The IDF: Bringing The Holy TORAH Into Battle

The large, well padded backpack being carried by an IDF soldier into Lebanon contains a holy Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll). When Israel's warriors go into battle the Torah goes with them, just as we read in Numbers 31:6:

"Moshe sent them the thousand from each tribe to the army, them along with Pinchas the son of Eleazar the kohen to the army, with the sacred utensils and the trumpets for sounding in his possession." Midrash states that the "sacred utensils" were the Ark of the Covenant and the Titz - the golden showplate worn by the Kohen Gadol.

As we read elsewhere in Numbers 10:35:

"So it was, whenever the ark set out, Moshe would say, Arise, HaShem, may Your enemies be scattered and may those who hate You flee from You."

Israel's most powerful weapon to defeat evil is not its fighter jets or its missiles, or its anti-missile missiles, or its tanks or infantry or even the fabled Mossad. Israel's most formidable weapon against evil is the Holy Torah, Israel's eternal covenant with the One True G-d. May G-d protect our soldiers and grant them overwhelming victory! Amen!