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Shoftim 2 "When you go out to war against your enemies, and Hashem your G-d will give them into your hand and you will capture its captivity" 21:10. The verse is talking about the constant and perennial struggle between man and his evil inclination-the yetzer hara-which is his eternal enemy. The Talmud states that a person's yetzer hara grows more and more powerful every day: if not for Hashem's help, a person would surely be overcome by it. According to this, a person could never overcome his yetzer hara naturally, and as such, it is likely that he will become discouraged from even trying to overcome it. Therefore, the Torah tells us: "When you go out to war against your enemies;" i.e., if you will only start to fight your yetzer hara, if you will only go out to war against your yetzer hara, then, and only then, can you be assured that you will be victorious in your battle, because "Hashem your G-d will give them into your hand." That is to say: You will receive Divine assistance to win the battles, since "Someone who tries to purify himself gets help from Above." (Toras Moshe) Not only does G-d assure us victory over our enemies; we are promised that the spoils plundered by the nations will be fully restored to the Jewish people. According to Maimonides, one of the first things Moshiach will do is "wage the wars of G-d and prevail." Everything that was wrongfully stolen from the Jews during the exile will be returned to our hands. Most significantly this includes the ultimate target of their hatred, the Holy Temple, which was twice destroyed. When Moshiach comes and rebuilds the Temple, it will finally be redeemed from the captivity of the nations where it has been for almost two thousand years. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe Zt"l) "If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother..." 21:18. Why does the Torah repeat the word "voice"? Would it not be sufficient to say "who does not hearken to the voice of his father and mother?" Rabbi S.R. Hirsch explains that the two voices are the parental voices of discipline on the one hand, and gentleness on the other. It is specifically the voice, that is to say the tone of the voice rather than the message itself, that the Torah is identifying here. A child who has only heard strict disciplinary tones could claim that had he heard warm and comforting tones, he would not have "gone off the rails". Similarly, a child who has only heard warm and comforting tones could claim that had he heard disciplinary tones he would have been successful in overcoming emotional obstacles. But when a child has had the benefit of both voices and still failes to hearken to his parents, he cannot claim that he is the product of an unbalanced family background. "An Ammoni or Moavi may not enter the congregation of Hashem, even to their tenth generation, they may not enter into the congregation of Hashem for ever. The reason is they did not come out to meet you with bread and water on the way, when you were leaving Egypt" (23:4-5). What was so terrible about Ammon and Moav not coming out to meet the Bnei Yisrael with bread and water on their way out of Egypt? Even an Egyptian may convert and, after three generations, marry a Jew. And their ancestors used Jewish children for bricks in their palaces and mausoleums! Just because of a lack of hospitality, an Ammoni and a Moavi can never join the Jewish people?! The reason is that the Ammoni and the Moavi peoples owe their very existence to the Jews, for it was Avraham Avinu-the father of the Jewish People-who rescued Lot from being killed when Sodom was destroyed. Lot was the father of Ammon and Moav. Were it not for Avraham, there would never have been an Ammoni or Moavi People. When the people of Ammon and Moav didn't come out to greet the Jewish People, the descendants of Avraham, they showed the essence of their character-lack of gratitude. Ingratitude cannot be allowed to infiltrate the Jewish People, because to give thanks-to admit that one is beholden-is the essence of being Jewish. The word Yehudi is from the root to give thanks, to be grateful. We can take a lesson from this when looking for a spouse: If chronic ingratitude makes a person unfit as a marriage partner, then, necessarily, the greatest asset is someone who is always grateful. An ingrate is impossible to make happy. But someone who is always grateful, who sees everything as a gift-he/she is the easiest person in the world to make happy. That's the ideal spouse. (Heard from Rabbi Moshe Carlebach) "When a camp goes out against your enemies" (23:10). We have a genuine claim to the land of Israel. And yet all our valid arguments sound like rhetoric and propaganda. And our enemies. with claims as tenuous as thread, steal the sympathy of the world - usurping the moral high-ground. And every day Jewish blood is spilled. Why is this all happening? Why, in spite of having perhaps the best armed forces in the world are we giving back lands to people we defeated thirty years ago? Look around. Do you see unity amongst the Jewish People? Do you see love and tolerance? It is only when we go out as "a camp" - united as one - "against your enemies" - that we succeed. But while Sinas Chinam - baseless hatred - rules in our camp, we will be forced to give and give and give... (Based on the Sifri and Mayana shel Torah) |
