All the skill and training and bravery in the world without the requisite Divine assistance will prove inadequate

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lul is a month not only of preparation for new beginnings, but also an occasion for taking stock of the year that is ending — acharis hashanah.

Over the past 12 months, Israel’s military and intelligence achievements have stunned the world. First came the simultaneous explosion of 3,000 beepers in the hands of Hezbollah fighters and the subsequent explosion of the group’s walkie-talkies the next day. As far as I know, no one has fully explained how Israeli operatives managed to convince Hezbollah to purchase thousands of ticking time bombs. But doing so forced Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah to call Hezbollah’s senior leadership to an in-person meeting, at which nearly all of them, including Nasrallah, were eliminated by Israeli bombs.

Similarly, at the start of the “12-day war” with Iran, Israeli intelligence succeeded in luring all of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) senior air force commanders to a meeting in a reinforced location, which was soon thereafter reduced to rubble, leaving no one to order reprisal ballistic missile attacks against Israel — of which Iran had promised 1,000 — that night.

The same night, the Israeli Air Force, operating with pinpoint intelligence, succeeded in killing most of Iran’s senior nuclear scientists in their beds, while leaving their apartment buildings, and in some cases even their own apartments, intact. Over a period of at least three years, the Mossad, operating within Iran, managed to create an entire drone factory. On the night of the initial Israeli bombings, those drones were used to take out missile launchers and anti-aircraft batteries. These achievements and many others of the IDF will be studied in military academies for decades to come.

MY CONCERN, however, is not with recounting the skill of the IDF and intelligence services, but rather in how we should discuss those awe-inspiring achievements without falling into the trap of a kochi v’otzem yadi (“my might and the strength of my hand [did all this]”) mindset that erases Hashem from the picture, on the one hand, and that of treating dismissively the bravery and skill of Israel’s intelligence operatives, on the other hand. (The latter danger exists with respect to the bravery and sacrifice of all IDF combat soldiers defending our borders.)

The issue is of particular concern for those, like myself, who consume vast amounts of news and analysis from nonreligious sources, and then attempt to distill that information for a wide audience. Should I add the words b’siyata d’Shmaya to every description of favorable results? Must every column conclude by reminding readers, “We have no one upon whom to rely other than our Heavenly Father,” as was standard in another religious weekly for which I once wrote?

How we think about current events and how we discuss them are of crucial importance, as they shape mindsets. For instance, when Boaz first appears in Megillas Rus, he greets those harvesting his fields, “May Hashem be with you,” and they reply, “May Hashem bless you” (Rus 2:4). The Yerushalmi (Shekalim 5:1) describes these words as an innovation of Boaz and his colleagues on the Sanhedrin, and lists this rabbinic decree as one of three to receive explicit affirmation from the Heavenly Court.

Rav Yosef Lipowitz, in his commentary Nachalas Yosef on Megillas Rus, explains that the use of Hashem’s Name in everyday speech and the most mundane conversations elevates man by expressing Hashem’s desire to dwell among us. The rabbinic ordinance was designed to instill the awareness that Hashem interacts moment by moment with His creations and that we live in His Presence.

“By teaching people to greet their fellow man with Hashem’s Name, they restored human dignity and brought out the Divine image in them,” writes Rav Lipowitz.

OBVIOUSLY, NO COLUMN will resolve all questions touching on the relationship of hishtadlus and bitachon that have occupied the greatest Jewish minds for millennia, and certainly not one authored by me. At most, I hope to provide food for further thought.

The haftarah read the week of the outbreak of “12-day war” says, “ ‘Not through military might and not through strength, but through My spirit,’ said Hashem, Master of Legions.” Rashi understands “My spirit” to mean, “I will place my spirit upon Darius and he will grant you permission to rebuild the Temple and he will do whatever is necessary to that end and cover all the expenses from his own treasury....”

In other words, one of the ways that Hashem operates in history is by placing ideas in a person’s head. Sometimes those are good ideas; sometimes disastrous for the one making the decision. Robert Wistrich, the great modern historian of anti-Semitism, once described to me how when the Nazis took the final decision to murder the entirety of European Jewry at Wannsee, Hitler, whose strategic cunning had until then been almost perfect, embarked on the disastrous Operation Barbarossa and invaded Russia, where the German forces became bogged down in bitter winter fighting and ended up suffering calamitous losses, from which they never recovered.

Hashem may plant ideas in a person’s mind for good or bad. But the receptacle is not irrelevant. Hitler’s evil intent determined the idea of invading Russia.

As a young boy, I once saw a TV interview with Louis Nizer, a famous trial lawyer and author of My Life in Court. The interviewer asked whether he had ever experienced a sudden flash of insight in preparation for a trial. He responded, “Many times. But never on the golf course. Only when I’m at work in my study.”

The quality and capacity of the vessel also determines the nature of the Divine assistance received. As the Rambam writes in a different context, a person will experience Hashgachah, Divine providence, to the degree that he has perfected his knowledge of G-d (Moreh Nevuchim III:51).

Nowhere is the connection between the recipient’s preparation and effort and the degree of insight granted him clearer than in Torah learning. Those deeply involved in Torah learning often have the feeling of an insight entering their mind from a different realm. But again, that does not happen to one who has not learned a great deal or who is not immersed in his learning. Preparation, native ability, and effort all play a role, though it is difficult to say in what percentage in any particular case.

The Gemara in Niddah (70b) advises one who wants to gain wisdom to maximize his time in sitting, i.e., learning Torah, and minimize the time spent in business activities. But, the Gemara notes, many followed that path and did not rise to the heights of wisdom. In that case, the Gemara continues, they should seek mercy from the One Who is the repository of wisdom. From this, we learn that one without the other is not sufficient.

The Gemara then applies the same principles to accruing wealth. If one wants to become wealthy, it advises, he should be honest in all his business dealings. And if that does not work, let him seek mercy from the One Who possesses all wealth. By implication, in that case, too, one without the other is insufficient.

Thus, in both the spiritual realm of Torah learning and the more natural realm of wealth acquisition, there are certain activities that make success more likely. But, in the end, one needs siyata d’Shmaya, Heavenly assistance, as well.

If a loved one is undergoing a dangerous operation, we pray that the surgeon prove to be a good shaliach. But we do not just randomly pick the name out of the phone book, on the grounds that he is nothing more than a Divine messenger. We will call Rabbi Firer or one of the many other experts in medical care in our community, and inquire how many times a particular surgeon has performed the operation in question and what has been his rate of success. In short, we assume that his quality as an instrument of Hashem will be dependent on his training and preparation for the operation and the degree of his skill.

Similarly, a commander planning a military operation requiring great bravery, perfect timing, and meticulous planning will seek out a team of elite forces possessing those qualities in spades. Those qualities are not incidental to the requisite siyata d’Shmaya; indeed they may well be the precondition for it.

But at the same time, only a fool would fail to acknowledge the chance of failure, even with a superior squad and seek mercy from the One Who holds the reins of success or failure in His hands.

Should we ever fall into the trap of attributing the successes of Israel’s soldiers or their intelligence services solely to their superior talents and training, let us contemplate that the same intelligence services that racked up amazing success after amazing success over the past year also failed to pick up and prepare for Hamas’s assault on October 7. And the IDF that has performed at such a high level in Gaza and Lebanon is the same IDF that inexplicably took over six hours to arrive in numbers on the Gaza border to turn back Hamas’s assault.

All the skill and training and bravery in the world without the requisite Divine assistance will prove inadequate.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1077. Yonoson Rosenblum may be contacted directly at rosenblum@mishpacha.com)