Devarim: Deserving Israel is Not Enough

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Disclaimer: this article is not intended to reflect any particular political stance on Israeli policy. 

Devarim: Deserving Israel is Not Enough 

Many Jews feel that we are entitled to take possession of the Land of Israel because it was promised to the Avos (i.e. Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov) as an inheritance to their offspring (i.e. us). While this is true, it is only half of the truth. The mere fact that the Land of Israel was promised to the Avos is not, in and of itself, a sufficient reason to justify our conquest of it. There is another consideration which is explicitly stated in the contract made by Hashem when He promised Avraham the Land. 

But let us start with our parashah. Much of Parashas Devarim is a recap of Bnei Yisrael’s journey through the Wilderness. Chapter 1 recounts the first part of the journey, from Sinai until the Sin of the Spies. Chapter 2 skips ahead 39 years to the events that were detailed at end of Sefer Bamidbar, as Bnei Yisrael began their conquest of the nations that lived in and around Israel. Moshe Rabbeinu recalls Hashem’s instructions regarding our interactions with these nations, beginning with the children of Eisav who occupied the land of Seir: 

Hashem said to me, saying … “You shall command the people, saying: ‘You are passing through the boundary of your brothers, the children of Eisav, who dwell in Seir; they will fear you, but you should be very careful. You shall not provoke them, for I shall not give you of their land even the right to set foot, for I have given Mount Seir as an inheritance to the children of Eisav.” (Devarim 2:2-5) 

Next, Moshe recounts a similar set of instructions regarding the Moabites and their land: 

Hashem said to me: “You shall not distress Moav and you shall not provoke war with them, for I shall not give you an inheritance from their land, for the children of Lote have I given Ar as an inheritance.” (ibid. 2:9) 

Likewise, regarding the Ammonites and their land: 

Hashem spoke to me, saying: “This day you shall cross the border of Moav, at Ar, and you shall approach opposite the children of Ammon; you shall not distress them and you shall not provoke them, for I shall not give any of the land of the children of Ammon to you as an inheritance, for to the children of Lote have I given it as an inheritance.” (ibid. 2:17-19) 

Finally Bnei Yisrael reach a people and a land that they are commanded to conquer: 

“Rise up and cross Amon Brook; see! Into your hand have I delivered Sichon, king of Cheshbone, the Amorite, and his land; begin to possess it, and provoke war with him. This day I shall begin to place dread and fear of you on the peoples under the entire heaven, when they hear of your reputation, and they will tremble and be anxious before you.” (ibid. 2:24-25) 

At first glance one might think that Bnei Yisrael were enjoined to conquer Sichon’s land because, unlike the lands of Eisav, Moav, and Ammon, the land of the Amorites had not been apportioned to them as an inheritance, and was therefore “free” for the taking. The Ralbag [1] dispels this notion: 

Our inheritance of the Land [of Israel] requires two conditions: one is the merit of the Jews, and the second is the wickedness of those nations, that their iniquity must be “full,” as we explained regarding the statement: “for the iniquity [2] of the Amorite is not full” (Bereishis 15:16).

The Ralbag is referring to the condition explicitly stated by Hashem in the Bris Bein ha’Besarim (The Covenant Between the Parts) when He promised to Avraham that his descendants would return to inherit the Land of Israel four generations after their sojourn in Egypt: 

And He said to Avram: “Know with certainty that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not their own, and they will serve them, and they will oppress them for four hundred years. But also the nation that they will serve I shall judge, and afterwards they will leave with great wealth. As for you: you shall come to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And the fourth generation shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then.”

The Chazkuni [3] understands this last clause to be an answer to a question that Avraham might have asked: “Why will my offspring need to wait for four generations to inherit the Land? Why can’t they inherit the Land immediately?” The answer is “for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then.” Rashi [4] explains the meaning of this stipulation: 

for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full [enough] to cast them out of their land until that time, because Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu does not punish a nation until its measure is full, as it is said, “according to her measure He contends with her” (Yeshayahu 27:8).

The Radak [5] elaborates: 

for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then – [this means that] the time for the punishment for the iniquity of the Amorite will not yet have arrived, for Hashem (blessed is He) prolongs His anger for the wicked, and there is a set time for everyone: there are some whom He punishes immediately, and others for whom He delays [punishment] for a long time – all in accordance with His wisdom. [In this pasuk] He tells [Avram]: “for the time of the Amorite’s [6] punishment has not yet been completed.”

