Surrounded | Rabbi Naftali Horowitz

It was 1944. World War II was raging. General Anthony McAuliffe was leading the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army defending Bastogne, France, against the Germans. In December of that year, they found themselves completely surrounded by German troops at an absolutely hopeless situation. On December 22nd of that year, the German general dispatched a group of soldiers to deliver a letter to General McAuliffe. The letter read as follows. According to those present, as soon as General McAuliffe read the letter, he tore it up to shreds, took out a piece of paper and wrote the following. It is recorded that when the German commander received this letter, he didn't even know whether or not he had agreed to surrender or not. Nuts, after all, is a food. General McAuliffe then assembled all of his troops and he said, Ultimately, the United States won that battle. I know it's hard to imagine since I just trudged here in the snow, but not that many months ago, I got out of an Uber in midtown Manhattan to attend a meeting, and it was 100 degrees outside. I realized, as I stepped out of that Uber, that a Vayimaen episode was in the making. If I looked right, I wasn't allowed to. If I looked left, I wasn't allowed to. I couldn't look back and I couldn't look forward. I said: Maybe I could look up. And then I looked up and there there was a balcony with a restaurant, and I couldn't look over there. And I remembered this story, because I felt completely surrounded. And then I realized that what General McAuliffe shared with his troops was true with me, at that moment. Any which way I looked, any which way I used my power of Vayimaen, I was going to slay the Satan. What an unbelievable opportunity. Sometimes we feel hopeless, sometimes we feel surrounded, sometimes we feel despairful, but think about it. The Nisayon that we have today gives us the opportunity to cause Kiddush Hashem and to kill the Yetzer Hara like it's never been done in the history of mankind. Without question, we are going to win this battle.