Question:
As Anti-Semitism continues to rise, it seems that we especially need to daven to Hashem to be protected from our enemies. What is the proper way to daven these days, during solitude, for the protection of the Jewish people from its enemies? Should we daven that our enemies should be destroyed? Should we daven that our Father in Heaven should prevent them? Or should we daven that we should be protected from their evil schemes?
Answer:
These enemies are the “birth contractions” preceding the Redemption. Thus the main purpose [of Anti-Semitism] is for the Redemption to come speedily, now, amidst pleasantness and joy. We should view our enemies from this inner perspective.[1]
The main thing, above all, is that we should do complete teshuvah (repentance). Our root enemy is the yetzer hora (the evil inclination), the internal enemy that resides in a person and who has control over the person. Although it seems that it is only our “external” enemies who are in the lead [it is actually a manifestation of how our “inner” enemy [the yetzer hora] is at the lead]. Therefore, we need to place extra emphasis on how to fight our “spiritual” enemy, the enemy who is fighting us on a spiritual level. As the Sages said, “One who gets another to sin is worse than the one who kills him.”
[1] Editor’s Note: refer to the derasha of Tefillah_0162_How We View The Nations
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