Indeed, the Ramban [7] goes so far as to posit that this was one of Avraham’s concerns which prompted the Bris bein ha’Besarim in the first place. After initially being told by Hashem: “I am Hashem Who brought you out of Ur-Kasdim to give you this land to inherit it” (Bereishis 15:7), Avram asks: “My Lord, Hashem-Elokim, whereby shall I know that I am to inherit it?” (ibid. 15:8). It is impossible to say that Avram’s question stemmed from a lack of trust in Hashem, since we were told two pesukim earlier: “And he trust in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (ibid. 15:6). What, then, was the basis of Avram’s question? Ramban answers: 

But Avraham wanted to know with a true knowledge that he would inherit it, and that his sin or the sin of his offspring wouldn’t cause [the promise to not be fulfilled], or perhaps the Canaanites would do teshuvah and [that which was written] would be fulfilled in them: “One moment I may speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to destroy, demolish, or annihilate [it], but if that nation repents of its evil deed of which I had spoken, then I relent of the harm that I had planned to carry out against it” (Yirmiyahu 18:7).

In other words, Avram asked Hashem, “whereby shall I know that I am to inherit it?” because he was worried about three things: (1) his own sins would cause him to lose the merit by which Hashem’s promise would be fulfilled, (2) the sins of his offspring would cause them to lose the merit by which they would inherit the land, or (3) the Seven Canaanite nations currently occupying the land would do teshuvah, thereby making it impossible for Hashem to give the land to Avraham’s descendants, since it would be unjust to kick a righteous nation out of their land, even in order to give it to someone as deserving as Avraham! Ultimately, Hashem made the Bris Bein ha’Besarim to allay Avraham’s fears [8], but we see from the Ramban’s interpretation of Avraham’s concerns how powerful this principle of Divine justice is! 

The Ralbag invokes this Divine justice to explain why Bnei Yisrael were warned not to wage war with the children of Eisav, Moav, and Amon: 

For this reason you will find that the Torah warned [Bnei Yisrael] not to provoke war with the Children of Eisav, nor with the Children of Ammon and Moav, since He didn’t give them their land as an inheritance, because even though the members of these nations were wicked, their iniquity was not yet “full” [such that they deserved to be driven out of their land and deprived of their inheritance]. However, the iniquity of the Amorite was full, and it is for this reason that they dispossessed Sichon and Og [from their land].

In other words, although the pesukim made it seem that Hashem absolutely forbade Bnei Yisrael to take the lands of Eisav, Moav, and Ammon, the Ralbag learns that this was only because “their iniquity was not yet full.” The implication is that if their iniquity had been full, they would have suffered the same fate as the Amorites, despite having been given their land as an inheritance. 

All of this may seem like ancient history, but I believe that the principle of Divine justice reflected in these pesukim has a significant bearing on our present situation, if not in how we relate to the current non-Jewish occupants of the Land of Israel, than at least in how we view our God-given right to dispossess them. 

As I mentioned at the outset of this post, it is easy to feel that we, as the descendants of the Avos, have an absolute right to take our Land back from those who dwell there. But as we have seen, even after Hashem promised the Land to Avraham, He was still not willing to drive out Amorites and the other Canaanite nations immediately. Only when “their iniquity was full” would they deserve to be kicked out. Only at that point would we be right to claim what He gave us. To displace these nations before their iniquity is full would be unjust. 

Tishah b’Av is next week. We are deep within the period of time when we, as Jews, reflect on the fact that we were exiled from our Land by our enemies. Even today, when the State of Israel exists, we bemoan the fact that we are still in exile, insofar as our Land is occupied by the nations of the world, and Israel is not under Jewish sovereignty. It is easy for us to look at the current occupants of our home and feel that we’re just entitled to kick them out and reclaim what is ours, without considering our own merit or the injustice of driving out another nation. 

When we think about the complicated situation in Israel today, let us remember the two criteria required to take back our land: we must become righteous enough to deserve it, and those we dispossess from their homes must be wicked enough to deserve their fate. 

End Notes

[1] Rabbeinu Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag / Gersonides), Commentary on Sefer Devarim, Chapter 2: Toeles #13 

[2] In his actual commentary on Bereishis 15:16 the Ralbag translates “avon” as “punishment” rather than “iniquity,” but I’ve translated it as “iniquity” here to keep the terms consistent with the other meforshim I’ll be citing. 

[3] Rabbeinu Chezkia ben Manoach (Chazkuni), Commentary on Sefer Bereishis 15:16 

[4] Rabbeinu Shlomo ben Yitzchak (Rashi), Commentary on Sefer Bereishis 15:16 

[5] Rabbeinu David Kimchi (Radak), Commentary on Sefer Bereishis 15:16 

[6] Many of the meforshim, including the Radak, explain that what is said of the Amorite applies to the other six Canaanite Nations as well, and that the Amorite is singled out because they were the most powerful. 

[7] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides), Commentary on Sefer Bereishis 

[8] How, exactly, the Bris Bein ha’Besarim accomplished this is the subject of another article yet to be written.

