. . . . You, Israel My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, who loved Me, Whom I grasped from the ends of the earth, and from its nobles I called you, and I said to you, “You are My servant”; I chose you and I did not despise you. Do not fear for I am with you; be not discouraged for I am your God: I encouraged you, I also helped you, I also supported you with My righteous hand. Behold all those incensed against you shall be ashamed and confounded; those who quarreled with you shall be as nought and be lost. You may seek them but not find them, those who quarrel with you; those who war with you shall be as nought and as nothing. For I, the Lord your God, grasp your right hand; Who says to you, “Fear not, I help you.” Fear not, O worm of Jacob, the number of Israel; “I have helped you,” says the Lord, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Yeshiva Son refers us to Isaiah - by way of Rabbi Lazer Brody:
Until quite recently, I never understood the full implication of the prophet’s famous saying (Isaiah 41:14), “Do not fear, worm of Jacob; masses of Israel, it is I who has helped you, the word of God, your Redeemer.”
It’s amazing how Time, Newsweek, and the CNN look at the news with no spiritual awareness whatsoever. The above quote should have been the banner headline of 2010, for it’s the secret that underlies this past year’s most earth-shaking events, especially Stuxnet and WikiLeaks, the two hottest names in the news.
.... The Gemara (tractate Gittin 56b) tells about when Titus defiled the Holy of Holies in the most unspeakable way, then destroyed the Holy Temple altogether. He shook a fist to the sky and boasted, “I have defeated You!”
A voice came down from the heavens and declared, “You haven’t even defeated the smallest of creatures in My world.” Hashem then sent a mosquito, which entered Titus’s nostril and penetrated his brain. It pecked away at his brain like a woodpecker for seven excruciating torture-filled years before he finally died his miserable death.
2000 years ago, a mosquito did what Bar Cochba and his armies couldn’t do.
This past year, a worm has done what the most daring of IDF missions couldn’t dream of accomplishing: it has penetrated the dark-side holy of holies, Iran’s nuclear program. It’s amazing that the little bit of code that’s known as the computer virus is also referred to as a worm.
Experts and amateurs alike have been conjecturing who was brilliant enough to develop the worm known as Stuxnet, which was also surgically precise enough to penetrate the computers that control Iran’s nuclear reactor. Ed Barnes wrote an article for Foxnews.com entitled Mystery Surrounds Cyber Missile that Crippled Iran's Nuclear Weapons Ambitions– this article makes James Bond and 007 look like a Savta Simcha story.
We humbly submit the obvious solution to the mystery of where the worm named Stuxnet comes from – Hashem, and no one else. Ein od milvado, there’s no one but Him. The theme of “No one but Him” is the key to understanding all of the major events not only of this past year, but for all of history.
Who would think than another worm, a tiny little snippet of code that wiggled its way into the world’s most carefully guarded email servers would give Wikileaks access to everything that’s going on in the CIA, MI5, KGB, and even our Mossad?
Hashem has a mighty sense of humor; via Wikileaks and Stuxnet, Hashem has shown smug Silicone Valley and prodigious governments alike that there is no cyber security or any other security without Him. We here in the Land of Emuna should be the first to recognize that fact....
Shabbat shalom.
Posted by: madeleine7 | Saturday, 08 January 2011 at 02:38 AM
Posted by: yeshiva son | Saturday, 08 January 2011 at 09:37 PM