed over 500 people at the annual banquet of the Telshe Yeshiva. Israel had just endured the Yom Kippur war. Rav Gifter’s remarks about those times bring the point of truth to bear on the terror being perpetrated by Arab violence against Jews in our world today.

Today more than ever we sense the isolation of Jews among the peoples of the world. Just as Avrohom because of his monotheism was on one side of the world and everyone else on the other, so, too, do we feel ourselves alone in a world prepared to be blackmailed for oil.

But the strength of Jews–even when forced to bear arms–lies in Torah and prayer. All through the Bible we find our leaders–Jacob, Moses, Joshua–turning the battlefield into a prayer-and-study hall; this and this alone is the fabric of which Klal Yisroel is woven.

The Yom Kippur War and developments since, prove that we can have faith in no one but G-d. Our people bear the Divine mission to bring the world to the recognition that we are pawns on a chessboard and that the moves are made by the One Who has made both the pawns and the board.