It happens so often that we see the prescient Divinity within Daf Yomi. A news story breaks—a major world event, political upheaval, or global shift—and I find myself blinking down at the Daf Yomi with a faint chill. The words in front of me are not just timeless. They’re in fact so very timely.We just began Maseches Avodah Zarah, and once again, the daf has not collided but rather colluded with the headlines.
This week, as tensions rise and new threats emerge across the globe, we find ourselves beginning Avodah Zarah, watching a surreal courtroom drama unfold. The nations of the world file in before the Ribono Shel Olam, attempting to make their case for cosmic relevance. Hashem asks a simple, piercing question: “What did you do for the Yidden and My Torah?”
After they claim that they made streets, bathhouses and increased wealth all so that the Yidden would be free to engage in Torah study, the Romans are castigated by the Ribono Shel Olam as “Fools of the world!” Hakadosh Boruch Hu mocks them with the honest truth that all of their building and exploits were only to enhance their own pleasures. And the money? “Mine is the silver, and Mine the gold, says Hashem” (Chaggai 2:8).
After the disgrace of the Romans, the Persians come in and try to avail themselves of the great reward for being involved in the growth of Torah study. They offer a similar response to that of their Roman adversaries.
“Master of the Universe,” say the Persians, “we have built many bridges, we have conquered many cities, and we have fought many wars. And we did all of this only for the sake of the Jewish people, so that they would engage in Torah study.”
Without calling them fools, Hashem responds to them, dismissing each point: The bridges were for tolls. The cities were for slave labor. The wars? Well…that’s where it gets interesting.The Ribono Shel Olam doesn’t ridicule them by mocking their claim and refuting it by saying, “How dare you say that wars were made for the Yidden to learn Torah? You fought wars to prevent Torah.”
The Ribono Shel Olam does not even say, “Don’t be ridiculous! You waged war for ego and power and to conquer your Arab neighbors!” He doesn’t even say, “You started wars so that the Jews wouldn’t learn.”
Instead, He says, “Milchamah Ani asisi. I waged the wars.” Not you. And in that moment, the Gemara seems to do something stunning. It seems to validate the claim. Not their intent, chas v’shalom, but the outcome. Yes, the wars were Mine. And yes, they were ultimately for them, for the Yidden. That they should learn Torah.
Maybe at the End of Days, the angels representing Persia do realize that the wars that they waged, the turmoil they caused in the Middle East, the terror they waged against Yidden, as evil as their intent was, were the impetus for so much Torah study. Indeed, Hashem wages the wars. But His proxies, who will eventually be severely punished for it, did indeed accomplish something behind the scenes, bringing Yidden into the bais medrash.
I once heard that Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi asked a question on the nusach of Al Hanissim. We praise and thank Hashem for the miracles, the wonders, the strengths, and the salvations that He performed for Klal Yisroel, “bayomim haheim bazeman hazeh.” But we also thank Hashem for the milchamos, the wars.
The rosh yeshiva asked: Why are we thanking Hashem for the wars? We understand that once there was a war, we thank Hashem for the salvation, but why thank Hashem for the wars themselves?
To this, he answered that the wars themselves, as brutal as they may be, serve as an impetus for teshuvah and growth.
And perhaps this is alluded to in the words of Rashi on the posuk of “Hashem Ish milchamah— Hashem is a Man of war.” Rashi brings a peirush: “Even while He wages war and exacts punishment from His enemies, He still conducts the world with rachamim, sustaining all His creations. Unlike mortal kings who, when engaged in war, must suspend all other affairs, Hashem can do both simultaneously.”
It’s a breathtaking insight. Milchamah doesn’t cancel out rachamim. It reveals it.
Because even as Hashem punishes the wicked, waging war in what appears to be a display of din, He is still nourishing, sustaining, and orchestrating the world. I believe that nourishment is not only for the sake of those He is battling, but for the sake of Klal Yisroel. He’s still feeding children, guiding lives, and planting sparks of teshuvah in the most unexpected hearts.
Maybe that is why Hashem doesn’t reject the nations’ claim that the wars helped the Jews learn Torah. Because in truth, those wars, painful as they may be, are not interruptions to Divine compassion. They are expressions of it. He wages war…in order to save us.
When milchamah itself becomes the vehicle for rachamim, we begin to understand the depth of Hashem’s Hashgocha.
There’s a strange phenomenon happening. Talk to yungeleit all over and you’ll hear it. They’re learning more. Davening harder. Signing up for extra sedorim, extra Tehillim, extra chizuk. The schools are pushing summer incentives. Camps are sending home packets. There’s a sense in the air that something big is happening, and our response has to be Torah.
It’s not because the media told us to. It’s not because the yeshiva gave out free Slurpees for every ten lines of Mishnayos.
It’s because something inside knows. The wars are for us.
And somehow, it always boils down to a Persian megalomaniac. The Gemara in Sanhedrin tells us: “Rebbi Eliezer says: If the Jewish people do teshuvah, they are redeemed, and if not, they are not redeemed. Rebbi Yehoshua said to him: If they do not do teshuvah, will they not be redeemed at all? Of course not! Hakadosh Boruch Hu will establish a king for them whose decrees are as harsh as those issued by Haman, and the Jewish people will have no choice but to repent, and this will restore them to the right path.”
It seems that Haman’s will to wipe out the Jewish people always rears its ugly head as an impetus to do teshuvah.
We are on the cusp of summer. In most New York communities, the school year has ended or is winding down. Rabbeim are packing up their desks. People are thinking Catskills, vacations, bungalows. And the tashbar—those pure young voices that uphold the world with their Alef-Bais—will soon no longer be in cheder classrooms, saying Tehillim and davening for Yidden in Eretz Yisroel in unison each morning.
But the war has not ended. The battles are for us.
What’s our response?
I think we know the answer. It is no wonder that the Israeli roshei yeshiva are on an extended stay in America. They need our support, our tefillos and our increased learning. As much as we have to be mechazeik them, they are being mechazeik us—just as much, if not more.
Hashem makes the wars. Hopefully, we will provide the ammunition for victory.
Just saying.
