Who Deserves Our Thanks: God, the IDF, or Both?

Who should we be thanking for the success Israel has had so far against its sworn enemies — God or the Israeli Defense Forces along with Israel’s leadership?

This is a constant conundrum, not just one pertaining to times of war. Jews often say “B’ezrat Hashem, with the help of God,” or “Baruch Hashem, thank God,” attributing the ultimate outcome to God. But where do human efforts come in? Should we be thanking God, or thanking the soldiers who risk their lives for us and fight the enemy? Or is it a joint effort and we should be thanking both?

It’s All God

The mantra of the Jewish people is Shema Yisrael, the declaration of belief that God is One and All-Powerful. For thousands of years Jews have died with those words on their mouths. We live by these words and repeat them daily when we wake up and before we go to bed.

We have a constant mitzvah to recognize that God is the one and only power that exists in the world. As Jews we consider it a form of idolatry to say that God needs or has any kind of partner. He is the Infinite, Single source for everything. He is truth and there is no other.

This concept seems to make human effort entirely insignificant. Since it’s all God, what do we really contribute to the world?

However, Moses and the Prophet Elijah have shown us how great and important it is to be grateful.

Thanking People

When Moses fled Egypt in duress, Jethro, the man who would become Moses’ father-in-law, took him in. Moses was forever grateful to him. When God commanded Moses to return to Egypt to redeem his people, He refused to go without first getting permission from Jethro. His gratitude was that significant.

Elijah the Prophet was once hosted by a poor widow from Tzarfas during a time of famine (see Kings 1, Ch 17). When her son later died, Elijah brought him back to life as an act of gratitude for her kindness. According to tradition, this boy grew up to become Jonah the Prophet, who would one day be sent to deliver God’s message to the people of Nineveh.

In the words of the sages “If someone helps you, you owe them your life.” So should we thank God or man?

Two Truths

To resolve this apparent contradiction, it’s necessary to focus on two truths.

The first is that all results and outcomes in this world are done so directly by God. Any intermediary is a facade meant only to hide His presence. He is the direct cause and creates every effect on His own.

The second is that our mission in this world and the purpose for which we were created is to choose good over evil, and bring about Godliness in this world through our free will decisions. God has made us His partner in creation. and we responsible for what happens in the world.

Our success in war or business is due to God making that happen. The result ultimately comes from Him alone.

We should never minimize the sacrifices soldiers make to protect us. That is a lack of gratitude. At the same time we must thank God.

At the same time our choices are of utmost significance. Being responsible means putting in the necessary effort. However, even with our best plans, we may or may not reach the result we intended. That is not in our hands. What is up to us are the choices and effort we make along the way. As the Talmud says, “Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except the fear of Heaven” (Talmud, Brachot 33b).

We should never minimize the sacrifices soldiers make to protect us. That is a lack of gratitude.

At the same time, we need to distinguish between their efforts and God’s results. We must express our gratitude to the Mossad for their remarkable achievement in secretly establishing a drone base inside Iran, and for successfully eliminating some of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers as well as key military and political leaders. At the same time, we must acknowledge that none of this could have been accomplished without God’s guiding hand behind it all.

As Jews, we are obligated to thank both God and Man.

Thank you Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israeli government, the Israeli Army and all of those who work on behalf of the Jewish People. You risk your lives for us and work around the clock to ensure that we are safe from all threats.

Thank you God, for destroying our enemies, granting us life and strengthening the spirit of our nation in these difficult times.

May we be worthy to see the downfall of the enemies of the Jewish people and the strengthening and unification of our people.

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