Rational Conviction in "Far-fetched" Prophecies

In the wake of the Charleston church shooting on June 17th, 2015, the media has been abuzz with talk about the so-called "Confederate Battle Flag." In the days to follow, large retailers began removing products from their inventory which featured the flag. Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears, and eBay all announced policy-changes whereby the sale of Confederate Flag merchandise would be discontinued. 

Naturally, there was an uproar from both ends of the political spectrum. Some applauded these bans as a sign of "progress" and "justice." Others felt that they were overreactions - or worse yet, infringements on the American freedom of expression. 

Amid all of this Confederate Flag fracas, I came across an amusing photo of a comment made to Wal-Mart's Facebook page:

I found this to be quite funny. Grassroots over-the-top satire at its finest. 

But it got me thinking: What about all of the (seemingly) far-fetched prophecies in Tanach? To an outsider, these sound just as ridiculous as the aforementioned example. Consider the following prophetic predictions, and imagine what a skeptic might say:

• "When you beget children and grandchildren and will have been long in the Land, you will grow corrupt and make a carved image, a likeness of anything, and you will do evil in the eyes of Hashem, your God, to anger Him. I appoint heaven and earth this day to bear witness against you that you will surely perish quickly from the Land to which you are crossing the Jordan to possess; you shall not have lengthy days upon it, for you will be destroyed. Hashem will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Hashem will lead you. There you will serve gods, the handiwork of man, of wood and stone, which do not see, and do not hear, and do not eat, and do not smell" (Devarim 4:25).
  
  
  "Really? All of that is going to happen just because I make a nice little statue to display in my foyer? You really think that my innocent little artistic gesture will lead to mass exile for my offspring and the persecution of my people at the hands of our enemies?"
  
  
• "Do not become contaminated through any of these [illicit sexual practices]; for through all of these the nations that I expel before you became contaminated. The land became contaminated and I recalled its iniquity upon it; and the land disgorged its inhabitants. But you shall safeguard My decrees and My judgments, and not commit any of these abominations - the native or the proselyte who lives among you. For the inhabitants of the land who are before you committed all these abominations, and the land became contaminated. Let not the land disgorge you for having contaminated it, as it disgorged the nation that was before you" (Vayikra 18:27-28).
  
  
  "Really? REALLY?! So the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv will lead to the downfall of the State of Israel? A man who sleeps with his own wife while she's a niddah will bring about yet another mass exile for the Jewish people? C'MON!"
  
  
• "If despite this you will not heed Me, and you behave toward Me with casualness, I will behave toward you with a fury of casualness; I will chastise you, even I, seven ways for your sins. You will eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters will you eat. I will destroy your lofty buildings and decimate your sun-idols, I will cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and My Spirit will reject you. I will lay your cities in ruin and I will make your sanctuaries desolate; I will not savor your satisfying aromas. I will make the land desolate; and your foes who dwell upon it will be desolate. And you, I will scatter among the nations, I will unsheathe the sword after you; your land will be desolate and your cities will be a ruin" (ibid. 26:27-33).
  
  
  "Cannibalism? INTER-GENERATIONAL cannibalism, no less? You're telling me that if I don't keep halacha, then I'm going to end up devouring my own progeny, and my country will become a desolate wasteland?"

These are but a few examples of drastic prophecies from the Torah itself, but just flip through the writings of the Neviim and you encounter dozens - if not hundreds - of predictions which sound just as extreme in their dire warnings.

Now, if you are working with a model of hashgachah pratis by which God will cause these things to happen through direct intervention in the laws of nature, then these prophecies aren't problematic in the slightest. God will simply intervene as much as needed to bring about these results. However, if you are working with a model of hashgachah pratis by which this type of divine punishment is meted out by God withdrawing His hashgachah and allowing nature to take its course (a.k.a. "hester panim"), then it becomes even more difficult to differentiate one set of catastrophic predictions from another without suppressing the rational faculty. 

This brings us to our central question. We, as Jews, believe that the Torah's cataclysmic prophecies ARE different than the facetious prediction made by the Facebook commenter above - and yet, many of them strain our credulity just the same. Is there a basis on which we can differentiate between fallacious slippery slope predictions and genuine prophecies without suspending our disbelief? 

To be clear: I am not looking for a way to tell the difference between prophecy and non-prophecy. That we already have, thanks to Torah mi'Sinai, and the halachos of prophecy (see the Rambam's Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 7 and Chapter 8). Rather, I am looking for a means by which we can have a genuine rational conviction in true prophecies, without any stretching of the mind, without double-standards of belief, and (to be frank) without coming off like crazy religious fanatics. 

Artwork: False Prophet, by Eric Peterson

I believe that the answer is: yes! The answer lies in the recognition of three truths: (1) the law of unintended consequences is real, (2) history is often stranger than fiction, and (3) God's knowledge is different from human knowledge. Allow me to explain what I mean. 

