AND
MOSHE INSTRUCTED THEM AS FOLLOWS: EVERY SEVENTH YEAR, THE YEAR SET FOR
REMISSION, ON THE FEAST OF BOOTHS, WHEN ALL ISRAEL COMES TO APPEAR BEFORE THE
LORD YOUR GOD IN THE PLACE THAT HE WILL CHOOSE, YOU SHALL READ THIS TEACHING
ALOUD IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL ISRAEL. GATHER THE PEOPLE - MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN
AND THE SOJOURNER THAT IS IN YOUR GATES, IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY HEARKEN, IN
ORDER THAT THEY MAY LEARN AND HAVE AWE FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD, TO CAREFULLY
OBSERVE ALL THE WORDS OF THIS INSTRUCTION.
(Devarim 31:10-12)
"And He said: You
cannot see my face".
Said a tanna [Sage of
the Mishnaic period]: Thus said The Holy One, Blessed Be He to Moshe: When I
wanted you, you did not want. Now that you want, I do not want.
In this he disagrees with
Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani who said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:
As
a reward for three, he merited three: As a reward for (Shemot 3:6) "Moshe concealed his face" - he merited the shining face.
As
a reward for "he was afraid" - he merited (Shemot 34:30) - "so they were afraid to
approach him."
As
a reward for "[he was afraid] to gaze" - he merited (Bemidbar 12:8) "And the form of the Lord he
beholds."
"I will remove my
hand; you shall see my back"
(Shemot
33:23)
Said Rav Chana bar Bizna in
the name of Rabbi Shimon Chasida: This teaches that The Holy One, Blessed Be He
showed Moshe the knot of tephillin.
(Bavli, Berachot 7a)
"When you come to
see my face - who asked you to do so?"- Rav Huna, upon reaching this passage, burst out in tears;
"Will see" - "Will be seen" - just as
one comes to see, so shall he come to be seen. A servant whose master wishes to
see him had best distance himself from him, for it is written "When you
come to appear before me - who asked you to do so, etc.!?" Rav Huna,
upon reaching the passage "When you slaughter shalom-offerings, you may
eat them there (Devarim
27:7).
A servant whose master
expects him to dine at his table had best distance himself from him, as is
written, "What need have I of all your sacrifices?"
"Your new moons and
fixes season [festivals]
fill me with loathing" - said Rabbi Yochanan: Why are the festivals in
Babylon so joyful? Because they were not included in that curse, as is written (Hoseah 2:13): And I will end all her rejoicing, her
festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths" and it states (Isaiah 1): "Your new moons and festivals fill me with
loathing".
A gentile asked Rabbi Akiva
in Tzippori: Why do you make festivals? Is it not written "Your new
moons and festivals fill me with loathing?!" [Answered Rabbi Akiva]
Were it written "my new moons and my festivals - I
would have had to agree, but it states: your new moons and your
festivals" - those are the festivals established by Yoravam ben Nevat,
as is written, "And Yoravam ben Nevat made a festival in the eighth
month" - but these festivals will never be abolished, as is written
"These are My festivals."
(Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah
247:388)
"You are stationed
today, all of you..."
Is
this really the case? All of you? "All the men of Israel" together?
A great rent of mourning is torn as dew (Dew is Hebrew is Tal - a wordplay reference to
ex-supreme court justice Tal who chaired a committee which drew up laws
exempting Yeshiva students from military service, but offers an option of
leaving the Yeshiva and joining the work force.) arises from the black depths. Discrimination between blood
and blood. Not to satiate the soul does this dew arise, but to turn into a
swamp - a morass.
At this time, "A time to act on
behalf of the Lord", a time which suits Maimonides's definition "and
to rescue Israel from the attacking oppressor" (Laws of Kinds and Wars,
8).
The Shabbat is violated
because of the:
"... gentiles who besieged... and in
a town adjacent to the border, even if they come only on matters of straw and
hay [Jews] go out against them with weapons, and they desecrate the Shabbat. In
all places, if they threaten life or they wage war or even if they only set
siege - we go out against them with weapons in our hands, and we desecrate the
Shabbat. It is an obligation (mitzvah) upon all Jews who are able to come to go
out and help their besieged brothers, to save them from the gentiles on
Shabbat; it is forbidden for them to wait until the end of the Shabbat. And
when they have saved their brothers, they may return with their weapons to
their homes on Shabbat, so as not to place obstacles in their way [i.e., to
discourage them from future fighting on the Shabbat]" (Laws of Shabbat 2:24)
At
this time, Jews have chosen to give official sanction to weakness of hand and
heart. In these times, they have chosen to discriminate between blood and
blood. They have forgotten, yes, forgotten "Azov taazov immo" - "You
must nevertheless raise it together with him," (Shemot 23:5) and "do not stand upon the blood
of your brother" (Vayikra 19:15). As
though not more than a generation had passed since the realization of the
passage (Devarim
31:17)
"I will abandon them
and hide My countenance from them." Only a generation has passed since
Jews, my grandparents, uncles, and brothers, stood empty-handed to face the
evil. Only a week has passed (at the time of writing this article) since the
recitation of lamentations, among them "My God, my God, my soul cries and
screams, daughter of Israel, lament and wail, fire has consumed Israel, over
the slaughter which was planned, the pain of bereavement, the torrents of
blood, no mercy on the aged and the infant, over the akeida of a pure
sacrifice."
