In the midst of a Sunday prayer at Rabbi Dov HaCohen Kook's synagogue in Tiberias, word arrived of the assassination of the rabbi of the murderers, Yahya Sinwar, in Rafah.
As soon as he heard the good news, he blessed in the name and kingdom of the blessing of the good and the benefactor.
As the holiday ended, his associate Rabbi Moshe Chaim Schneider came in and asked if there was an explanation why the assassination took place specifically on the holiday of Sukkot?
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To this, Rabbi Kook responded: Today in the Haftarah we read the following verse, 'The Lord will punish the Gentiles who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.' That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, has a special reckoning with those Gentiles who prevented the people of Israel from celebrating the festival of Tabernacles - and this is what made Him a troublemaker on Simchat Torah last year.
Therefore, measure for measure was punished precisely on the holiday of Sukkot. Since, as is known, this scoundrel was behind the surprise attack last year on the holiday of Simchat Torah, in which more than a thousand Jewish people were killed, and he was the one who held the hostages as a human shield, preventing their release with his body, God, blessed be He, came to account with him precisely at the beginning of the holiday that He wanted to destroy and paralyze the joy of the holiday.