The Wikipedia article on "unintended consequences" states: 

In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences, unforeseen consequences, or accidents) are outcomes that are not the ones foreseen and intended by a purposeful action.

Here are a few diverse examples from the past 100 years of American history:

• Prohibition: The nation-wide ban of alcohol in the United States during the 1920's gave rise to Organized Crime, which has been responsible for innumerable deaths, injustices, and the spread of lawlessness throughout the country. 
  
  
• The Pill: The invention of oral contraceptives had huge ripple effects: it altered the public view of sex, it led to a shift in gender roles and acted as a catalyst for gender equality, in led to a rise in premarital sex - along with all of its unintended consequences (e.g. increase in out-of-wedlock pregnancies, STD, sexual violence, etc.) - and it undoubtedly shook up the prevailing views of marriage, the family structure, and the dynamics of population growth. 
  
  
• Passenger-side Airbags: In 1991 a federal law was introduced which mandated the installation of passenger-side airbags in automobiles, which led to an increase in deaths of children who couldn't withstand the force of the airbag, which encouraged the practice of having kids sit in the back seat, which led to an increase in the deaths of children who were forgotten in the car.
  
  
• "Charlie Wilson's War": In the 1980's, billions of dollars of aid was delivered to the Afghan Mujahideen - a move which ultimately gave rise to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which resulted in the 3,000 deaths in the September 11 attacks, plus the thousands of other deaths in the "War on Terror" which ensued. 

If, at the time of these events, a person confidently predicted that these specific consequences would happen, imagine how his predictions would be mocked and ridiculed: 

• "Banning alcohol will cause American cities to become filled with murder, theft, and crime?"
  
  
• "Stopping unwanted pregnancies will bring pestilence upon the land, destroy families, and possibly culminate in the election of a female president?" 
  
  
• "Making cars safer will lead to a nationwide uptick in infanticide?!"
  
  
• "Arming a bunch of rebels in the middle of nowhere will result in a terrorist attack of epic proportions on U.S. soil, which will lead to over a decade of new wars and mass casualties?" 

Indeed, such a doomsayer's confident predictions would be worthy of ridicule, even if he ended up being correct. There are SO many factors which might have affected how each of these scenarios played out that it would be foolish for any person to hold such strong convictions about any possible outcome. Historical hindsight is 20-20, but historical foresight is hopelessly myopic.

This is where God enters the picture. While human beings lack the knowledge to be able to definitively predict the long-reaching ripple effects of any event or societal change, God is Omniscient, and His knowledge is not limited like ours. For this reason, He can state with absolute certainty what will happen.

It is at this point that the skeptics would point their fingers and paint me as a religious fanatic for invoking divine omniscience. I can see them rolling their eyes and saying in a sardonic tone, "Oh, yeah, sure, well if GOD says it can happen then it can DEFINITELY happen! Such a SOPHISTICATED answer which puts to rest ALL doubt."

No, that is not what I am saying at all. I am not saying, "The Lawd said it's going to happen, and the LAAWWWWD knows what He knows!" That would not answer the question that this blog post sets out to answer. Listen very closely while I state my argument in four sentences:

• It is not far-fetched to believe that such strange unintended consequences CAN happen, for we see that they DO happen; rather, it is only problematic for a human being, with limited knowledge, to PREDICT such dire and dramatic consequences on the basis of our extremely shortsighted speculation.
  
• The only thing a person would need in order to have a rational conviction in such predictions is a credible source.
  
• Prophecy is a credible source, insofar as its authority stems from Torah mi'Sinai.
  
• Thus, one who is convinced of the veracity of Torah mi'Sinai should have no trouble accepting the veracity of prophetic predictions, without any need to stretch one's credulity - no matter how implausible these predictions may sound.

I am not claiming that we will be able to see how the fulfillment of these prophecies will come about. I am merely claiming that we should have no problem believing that they can come about. For example, we, with our limited knowledge, might not be able to see how laxity in mitzvos will lead to filial cannibalism, but we know that such things DO happen, and that they can come about as a ripple effect of a complex concatenation of events. Thus, when the Torah says, "you will eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters will you eat," we should have no trouble accepting the truth of this statement, without engaging in any mental gymnastics. Just as we can read about instances of unintended consequences in the past and accept them without hesitation, so too, we ought to be able to look at prophetic statements about future "unintended consequences" and accept them fully. 

I believe that having this awareness in mind while learning the writings of the Neviim will help make their prophecies more real to our minds. By remembering the law of unintended consequences, the stranger-than-fiction character of history, and the omniscience of the God Who communicated to these prophets, we can relate to the predictions of the Neviim as though we are reading prospective history book, and not a work of fiction. 

