I’ve always been a Sukkos boy. It’s my favorite holiday.

The crisp weather, the coziness, the change, the intentionality, the outdoor singing; it’s the holiday of joy for good reason.

Lately, the Northern Lights have been a more frequent phenomenon. The colors in the sky are just breathtaking, indescribable, and give us all a real glimpse into the G-dly miracle that is nature. It happened just before Sukkos when we are commanded to leave the comfort of our homes, our warm fireplaces, and spend time outdoors, enveloped by G-d’s protective shade, His Clouds of Glory, symbolized in the four walls of the Sukkah.

I was studying a Chassidic discourse from 1958 in which the Rebbe of blessed memory talks about the Sukkos hug: Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are all about internalization: Rosh Hashana epitomizes love and awe of G-d, rebuilding those vital components in our G-d/Jew relationship, while Yom Kippur is about forgiveness, bringing us/G-d that much closer to each other as we erase our past iniquities.

Along comes Sukkos, after we’ve bonded a decent amount, and we’re ready for a hug. Not just a casual hug, but a deeper hug that reflects the strides we’ve made in our relationship, where we feel comfortable enough to embrace each other. It’s a joy filled hug in which Hashem bestows upon us an abundance because our bond has been reignited and He’s in a splurgy state.

As you enter the Sukkah, allow yourself to feel the hug, feel the embrace, feel the protection; allow the Divine energies of the Sukkah to shower you, empower you, uplift you, and perhaps by Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah you’ll be ready to up the relationship to a Divine kiss.‍

Chag Sameach!

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Dear IDF Soldiers…

Erev Yom Kippur, 5785‍

To my esteemed brothers and sisters of the IDF,‍

How does one say thank you when thank you doesn’t seem even slightly sufficient?? I will endeavor to express my gratitude to you, and I hope you receive it with the love and warmth I am seeking to convey.

Truthfully, this letter is long overdue. I’ve thought about writing to you for a while now, but never seem to put pen to paper to share my feelings, but it’s better late than never, so please accept this note of thanks, belatedly.

Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement, is approaching. On this holy day we are all likened to angels; dressed in white, fasting, abstaining from physical pleasures, and seeking to connect to a Higher Power. Yet not all angels are dressed in white and not all of them are in the Synagogue on the Holy Day. The angels of Jewry, the ones putting their lives on the line with holy acts of selflessness to protect life, may be spending their Yom Kippur in fighter jets, on navy ships, in armored tanks, battling evil face-to-face in Gaza, Judea, Samaria, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and everywhere else where evil raises its ugly head. We may be angelic one day a year, but you are angelic 24/7, because the holiest and most angelic role of all is to protect life, save lives, and that’s what you do. The angels of Israel, of goodness and light, are spending Yom Kippur dismantling and eliminating the angels of death and destruction.

I’m not a war guy. I was raised with the firm belief in the coming of Mashiach when the world will be at peace and “nation will not lift sword against nation”. Yet despite that fervent hope, until it comes to fruition we are living in a world, and in an era, where too many are hating on the Jews, and we are blessed by Hashem to have you, incredible men and women, who devote yourselves selflessly to defend our people.

My Saba Mendel Bruk was a fervent Lubavitcher Chossid who fought in Milchemet Hashichrur in 1948 and in every war that followed until 1991. He didn’t brag, he didn’t gloat, he didn’t speak like a war hawk; he just did what he had to do to defend his family and his people from hating Arabs who embodied the Esau and Ishmael doctrine of “hate the Jew and invent the justification for the hatred later”. My nephew Sholom, followed in his footsteps and served in the IDF’s Kfir Unit until June and some of my Israeli cousins are serving in intelligence right now.

On the Gregorian calendar we just commemorated October 7th, and, in a few weeks, we will mark the day of Simchas Torah when the evil transpired in the Holy Land. Our people, men, women and beautiful children, were savaged, brutalized, murdered, raped, and pillaged. Cruel sadists brainwashed from birth with hateful ideology entered our land and sought to annihilate us. Our morale was sucker punched, our nation took a big hit, we were uncertain how we are going to move forward. During the past year as you IDF Tzadikim bravely fought back against the enemy. So many of you, holy holy Jews, died Al Kiddush Hashem, sanctifying G-d’s name with Mesiras Nefesh, noble self-sacrifice, in saving lives. You left behind broken parents, beloved children, shattered spouses and so many loved ones, yet you didn’t flinch, you faced the evil savages and defended, defended, defended with every fiber of your innocent beings.

I sit here far away in Bozeman, Montana and I am in awe of you daily.

I pray for you daily.

I am so far from the battle zone, it feels a bit unreal, unimaginable, yet I watch day in and day out as you fight like lions and lionesses to bring peace to our holy city of Jerusalem, to our biblical towns of Shiloh and Bet El, to the Beersheba of Abraham and Jordan Valley of Elisha, to Sarah’s Hebron and Rachel’s Bethlehem, to the Arizal’s Safed and to David’s Ein Gedi. You left your families, paused your jobs, canceled your vacations, postponed your Simchos; dropped it all for Klal Yisroel. In our Shul we speak of your greatness and heroism every Shabbos; we root for you, we stand with you and fight for you in the arena of public opinion here In the United States where too many spew vile lies and blood libels about you.

