Pruebas NetMdP/etruel

A few years back, I had a high-tech boss who had one rule. He paid me well, lavished everyone with generous benefits, and was kind about days off and working from home. 

His one rule: Never distract me from my coding.  

He was a very passionate software developer, often working 100 hours a week on his product. Treating everyone nicely was his compensation for making sure everyone kept this one rule.  

Unfortunately, my direct supervisor was doing some very bad things. It got so bad I had no choice but to go to the boss to sort it out.  I felt justified in addressing these serious issues to the only person who could do something about them.  It didn’t matter if I was right or justified, I pulled him away from his coding. I broke the one rule he had. I was fired soon after.  

This is what we saw when incoming president Donald Trump forced us to surrender to Hamas 48 hours before he took office.  

Official American Policy 

Ever since America became the first nation to recognize Israel, only to abandon it throughout the 1948 War of Independence, American policy has been simple: 

We can have enough arms, aid, and diplomatic assistance to exist but never enough to endure. We must always be in a position of desperation for their weapons, their money, and their influence – even if that means surrender at the point of victory.  

• In 1956, we conquered the Sinai desert within days. Instead of calling us to congratulate an ally on its victory against a powerful Soviet-backed regime, President Eisenhower ordered us to surrender to Egypt after we won the war.  
• In 1973, we were 50 miles away from Cairo and half that distance from Damascus when the Americans told us to stop – and give up the Sinai five years later.  
• In 2025, we were ordered to hand over almost 2,000 prisoners while allowing Hamas to rebuild itself after an 18-month war that cost 2,000 Israeli lives.  

From Eisenhower to Nixon to Trump, American policy has been the same: We can fight. We can die. But we cannot win.  

For us, “USA” means Unauthorized to Succeed in Anything.  

If Donald Trump cannot do any better than his predecessors, no American president ever will. We are looking in the wrong direction for our salvation.   

The Israeli Victory 

What is this “victory” we are seeking? It’s the annihilation of “Palestine”—the complete elimination of the idea of a “Palestinian Nation”.  

On May 9, 1945, the day after the annihilation of Nazi Germany was complete, people formerly living under Nazi rule woke up to a new reality: 

• Some became Germans 
• Others woke up as Berliners 
• Some saw themselves as Christians 

But none identified as Nazis. The Nazi nation was extinct. This is what we want for “Palestine”.    

Victory for Israel is in crushing Hamas, Hezbollah, and Fatah so decisively that one morning every non-Jew in the Land of Israel will call himself an Arab, or a Muslim, or a Gazan, Lebanese, Jordanian, or Egyptian – but never a Palestinian.  

This victory of such overwhelming destruction to our enemies is like wiping out Amalek that God commands us to do and to remember every day. This victory is not something America can deliver – even under President Trump. It’s not something the world can deliver.  

There is only one Source to turn to for such a Divine salvation of the Jewish People.  

Hashem.  

He Was, He Is, He Will Be 

Hashem gave us such a victory under Joshua Bin Nun when He blessed Israel to annihilate the Canaanite nations living in the Land before we conquered it.(Yehoshua 1) Hashem gave us such a victory under Kings David and Solomon when we destroyed entire nations to expand our borders, secure the great Jewish Kingdom, and build our Beit Mikdash.  

It wasn’t statesmen or military leaders that commissioned these wars. It was prophets, Sages, and the Kohen Gadol seeking God’s blessing to do so.  

Hashem gave us victory in 1948, 1967, 1973, and in 2025 when we destroyed the armies of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria with so few casualties the heads of even the most optimistic IDF military planners are still spinning.  

God will grant us our victory.  

God will send us Mashiach.  

God will save our nation.  

God will exterminate any remnant or remembrance of Palestine, Amalek, and any nation whose only mission is to destroy us.  

Let Mr. Trump try to make America great again. He won’t do it for us. We should neither rely on him nor expect him to do it.  

Our job is to look upward for Hashem’s salvation. God, and only God, through His anointed Mashiach son of David, will make Israel great again! 