Parashas Pinchas: Two Types of Anti-Israel Enemies

I wish I could write this dvar Torah without it being relevant to a real-world parallel. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The events of the past two weeks have led me to expand this dvar Torah in order to address the current situation in Israel. I believe that exceeding the usual 1,400 word length is justified in this instance. As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts. Have a good Shabbos.

Artwork: Sword of War and Peace, by Chris Rahn

Parashas Pinchas: Two Types of Anti-Israel Enemies

Imagine the following scenario:

You are a gentile resident of a land that you have called "home" for as long as you can remember. You have raised your own family here, and have lived in tranquility.

One day you are informed by your leaders that you, your family, and your entire people are in grave danger. Israel, a young and powerful nation, is on the march, and it is only a matter of time before it reaches your borders. 

Israel has already established itself as an indomitable military power, despite of its short history. It has conquered several of the surrounding nations which were once thought to be invincible. If Israel were to lay siege to your homeland, its victory would be swift and certain. 

Your leaders call for action, demanding complete allegiance to their strategic vision. They mobilize their people for battle, and are prepared to use every tool at their disposal to put a stop to Israel's rapid ascent. 

And you support them.  

You have committed yourself to do whatever it takes to vanquish the enemy and protect your people. You will even go so far as to sacrifice your own children, if doing so will achieve a tactical advantage for your people. 

In short, you will stop at nothing until Israel has been wiped off of the face of the earth. 

Did you guess who I'm talking about? That's right: the nations of Moab and Midian, at the turn of the 13th century BCE. In this dvar Torah we will examine the question: What does the Torah have to say about the type of anti-Israel mentality depicted above? We will seek insight on this question from this week's parashah. We will conclude by applying our findings to the current state of affairs in Israel. 

Artwork: Ghitu Encampment, by John Avon

In order to understand the Torah's view on this matter, we will need to recap the events leading up to this week's parashah, which began in last week's parashah. Parashas Balak is told from the perspective of Moab and Midian, who heard about Israel's conquest of its enemies: 

Balak son of Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite. Moab became very frightened of the people, because it was numerous, and Moab was disgusted in the face of the Children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now the congregation will lick up our entire surroundings, as an ox licks up the greenery of the field." Balak son of Tzipor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers to Bilam son of Beor ... saying, "Behold! a people has come out of Egypt, behold! it has covered the surface of the earth and it sits opposite me. So now - please come and curse this people for me, for it is too powerful for me; perhaps I will be able to strike it and drive it away from the land." (Bamidbar 22:2-6)

Consider, for a moment, the terror that the average Moabite and Midianite experienced. Israel, a nation of slaves descended from shepherds, somehow managed to miraculously break free from captivity and reduce the Egyptian kingdom - the greatest superpower the world had seen - to rubble. It then proceeded to take down nation after nation, and king after king: first was the the Canaanite king of Arad, followed by Sichon, the king of the Amorite, followed by Og, the king of Bashan. And now they approach the plains of Moab, showing no signs of stopping or slowing down.

After Bilaam's repeated failures to curse Israel, he finally came up with a plan that worked. Bilam knew that the divine protection enjoyed by the Israelites was predicated on their adherence to the laws of the Torah. He realized that if he could somehow entice them to deviate from those laws, they would be subject to the wrath of God. They would then be vulnerable enough for Moab and Midian to swoop in and finish the job. 

Bilaam persuaded the Moabites and Midianites to "whore out" their own daughters to the Israelite nation in hopes of baiting them to violate the severe transgressions of sexual promiscuity and avodah zarah (idolatry). Bilam's scheme played out exactly as he anticipated: the Israelite men were seduced by the Moabite and Midianite women, and eventually become attached to Baal-Peor - a Moabite deity. "Operation: Seduce and Destroy" reached its pinnacle when a Midianite princess and a Jewish prince copulated publicly in front of Moshe Rabbeinu and the rest of the nation, displaying a brazen disregard for the Torah and its prophet. Bilaam's plan was a success. "The wrath of Hashem flared up against Israel ... those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand" (ibid. 25:3,9). Were it not for Pinchas's act of zealotry, which ended the plague, Israel would have continued to fall before Moab and Midian. 

Parashas Pinchas commences with the aftermath of the seduction campaign. Now that the immediate cause of divine wrath had ceased, the question remained: How would Hashem command Israel to deal with the Moabites and Midianites, in light of the evil they had perpetrated? Not only did they aim to destroy the Chosen Nation of God, but they engaged in the illicit practices of avodah zarah and sexual promiscuity, going so far as to make their daughters into harlots in order to take advantage of their enemy's vulnerability. 

