“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Balak
15 Tamuz 5785/July 11, 2025
Avos perek 6
IT JUST SO HAPPENED
In my youth I read a series of books about a protagonist hero who always saved the day in the nick of time. Despite the many enemies who wanted to destroy him, somehow, he always just happened to uncannily have exactly what he needed to get out of every precarious situation. Sometimes the “it just so happened” was a little ridiculous. If he was thrown off a building, he just happened to be wearing his sneakers with springs on the bottom. If he was locked in a cellar, he just happened to have little tools in his pocket that enabled him to get out. The best was when he was imprisoned in a freezer and he just so happened to have worn his thermal undergarments that morning, even though it was the middle of the summer.
I was thinking about that book series recently because Jewish history is filled with numerous uncanny “just so happens” moments. There is no dearth of enemies who would destroy the Jewish people. Yet, we are still here thriving. Often, it’s because “we just so happened” to have what we needed to save us from an impossible situation.
In just a few minutes of reflecting on this point, I thought of a few examples of this phenomenon. Undoubtedly, there are many others that can be included:
From Biblical times we have two classic examples.
“It just so happened” that Pharoah’s daughter was bathing in the Nile when baby Moshe floated by, and “it just so happened” that Moshe was raised by the Pharaoh himself.
“It just so happened” that Esther was chosen as the queen of Achashverosh’s empire before Haman came to power and issued his nefarious decree.
In the last hundred years the incredible story of the Jewish people’s return to our homeland has been nothing short of miraculous. Along the way, there have been many such “just so happened” moments.
President Harry Truman would likely not have voted for the creation of the Jewish State in the United Nations vote of November 1947 were it not for Chaim Weizmann’s emotional appeal to him. Had the USA not voted in favor, the state of Israel would not have been formed. But initially Truman refused to meet Weizman. He agreed only because Eddie Jacobson prevailed upon him to do so. Who was Eddie Jacobson? It “just so happened” that years earlier Jacobson and Truman owned a haberdashery together. The haberdashery was an utter failure, but Truman was loyal to a fault. Eddie Jacobson came to meet with President Truman in the White House and asked Truman to meet with Weizman. Truman wasn’t happy with the request but out of unwavering loyalty to his old friend he agreed to do so.
On the morning of June 5, 1967, Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, whom they knew were planning to imminently attack Israel. Planes took off from Israel, starting at 7:10 a.m., flying under 50 feet above ground and sea to avoid detection by Egyptian radar.
A few minutes after Israel’s planes took off, sophisticated radar in Jordan picked up signals of the launch. A Jordanian officer immediately radioed “Inab” (Grape) to headquarters in Amman, which was the code word for “war.” The information was then relayed to the Egyptian Defense Minister in Cairo. But “it just so happened” that the Egyptians had changed their codes the previous day without updating the Jordanians. In addition, the Egyptian Defense Minister had gone to bed a few hours before, and ״just so happened” to have left strict orders not to be disturbed. The IDF planes successfully destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force in the first hours of the war.
In July 1976, four Israeli Hercules planes landed at Entebbe airport in Uganda in a daring successful effort to try to free 117 hostages who were being held by terrorists. It “just so happened” that the Israeli construction firm Solel-Boneh had built the terminal in Entebbe airport in the 1960s. While training for the dangerous raid, Solel-Boneh helped build a replica of the terminal for the Israeli commandos to train in.
After the Hamas attack on October 7, 2024, Israel was constantly being attacked in the north by the more powerful terrorist group, Hezbollah. The prospect of entering Lebanon to fight Hezbollah was even more daunting than the already very costly and difficult battles against Hamas in Gaza.
On September 17, 2024, thousands of beepers held by leading Hezbollah terrorists suddenly exploded. Nearly 3,000 terrorists were injured, most suffering injuries to the hands and face. The following day, walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah terrorists also exploded, resulting in more casualties.
It “just so happened” that Israel masterminded the incredible operation years earlier. Israel formed a fake corporation in Hungary called B.A.C. Consulting, which procured a license to manufacture pagers from the Taiwanese corporation Gold Apollo. Hezbollah ordered 5,000 new pagers from B.A.C., through an intermediary, and distributed them to its operatives and allies.
The specially designed pagers contained batteries laced with small quantities of the explosive PETN, which is difficult to detect. The explosives were designed to detonate after a specific encrypted message was sent to them, activating an on-switch in the explosive charge.
Of course, Israel was planning the attack for years. But to the world it was a glaring example of “it just so happened” that Israel had something in place from well beforehand. In addition, even with the best planning amazingly it “just so happened” that everything worked like clockwork and the plan was such a resounding success.
The same holds true for the incredible Israeli preemptive strike on Iran a few weeks ago in June. The attack was 20 years in the making. It “just so happened” that Israel infiltrated Iranian air defenses, knew the location of leading Iranian regime terrorists and the scientists who masterminded their nuclear program. Israel’s successes from the outset are mindbogglingly successful, well beyond the expectations of the IDF themselves.
Just a few weeks ago, on June 19, 2025, Iran fired a ballistic missile toward Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. It was immediately assumed that there were mass casualties. However, “it just so happened” that the day before (!!!) the ward that sustained the direct hit had been cleared out. If the missile had hit ten hours earlier, it would have been a catastrophe. In addition, had the missile landed a few feet over, it would have hit a building of young mothers and babies.
The bottom line is that “it just so happens” that we were and are G-d’s chosen nation. The Master Storyteller ensures that the drama of history will always include the eternity of the Jewish people.
As we begin the Three Weeks of mourning for our prolonged exile, it is worth remembering that although our history includes so much pain and anguish, “it just so happens” that we know who will emerge on top in the end. Now we just wait to see how it will unfold.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum