the news today is all about Israel striking and destroying a nuclear reactor in Syria ten years ago. At the time everyone "knew" but now that it has been officially acknowledged, everyone officially knows.
I have been thinking about what I can say about this matter. There are all sorts of angles worth discussing. I have decided to mention just one aspect of the story.
As part of the release, it became known that the politicians (Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, Tzippi Livni, and others) making the decisions sent Eli Yishai to Rav Ovadia Yosef to inform him and to give the mission his blessing and prayer. In addition, the IDF Chief of Staff asked Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch to daven for the success of the mission.
All these people, secular politicians and generals, leaders of a secular army and a largely secular state, none of them known for being even somewhat traditional, went to rabbonim for brachas and prayers prior to engaging in such a critical mission.
Maybe they don't talk about God and His part in modern State affairs as often as we might like. Maybe we accuse them often of forgetting God's part and being too focused on "my power and my might" - kochi v'otzem yadi - but at the end of the day, when the going gets tough, when it comes down to anything important, they value and ask for the blessings and prayers of the religious leaders and value their part in affairs and consider them as crucially necessary as any other aspect in preparation for critical missions.
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