As Hanukkah approaches, I can’t stop thinking about one thing: Israel’s only real chance of surviving — truly surviving — in this hostile neighborhood is when we finally put God back at the center of the story. The moment we push the Bible to the side, the moment we treat this land like just another secular nation-state that can be saved by diplomacy, alliances, or foreign soldiers on our soil, we are guaranteed to make catastrophic mistakes. Inviting international forces into Gaza (and potentially deeper into our land) is not some clever “stabilization” move. It is the exact opposite of everything the prophets dreamed for us. In fact, it looks disturbingly like the nightmares they warned about — foreign boots enforcing foreign agendas inside the inheritance God gave us. Remember what actually happened on Hanukkah? A tiny band of kohanim, completely outnumbered and out-armed by the greatest empire on earth, didn’t cry, “Let’s negotiate a ceasefire!” Their battle cry was: מי לה' אליי “Who is for Hashem — come to me!” They understood the secret: we don’t win because we have better weapons or more powerful friends. We win when we become holier, when we return to who we really are. Every challenge we face right now — rockets, UN resolutions, pressure from Washington, jihadist armies on every border — is divinely orchestrated for one purpose: to wake us up and bring us home to our essence. When Am Yisrael remembers who we are, the nations will remember who we are. When we shine that light again, the world will finally be ready to receive it. But that light doesn’t come from international peacekeeping troops. It doesn’t come from trying to appease the White House or any other palace. It only comes when we put our faith where it has always belonged: in the God of Israel, not in the plans of men. This Hanukkah, may we all answer the same call the Maccabees did. מי לה' אליי Who is for Hashem?