***  

David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, 300 Marketing Solutions, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO-optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show. 

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

Faith in the Valley of the Shadow of Death 

What does a young, hungry woman, taken hostage by the Hamas, do when she is the only one of the hostages who gets a pita without knowing when the next pita will show up? 

That is the question that Sapir Cohen was debating when she was being held hostage by Hamas. 

Sapir Cohen was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz on Simchat Torah and was released from her captivity by the Arab murderers, may their names be blotted out, in the final stage of last year’s deal. Her story is amazing and inspiring and strengthens one’s emuna pshuta (simple faith) and belief in the power of prayer. But one “minor” anecdote that she tells about those days of terror is especially inspiring. 

One day, she and the rest of the hostages received no food at all, and then one of those cursed terrorists gave her – and no one else – a pita. Sapir knew that the pita would not assuage her hunger pangs, and, besides, perhaps she should keep part of it for the next day. But she felt that that was not the right thing; no – she must share it with her friends. It was an impossible decision in an impossible situation. 

She tells, in her own words, that she said to herself: “Sapir, you are, after all, a believing person, and if Hashem wants to give you food – He will give you food.” And so, she decided to divide the pita among the other captives. Sapir remained physically hungry, but her soul was calmer and happier… 

Providing Their Food at the Right Time 

That same week, an unexpected thing happened. The terrorists who were guarding the room where the food was, decided, for some reason, not to guard it anymore, and the hostages, who were being held in the next room, slipped in there one after another and obtained a quantity of food that they had never seen in their captivity. Sapir says that she saw in this a clear sign from Heaven, that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, was telling her: “Sapir, you have passed the test. You held on to your emuna (faith) and did the right thing.” 

She tells how during all those days in captivity she repeated again and again: “Elokim, thank you, Elokim, thank you, thank you for helping me to do the right thing.” 

Sapir’s release, too, was amazing and a complete surprise. Her name did not appear in the list of hostages that were supposed to be released as part of the deal, and she didn’t have the required criteria, so her release was an amazing miracle. 

The Saving Emuna 

There is no doubt that Sapir’s strong faith that Hashem loves her and will not desert her and will give her food according to His will is what indeed brought to her the abundance and the food both for her and her friends, and one can assume that it brought all the protection and the salvations that she experienced, culminating in her geula (salvation) from captivity – as well. 

Geula means finding Hashem in the galut (exile). Because the only difference between the word gola and the word geula is the letter aleph, which hints to Alufo shel olam (Hashem), to emuna and to ahavat Hashem. When you insert Hashem’s light into the galut, you turn it into geula. 

We have already explained that the words “Hashem yitbarach always loves me” provide chizuk (encouragement) for a Jew in any situation, even in the deepest darkness, even in captivity, even in slavery, and even with any problem and difficulty one may encounter in life. In all situations, one must never lose this knowledge and the feeling that Hashem loves me and that I will have only good. 

The stronger and more illuminating this feeling is, the more you will see that Hashem loves you and accompanies you and hints to you and helps you and lights up the way for you in the darkness as well, and He will continue to do for you good, and more good, and even better, until you will go from darkness to light …. 

Paving the Way for the Geula 

In this week’s parasha [Shemot], Bnei Yisrael go down to the exile in Egypt. The Jewish People did not fall into Egypt in one fell swoop; rather, Hashem prepared the way, providing the cure before the illness struck, in a series of events, each one of which seemed terrible at the time:  

First, Sarah Immeinu was abducted in Egypt. She and Avraham withstood the trial and held on to their emuna, thus beginning the process of vanquishing the klipa (shell) of Pharaoh and allowing them to come out of there with much wealth. 

Afterwards, Yosef was torn from his father and sold into seemingly permanent slavery. He was taken to Egypt, found himself in prison, and still held on tight to emuna and joy and complete trust. He then rose to become the ruler of Egypt and rectified all of it. 

And then Yaakov and his sons, the Tribes of Israel, arrived. It is written in the holy books that had they not gone into exile first, the Jewish people would not have been able to withstand the trials. Also, as long as one of the shvatim (tribes – the twelve sons of Yaakov) existed, there was no subjugation of the people. 

