On Motza’ei Shabbos, November 16, Chazaq and Chickens for Shabbos hosted a shiur with Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss at Congregation Nachlas Yitzchok in a community-wide gathering in support of Eretz Yisrael.

Rabbi Weiss pointed out that 400 rockets were shot into Eretz Yisrael. He said that 1,000,000 children missed school and 80,000 teachers missed school. People were awakened in the middle of the night and had to go to a safe room. Children are afraid to go to sleep. It’s a whole different way of life. So, what should be our response?

He imparted that we recite in the Maariv service, “Help us to sleep peacefully.” This blessing also includes the idea that a couple prays that they should go to bed without fighting. When the couple has shalom, then the Sh’chinah dwells there; but if there is no shalom, then it isn’t safe there because the Sh’chinah is not there. When we recite this brachah, we should have the kavanah that our brothers and sisters in Israel should not be awakened by a siren. When we recite “Sim Shalom” in the Sh’moneh Esrei, we should have in mind that we are asking for peace of mind and also that there should be peace in Eretz Yisrael.

Rabbi Dovid Feinstein shlita taught that when we recite the first line of Tachanun on Monday and Thursday, we should have in mind that we are praying for the safety of Eretz Yisrael. The words here are: “He is the merciful One…”

When we recite the blessing in Sh’moneh Esrei against heretics, we should have in mind this blessing is against missiles being sent. He noted, “There were 400 missiles thrown at Israel and not one casualty. This is not normal.” We see how Hashem is protecting us. It’s important to recite t’hilim for Israel. “When we say t’hilim, a missile could miss.” T’hilim has a special power of protection.

“When we pray for our brothers and sisters in Israel, it protects our homes.” Also, he urged everyone to pray for the safety of the IDF soldiers.

He added that people are frustrated about the lack of world condemnation for the missiles. Would anyone tolerate one rocket fired in the USA? In one week, 400 missiles were fired, so why isn’t the UN screaming? Rabbi Weiss stated, “It’s to remind us that we’re a sheep among 70 wolves.”

He taught that one reason Esther invited Haman to the meal with the king was that she didn’t want the Jews to put their trust in her. Inviting him would put some doubt into their minds if she was really on their side. She wanted them to put their full trust in Hashem. He added that if the US would send troops to Israel, then people would put their trust in that. We need to know that here is not help but Hashem. We state this in T’hilim 20, where it says, “They come with chariots and horses and we have Hashem.” “Hashem wants us to daven and learn.” He shared how a rocket landed on a busy highway in Israel and it hit a dumpster in the middle of the highway. “This was a miracle. The Ribbono shel Olam is showing us that our t’filos help.”

He noted that the Iron Dome took out at least 60 rockets. A gadol can save a generation. After Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l passed, there were a lot of tragedies. Today we have Rav Chaim Kanievsky learning in Israel, and we must realize that this is one reason the missiles didn’t hit anyone. When we say the “On the Righteous” blessing in the Sh’moneh Esrei, we need to have kavanah that these tzadikim are protectors of our generation.

He taught that in addition to davening and learning, we should be careful with sh’miras ha’lashon. The Radak taught that Hashem gave us two gates: the lips and the teeth, to protect us from saying lashon ha’ra. Rabbi Weiss pointed out that texting, e-mail, and Instagram have no gates, so a person has to be very careful. “Character assassination in the media today is a weapon of mass destruction.”

We should be very careful to avoid hurting others with words.

Hashem should protect us, and we should hear good news about Eretz Yisrael.

By Susie Garber