By Rabbi Efrem Goldberg
If you submitted the script to Hollywood, it would be rejected for being too outrageous and unbelievable. If you proposed it as a plan, it would likely be dismissed for being too high risk, with too many things that could go wrong.
And yet, in a bold, brave, and brazen scheme, Israel spent years planting more than 5,000 pagers that were distributed to Hezbollah leaders and that were capable of being remotely detonated. One day last week, the pagers exploded. The next day, more electronic devices detonated in Hezbollah hands in a second wave of the genius targeted attack. By the third day, when the wicked terrorists had no choice but to abandon technology altogether, Israel eliminated 20 commanders who were meeting in person to plan an October 7-style infiltration and attack from the north.
How did they pull it off? We likely will never fully know but what we do know is that a Hungarian shell company was formed that signed an agreement with a Taiwanese manufacturer. The pagers were new, a brand that the group had not used before. They were brought into the country about five months ago.
This operation that interfered with the supply chain and introduced very small explosive devices built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then remotely triggered them simultaneously, is nothing short of a miracle for which we must be incredibly grateful. We are thankful to the young woman who allegedly introduced the scheme, the leadership who green-lighted it, the operatives who carried it out, and most of all the Almighty whose providence pulled it off.
Not surprisingly, the usual cast of Israel haters and antisemites, instead of praising the operation that was specifically designed to target and eliminate evil terrorists while sparing civilians, criticized and condemned Israel, with some going so far as to label the operation terrorism.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by the beeper attack. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said the attack “violates international human rights law.” Having been silent about Hezbollah’s 8,500 rockets fired at civilians in Israel in the last 11 months that took the lives of dozens of Jews and non-Jews alike, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commented, “This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines U.S. efforts to prevent a wider conflict. Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any U.S. assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology.” The New York Times published an opinion piece titled, “Israel’s Pager Bombs Have No Place in a Just War,” with the author, Michael Walzer, calling the operation “likely war crimes” “terrorist attacks.”
Like Hamas, Hezbollah has long harbored genocidal intentions to annihilate Israel and kill Jews around the world, intentions they act on constantly. The devices that exploded were not sold at retail stores—they were specifically deployed to communicate regarding terror activities and they were carried by terrorists who were dedicated to perpetrating them. There is nothing more moral than defending your country and the innocent men, women, and children who rely on you.
Instead of condemning or criticizing Israel, AOC and all Americans should be expressing gratitude and praise for eliminating Ibrahim Aqil, wanted by the United States for decades for his role in the devastating 1983 attacks at the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks. America had been trying to get him for 41 years and had a $7 million bounty on his head.
As I followed the story of Hezbollah’s devices, and the technology they paid for blowing up in their faces, I shared in the gratitude, admiration, glee, and hope that we are one step closer to eliminating this enemy for good.
As quickly as the pagers blew up, the funny memes, gifs, and jokes were exploding all over the internet, in WhatsApp groups, and on social media. The creativity and wittiness made me smile and sometimes even laugh. But as the jokes went increasingly viral, in addition to the smile, they made me concerned because they weren’t only drawing the attention of Israel’s friends, they were attracting the focus and comments of our enemies.
Make no mistake: we can be and must be absolutely grateful and even celebrate the defeat and demise of enemies who seek to destroy us. However, in the modern world where things spread far and wide with unprecedented ease, I believe we need to be thoughtful and intentional with where, and when, and how we “celebrate.” These questions concern me not because I hesitate to be glad and even gleeful over the elimination of evil people. Shlomo HaMelech teaches in Mishlei 24:17, “When your enemy falls, do not rejoice,” but as Rav Aviner writes, “there are enemies, and there are Enemies.” The Talmud (Megillah 16a) teaches that when Mordechai was led around on a horse by Haman, Haman challenged, “Doesn’t your Torah instruct that you are not supposed rejoice in your enemies fall.” to which Mordechai responded: “This does not refer to you.” Today’s enemies are no better than Haman and worthy of the same celebration when they are taken down.
There is a well-known Gemara (Sanhedrin 39b) that describes how when the angels wanted to sing and join with the Jewish people’s celebration after the Splitting of the Sea, the Almighty rebuked them saying, “My handiwork is drowning and you are singing a song before me?” The Angels were silenced, yet the Almighty allowed and welcomed the Jewish people raising their voices in song. Do we not strive to be like angels? Why was it ok for us to sing?
The Piazetna Rebbe, R’ Kalman Kalonymous Shapira, Hy’D, wrote during the Holocaust: “Was an angel ever hit? Was an angel ever murdered? Was an angel ever humiliated? We were! The angels did not suffer as we did in Egypt, so they could not sing. But we did suffer—immensely—and therefore, during the Exodus from Egypt, ‘Moshe sang.’”
And so yes, when learning of news of the destruction of Hezbollah terrorists, prayers of gratitude and appreciation in the community are appropriate and warranted. A l’chaim among friends and family to mark the miracle of the courageous pager attack and for each evil that is eliminated is reasonable. (The same is true of the beautiful videos of singing and dancing that took place in several Israeli yeshivas, which were expressions of gratitude to Hashem and joy in His salvation.) And there is nothing wrong with sharing memes or jokes among ourselves, even if they are irreverent and humorous. However, I think all would agree handing out candies at the local mall to celebrate would be a mistake and inappropriate. They could and would easily be perceived (and gleefully covered by the media) as Jews celebrating and glorifying death, as being no different than our enemies. Where do the internet and social media fit in? Are they a more public extension of our private community or WhatsApp group, or is it the equivalent of publicly displaying memes and gifs at the local mall or town square?
Some are hesitant to gloat because they are uncomfortable with the Jewish state being in the role of aggressor, the mighty, strong, and capable independent nation standing up for themselves. This kind of thinking is just wrong and an entirely illegitimate reason on which to base our behavior. But, it has been suggested that spreading funny and embarrassing memes and gifs should be considered part of the online war effort, publicly humiliating our enemies. Perhaps. Others feel that the world will never love us or be fair to us and so who cares what they will think. There is merit to that. Still others feel the messaging and impression we leave in public matters and we should be thoughtful and strategic what, how, and where we post and share. There is definitely merit to that.
This, like most questions about the war (among many other things) is nuanced, multifaceted, and complicated. There are different reasonable conclusions. What I hope we can all agree on is that we shouldn’t simply react and act mindlessly and get swept up in what is spreading around us. If we are choosing to post, to share, to comment publicly, it should be done mindfully and thoughtfully. The stakes are too high, the implications too great to be carried by momentum or by the forces of external actors.
Please G-d, we will have many, many, more chances in the very near future to react to the destruction and elimination of our enemies. Let’s be as strategic, thoughtful, and judicious in how we fight online as the fight is happening offline. n
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg is the Senior Rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS), a rapidly-growing congregation of over 1,000 families in Boca Raton, Florida. BRS is the largest Orthodox Synagogue in the Southeast United States. Rabbi Goldberg’s warm and welcoming personality has helped attract people of diverse backgrounds and ages to feel part of the BRS community, reinforcing the BRS credo of ‘Valuing Diversity and Celebrating Unity.’
