A letter was sent by Mr. Sol Werdiger, Chairman of the Board of Agudath Israel of America and Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America, to President Donald Trump, thanking him for his decisive action in Iran.

In part, they wrote, "Iran has made no secret of its design to annihilate Israel — may it never come to pass! This has been its goal ever since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, when its leaders referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumor" that must be eliminated from the face of this earth. The threat to Israel posed by Iranian nuclear capacity would be existential.

"Iran has no credibility with respect to its nuclear program. It has proceeded with impunity to violate its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, as the International Atomic Energy Agency recently detailed in a report where it described Iran's "rapid accumulation of highly enriched uranium," and Iran's failure to provide "technically credible answers regarding the nuclear material at three locations."

HaRav Binyamin Finkel shlita: Thank you Hashem for Trump's Attack

We find the Menahel Ruchani of Yeshivas Mir, HaRav Binyamin Finkel, during these chaotic days, in the afternoon, between one chuppah and another, of weddings taking place in the afternoon. He describes the following:

Eretz Yisroel has suffered through several wars in these recent years. As children, we lived through the Six Day War here in Yerushalayim. We were terrified, while the central part of the country was quiet. There were periods when the North suffered acute unrest while all was quiet on the southern part. Now, the whole country is in turmoil. There is no respite anywhere. We are under fire all the time, may Hashem preserve us.

We are endangered; it is a time of constant fear. But if we only open our eyes, we will discern that amidst the suffering and darkness, we can see a great light.

We certainly need much Heavenly mercy. The situation is not at all simple nor is it in our hands. We have reached a state where what we must do is draw closer to Hashem, to fortify ourselves all the time. Our obligation is doubled and tripled. We must pity our brethren wherever they may be.

Everyone is seized with fright and anxiety. Not only here in Eretz Yisroel but throughout the world, especially those abroad who have children living here but the danger threatens everywhere else as well. The gemara in Yuma (10:1) tells that Persia (Iran) will fall in the hands of Rome (the Western world). Moshiach will only come after the 'kingdom of Rome' has spread throughout the world. We need Heavenly mercy that we survive this with kindness and pity.

We must make our own effort and not act haphazardly. Some people go outside to see missiles being intercepted in the skies. This is a mortal danger. We once thought that everything is protected, but we saw several missile fragments which fell not far from the yeshiva and in other areas of concentrated housing. Shell fragments are not negligible, but very dangerous.

The true and preferred conduct of these days is to create a positive atmosphere in the home. Caution must be taken, but not through panic. Panic and fear can cause more damage than the danger itself.

e can possibly favorably judge those who speak silliness. They speak rationally, logically, but what is taking place before our very eyes defies all logic. We are living during an era which is wholly miraculous without a bit of a logical process.

Starting from the horrific and painful Simchas Torah massacre whose effects we are still experiencing when fifty hostages are still in enemy hands. This was an event which, including its disastrous ramifications, turns out to be the beginning of the loosing of the dreadful noose which the Iranians created all around the Jewish settlement in the Holy Land in order to strangle it to death.

Were it not for the fact that Hamas launched the attack all on its own rather than waiting for a united attack on all fronts, who knows where we would be today?

Afterwards, Hizbullah, the fearsome enemy which had built up unimaginably huge stores of arms, suffered a mortal blow. Syria collapsed like a tower of cards and now, Iran, injured, is licking its wounds, thanks to President Trump, whose election was a miracle unto itself, Next we find Russia, Iran's patron, is deep up to its neck in a war against the Ukraine, deserting its ally to fend for itself.

All of the erudite analyses of the critics tally with logic but the Jewish nation has always enjoyed a Providence which defies human logic because the Guardian of Israel is the One Who watches over the remnant of Jewry.

Originally published in 1993, 32 years ago.

Part 1

Not too many people have heard of R' Arye Leib HaKohen Heller by name, but nearly everyone in the Torah community is familiar with the Ketzos HaChoshen, which he wrote.

Author of three works which truly illuminated the eyes of all Israel: Ketzos HaChoshen on Chosen Mishpat; Avnei Milu'im on Even HaEzer and Shev Shmaitsa, on seven highly complicated Talmudic topics, he was virtually unknown during the early years of his life. But now his works form the basis for the analytic method that is practiced in virtually every yeshiva today.

Razintov (or Rozniatow), which was not far from Zhidichov, was no different from any other Galician village. It wasn't a bustling commercial center, nor a regional city nor a busy port. It boasted no famous yeshivos or outstanding Torah centers. On the surface, it was merely a village like all the rest. On the surface, we say—for its chief rabbi was none other than R' Arye Leib HaKohen, whose greatness at first eluded even his own townsmen.

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• The Fallacy of Limited Horizons
• When it is Permissible to Attack Religious Institutions

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