Dear Friend,
The Jewish people are in shock from the monstrous events yesterday: the tragic death and return of the Bibas children’s bodies.
There are two messages here: a short actionable message about the Bibas family (inspired by my colleague Chanoch Kaplan) and an incredibly upbeat social media post by Hillel Fuld with some amazing perspective, even as the tears don’t stop.
Yarden and Shiri Bibas chose 2 names for their 2 children – Kfir and Ariel, but they are really the same name: lion.
The Torah mentions lions by 6 different names over 150 times, more so than any other animal! The Jewish people are compared to a crouching lion who springs to action to tackle the mitzvot each day. G-d himself is referred to as a lion who roars three times each night, sharing the pain of the Jewish people in exile.
We are a nation of lions. A nation who lives with the attitude and perspective of royalty, knowing the truth about the mission we represent to the world – to be “a light unto the nations.” And even when it seems we are down and out - when we are in a crouching position - you can be certain that it precipitates a giant leap upwards. In the blink of an eye, we will be back to roar our message of truth again, reminding ourselves and the entire world that we carry a holy and noble mission which cannot be held back or silenced.
Friends, the Bibas lions were taken from us, but they live on in OUR roar today!
Here's how you can roar right now to concretize the memory of these beautiful lions who were so brutally taken from us:
Light Shabbat candles today by 5:31 PM
Add a Mezuzah scroll to another doorway in your home
Do a random act of kindness
Attend a Torah class this coming week
Pray at Shabbat morning services and hear the holy Torah this Shabbat
Give tzedakah to our community or causes in Israel
May the roar of your mitzvah bring some measure of comfort to the Bibas family and bring the long-awaited coming of Moshiach now!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yitzi and Rishi Hein
An open Miracle! By Hillel Fuld (@hillelfuld)
Since day one, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that since 10/7, we’ve witnessed so many miracles, it’s hard to count.
Some of these miracles are easy to recognize, like how well the beeper operation went down or how successful we were at intercepting or detonating those hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles fired at us from Iran. Twice.
Other miracles were harder to recognize.
And then we have last night.
Last night was a miracle the caliber of the splitting of the sea.
I am talking an open miracle that could and should have ended very differently.
Do not ask me for my source and if that means you don’t believe what I’m about to say, so be it. You can keep scrolling. But if you know my work, you know I’m very careful with what I share so if I’m sharing this, trust me, it’s based on a reliable source.
Last night, a young lady noticed a suspicious object on a bus in the center of Israel. She reported it to the driver who pulled into a station, got everyone off the bus, at which point, the bus blew up and was completely destroyed.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Not even close.
Over the hours that followed, an additional four bombs were discovered on buses, some of them exploded, others were taken apart before exploding. Some malfunctioned.
According to my source, and this was news to me, a whopping 15 buses were supposed to explode this morning. According to reports, the terrorist set the timer for 9 PM instead of 9 AM.
So is that the worst of it? Not even close.
In addition to the 15 buses, 5 suicide bombers were set to detonate bombs on the lightrail at the same time, all in the center of Israel.
So is that the worst? Nope. That’s the good part.
Where did this attack originate? Gaza? Nope. Judea and Samaria. In other words, these terrorists came from within Israel.
And here’s the kicker, and again, I am not telling you where I heard this, all of the above was intended to be nothing more than the distraction, much like the incoming rockets on 10/7. Just a distraction for the real invasion.
My source says that as those buses and terrorists blew up, massive security and emergency forces were supposed to rush to the scene at which point, there would be a massive breach of the security fence and many terrorists from Judea and Samaria would invade Israel and carry out a 10/7 2.0. Only this time it wouldn’t be from Gaza so it would be an invasion into basically every major city in Israel.
For the third time, this is not information that is publicly available. I can’t share a link and I won’t share a source. Believe me or don’t. Up to you.
It is worth pointing out that for decades, we did not have any bus explosions in Israel. We do this deal and release terrorists, some of whom were the architects behind the bus bombings during the intifada, and all of a sudden, we’re back to buses blowing up.
I can’t imagine anyone believing that that’s a coincidence.
All of this was supposed to go down during rush hour and would have caused hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis deaths.
Even if the rest isn’t true, multiple buses blowing up like this bus during rush hour? Can’t even imagine.
Yesterday morning was one of the hardest days in Israel’s history. Perhaps the hardest. We all felt hopeless, every last one of us.
When we are in pain, God is in pain with us.
I don’t know about you, but yesterday morning, as I saw the coffins of the Bibas angels, I looked up to Hashem and asked why. Why would he cause us so much pain or allow Hamas to do this to us??
I told myself that we’ll be ok but wasn’t sure if that was true. Was God even watching over us any more? Has He abandoned us? Did He turn His back on us?
Then, as the hostages were being delivered, a beautiful rainbow appeared in the Israeli skies, a sign from the times of Noah, that God won’t ever destroy the world or let it be destroyed. A rainbow, according to Jewish scripture, is God’s way of telling us, “Don’t worry. I got your back.”
Still, though, I was just so sad and so angry.
And then the news started to hit my feeds.
A bus exploded. No injuries.
Hmm, “How does that happen?” I asked myself.
Then another bus exploded. No injuries. And a third. No injuries.
I already felt God’s presence again. I could breathe again.
And the news kept coming in. More bombs discovered. More intel. This was supposed to be the biggest attack since 10/7, maybe even bigger.
Totally thwarted.
By who? The IDF? Nope.
Shabak? Nope.
Mossad? Nope.
This was a massive attack prevented 100% by God Himself. And a very vigilant young lady who noticed the suspicious object.
Whatever Hamas planned or didn’t plan for this morning, I would not be writing these words if their plan had come to fruition. But God had other plans and after all the pain God’s children endured yesterday, He felt we needed to be reminded of His presence. He felt we needed to be reminded that He has our back, now and always. He was right. We did need it.
This event might go down in history as one of the biggest miracles the Jewish people experienced since biblical times.
“There are two ways to live life. One is that nothing is a miracle. The other is that everything is a miracle.”
Some will explain how the Iron Dome works and therefore conclude that it’s not a miracle. The same for David’s Sling and the Arrow system.
Some will explain how all of those rockets and drones not intercepted by Israel fell in empty spaces. They might not believe that that too was a miracle.
The beepers? The walkie talkies? Getting Nasrallah? Haniyeh? Deif? They’ll attribute all of that to Israel’s intelligence.
But this? What happened last night? Israel had nothing to do with it. If you don’t see this event as a miracle, there is only one explanation. You don’t want to see it as a miracle.
Open your eyes. Clean your lenses. Hashem is here with us in our pain and each day that passes, we are one day closer to Him finally revealing Himself to us, explaining why any of this had to happen, and ultimately bringing mashiach.
For now, I just wanted to recognize Hashem’s greatness and on behalf of the hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis who should be dead right now, just say thank you.
הודו לה השם כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו
Give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת, שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוּב
Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who rewards good deeds, who rewards me for every good thing
We say that blessing when we are saved from tragedy. Today, the Jewish nation was saved from tragedy.
Thank you, Hashem.
