When the World Chants ‘Death to the IDF’

By Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer

The same week in which Israel struck a profound blow to global evil, severely weakening the Iranian terror regime and incapacitating its proxies, also saw a surge in anti-Israel vitriol around the world.

One of the most grotesque expressions came from British punk artist Bob Vylan, who chanted (together with his audience) “Death, Death to the IDF” at England’s largest music festival, broadcast by the BBC to millions.

These and similar phenomena are deeply disturbing. They also intensify my gratitude for having left England more than 30 years ago. I wish my good friends who remain there every blessing, and I am happy to recommend some Israeli real estate agents. Yet perhaps they are best understood as part of a still-unfolding process.

To confirm the Divine election of Aharon and the tribe of Levi, Moshe, at Hashem’s command, asked each tribal leader to submit a wooden staff engraved with his name. The staffs were placed overnight in the Tent of Meeting. When retrieved the next morning, Aharon’s staff had miraculously blossomed, producing buds, then flowers and
finally almonds.

The fruit was the proof. Yet the Torah makes a point of describing the process: First buds, then blossoms and only then fruit. Holiness is revealed not merely in the result, but in the unfolding. It is a process, not a magic trick.

This concept strongly echoes the Tree of Life, rooted at the center of Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) — the tree of divine intimacy, whose fruit granted eternal life. As with Aharon’s staff, the Tree of Life is a symbol of holiness that takes shape in the form of a tree. And like it, the righteous, says Tehillim (Psalms, 95), blossom and flourish like date palms and cedars — planted in the House of Hashem. Their growth, too, is a process. There are no
instant results.

So it is with the Jewish people, and so it is with the state of Israel. We are living through a sacred process, one that began 3,500 years ago. In our time, we are witnessing extraordinary fruit: Israel standing at the forefront of the global fight against evil. But the process is not complete. It continues to unfold, with all its trials and contradictions.

The struggle between good and evil is not limited to Iranian nukes or Hezbollah cells. The calls of “Death to the IDF” or the astonishing comparison by New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (slated to become the next mayor of New York and its huge Jewish population) between the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and “globalizing the intifada” reveal the deeper scope of the battle.

As enemies of the Jewish state raise their voices, so do those who stand with Israel and the Jewish people — inspired to fight for what is good, and to draw down the Divine blessing promised to those who bless Israel.

The historical arc of Am Yisrael — a journey of holiness — entered a new phase with the founding of the state of Israel. This fact could endure plausible denial in 1910, and even in 1950, there were many, of diverse denominations, who chose to close
their eyes.

Today, as this ancient journey bears new and wondrous fruit unseen for millennia, it falls upon all of us to stand with Israel. This is not a partisan cause or denominational debate — it is a calling for every Jew who sees themselves as a link in the eternal chain of our people, whether Orthodox, Haredi, Reform or otherwise.

The journey is far from over. Since Oct. 7, 2023, it has only intensified, reaching a new crescendo with the recent campaign against Iran — yet it continues still. Wherever we find ourselves and in whatever role we are called to play, we must be prepared to rise to its great summons. We must be ready to harvest its fruit. ■

Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer is a community rabbi, head of the Iyun Institute for Haredi Responsibility and chairman of Netzach Yehuda.