Because when a Jew believes that Hashem loves him and that he will have only good – he really will have only good and even better, and he is also paving the way for other Jews, so that they can come out from darkness into light and from subjugation to geula. 

As long as the brothers were alive and they knew that they would have only good, they were ministers and important people, part of the ruling class, which means that they experienced the decree of galut with chessed and mercy, in a sweetened way. But the moment that entire generation passed on, the recognition of Hashem’s love weakened – and that was when the subjugation began, practically speaking, similar to what we mentioned in previous years in the name of the Or Hachaim Hakadosh.  

Yisrael – Trust in Hashem 

Dear Jew, your faith, your bitachon, your complete knowledge that you are in Hashem’s hands – that is what determines reality, that is what determines what will happen to you! 

“May your loving-kindness be upon us, Hashem, for we place our hope in You.”¹ According to the degree that you hope and wish for Hashem’s goodness and chessed – so too you will see Hashem’s chessed in your life, and Hashem will show you His good and do only good and even better with you, until the complete Yeshua (salvation): “I have trusted in Your chessed – my heart will delight in Your salvation.”² 

This emuna must be felt in the heart and spoken by the mouth. Because the words that you say affect your pnimiyut (inner essence), as David Hamelech says in Tehillim: “I have believed because I have spoken.”³ The words you say build your emuna, and your emuna creates the reality. 

We Were Like Dreamers 

Here is Rabbi Natan’s explanation of the matter of hatavat chalom: When a person has a bad dream, he goes in the morning to three of his friends and they do a hatava for him in that they say to him a few times: Your dream is good, and it will be good. 

It’s amazing – a person can have a bad dream, and then a few Jews say to him repeatedly that the dream is good and that only good will come upon him – those words have the power to change reality – and they do! The bad dream is annulled and even becomes something good. Rabbi Natan says that that shows the power of speech, that if you speak and say, “I will have only good,” then everything indeed becomes good.  

It is like what is said in the name of Rabbi Nachman, that if you say “Baruch Hashem, all is good in my life,” Hashem yitbarach says: “You say ‘good’? I’ll show you what ‘good’ is!!!” 

We have here a message for every person: Even if your life looks like a nightmare, go to the one who loves you most, Hashem yitbarach, and say to Him: “You love me and do only good for me, and I will have even better and better” – and you will see how all the dinim (harsh judgments) sweeten, and how everything becomes even better, in a tangible way. 

Your knowledge that Hashem loves you is what turns your own private galut into geula and a great light. That fact that now all of the Jewish people are singing, “Hashem loves me, and I will have only good”, is undoubtedly a very important step in bringing the general geula and the Mashiach, speedily, in our days. 

¹ Tehillim (Psalms) 33:22 

² Tehillim 13:6 

³ Tehillim 116:10 

The bio attached to the end of all my articles says that I grew up in a “far-off valley.” Well, that valley happens to be the San Gabriel Valley that has suddenly skyrocketed into the news of the entire planet because of the Eaton Fire. That fire is still raging as I type and is one of the many wildfires burning around Los Angeles right now. Although Eaton is not nearly as affluent a neighborhood as the Palisades, entire swaths of the city are rubble. Even the Bank of America branch burned. My mom had to evacuate her home, although her zone had its evacuation warning lifted on Friday morning – in just enough time for her to clean up and get ready for Shabbat, Baruch Hashem.  

So, while the emails continue to come in from my local and federal representatives in wake of the fire, I want to share a few snippets with you to remind you (and me) that ein od milvado – there is only God, and He alone did, does, and will do everything. And no fire is too big for Him.  

Please note, I am not trying to implicate anyone or say anyone deserved anything – we do not understand the judgements of Heaven, nor point fingers when people are suffering. I only want to suggest some lessons we can all learn from the inferno. 

 
The Israel Supporter’s House Still Stands 

The first miracle that totally blows my mind happened to a good friend of ours for decades. She has sent some large donations to our Support our Soldiers effort, and the comments she sent me after the last one just warmed my heart. With so much antisemitism surrounding us, it gave me so much strength that, thank God, there are still non-Jews out there who know the truth and have their heads and hearts in the right place. 

Well, God sure paid her back! She sent my mom a message that while her [our friend’s] garden and its trellises burned – the rest of the house is fully intact! Unlike the houses of all her neighbors… Totally crazy, since the trellises are connected to the house and there is no good explanation of why the fire didn’t continue to burn down the house. We all know that the fire hydrants had no water, and the fire department was severely understaffed. 

Rabbanit Arush promises that those who support Emuna Outreach merit special Divine protection. My friend’s donation is a small pittance compared to the worth of her home! A true miracle!

My Mom’s Rental Still Stands 

A similar story unfolded with the rental house that my mom owns in Altadena. When I first found out about the evacuation orders, I asked my mom about the rental since I heard that both cities were affected. She said, “Oh, it’s about a mile away from the evacuation orders, the rental is fine.” Famous last words, as we say. 

Turns out the firefighters made their “last stand” at the house, and while the entire area is completely burned to the ground – their rental, and one house next to it, are the only ones standing. A small addition to the house burned down, but overall, the house and its contents are fine.  

My mom also supports Emuna Outreach and even did a pidyon nefesh for herself and the situation with both her house and the rental… A few hundred dollars for a pidyon, and some hundreds of thousands of dollars saved! 

This story also helps you understand the sheer magnitude of the disaster. In decades of living in the foothill mountains, we have never heard of losing more than a few houses in a fire. A fire chewing MILES into the city could never have existed in my wildest dreams. My mom commented that the insurance crisis is going to be even bigger now, since her house marked as high risk stands, but the area of the rental was considered the lowest risk possible. Clearly in the land of DEI incompetent hires, there is no such thing as “low risk.” 

The Atheist Rabbi’s House Burned Down 

Sadly, the “Rabbi” of the Reform synagogue that I went to while growing up didn’t fare so well. While he evacuated, his house burned to the ground. When trying to convince me from returning to Hashem and to a Torah lifestyle years ago, he admitted that he himself doesn’t believe in God! I sure hope he repented from that mistake a long time ago, but for argument’s sake – Rabbi Arush says that we only get Divine providence according to the level of our emuna. Someone who believes only in chance – gets chance, and in that fire area, there was no chance of coming out unscathed. Of course he didn’t deserve special Divine protection.  

The “Temple” That Accepted LGBT Burned Down 

Everyone is talking about Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center burning down. While it’s officially “Conservative,” some of the staff is LGBT and they accept this inversion openly. My mom wondered aloud when after the “big wedding” of a staff member to her female partner took place on a Sunday some years ago, before Shabbat that same week a fire already destroyed a good part of the sanctuary! 

Sadly, they didn’t understand the memo from Hashem that they should repent, and the entire place went up in flames – one of the first victims of the fire. My mom said that two days later, it was still burning. 

Divine Wrath? 

In previous occasions when there were fires around Israel, tzaddikim have said that fires can burn for a number of spiritual causes. One cause is the fire of sexual lust and immorality that creates the fire of destruction. DEI is the outward aspect of the problem, but societal acceptance of these inversions is the core of the issue. This post on X is just one very sad example. 

The tzaddikim explain that whatever people do hidden in their own homes, “for Hashem are the hidden [sins]” – such people are punished individually by God. But if the society views such sins as acceptable and legal and allows them to be flaunted publicly – then the community or society as a whole is punished by God. Although particularly righteous individuals can merit special Divine protection, they are not always spared depending on many factors which we cannot know in this world, but generally it relates to how hard they tried to influence the people around them to repent. 

Whatever the spiritual causes, the gross negligence and skewed priorities of local and state officials were clearly used by Hashem to create this catastrophe. As much as possible, we need to work on cleaning house – both by replacing the incompetent leaders, and by our own repentance! 

*** 

Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of the university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.   
  
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.