During a lecture delivered last night in Manhattan, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, head of the Shuva Israel movement, addressed the current security situation in Israel and offered reflections on Divine guidance in times of crisis.
“This is a period that calls for deep reflection,” Rabbi Pinto said. “Every person—individually, within their family, their community, and the Jewish people as a whole—must learn how to view life and understand its meaning through what we’re experiencing.”
Rabbi Pinto shared the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, who escaped the besieged and devastated Jerusalem after its destruction and succeeded in rebuilding the spiritual foundations of Judaism in Yavne:
“Rabbi Yochanan left Jerusalem as rivers of blood ran through its streets. He disguised himself as a corpse to escape. He approached the Roman general and asked for three things: to preserve the sages of Yavne, to safeguard the lineage of Hillel the Elder, and to provide medical care for Rabbi Tzadok. The general—who would soon become Caesar—agreed. And that’s how the spiritual rebuilding of the Jewish people began.”
But, Rabbi Pinto added, the story doesn’t end with revival.
“Rabbi Yochanan, on his way down from Jerusalem, saw a Jewish girl searching for grains of wheat in animal droppings—looking for partially digested kernels. She wasn’t just anyone—she was the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion, one of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem.”
Confronted with this devastating sight, Rabbi Yochanan didn’t cry out or lament. Instead, he made a sharp statement:
“Fortunate are you, Israel: when you rise, you reach the stars; and when you fall, you descend lower than the dust—even to the waste of animals.”
According to Rabbi Pinto, this moment captures the essence of the Jewish condition:
“That statement reflects the extremes we experience as a people—sharp swings from one end to the other. It wasn’t only then. It’s happening now too. Two thousand years have passed since the destruction of the Second Temple. There were moments of prosperity and thriving communities—but we have always lived with uncertainty. Sharp ascents, painful declines. A people that once died—and suddenly, has come back to life. From the freezer, back into the world of the living.”
Rabbi Pinto also highlighted the spiritual renewal of the current generation:
“We may never have seen Torah learning as strong as it is today. Everyone is connected in some way. Everyone finds their own path. Even without the Temple—we have a real, living connection to the Torah.”
Referring to the events of October 2023, he said:
“What happened two years ago—it wasn’t just about the murdered and the kidnapped. The entire Jewish people experienced existential fear. But this is how God runs the world—from one extreme to the other. One day, everything collapses. The next, astonishing success and wonders beyond nature. Extreme, but precise.”
Rabbi Pinto concluded with a call for balance:
“Our challenge is not to collapse into despair during the low points, nor fall into arrogance during the highs. A truly great person stays centered—with strong faith. He doesn’t let success confuse him, and he doesn’t let failure crush him. That’s what Rabbi Yochanan taught us: he didn’t break—he built a new world.”
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel