A Letter to God During these Times

Dear G-d,

Even though I don’t always feel it, I know You could hear me. This is not just a belief; I know with every fiber of my existence that right now, You are entirely focused on the Jewish People. How else can we explain the happenings of the past year? How else can we explain the downfall of virtually every one of our enemies? The emasculation, quite literally, of Hezbollah, the systematic destruction of Hamas, the once-mighty Syrians that we did not even need to fight, and now the Iranians.

People keep using the phrase that we are living in ‘Biblical Times.’ I imagine that you, G-d, bristle at that phrase. Was the bombing of a heavily fortified underground bunker that took out Nasrallah and the beeper attacks less or more impressive than the fall of the walls of Jericho? I’d venture to say it was far more impressive.

Is the iron dome shooting down thousands upon thousands of missiles and projectiles day after day, night after night, more or less impressive than the sun standing still for a few hours?

Was the clearing out of hundreds of ill patients from the Soroka hospital just a few hours before a direct hit from an Iranian missile, saving countless lives, less or more impressive than the Jewish People crossing over the Jordan?

‘Biblical times’ does not do justice to our reality. Thank you, Hashem.

But G-d, I have some questions.

You asked us to be a light unto the nations, to help others, and lead the way in eradicating evil. Have You seen the medical advancements that have come from Your people? The technology that is changing the world for the good? And yes, even this preemptive attack on Iran, to spare the world from a nuclear power intent on using it for evil purposes?

And yet, no matter what we do or say, the world keeps accusing us of genocide, of trying to take over the world, that we are the ones who are evil. We’re pumping millions of dollars into initiatives and ad campaigns to stem the tide of antisemitism. G-d, You know better than anyone how those resources and all that time and energy can be better spent. We’ve done everything we can. Can You help us out? Can You just get our enemies to see the truth?

Antisemitism is a supernatural phenomenon, and we need You, G-d, to provide a supernatural solution. Can You just open their eyes so that we can walk down the street without harassment? So that we can go to a walk for hostages without the fear of being firebombed?

And that’s not all. I have more questions –

We read in Your Torah this Shabbos how our ancestors did not believe in Your abilities; how after learning about the mighty inhabitants of the land of Canaan, they wanted to return to Egypt, and they spent the night crying. We learned from Your sages how that night was Tisha B’av, and how thousands of years later, You destroyed our temples and exiled us from our land on that very same day. This was Your way of saying that we still struggled with the same flaws; that we still rejected the land of Israel and that we still did not believe in You.

Dear G-d, we learned our lesson. Have You not seen the massive influx of olim? The thousands of people who applied to move to Israel during a war?! Have You not heard from the many of us who are not yet making Aliyah but wish we could? Tovah ha’aretz me’od, me’od. Every one of us yearns for and is obsessed with the land You gave us.

And G-d, have You not seen the videos that have been circulating on my social media feed? How in every apartment building basement last Friday night Your children welcomed Shabbos? How those who would describe themselves as chiloni, secular, danced to the words of Od Yoter Tov, a firm affirmation of Your kindness and control of the world? Did you not hear the Prime Minister of Israel declare to his cabinet that הסיעה הכי גדולה בכנסת – זו סייעתא דשמיא that You, Hashem, are Israel’s greatest asset?

I know we’re not perfect, far from it. But this is likely as good as it will get. G-d, is it not time to put an end to this whole exile thing and rebuild that temple of Yours?

My message sounds tired, exhausted, and frustrated. I know, G-d, I should have put it through ChatGPT asking it to correct for tone… But we are tired, we are exhausted, and we are frustrated. Our brothers and sisters in Israel haven’t had a good night’s sleep not only this past week, but since October 7^th. Since that time, none of us have allowed even an hour to go by without frantically scrolling through the news from Israel. We have spent the past year and a half wringing our hands over what’s taking place in Israel and what is taking place in the colleges and on the streets in our backyard. And so, my final question for You, G-d, is how much longer will You make us wait?

And before You answer that question, G-d, allow me to make a declaration:

The Kotzker Rebbe famously observed that the spies in our parsha saw themselves as grasshoppers and that is what caused the inhabitants of Canaan to see them as grasshoppers. “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes.” Meaning – our ancestors did not have self-confidence or pride; they were ashamed, embarrassed, and lacking in self-esteem. And that caused our enemies to see us in the same pathetic way we saw ourselves. Understandably, for the last two thousand years, as we were thrown from one country to the next, we have often seen ourselves in a sad and pathetic light, we have too often viewed ourselves as grasshoppers.

But thanks to You, Hashem, thanks to Your Divine hand in returning us to our land, thanks to Your Divine hand in giving so many Jews access to Your precious Torah, thanks to Your Divine hand ensuring that our nation has flourished like never before, we will never ever see ourselves as grasshoppers again.

I, and all of us, have never been so proud to be a Jew. To be a part of a nation that attempts to bring justice to a world of corruption, that attempts to bring compassion to the battlefield, that attempts to bring G-dliness to a world saturated in self-centeredness. Our grasshopper days are over.

G-d, we are clearly living in times that are beyond Biblical. We are imperfect but we are united. We are tired but we are proud. V’af al pi she’yisma’meia, even though You delay, G-d, for reasons beyond our comprehension, achakeh lo b’chol yom sheyavo, we are waiting here, impatiently, for Your answer.

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Delivered as a sermon at Ner Tamid, Baltimore, MD, on Shabbos, June 21, 2025