Given Israel’s recent extounding defense against Iranian Missiles (29th of Elul, 5784) I thought it was fitting to print an excerpt from Miracles of the Gulf War that explains the value of expansion.
The biblical prophet, Isaiah teaches [chapter 54 verse 2] “Expand the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations: do not hold back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes”. The students of the Gaon of Vilna,(as explained in Rabbi Rivlin’s book, Kol Hator, chapter 5 ), believed there are 17 facets of expansion needed to fully fulfill this verse. All the activities that are contained within the commandment of expansion , it is obligatory to do them and strengthen them without stopping and without delay as the words of the prophecy there [in Isaiah] state, “Expand the place of your tent”, etc. “do not hold back” , meaning, don’t stop, and “strengthen your stakes”. In the same chapter [of Isaiah] of which we were commanded to “Expand the place of your tent”, we have a trustworthy promise “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises with you to judgment, you shall make into the guilty party, this is the heritage of the servants of Hashem [G-d] and their righteousness is from me, says Hashem”.