By Rabbi Danny Bergson
The president of the USA Donald Trump just made a statement after the successful operation to strike and destroy Iranian nuclear capability.
The statement was unequivocal and displayed his moral clarity, strength and courage to stand up against pure evil and have the faith that Good will prevail.
He ended his statement with the words
“And I want to just thank everybody. And, in particular, God. I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.”
It is not unusual for presidents of America to invoke God but remarkable that he spoke about Love of God.
Here in Europe reference to God has become an anathama as society has secularised.
That Donald Trump not only thanked God in front of the world but also declared his Love for God is no small matter as we see from the following story recorded in our Oral tradition.
According to the Gemara (Sanhedrin 96a)
Nebuchadnezzar served as a secretary and scribe for a previous Babylonian monarch. Once, when Nebuchadnezzar was absent from work, another one of the royal scribes drafted a letter to be sent to the king of Yehudah, Hizkiyahu.
The letter began: “Greetings to King Hizkiyahu! Greetings to the city of Jerusalem! Greetings to the great God!”
When Nebuchadnezzar returned to work and discovered how the letter was written, he objected, saying “you call Him ‘the great God,’ and then you mention Him last?!”
Nebuchadnezzar insisted that the letter be redone, writing: “Greetings to the great God! Greetings to the city of Jerusalem! Greetings to King Hizkiyahu!”
The problem was that the messenger had already been dispatched to Jerusalem with the first version of the letter in his hand. Nebuchadnezzar ran out to call the messenger back and redo the letter, running three steps to catch the messenger. The Talmud credits this behavior for his ascension to power.
According the the Villa Gaon (18th century) and the Maharsha (rabbi Shmuel Eidels 1555-1631 Poland/Ukraine) – this is the reason we take three steps back when we recite the Amidah pray to show deference and respect to Hashem at least a much as the emperor Nevuchadnezar !
Fast forward to 2025! If Donald J Trump in front of the worlds cameras declares his love for god then this is a wake up call to the Jewish people to at least meet his standard.
This means that from this moment forward we make it a habit to lovingly express gratitude to our creator for everything we have, for being part of such a great people.
We recite the shema twice daily in fulfilment of a mitzva.
After our declaration of Gods oneness we go on to say “and you shall love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might”.
Now it’s time for us to that message to the world each
in our own idiosyncratic ways.
Thank you Hashem for saving us from A nuclear Iran. I love you too and want to express that Love through loyal dedication to Your Torah, love of people and love of life.
We know and expect the usual anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-everything that does not accord with the blinkered view of so many misguided liberal western leaders and their Islamist and communist bedfellows, will condemn the American action in destroying or at least massively degrading Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but the truth is this is a day for celebration! Why would anyone not wish to see the humbling of a regime that exports terrorism worldwide, provided the wherewithal for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to carry out attacks against Israel, oppresses its own people and has avowed the destruction of Israel? It is time for the supine West to wake up to the reality diplomacy, where one side has no intention of playing by the rules, is a waste of time. Peace, which is the eternal quest, can sometimes be achieved by discussion and concessions. However history teaches it is more often brought about through strength, not weakness, something both the USA and Israel understand. Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱🇺🇸