This week, we witnessed a remarkable miracle in which, despite the danger, no lives were lost. The Rebbe’s teachings about Entebbe and the blessing of Shehecheyanu show us the difference between a great rescue marked by loss and a complete miracle in which everyone comes home safely.
A Miracle in Two Minutes
We all know what happened this week with the plane from Dubai. It was an enormous miracle. So many things had to happen, and they all happened at exactly the right time.
I want to mention just three points.
The first is that the first pilot managed to prevent the attacking pilot from killing him, G-d forbid. With the little strength he had left, he managed to open the cockpit door, allowing others to enter and help.
The second is Yaniv, who managed to get inside and overpower the attacking pilot. He later said that the pilot was very strong and violent, and that it was difficult to overpower him.
The third is that there were two pilots sitting in the back who happened to be there. In addition, there was a doctor on board who managed to save the life of the first pilot.
And all of this happened within two minutes. If it had taken another thirty seconds, everything could have looked completely different.
What is interesting is that this year we are marking fifty years since the miracle of Entebbe. At the time, the Rebbe spoke about it at length, over a period of several months. On Simchat Torah in 5737, exactly fifty years ago, the Rebbe returned to the subject of the miracle and even asked, “that seemingly, what is the need to occupy ourselves with an event that happened several weeks ago?” The Entebbe operation had taken place in the month of Tammuz.
The Rebbe quoted the story from the Book of Kings about King Hezekiah. On the eve of Passover, Sennacherib arrived with an enormous army of 185,000 soldiers to conquer Jerusalem. Jerusalem was surrounded on every side, and the Assyrian army appeared invincible. Sennacherib was certain that the next day, with every soldier throwing a stone at the holy city, he would conquer it.
G-d sent the prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah, who told him: Do not be afraid. G-d will perform tremendous miracles. Celebrate the Passover night as prescribed. And indeed, that night almost the entire Assyrian army was wiped out, and the survivors fled. It was an enormous miracle.
The Gemara later says (Sanhedrin 94a) that G-d wanted to make Hezekiah the Mashiach and bring the complete Redemption. Why did this not happen? Because Hezekiah did not sing a song. He did not thank G-d in the appropriate way for the great miracles that had been performed for him.
From this, says the Rebbe, we learn how much “we must sing a song,” speak about the miracle and explain how great the miracle was. It should inspire us to strengthen ourselves in Torah and mitzvot, and especially in the matter of Ahavat Yisrael.
Entebbe was similar; a plane was hijacked and an enormous miracle took place there. There were more than one hundred Jews, and in the end they managed to save almost all of them. It was an incredible military operation that shook the entire world.
I remember that day as a child. I was in Israel at the time, and I would take the public bus to school and back. I remember the joy that filled the streets. People were simply hugging each other inside the buses. There was an enormous joy that is difficult even to describe in words. It is impossible to explain just how great the happiness was that day.
In those days, the Rebbe also emphasized that although there had been a great rescue, and thank G-d they had succeeded in saving so many Jews, nevertheless, we had lost four Jewish souls, may G-d avenge their blood. Three of the hostages were killed during the rescue, and in addition, Yonatan Netanyahu was killed.
The Rebbe said that we must remember that each and every one of them is an entire world. “Even one whose heart is a heart of stone will melt like water, that the matter should shake him.” And there is a message here for us. We must strengthen ourselves in our personal lives in Torah and mitzvot, and the Rebbe explicitly mentioned putting on tefillin, keeping kosher, observing Shabbat, and the rest of the 613 mitzvot. (Torat Menachem, Vol. 84, pp. 481 to 486.)
In other words, the joy over the Entebbe operation was not complete joy. There were families who lost their loved ones, and therefore it was not complete joy for any of us, because several Jews paid with their lives for what happened, in the midst of the great miracle.
The idea that great joy can be affected by the fact that another Jew is suffering at that same moment is not only an emotional idea. We find something similar in Jewish law as well.
When Joy Is Not Complete
We all know the blessing of “Shehecheyanu.” When something significant happens that brings us joy, we say “Shehecheyanu.” We say it on holidays, on Simchat Torah, and in many other situations of joy and gratitude.