Did Hashem decree vengeance on Moab and Midian? Surprisingly, He did not:

Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: “Torment the Midianites and smite them, for they tormented you through their conspiracy that they conspired against you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague, in the matter of Peor” (ibid. 25:16-18)

Hashem commands Moshe and Israel to take vengeance upon the Midianites alone, but not the Moabites - even though both nations were equally involved in their efforts to seduce and destroy Israel through immoral means. The question is: Why didn't the Moabites deserve the same retribution as the Midianites? Weren't their actions the same? Wasn't their decision to sacrifice their daughters equally disgraceful in the eyes of Hashem? 

The Ralbag [1] addresses this question. He begins by explaining Hashem's commandment to smite Midian:

Hashem (may He be exalted) commanded Israel to hate the Midianites and to smite them, for their evil mentality caused them to hate Israel; they strove to cause Israel to stumble with their daughters and with avodah zarah until Hashem annihilated them; and this was [instigated] by the advice of Bilaam, to the point where all were drawn after him, including the kings who promiscuously abandoned their daughters to act as a stumbling block, as is clear from the matter of Cozbi. Now their hatred had increased because Cozbi – who was the daughter of a Midianite king – had been killed. For this reason it was clear that if [the Israelites] didn't hasten to smite Midian, then the Midianites would strive to harm them from every angle possible.

The Ralbag [2] goes on to derive a practical lesson from this:

[We learn from here] that once it has been established that someone is trying to destroy you, it is correct for you to preempt him and to destroy him in order to save yourself. For this reason you will find that Hashem commanded [the Israelites] to destroy the Midianites, since it was well-known that they hated the Israelites and sought to harm them, in addition to the fact their hatred was increased due to the killing of Cozbi bas Tzur.

In other words, Israel was commanded to destroy Midian because of its "evil mentality" toward Israel - a mentality which fueled the Midianites' hatred and made them a threat, even after Bilam's plot was thwarted. It was clear that Midian would seek vengeance until Israel was entirely destroyed. As such, the commandment to smite Midian was a preemptive act of self-defense. 

However, the Moabites were different, as the Ralbag [3] explains:

[We learn from here that] if one person is afraid of another, then there is nothing contemptible in him searching for any means by which to save himself. For this reason we find that the Moabites were not punished for enticing the Jews to sin, since the reason for their actions was their fear that the Jews would destroy them, for they were already afraid of Israel, as it is stated, “Moab became very frightened of the people, because it was numerous” (Bamidbar 22:3). For this reason, the Moabites' enticement of Israel to sin was but one of their weapons. The Midianites, however, were not as afraid, and their intention in following the advice of Bilam was to rebel against Hashem; for this reason, Hashem desired that the Jews take vengeance against them.

According to the Ralbag, the Torah differentiates between an enemy whose anti-Israel operations are founded on an anti-Israel ideology, and an enemy whose anti-Israel operations are driven by fear and self-defense. The former, represented by Midian, are worthy of condemnation even if their actions are partially motivated by fear and self-defense. The latter, represented by Moab, are not "contemptible" in the eyes of the Torah, even when their actions involve what is otherwise immoral behavior, such as giving up their own daughters to be sexually violated by the enemy. As the Ralbag said, "Moab's enticement of Israel to sin was merely one of their weapons." Even though they targeted Israel in the same way as the Midianites, Hashem did not command Israel to take vengeance, since the Moabites were only acting in self-defense, and were no longer a threat.

Parenthetically, I feel it is necessary at this point to take a brief pause from the flow of this dvar Torah to underscore the fact that the Torah does condemn the type of sex-trafficking practiced by Moab and Midian. This becomes clear if we turn the tables and consider what the Torah would say if Jews engaged in this practice with our own daughters.

Few transgressions are considered by the Torah to be in the same ballpark as murder. One of those transgressions is sexual immorality. The Torah explicitly states this when speaking about a case where a man rapes a betrothed girl: "But you shall do nothing to the girl, for the girl has committed no capital sin, for like a man who rises up against his fellow and murders him, so is this thing" (Devarim 22:26).

Based on this pasuk, the halacha [] states that there is no difference between giving over a fellow Jew to our enemies to be killed and giving over a fellow Jew to our enemies to be sexually violated. In both cases, we must forfeit our own lives rather than turn over the lives of another Jew. This is true for any Jew, and would certainly be true in the case of our own wives and daughters. 

From this standpoint, the actions of Midian and Moab are truly abominable in the eyes of the Torah. Had they been Jews, they would have been guilty of committing a capital crime. And yet, the Ralbag defends the actions of Moab, insofar as they were motivated by fear and self-defense. This is not a contradiction. The Ralbag's point is that from the standpoint of anti-Israel warfare, Moab's use of its daughters is excusable; from the standpoint of morality, it is disgraceful. 

