The Wonders of Harav Yitzchack Kadouri

Simply to be united 260 The Gulf War The air was heavy with tension. Suddenly, a siren sounded all over Israel, from Dan in the north to Eilat in the south, shat- tering the silence of the night. Everyone scrambled into their sealed rooms, grabbing and af¿xing gas masks, placing infants in small tents, and preparing themselves for the possibility of poisonous gases. For the general populace, those minutes were frozen in time. Speci¿cally at those moments, almost as one, each Jew prayed for Divine salvation. Some prayed in their hearts, others read the Psalms; each person beseeched the Al- mighty in his own way and in his own language, to save their family members from harm. Mothers prayed for their sons, fathers for their daughters, and sons and daughters for their fathers and mothers – a tremendous unity was achieved. This was a ful¿llment of the verse, “Even before they cried out, I answered them.” G-d is close to, “All those who cry out to him.” On this, the Talmud relates, the end of the verse quali¿es who is it that G-d listens to, “To all those who cry out sincerely.” G-d, may His glorious Name be praised, saw the unity of the nation and answered their prayers. The power of unity is illustrated in the Midrash with the following story. The Patriarch Yaakov, before he blessed his children on his deathbed, told each one to bring a reed from the marsh. His sons went and brought reeds. “Bundle them together in one bundle,” he said. His children did as they were told. “Now take that bundle, and whoever has any strength in his muscles, should try to break it,” said their father. They took the bundle, but were unable to break it. “Now separate that bundle into individual reeds and break them one by one,” Yaakov continued.