Fighting the War With Midian - Instruction for Our Time?

As emphasized below, this is NOT to be taken as suggestions for strategy in Israel today. There are parallels in the way the enemy views to destroy Israel and the need to defend your people and even assert your strength. This is a reporting of how things were dealt with in the Torah's narrative, and observations of a few ways in which things are very different now.

Parshat Matot-Masei 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

 With the war in Israel intensifying on different fronts, some of the most important instruction from our Parsha seems rather timely, particularly concerning three specific topics. 

The first is about how to deal with the enemy that is bent on your destruction, in this case Midian. The Israelites were given very detailed instruction of how far they were to go to be sure Midian’s defeat was final. They were told which population demographics were to be killed and which were to be allowed to live. 

While I don’t suggest that this instruction was meant to be utilized beyond that specific war, please note the following theory, about the relevance of killing the young boys of Midian: https://arabbiwithoutacause.blogspot.com/2011/07/revenge-anything-but-sweet.html 

The second topic is the debate of universal conscription into the army. 

Those who are learning Mishnah Yomis recently learned the Mishnah which speaks of the t’nai kaful, the double edged condition made by the tribes of Gad and Reuven when negotiating for their tribes to be given land outside of Israel proper. Moshe’s initial response to them, perhaps not seeing their intentions completely, was “How can your brothers go out to fight while you remain behind?” (32:6) 

Their response was “We will build certain structures and infrastructure for our families, but then we will go out to war, not returning until all the land of Canaan has been captured and is in Jewish hands.” (32:16-17)

The point Moshe was driving home was that the responsibility to see to it that the land is in the hands of Am Yisrael rests on all members of Am Yisrael. No one can shirk their responsibility and say “I don’t live there.” Or “This is not my fight.” 

As in the previous example, one could argue that the instruction was for the original conquest and that that circumstance was unlikely to repeat itself in the future. 

One of the more relevant arguments I have heard against full conscription for all takes two parts: 1. The army lends itself to people who are “frum” but perhaps on the fences of finding out their true self to find a certain kind of individual freedom while in the military, leading to the dropping of observance, and 2. “If we have to be in the army for three years, then everyone in the army should have to be in yeshiva for 3 years.” [Those who are not in the ‘religious camp’ would likely never agree to this.] 

It’s not an answer to the larger question- and perhaps it’s not my place to opine. But at least it’s a perspective that some are advancing emphasizing the value of Torah, and the ease through which one can be led to drop one’s adherence to Torah (not necessarily automatic, or even by design… but the numbers are not insignificant).

Obviously there are ways to go through the army with a cohesive unit, such as those who study in Hesder, or those who go through a Mechina program, and have a much more supported Army experience that jibes with religious values. So these are generalizations, not necessary reflective of everyone’s experience. But there is a necessary balance that promotes service while supporting Jewish commitment in a way that is certainly not “automatic” when in an army setting. 

And this says nothing about the role Diaspora Jewry should undertake – do our children all need to serve in the IDF, so that our brothers and sisters in Israel not carry the burden alone? 

The third topic is about what it means to have enemies planted within your borders. 33:55 makes the case to the Bnei Yisrael that if you don’t rid yourselves of the enemies in the land, it will come back to haunt you in the most significant ways - “Then those whom you leave over will be as spikes in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land in which you settle.” 

 This is not to suggest any particular strategy for the IDF, or the State of Israel, going forward. But it does inform us that the Biblical Israelites faced similar problems, and found a way to do what needed to be done, albeit imperfectly, for the sake of the nation. [One can argue that Israel, imperfect as it is, has found a way with the rainbow of ethnicities in Israel… The problem remains with the enemy at the edge of its borders, as well as their sympathizers who live within its borders.] 

May all those directly involved find a path forward for everyone, balancing sensitivities with a sense of responsibility, so the Jewish people in Israel, and by extension abroad, can feel we are doing our part for the sake of bringing about full sovereignty and peace for the Jewish people in the Holy Land.