Parshat Matot
by Rabbi Avi Billet
After the battle with Midian, the Torah tells us that the generals and captains, who were officers
over the army's divisions, approached Moshe. They said to him, 'We have taken a census of the warriors under
our command and not a single man has been lost!” (31:48-49)
The Battle of
Midian is one of the more horrific battles described in the Torah, at least as
far as casualties and what the Children of Israel were tasked to do. Isn’t it
incredible, then, that after a long and arduous battle, there are no casualties
on the Israelite side?
Of course, the
literal translation is not the only perspective on what it means to not lose a
soldier. Rashbam says no one died in a plague. There are two ways to look at
such a statement. It may be referring to a plague that God wrought – in other
words, no one died of a sin. The other possibility is that in the history of
wars, until World War II and the advent of modern medicine, it was always the
case that more soldiers died of illness than on the battlefield. If no one died
from illness, that was also an amazing miracle.
Chazal taught
homiletically that “we didn’t lose a man” means “to sin” (Shabbat 64a), that no
soldier fell to depravity and committed a moral error that makes the rest of us
look bad. [Fascinatingly, the Baal Haturim notes – based on Yebamot 61a – that
this Hebrew phrase has the same numerical value (gematria) as “La’aveirot” –
“to sins” (718)]. The gemara asks, if that was the case, why did the soldiers
feel a need to bring a sin offering? To atone for their souls, because they had
thoughts to commit sins, though they did not act upon them. The Alshikh couched
this idea as two battles – the physical battle in the trenches, and the
spiritual battle which one has in one’s heart.
Rabbi Yochanan Luria
(Meshivat Nefesh) examined the story and concluded that much of what happens to
the general populace, or to the regular soldiers, is dependant upon the
behavior of the leadership. In their particular case, since the princes at
their time were model citizens, it became a merit for Israel – even if the
soldiers plundered for themselves (in 31:53).
The Meshekh
Chokhma adds that, in a sense, this was an admission of wrongdoing in the Baal
Peor incident that concluded Parshat Balak and ran into Parshat Pinchas. The
leaders are saying now, “We were able to see that when we effectively lead our
men, we can prevent them from falling into moral depravity. Had we only been
good leaders when the daughters of Moab came along, we could have prevented the
plague that took the lives of 24,000.”
In a roundabout
way, the Kli Yakar suggests that “We didn’t lose a man” is a follow up to the
instructions of 31:17-18 of whom to kill in the war. The point of the removal
of much of the civilian population was to avoid suspicion that the Israelite
soldiers had ulterior motives in battle, beyond enacting the revenge that God
had commanded them to conduct at the beginning of the chapter (31:2). [Read it
inside – on 31:17 – to understand his comments in full.]
Were we living in a
different time, I would probably focus on the second teaching of the Alshikh
for the final lesson here. That we wage a battle with our yetzer hara (Evil
Inclination) on a regular basis, and we must be able to overcome.
But these times
are far from normal. And the State of Israel is facing an existential threat.
The international community will surely yell, and call for a cease fire, and
for Israel to exercise restraint, and only to utilize proportional response.
But this is not how a war is won. Unless Hamas and its infrastructure (its
people and its machinery/ technology) are eradicated, it is only a matter of
time before they rebuild and do this all again.
R. Luria talked
about leadership, and the Kli Yakar focused on soldiers being above suspicion.
Which leads me to two concluding thoughts.
Israeli leadership
emphasizes over and over that there is no fight with the civilian population of
Gaza. But, as Bibi Netanyahu also noted, “We use missiles to protect our
civilians. They use their civilians to protect their missiles.” There will
unfortunately be civilian casualties because their own leadership tells them to
be human shields.
If you haven’t
read the letter written by Givati Commander Ofer Winter on his thoughts about
being the Brigade that will rid the world of Hamas, you haven’t seen what
Jewish leadership is all about. Google it, find it, read it, and be proud that
we are part of Am Yisrael. And of what a true Jewish leader is.
Finally, that
Israel’s soldiers should be above suspicion. I believe with a complete heart
that Israel’s soldiers will do their duty and will not fall to the depraved
state of committing moral sins. War is war and war is horrible. But the
soldiers are duty bound to protect Israel and its citizens, and not to engage
in any horrific acts against the civilian population – whether women or
children (except in defense of their own lives).
We certainly pray
that Israel “not lose a man” – not in battle, not in sin, and not
psychologically, and not from disease. And that God should watch over and
protect them, from every trouble, woe and injury, so they may all return safely
home, to live out lives telling the story of how they saved the State of
Israel, ridding it of a terrorist organization, with honor, dignity and through
sanctifying God’s Name.
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