Today's pasuk of bitachon is a famous one from Hallel.
יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל בְּטַ֣ח בַּיהֹוָ֑ה עֶזְרָ֖ם וּמָגִנָּ֣ם הֽוּא׃
Jewish people rely on Hashem. He is their Savior, their Help and their Shield.
The sefer Maaseh Hashem, on the topic of Maaseh Mitzrayim chapter 24, says that there are two ways that Hashem can save the Jewish people. One way is that He wipes out the enemy. The other wa is that He protects us in what we’ll call an almost miraculous way. He says the greater praise comes when Hashem is their Magen, their Protector, because when Hashem wipes out the enemy, it could be just because the enemy was deserving of punishment, like it says in Devarim 9,5, כִּ֞י
בְּרִשְׁעַ֣ת הַגּוֹיִם/Due to the wickedness of these nations.
When Hashem doesn’t wipe out the nation, but rather protects us, that publicizes Hashem's love for us, because He is doing it just to save us. That's the expression of love that Hashem had for Avraham Avinu in Bereshit 15,1
אנכי מגן לך
I am your shield. That's why we say, every single day, Magen Abraham, because that publicizes God's love, when He saves us through protection.
That actually is what happened when those 300 missiles from Iran came our way and Hashem protected us miraculously with His clouds of glory. Of course, it happened in a semi-natural way that could attributed to the Iron Dome or other technological advances. But those are 90% successful, not 99.9% successful. In any case, God was our Magen, and that's something that's supposed to give us tremendous hizuk.
Who exactly merits this level of Magen, when Hashem shows His tremendous love for us in that way?
The sefer Zekan Aharon, quoted in sefer Yisaschar Yisrael Parashat Yavashev says that quite often, people feel that they're not deserving of Hashem’s love and protection, because they might have sinned. He says that even if someone sinned in a great way and he has almost no holiness left to him, if all he has left to him is the title Yisrael, then He's a Jew. What does it mean that he's a Jew? There’s a pasuk in Yeshayah 44,5 that says that in the future, when Mashiach comes, there will be different levels of Jews, and one of them is וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה /He's called the Jew. The Bet Halevi writes in a manuscript quoted in the sefer Kovetz Yerushun that this refers to a Jew who didn't put on tefilin, and never said a Kaddish. But you know what he still has going for him? He didn't assimilate. He's recognizable as a Jew. And he says that you can't imagine what the great zechut is, for somebody who did not assimilate, who identifies himself as part of the Jewish people. We can't underestimate what that power is. He's not that Rasha from the Hagaddah that took himself out of the group. He says, If all this fellow has going for him is that he identifies himself as Yisrael, that’s enough for him to rely on Hashem, to merit the level that ‘Hashem will be a Magen, a Protector for you.’
It says ‘Magen Avraham, God protects Abraham,’ meaning that every Jew who has that little bit of Avraham inside of him, is still protected like Avraham, as long as he identifies as a continuation of Avraham Avinu. And he says, that's why the pasuk starts in the singular form, because this fellow becomes part of the Jewish people. He identifies himself and unifies himself with the rest of the people. This concept is actually a Rashi in Chumash. When they went out to war (Devarim 23), the Kohen told them, ‘Shema Yisrael, Hear, Jewish people, you're going out to war. Don't be afraid, don't be broken.’
Why does it say ShemaYisrael?
Rashi says it’s because Even if all you have is the merit of saying ‘Shema Yisrael,’ that's enough to save you. And Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Alei Shor (volume 2, page 360), makes a beautiful diyuk. He says, “It doesn't say ‘In the merit of saying Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad…’ it’s just the first two words that warrant protection. That means Shema/Hear Yisrael/Listen that you're a Jew. Realize you’re part of the Jewish people, and that itself earns you the protection for you to go out to war and be successful.
This is an unbelievable concept for those people that wonder Who am I? What am I?
Are you a Yisrael? Do you identify yourself as a Jew? If so, regardless of what you're up to exactly, if the world recognizes you as a Jew, that is the great level of וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה You have the title Jew, and that's enough to rely on Hashem. All the goyim out there, the Arabs, they don't like Jews. They don't care what they look like, they don't care what they keep. They just don't like that Jew, וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה and if you have that, that's enough to rely on Hashem.
You are part of the Jewish people, and you have that special protection.