Noah, a Flight from Dubai, and Israeli Teens on a Life-Threatening Hike
There is something extraordinary about the Jewish people. Throughout history, we have faced enemies who appeared infinitely more powerful than us. Empires sought to destroy us, and superpowers tried to erase our identity, faith, and very existence. Yet generation after generation, we have survived. Many of the empires that persecuted us have disappeared into history, but we the Jewish people are alive and flourishing.
It’s natural to ask, how is this even possible?
This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Noach, offers a powerful explanation. It’s our simple tenacity and refusal to give up, even when the entire world thinks you are doomed for destruction.
According to Jewish tradition, Noah spent 120 years building his ark. The Rebbe explains that the building of the ark was an integral part of the miracle. Just imagine the scorn and ridicule. For more than a century, Noah labored on a project that seemed absurd. There was no flood, no immediate danger, and no apparent reason to construct such an enormous vessel. People mocked him, convinced he was a lunatic.
But Noah kept building. The opinions of others did not deter him because he was on a sacred mission. He did not measure success by public approval or political pundits’ predictions. He persevered because he believed his work mattered, even when he stood virtually alone.
Then the rains came. The man everyone had ridiculed had prepared for the unimaginable. The ark that seemed so pointless became a vessel of salvation.
Noah’s story is more than an account of an ancient flood. It is a lesson about the Jewish soul. We keep building when others see no reason to build. We prepare, struggle, and rebuild, refusing to surrender our future to those who wish to destroy us.
Consider the extraordinary events aboard a FlyDubai flight carrying Israelis to Tel Aviv. When an attack in the cockpit placed the aircraft and its passengers in mortal danger, ordinary people suddenly faced an unimaginable responsibility.
Among them was Yaniv Hayoun, an Israeli plumber with no professional flying experience. Another passenger, dentist Dr. Shota Musayev, helped provide medical assistance to the wounded captain. They had boarded a plane expecting an ordinary journey. Instead, they found themselves confronting a crisis in which lives depended on their immediate actions.
They did not wait for ideal circumstances or question whether they were qualified heroes. They acted, working together to overcome the danger. The aircraft landed safely. No feasibility study could have predicted such an extraordinary outcome.
A plumber. A dentist. Ordinary passengers. Yet when catastrophe struck, they became extraordinary and discovered the courage to do what was necessary.
Another example just emerged from a school hike in northern Israel, where an explosion killed a teenager and injured others. Amid the horror, young people rushed to help their wounded friends. Some improvised tourniquets from belts and socks. Fifteen-year-old Yair Frankenthal, himself injured, used his first-aid training to perform CPR on a critically wounded classmate.
These were teenagers who should have been thinking about school, friendships, and their next adventure. Instead, they confronted a life-threatening emergency with remarkable composure and determination. Their actions could not undo the tragedy, but they demonstrated how the instinct to protect another human being can overcome fear.
What connects Noah, the passengers on that plane, and those teenagers on the hiking trail? They all responded to the seemingly impossible not by surrendering, but by acting.
Jewish history is filled with moments when our survival appeared impossible. We endured exile, expulsions, pogroms, and the Holocaust. Again and again, powerful enemies predicted our disappearance. Yet here we are, continuing to learn Torah, celebrate Shabbat, raise families, and build Jewish life.
After October 7, 2023, Israel found itself threatened on multiple fronts. Hamas had inflicted devastating suffering, Hezbollah threatened from the north, and other hostile forces endangered the country. Yet through G-d’s intervention and extraordinary sacrifice and determination, Israel struck back, significantly weakening its adversaries. The cost has been heartbreaking, and the suffering of our people must never be minimized. But once again, those who imagined Israel could be broken encountered a nation that simply refused to be obliterated.
Our survival does not mean we are invulnerable, nor should we underestimate our enemies. It means that military strength alone cannot explain the endurance of a people whose commitment to G-d, life, faith, family, and future has outlasted generations of persecution.
In that sense, every Jew is literally a walking miracle. We are the descendants of people who survived circumstances that should have extinguished us. Every Jewish child who studies Torah, every family that celebrates a festival, and every Jew who steps forward to save another person carries our precious and miraculous legacy into the future.
Noah teaches us to keep building when others laugh, to persevere when the odds seem overwhelming, and to act when others believe nothing can be done.
Our response to adversity has never been simply to hope that the storm will pass. It is to build the ark, prepare for the storm, and ensure that life continues beyond it.
The world laughed at Noah until the waters rose. We do not need to wait for another flood to understand the lesson.
We are the people who keep building, the people who keep rescuing, and the people who refuse to give up. Our history is our testimony, our resilience is our inheritance, and our future is still being built. We are on a mission to bring the world to a utopian state called Moshiach, that is as much a reality as our supernatural existence.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann
