Faith or Fear?

The last month has been filled with holidays, but with Simchat Torah on this past Saturday night, the cycle is finished, and life returns to a more regular schedule. May we, and all of America and Israel, be blessed with good health, prosperity, joy, wisdom, love, and peace.

But peace is often not found so easily, and Israel must always be prepared, given that it is still surrounded by neighbors who do not recognize the inherent right of the Jewish people to have their own sovereign nation of Israel on their ancestral homeland.

Which is why the Israel Naval Force is becoming even stronger with the delivery of its sixth submarine, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about on Sunday at Ashdod Naval Base. Warning that the maritime arena has become an “international battlefield,” he cited threats around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb and said Israel will protect its ports, shipping routes and Mediterranean waters. “Above and below the surface, I intend for Israel to be one of the world’s leaders in this field of warfare,” Netanyahu said.

Warfare with ships and subs is one type, but the terrorist attacks are still dangerous, as we saw this past week with the attempted hijacking. Officials, after investigation and interrogation, have determined that the would-be hijacker intended to fly the plane into Israeli territory and ultimately crash the plane at Ben Gurion Airport to create a mass chaotic event. What the hijacker did not realize was that the courageous pilot had already sent the code to Israeli officials that there was a hijacking going on, and had the hijacker crossed the Jordanian border, the plane would have been shot down upon entering Israel's airspace (jets were already up in the air).

While we must always be prepared, we can never, God forbid, allow ourselves to fall into fear. Too many of us make our decisions and act based upon our personal fears: macro fears like a terror that AI, Muslims, or terrorists will conquer the world, or create an apocalypse, God forbid. Micro personal fears like not having enough money; not being able to get married or have children; or not finding the right job or college.

But all fear really comes down to the same one thing: a lack of deep faith. Faith and fear cannot exist in the same place at the same time; the more of one, the less of the other. I am reminded of an old Hasidic teaching.

There was once a couple who, at the end of every month, would get in horrible fights about money. They would fight about how they would possibly pay the mortgage by the end of the month. And they had been having this same fight every month for 30 years, even though for those same 30 years the mortgage had always been paid.

Think of how much of their lives they wasted in fear.

Jews have a history of miracles over the course of thousands of years. We celebrate them with holidays. The miracle of the Exodus; the miracle of the many biblical military victories against significantly larger forces, as in what happened at Jericho; the miracle of the victory of the Maccabees against the Greeks, the largest empire in the world at that time; the miracle of the many wars in modern Israel, especially the 1967 and Yom Kippur Wars where it looked like everything was going to be destroyed; the miracle of the Iron Dome protecting Israel; the list goes on and on throughout history.

And in the past week we have seen the miracle of the FlyDubai hijacking. God's hand is so clearly evident in this event. Had the pilot not been able to send the hijacking code to Israel. Had the wounded pilot been unable to unlock the cockpit door. Had the courageous passengers not subdued the terrorist copilot. Had a plumber not watched so many episodes of a TV show that he was able to level off the plane. Had there not been a flight crew on board as passengers that could land the plane. Had any one of those things not happened exactly as it did, it would have been another 9/11 event.

So while yes, we need to do our work and be prepared, it is even more important that we continue to have faith that the Holy One will keep us safe and protected, and that He has a plan for each of us. That the challenges that we face, be they micro or macro concerns, are only there so that we will deepen our faith and our personal awareness of God.

It is always a choice: faith or fear. Will each of us succumb to our fears, micro or macro; or will we choose to stand up and act based upon faith, trust, and love? Will we be the ones who sit paralyzed in fear as a plane plummets over 17,000 feet in two minutes; or will we have the courage to stand up for our deepest values and level off the plane so that it can bring everyone, including ourselves, to safety?

Rebbe Nachman taught that the only thing to worry about is that we worry too much. A Sikh Master taught that worrying is praying for what we do not want. It doesn't matter the culture or the century; the great enemy of love and peace is and has always been fear (worrying is just a manifestation of fear that we deal with daily).

Do you worry often? Did it ever help you in any way? Or did it just detract from your life and hurt your relationships?

There are real concerns. Antisemitism, Iran, terrorists, economics, politics. We are surrounded by legitimate concerns. But we are in the Jewish New Year of 5787, and do we want this year to be one of faith or fear? Suffering or love? War or peace, both externally in the world and internally with our feelings and relationships? It is entirely our own choice.

May we all choose faith, and as a result, love and peace. And may we see our faith rewarded in joy, as it has been for thousands of years, and for those passengers of FlyDubai.

Chazak u'Baruch

Rabbi Michael Barclay

October 5, 2026

24th of Tishrei, 5787

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