"Be strong and courageous!"

Today as I read through the Torah Portions, Nitzavim-Vayelech, in synagogue, I suddenly read:

Deuteronomy Chapter 31 6Be strong and courageous! Neither fear, nor be dismayed of them, for the Lord, your God He is the One Who goes with you. He will neither fail you, nor forsake you."

וחִזְק֣וּ וְאִמְצ֔וּ אַל־תִּֽירְא֥וּ וְאַל־תַּֽעַרְצ֖וּ מִפְּנֵיהֶ֑ם כִּ֣י | יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ ה֚וּא הַֽהֹלֵ֣ךְ עִמָּ֔ךְ לֹ֥א יַרְפְּךָ֖ וְלֹ֥א יַֽעַזְבֶֽךָּ:

That is exactly what comes to my mind every time Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, other politicians, media, academics etc try to tell us that we can't institute the policies that would make the State of Israel stronger and safer. They use it as an excuse for not building the quantity of homes in Judea and Samaria that would lower prices all over.

We're back to the notorious "sin of the spies," which delayed the entrance to the Land of Israel by forty years. Ten out of twelve tribal chiefs insisted that the "giants" who occupied the Promised Land were too strong for the Jewish People. Those ten frightened the people, and only a tiny minority trusted that Gd would help.

As the Jewish Year 5777 is in its final days, and we are reading the very end of the final and fifth book of the Torah, the Chumash. The forty year delay is over, and the Jewish People are about to enter the Land led by Joshua. Moses is soon to die and not enter with his people. He led the Jewish People as they escaped from Pharaoh in Egypt, and he led them through the wilderness helping them prepare for the next stage, entering the Land of Israel.

A new generation is to enter the Holy Land, and they are reminded yet again that Gd will be with us, to help and not forsake us. Here we are thousands of years later. We read the Torah through every single year. And most of the Jewish People still need reminding and reassurance.

Gd willing in the upcoming year, 5778, the Jewish People and the Government of Israel will have the faith in Gd to think of what's best for the Jewish People and State of Israel, and not what "the world" may say or do. When we act assured with full confidence and sovereignty, like we did in those first few hours of the 1967 Six Days War, the world will accept and respect us. They will be in awe of our Gd given power. That is the "light" we must shine on the world.

Shana Tova One and All