When IDF soldiers visit Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in our neck of the woods, Chavie and I do our part to host them, care for them, feed them and remind them that they are the holiest of the holy. My beloved mentor the Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed memory adored you soldiers, coined the term for injured soldiers Metzuyanei Tzahal “the exceptional ones of the IDF”, instead of Nechei Tzahal “the handicap soldiers of the IDF”, and demanded that we storm the heavens every time you went to war to ensure your safety.

He loved you and so do we.

We may differ in our perspective on modern Zionism and its secular founders, we may not see eye-to-eye on the lyrics of Israel’s national anthem which makes no mention of Almighty G-d, and we may not agree on Israeli politics, but we don’t need to agree to stand shoulder to shoulder in awe of you and in love with you. We don’t need to be of the same worldview, politically, philosophically, religiously or otherwise to be there for each other. When an IDF soldier shows up in our community we don’t ask him or her if they are left or right, Sephardic, Ashkenazic or Ethiopian, Kibbutznik from Meggido or settler from Itamar; we recognize that they paid for our hospitality with sweat, blood and tears and we are honored to reciprocate with a dose of Jewish warmth.

After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, the Rebbe reflected how each soldier is a Tzadik Gamur, a complete Tzadik (righteous person). He explained that the war began on Yom Kippur when we’re all atoned for our past, starting afresh with a clean slate, and it followed with the pure soldiers standing on the frontlines fulfilling the biblical mandate of Kiddush Hashem in defense of life. So, an IDF soldier epitomizes holiness through and through.

As a Lubavitcher Chassid, or as you call it in Israel, a Chabadnik, we are always focused on adding Mitzvos and blessing to each of you, encouraging you to lay Tefillin which brings security, having children pray for you with verses of the Torah, encouraging Kosher consumption whenever possible, Mezuzah placing on the bases that are your home while in service, having the women light Shabbos candles, but  we aren’t encouraging you to do Mitzvos because we don’t think that you’re good enough, it’s the opposite, because we recognize your holiness, your courage, and your resilience that we believe that your Mitzvah has so much power that it can shake the heavens more than anyone praying while sitting in a cozy Shul with friends and family.

A student in the Kol Torah Yeshiva in Jerusalem, approached his Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach of blessed memory and asked him the question: “May I leave my Torah studies in the Yeshiva to go for a short visit and pray at the graves of Tzadikim in the Galil, in Northern Israel?” Rav Auerbach answered, “In order to pray at the graves of Tzadikim, one doesn’t have to travel up to the Galil. Whenever I feel the need to pray at the graves of Tzadikim, I go to Mount Herzl, the national cemetery for fallen IDF soldiers in Jerusalem, to the graves of the soldiers…who fell “Al Kiddush Hashem” for the sanctification of G-d.”

You are the holy Jews of 5785.

I normally don’t get emotional publicly, it’s not my style. Yet, this past year, every time I’m asked to say a prayer for you guys, I choke up. Just recently I said a prayer for y’all at a Hasbara event in Bozeman and as I reached the words “from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt….” I couldn’t continue. You guys are my heroes and heroines. I know that it’s not easy, I know that you have loved ones who miss you and are scared of losing you, but you shine a light in this time of darkness, as Yagel Oshri so beautiful sang “Even in the dark hours of the night, there will always be a small star that will light up the way for you towards home…It's always the darkest before sunrise”.

I know that the war is far from over, it may never be over until Mashiach comes, but for what it’s worth, please know that most Jews and gentiles in America stand with you, are impressed with you, are enamored with you, pray for you and here in Montana the love for Israel is palpable. Montana has countless veterans, and they know the face of evil and know who the good guys are. We don’t need a PHD from the Harvard cesspool or the “depends on the context” friendly Columbia to know the truth. We don’t need the French to approve of you or the vile haters at the ICC to stand with us. We know that you are kind, compassionate, and loving, who, like every Jew I know, hates war and bloodshed, and is just seeking to stomp out evil. Fighting Haman, Pharaoh, Vespasian and Hitler isn’t a “war crime”, it’s an act of kindness on behalf of humanity.

Narrow-minded professional agitators don’t have the ability to differentiate between the blood spilled with the intention of eradicating Jewry and blood spilled to ensure that that said eradication doesn’t happen. They want us to cry for Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthi blood in the same way we do for innocent civilians in Beeri and Matula, but we won’t, because we are wiser, we have moral clarity, and no matter how many times they tweet or scream “genocide”, “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid” we will stand with you and recognize that they are attempting to project their vile actions onto you.

My dear brothers and sisters please don’t stop. If you need to take it to Damascus and Tehran, Cairo or Beirut, please do. Don’t stop until the inhabitants of Eretz Yisroel are safe and secure. Don’t back down, don’t pay attention to the noise, don’t let them blur the lines of morality. Am Hanetzach Lo Mefached, the eternal nation isn’t frightened, because we are eternal and those who hate us will end up in the dustbins of history with the Romans, Nazis, Spaniards, Jihadists, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, and all the rest who sought to annihilate us.

The IDF will stand at the forefront ready to greet Mashiach.

As I stand with my congregation on Yom Kippur, please know that we are praying for you, we are thinking about you. I’ll be dressed in white like the angels on high, but I will be thinking of the angels in green, each and every one of you.

Have a meaningful and easy Yom Kippur.

Your brother, Chaim

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