Rescue at Entebbe

13 Tammuz, 5736 · July 11, 1976

From time to time, G-d grants us the opportunity to observe in this physical world how quality prevails over quantity, how the soul prevails over the body, and how the soul of the world rules over the veil of physical reality.

We recently witnessed the miraculous rescue of dozens of Jewish hostages and their safe return to the Holy Land. There was no natural way of seeing how this could be done. And yet, we saw with our own eyes how quality prevailed over quantity. Every step of the way, the enemies greatly outnumbered the rescuing forces in both men and weapons. Moreover, the rescuers themselves overcame their own physical considerations and instincts for selfpreservation. Their Jewish “quality” – their spiritual instinct – prevailed. And what made victory at the airport possible? Their utter thwarting of diplomatic and military conventions.

Here, victory was achieved by ignoring the calculations of time and space, ignoring the opinions of “allies,” and by those carrying out the mission ignoring their own instincts. They knew full well that according to all calculations it couldn’t work except for the smallest chance – but that alone was enough of a “vessel” to receive G-d’s miracle, and they succeeded!