What Happened During Our Torah Class

Last night I drove two and a half hours to Kingston for our biweekly Torah class. We usually meet on Tuesdays, but this week we decided to push it to Thursday night.

It’s a small, modest group some weeks six people, sometimes ten. Jews coming together to learn a bit of Torah, explore the parsha, share insights from the Talmud and some Chassidus. A little light, a little warmth, a little meaning.

Just five minutes in, someone looks up from her phone and says, “Rabbi, Israel attacked Iran.” Then she smiles and says, “I told you look what our Torah class is doing!”

I told her, “You’re absolutely right.”

Every mitzvah counts. Every prayer, every class, every pair of tefillin, every candle lit before Shabbat it’s spiritual firepower. It’s what keeps us strong. It’s what keeps us safe.

So friends, now’s the time to gear up. These are serious, amazing days.
Strengthen your trust. Lift up your actions.
Moshiach is near.

And when that moment comes, let’s be ready to greet him—not in spiritual pajamas, but in our finest spiritual suit. Wrapped in mitzvos, in light, in faith.

Let me share with you something a friend sent me from Israel. It moved me deeply and I think it will move you too.

Why Were We Woken Up in the Middle of the Night?

Was it necessary? Did it help or just cause panic?

These are real questions. After all, thank G‑d, nothing happened. But when the alert came at 2:00 a.m., many of us were shaken. Families with kids had to calm their little ones. This morning, advice started circulating: how to breathe deeply, how to relax, how to stay grounded.

But maybe there’s something deeper. Something ancient. Something from this week’s parsha.

The Torah tells us:
“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, you shall blow the trumpets and you shall be remembered before Hashem your G‑d, and be saved.” (Bamidbar 10:9)

The Ibn Ezra explains: the trumpets are both a call to act and a call to pray.

So why were we woken up?

So we could say a chapter of Tehillim. So we could direct our thoughts to our brothers and sisters risking their lives pilots, soldiers, commanders deep in dangerous territory.

If we had just slept through the night we wouldn’t have been thinking of them.

And they need our thoughts. They need our strength.
And no this isn’t symbolic. It’s real.

Do you remember the Gross family from Jerusalem? Their children were accidentally poisoned. Two girls tragically passed. Two boys were barely alive, connected to machines.

And the parents said something that shook the soul:
“We felt like all the tefillos of the Jewish people were breathing for our sons—like a giant ventilator.”

And then the miracle happened. The boys recovered. A nation breathed with them.

That’s the power of your prayer.
It matters. It reaches. It strengthens.

And just one verse later, the Torah adds:
“And on the day of your rejoicing on your festivals and Rosh Chodesh you shall blow the trumpets.” (10:10)

The very same trumpets.
In war they’re a cry for help.
In peace they’re a song of thanks.

This Shabbat, let’s carry both verses with us.
In times of fear and times of joy there’s always something we can do.

Let’s never forget it.