Passover 2024: Finding God's presence as the Jewish state fights to survive

• Published date: 21 April 2024
• Author: MOSHE TARAGIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Oct. 7 was the darkest day in modern Jewish history. Our people were savagely attacked in their homeland. We incorrectly assumed that rape, murder, and torture of innocent and defenseless Jews were scenes from our painful exile and could not occur in Israel

That day left us with so many questions, chief among them: How could God allow this to happen?

For the past six months, as we have battled to defend our land and our people, God's presence hasn't always been evident. In a world of pure evil, rabid hatred, and fabricated truths, it was sometimes difficult to detect the presence of God. We have lived through an agonizing period of hester panim in which the face of God is concealed.

The Passover Haggadah phrase which best typifies this period is the lament that "in every generation, they rise up against us to annihilate us." So many who we thought were enlightened and who we thought possessed moral conscience have risen up against us in fanatical hatred. The world has felt very dark and very broken.

A week ago, on Saturday night, this reality partially shifted. On one remarkable evening, God's presence became more apparent. We were savagely attacked by an Iranian missile blitz aimed to inflict enormous casualties upon our innocent civilians.

Astonishingly, almost none of these death warheads penetrated Israeli airspace, and no lives were lost. God enabled our military scientists and engineers to develop a barrier system to protect us from lethal weapons which, literally, fall from the sky.

The Talmud states that on the first Saturday night after creation, God gifted Adam with fire, signaling His desire that man's divinely endowed creativity be employed to perfect God's deliberately imperfect world. This past Saturday night, we deployed God's gift of creativity to preserve human life. In the wake of this extraordinary evening, God's hand has become more easily visible.

When remedies come first

We also felt His love and caring. The Talmud similarly comments that during dark periods, God's presence is manifested when a cure appears prior to an illness.

A few years ago, the world suffered an unforeseen pandemic which disrupted every aspect of our reality. The outbreak of the coronavirus launched a frenzied worldwide campaign to develop a vaccine. Though a vaccine solution was ultimately developed, it arrived too late to save those who had already succumbed to the disease. In that instance, the world didn't receive the cure before the illness struck.

Saturday...