This brings us to the current state of events. We, the Jewish people, are under attack. Our enemy is Hamas - an organization hellbent on the obliteration of Israel and its Jewish inhabitants. The Hamas charter proclaims:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

As we know, Hamas advocates the morally reprehensible practice of using women and children as human shields. Hamas is aware of the extreme measures taken by the IDF to avoid civilian casualties, and takes full advantage of the IDF's adherence to a code of morality. Jews would never engage in such behavior - not with our own children, and not even with our enemy's children. 

Let me be absolute clear on this next point: I am against moral relativism in the realm of ethics as much as I am against subjectivism in the realm of metaphysics. Those who attempt to reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a mere difference of opinion without any basis in objective reality are either ignorant or biased.

At the same time, I am also against Jewish racism. Perhaps I have a different perspective because I am a ger (convert), and didn't grow up hearing tales and warnings about anti-Semitism. Still, I would like to think that out of all people, Jews would be the least prone to racism, seeing as how we've been the victims of it throughout our 3,000 year history. 

At times like these, when our people and our homeland are under attack, the Jewish racists come out of the woodwork. Although they are a minority, their voices resound and cause a chilul ha'Shem (desecration of God's Name). Sadly, I have witnessed a number of examples of this behavior on the Internet: Jews who denounce all Muslims as inherently evil, Jews who condemn all Arabs as anti-Israel, and worst of all, Jews whose hatred moves them to indiscriminately call for terrible violence and vengeance against all Palestinians. It is these misguided Jews who are most in need of the ideas elucidated by the Ralbag.

Midian and Moab were both anti-Israel. Both nations went to war against us. Both nations utilized the unethical practice of whoring out their daughters as a means of defeating their enemy. Nevertheless, Hashem differentiated between the two nations. Moab, who acted out of fear and self-defense, was spared from the decree of extermination, once they no longer posed a threat to Israel. Midian, on the other hand, sought to destroy Israel as a part of their evil ideology, and would continue to seek the destruction of Israel; for this reason, we were commanded to annihilate them.

Hamas is the modern-day equivalent of Midian. Their anti-Israel sentiment stems from the core of their evil ideology. The same is true of Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and a number of other organizations and movements in the Middle East. Like Midian, they deserve no mercy, and we must utterly decimate them.

At the same time, we must recognize that interspersed throughout the Palestinian people are the modern-day equivalents of Moab - residents of Arab descent whose anti-Israel activity stems not from an evil ideology, but from fear and self-defense. They may be quiet and they may be relatively powerless, but they exist.

Have these individuals been influenced by their evil counterparts? Most likely, yes. Might they implement the same depraved practices, such as using civilians as human shields and endorsing the use of suicidal acts of terror and martyrdom? In many cases, yes. Do they pose a threat to the safety of our people and our homeland? Definitely. But are they to be viewed as equal to their anti-Israel ideology-driven brethren? No. There is one important factor which differentiates these individuals from their extremist brethren: whereas the "Moabite" Palestinians would stop fighting if they no longer perceived Israel as a threat, the "Midianite" Palestinians will stop at nothing until Israel and the Jewish people are completely eradicated.

I am not making any claims about the relative proportions of these two categories of our enemies, nor am I suggesting any differences in how the State of Israel ought to handle these factions in the present conflict. It is clear that both types of enemies, at the moment, pose a threat which must be quelled by any means necessary. I am not even making the oft-heard point that "Not all Muslims/Arabs/Palestinians are bad!" I am making a subdivision within that argument, namely, that not all bad Muslims/Arabs/Palestinians are the same type of bad. Even enemies ought to be critically assessed, and we must do everything in our power to perceive them as they actually are - not as dictated by propaganda, prejudice, or lazy thinking.

So next time you see or hear reports of Palestinians forming human shields out of innocent women and children, remember that their actions, while evil, are not to be judged as equally so. To the average Israelite, Midian and Moab would have been seen as one in the same. In Hashem's eyes, they were not.

May we merit to perceive the reality of ourselves and our enemies as realistically as possible, may our enemies receive exactly what they deserve, and may Hashem bring us complete salvation from all calamity and iniquity, thereby ushering in an era of peace and knowledge for all of mankind.

[1] Rabbeinu Levi ben Gershon (Ralbag / Gersonides), Commentary on Sefer Bamidbar 25:17-18

[2] ibid. 27:17-18, Toeles #2

[3] ibid. 22:2-6, Toeles #1[4] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Mishneh Torah: Sefer ha'Mada, Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 5:5

A Halachic Response to the Murder of Naftali, Gilad, and Eyal

On June 12th, three Israeli boys went missing: Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar, both aged 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach. They were kidnapped while hitchhiking for a ride home - allegedly by Hamas operatives. For three weeks Israel searched in vain for the captives.

Today we received the terrible news that the bodies of the three boys were found in a shallow grave near Hebron. The precise details surrounding their murder are not fully known. The Jewish people are in a state of shock, mourning, and rage. The world waits with bated breath to see what Israel will do to avenge the loss of its sons.

