After listening to Bruce Springsteen for years, and finally attending his first Springsteen concert, Rabbi John Moscowitz reflects on the profoundly religious message embedded in his music:

Springsteen’s music inspires his fans to think about life’s serious matters, all the while making us want to dance. He shies away neither from irreverence nor from religion; he knows that each has its place and purpose.

Often he puts the two together. In “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” one of his signature songs, Springsteen gyrates across the stage while regaling his . . . jazzed-up audience of how he went from lonely boy to fulfilled rocker “when the Big Man [Clarence Clemons, his late soul-brother sidekick] joined the band.” Evangelical style, he proclaims, “Take me to the river, wash me in the water. . . . I want to throw a rock-and-roll baptism, a rock-and-roll bar mitzvah. . . . I want to go to that river of life and hope and faith and transformation.” And then his kicker, another zing to the heart, in case you weren’t paying attention: “I want to go there with you because I can’t get there by myself.” . . .

It’s not just that Bruce (you just want to call him that) brings the energy of the old-time preacher to every concert; he fills his songs with religious imagery and language, and suffuses them with an understanding that life’s a tough road to travel, but hope is real, and redemption is available for everybody. He gets loneliness and love, his own included, among other polarities of the human condition. When he sings, we feel the Boss knows what’s in our hearts. And we feel more tied to one another: the guy in the row in front of us begins as a stranger and leaves a friend.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.