But there are situations in which, despite the great joy, we refrain from saying “Shehecheyanu.” For example, at a brit milah. Some Sephardic Jews have the custom of reciting “Shehecheyanu,” but among most Ashkenazim, it is not recited.
One of the reasons given for this is “tzara d’yinuka,” the pain of the baby.
In the Rebbe’s words:
“We do not recite Shehecheyanu at a brit milah because of “tzara d’yinuka,” meaning that although in truth this is a very great joy, because of the great elevation involved in bringing him into the covenant of Avraham our forefather, through which he becomes connected with G-d through an “everlasting covenant,” and seemingly, what significance does the pain of the baby have compared with the great level of joy, even for the baby himself, if he understood that this is the matter of entering into the covenant, and so on?! Nevertheless, since in practice there is an element of pain, it is impossible to recite Shehecheyanu, because the blessing of Shehecheyanu is said only when the joy is complete.
Furthermore, the pain belongs only to the baby and not to the adult, and nevertheless, he too cannot recite the blessing, because the baby is in pain. From this we learn how closely the Jewish people are connected to one another, that even the greatest among the great is connected with the smallest among the small, and when the smallest does not have complete joy, something is missing even for the greatest, to the extent that he too cannot recite the blessing!” (Torat Menachem, Vol. 58, p. 139.)
And this is exactly what we can understand about Entebbe as well. On the one hand, there was an enormous miracle and more than one hundred Jews were rescued. On the other hand, there were Jews who lost their lives and families who lost their loved ones. Therefore, the great joy was mixed with great pain.
We see this in other cases as well. There were Holocaust survivors who, every year, on the day they were rescued, would hold a large party, a great celebration, and celebrate the great miracle that they had survived the Holocaust.
But among the Chabad Rebbes, we do not see such a practice. I do not know what the reason was, but perhaps we can say that the reason is the same point: how can one rejoice with complete joy over one’s rescue when so many other Jews lost their lives?
Again, this is a speculation. I am not saying this as a fact. But perhaps this is a reason that can be suggested, that the joy over one’s personal rescue cannot be complete when so many other Jews did not merit the same. And there are indications for this in various talks, but this is not the place to elaborate.
What happened this week is something extraordinary. An event on a biblical scale took place here, and the verse that best fits what happened is from the war against Midian: “Not a single man was missing from us.” (Numbers 31:49)
G-d commanded Moses to go to war against Midian and take revenge on behalf of the Jewish people against Midian. Moses chose one thousand soldiers from each tribe, and they went out to war. And when they returned from the war, everyone came back healthy and whole. They came to Moses and asked to give thanks to G-d. Rabbeinu Bachya emphasizes that this was “a great wonder and one of the great miracles that happened to Israel.” It was a miracle that was completely beyond the natural order.
And that is exactly what happened to us this week. No lives were lost. Everyone came back healthy and whole. The only person who was seriously injured was the pilot, and for him as well, we are all praying that, with G-d’s help, he will recover and return to his full strength. We bless him with a long life and good years. This is a miracle that is completely beyond the natural order and therefore, the joy is complete.
We must remind ourselves of the magnitude of this miracle. We must see with our physical eyes how much G-d watches over the Jewish people, with individual Divine providence, and recognize that providence wherever we are.
The next time we hear about antisemitism or about difficult things happening in different places, and it makes us somewhat depressed or fills us with concern and fear, we need to remember that if G-d can perform such an enormous miracle, like the miracle that happened this week with the plane, then certainly, from everything else, G-d will save us.
Tonight, as we come to celebrate Simchat Torah, this is a golden opportunity to turn Simchat Torah into a holiday of thanksgiving, a holiday of gratitude for all the great miracles that G-d performed for us this week. In a certain sense, this can be a tikkun, a rectification, for that Simchat Torah three years ago, on October 7, when so many terrible things happened and it was so hard to rejoice.
And just like in a parent child relationship, when a child appreciates and thanks their parents, it gives the desire to the parents to give more. So too, in a certain sense, with the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people. When we thank G-d for the miracles He performs for us, we express our recognition of the good He does for us, that itself becomes a vessel for the additional miracles we will receive from Him.
And ultimately, may it lead to the greatest miracle of all, the true and complete Redemption, speedily in our days, Amen.
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