It is especially at times like these that we must look to halacha for guidance. Rambam writes in Hilchos Avel 13:12: 

Any person who does not mourn as the Sages commanded is achzari (lit. "cruel" or "indifferent"). Rather, he should be fearful and worried and should examine his deeds and return in teshuvah (repentance). If a member of one's chavurah (social group) dies, the entire chavurah should worry [in the aforementioned manner]. 

For the first three days, one should see himself as though a sword is resting on his shoulder. From three days until seven days, [he should view it as though the sword is] waiting in the corner. From then and on, [he should view it as though the sword is] passing before him in the marketplace. All of this is so that a person should prepare himself to return [in teshuvah] and awaken from his slumber, for it is written, "You have stricken them, but they have not felt sickened" (Yirmiyahu 5:3). The implication is that one should awaken and tremble.

While we may not have known these boys personally, the overwhelming outcry of the Jewish people around the world during the search is evidence of how many people identified with their plight. To the extent that their death impacts us, this halacha applies. 

A question one might harbor but be hesitant to ask is: "What kind of teshuvah am I supposed to do? I mean, is halacha suggesting that I react to the deaths of our fellow Jews by increasing my vigilance in lighting Shabbos candles? Should I take it upon myself to learn extra mishnayos each day? Should I start keeping cholov Yisrael? Should I stop relying on the local eiruv? Should I stop watching rated-R movies?" 

While it is true that all teshuvah is good at any time, I'm not quite sure that the aforementioned examples of teshuvah are what Hilchos Avel 13:12 is referring to. Rather, the type of teshuvah that the halacha is talking about is clear from the context of the pasuk cited by the Rambam: 

Walk about in the streets of Yerushalayim, see now and know, and search out its plazas; if you will find a [real] man - if there is one who does justice and seeks truth - then I will forgive her (i.e. the city of Yerushalayim). And even if they say, "[I swear,] as Hashem lives!" they will surely be swearing falsely. Hashem, are Your eyes not toward truth? You have stricken them, but they have not felt sickened; You have [nearly] annihilated them, but they have refused to accept discipline. They made their countenances harder than rock; they refused to repent (Yirmiyahu 5:1-3).

Doing justice and seeking truth - these are the personal qualities that the navi urges us to cultivate through our teshuvah in the wake of tragedies like these. When our brethren are slaughtered by evildoers, and halacha urges us to worry about our deeds, to awaken ourselves from egocentric slumber of complacency, and to tremble in self-reflection which leads to teshuvah, it is with the goal of becoming "a [real] man - one who does justice and seeks truth." 

To reiterate: it is certainly appropriate to do teshuvah for all of our actions which can be corrected - from the most major aveiros (transgressions) to the smallest halachic minutiae. However, if the ultimate extent of our teshuvah is merely a renewed commitment to the observance of technical halacha, but our inner orientation towards truth and justice remain unchanged, then we have missed the point. Yeshayahu ha'Navi condemns this surface-level "token teshuvah" again and again:

They pretend to seek Me every day and desire to know My ways, like a nation that acts righteously and has not forsaken the justice of its God; they inquire of Me about the laws of justice as if they desire the nearness of God, [asking,] "Why did we fast and You did not see? Why did we afflict our souls and You did not know?" Behold - on your fast day you seek out personal gain and you extort all your debts. Because you fast for grievance and strife, to strike [each other] with a wicked fist; you do not fast as befits this day, to make your voice heard above. Can such be the fast I choose, a day when man merely afflicts himself? Can it be merely bowing one's head like a bulrush and spreading [a mattress of] sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast and a day of favor to Hashem? Surely, this is the fast I choose: To break open the shackles of wickedness, to undo the bonds of injustice, and to let the oppressed go free, and annul all perversion [of justice]. Surely you should break your bread for the hungry, and bring the moaning poor [to your home]; when you see a naked person, clothe him; and do not hide yourself from your kin. Then your light will burst out like the dawn and your healing will speedily sprout; your righteous deed will precede you and the glory of Hashem will gather you in. Then you will call and Hashem will respond; you will cry out and He will say, "Here I am!" If you remove from your midst perversion [of justice], finger-pointing, and evil speech, and offer your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul; then your light will shine [even] in the darkness, and your deepest gloom will be like the noon.

Do justice, and seek truth. Nothing can undo the horrific tragedy that has transpired, but if we - as a people - move past this event unchanged, then the deaths of Naftali, Gilad, and Eyal will have been in vain. 

May their souls rest in peace, and may our neshamos have an aliyah.

Baruch Dayan ha'Emes. Hashem yikom damam.

Blessed is the True Judge. May Hashem avenge their blood.