Rav Shalom Arush: The Decree has been Delayed

My beloved teacher and spiritual guide Rav Shalom Arush had a bigger smile on his face this 
morning (image at right)than I've seen in the last few  weeks. He told Rabbi Nosson Maimon and me that Israel's 36 hidden tzadikim - several of whom are in contact with Rav Shalom - got together and prayed at the Kotel, the Western Wall and remnant of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem. They succeeded in delaying the decree of imminent war before Rosh Hashana that we spoke about last week.

Amazingly also, I heard this morning from a reliable source inside the IDF that if any of our diplomats or security personnel would have been harmed this past Shabbat in Cairo, then a war would have broken out between Israel and Egypt. With that in mind, we owe Hashem a tremendous note of gratitude for the prodigious miracle of rescuing the Israeli embassy staff from the thousands of blood-thirsty rioters that broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo this past Friday night.

Rav Shalom says that Hashem's love for us is beyond anyone's comprehension; the delay - not cancellation - of the war decree is to enable more people to make teshuva. Just yesterday, Rebbetzen Kanievski said that outreach is the most important mitzva today - we must help others come home to Hashem immedately. People scoff at me when I keep saying there's not much time; I'll get no satisfaction from telling someone "I told you so" when he or she can no longer get on the train to redemption.

Rather than dropping our guard, we must use the next few weeks to spread emuna everywhere and to strengthen ourselves in teshuva and emuna. We all have work to do; Hashem is moving forward in His timetable and things are definitely not business as usual.

Halacha forbids conjecture about when Moshiach will come. But, Halacha also demands that we prepare ourselves for his immediate arrival. We must all do teshuva anyway before Rosh Hashana, so there's no time like the present.

Many people - particularly here in Israel - have written me that deep inside, they're hoping for an all-out war to get things over with already. I understand their feelings, but with each day, so many people are getting closer to Hashem. Let's appreciate the fact that everyone is getting another chance, for the more we come coser to Hashem, the more tremendous miracles we'll see in the coming war, which Iran, Turkey, and Hizbulla are just itching to start.