My beloved rabbi and spiritual Rav Shalom Arush shlit'a told me some amazing things today:
1. Despite all the reports of the imminent nuclear bombs in Iran's hands, the people of Israel have nothing to worry about. The Rav said, "Hashem, with one little grin, can wipe out their whole nuclear program." The Rav then said that Iran, Syria, Hizbulla and Hamas are meaningless to us, only sticks in Hashem's loving hands to prod us to do teshuva, for our own good. This is of course on condition that the Nation of Israel makes a serious effort to get closer to Hashem.
2. Hashem loves us more than we can ever imagine, but we don't believe that - that's our main blemish in emuna. Since our emuna is weak, we don't pray enough. Our prayers are not effective because we don't believe in the power of prayer, in Hashem's love, and in the fact that Hashem wants to give us everything.
3. When I told the Rav about the two particular GRAD missiles that landed in our neighborhood - one 200 meters from our apartment and the other about 350 meters from our apartment, both in parking lots of densely populated areas, he said that these are examples of Hashem's love - He's waking us up with a jolt, but doing so in a way that so few get hurt.
4. The Rav says that the current lull in hostilities here in Israel is Hashem's delay of the Geula: Hashem doesn't want to bring the Geula with dinim or stern judgments. Rather, Hashem wants to bring Geula with mercy, b'rachamim, and with joy. But, Hashem needs for more of us to do teshuva and strengthen our emuna to do so. No one knows how long this "quick breather" will last. Many speak about difficult timees ahead, but teshuva, emuna, and lots of prayer can mitigate all the difficult things.
5. The Jews abroad must make Aliya as soon as possible. The only justification for remaining outside of Israel is to spread emuna with total dedication.
What are we waiting for?
