Beyond the Strait of Hormuz: Life Lessons from a Syrian Minefield

I am standing right now over Gei Ben Hinnom, the valley right outside the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a place with a very heavy history; in the times of certain kings, terrible things happened here, and in the times of the Churban, many people died here. Chazal tell us something very powerful: that there are three “entrances” to Gehinnom, one by the sea, one in the desert, and one in Jerusalem. Of course, this is not a GPS location that you plug into Waze, but spiritually, this place represents something real, and standing here gave me an idea.

This morning I opened the news, and everyone is talking about the challenge of getting through the Strait of Hormuz. There are underwater mines and things that can blow up ships instantly. As they are trying to figure out how to get through a minefield safely, I called my parents. I said, “Abba is in the news!” When they asked what I was talking about, I told them, “They’re trying to figure out how to get through a minefield and I don’t think anyone knows better than you.”

When my father was seventeen years old, he escaped Syria with a few friends. They reached a border, and in front of them was a minefield with no maps, no technology, and no guidance. They went to a nearby village and rented donkeys. They sent the first donkey fifteen meters in, and there was an explosion. They sent a second donkey another fifteen meters, and there was another explosion. The third donkey, again, met an explosion. Each time, they learned where not to step, and that is how they started making their way through the minefield.

When you think about that, the question is not just how to cross a minefield. The real question is: in life, are you the donkey, or are you learning from the donkey? Life is full of minefields, whether it is marriage, raising teenagers, business, or major decisions. People step, make mistakes, blow up, and move on. Then the next person comes along and says, “I’ll figure it out myself.” That is the fool.

Chazal already told us, “Eizehu chacham? Ha'lomed mikol adam” - Who is wise? The one who learns from every person. This means learning not just from their wisdom, but from their mistakes. Today, we have something no generation ever had: access. There are thousands of books and thousands of life experiences available from people who already went through what you are going through. You can learn what destroys a relationship, what builds one, what works in business, and what fails. You don’t have to step on every mine yourself.

There are tools like the app Blinkist where thousands of books are summarized. You can take your exact life situation, ask for the best books on the subject, and in a short time, gain years of wisdom. The truth is that experience is very expensive. The fool says, “I’ll learn from my own mistakes,” while the wise person says, “Let me learn from other people’s mistakes.”

That is the bridge. The world is compared to a narrow bridge where one wrong step can cause a person to fall. But if you walk with wisdom, if you watch where others stepped, and if you learn before you move, you don’t have to fall. So don’t be the donkey; learn from the donkeys. You will cross the minefield of life a lot faster and a lot safer.