Stop Calling It October 7      

 
This past year has exposed the myth that the nations of the world love us (PHOTO: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

“What would Rav Moshe have said?”

Hands down, this must be the most frequently asked question among Rav Moshe Shapira’s talmidim across the globe. Like a master sea captain, Rav Moshe would steer us with hashkafic clarity through the stormy waters of world events, always original, always penetrating, always one step deeper than conventional narrative. And now, when we need him most, he is no longer with us to give us guidance.

But he left us with clues. For decades he developed themes about the nature of Galus Yishmael, the final exile that precedes Mashiach (see Looking into the Sun, pages 394-397). For example, he would talk about their unique power of tefillah and how we needed to elevate our tefillos to the “mesirus nefesh of Yitzchak Avinu.” I remember how he once lamented, “Dovid Hamelech said, ‘Eleh varechev, v’eleh vasusim, v’anachnu b’Sheim Hashem Elokeinu nazkir [They fight using their chariots and horses, and we fight using the Name of Hashem — Tehillim 20:8].’ Woe to us when our leaders fight using their rechev and susim, and their leaders fight using the Sheim Hashem!”

To our credit, his ideas inspired initiatives like the Amida Army, a Baltimore-based women’s group that encourages women to find time to daven as zechuyos for our soldiers, and has to date “generated” over 20,000 Shemoneh Esrehs.