Yet there are those among us who arise and rule: "These shall fight, and these shall sit on the side".
The Book of Devarim. The Children
of Israel are preparing for a new stage in their history. Until this point,
they have crystallized into a nation. From the days of Yaakov, who "divided
the people that were with him" - until their encampment on the steppes of Moav, on
the Jordan, facing Jericho. Moshe prepares them for the next stage - a nation
inheriting a land. In keeping with the natural order of the world, "...
and in Eretz Yisrael they lived naturally, under the concealed providence of
the Kingdom of Heaven, and this change occurred while they were still in their
fortieth year in the desert..." (Haamek Davar,
Preface to Book of Bemidbar). Moshe reviews
the mitzvot and prepares
the nation for what lies ahead. Moshe passes the staff to Yehoshua. Yehoshua,
who learned Torah from Moshe, his faithful pupil, man of the book. But he was
also man of the sword. Moshe commands "Be strong! Be courageous,
And God, he is the one who goes before you, He will be with you, He will not
fail you, He will not abandon you; you are not to be overawed, you are not to
fear!" (Devarim
31:7-8)
"You are not to be overawed, you are
not to fear!" Not to fear what? Bookworms? The dust on
bookshelves? The sword of the enemy!
"Whoever fights with all his heart,
fearlessly, with the sole intent of sanctifying His name, is guaranteed that he
will not be harmed and that no misfortune will come upon him, and he will build
himself a proper home in Israel, and this will merit him and his descendents
forever and will merit life in the world to come" (Laws
of Kings and Wars, 7). "Be strong! Be courageous,
for you yourself will enter with this people into the land about which God
swore to your fathers, to give them; you yourself will allot it as inheritance
to them. And God, he is the one who goes before you, He will be with you, He
will not fail you, He will not abandon you; you are not to be overawed, you are
not to fear!"
Where will He be with you? In the koilel
[yeshiva
for married students]? On the battlefield, in the ranks of the fighters!
A few weeks ago, we read (Devarim
20:2): "And it shall be: when you draw near for
war, the priest is to approach and speak to the people and to say to them:
Hearken, O Israel! You are drawing near today to war against your enemies. Let
not your heart be soft, do not be afraid, do not be in trepidation, do not be
terrified before them! For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to
wage war for you..." (Devarim 20:2) and the continuation is well known.
There are four categories of fear of battle, four
expressions of encouragement for the warriors, and four classes of fighters who
are excused from battle.
"Let not your heart be soft, do not be
afraid, do not be in trepidation, etc." "Let not your heart be
soft, because of the neighing of horses and the clash of swords. Do
not be afraid of the clanging of shields and the multitude of
warriors. Do not be in trepidation from the sound
of trumpets. Do not be terrified before them because of the
shrieks. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you". (Mishna,
Sotah 8:1)
The Torah continues: "Then
the officials are to speak to the people, saying: Who is the man that has built
a new house and has not yet dedicated it? Let him go and return to his
house." The man who creates something new. "And who is the man that has
planted a vineyard and has not yet made use of it?" The man who
contributed to the settlement of the land. "Who is the man that has
betrothed a woman..." The man who is setting up a new family. All these
do not participate in the battle because of the desire to sustain fitness for
renewal and preservation. There are those who guard and fight; at the same time
there are those who prepare the future. There is no category of
"learner". Who does not learn!?
There is yet another category which does not go out
to fight: "And the officers are to continue to speak
to the people, they are to say: Who is the man, the one afraid and soft of
heart? Let him go and return to his house." Rabbi Akiva
says "afraid and soft of heart" - literally; he
is unable to face the challenge of battle and see a drawn sword. Rabbi Yossi
Hagallili says the "afraid and soft of heart" refers to one
who fears the sins he commits; therefore the Torah provides him with all these
[excuses] so that he can return because of them. (Sotah 8:15).
These are the categories - there are no more.
"All these [exemptions from service exist
only] in an optional war. But in a milchemet mitzvah - an obligatory
war - all go out to fight, even the groom from his room and the bride from her
canopy" (Sotah 8:7). "What is
a milchemet
mitzvah? This is the war against the seven nations and the war against Amalek,
and the rescue of Israel from an attacking oppressor... the optional war is one
waged against other nations for the purpose of territorial expansion and self
aggrandizement." (Laws of Kings and Wars 5:1)
Regarding those who fear, Maimonides has the
following simple and penetrating things to say:
"Who is the man, the one afraid and soft
of heart?" - literally, i.e., he has not the courage to face the
challenge of war. And upon entering the fray he [the fighter] should depend
upon the Hope of Israel and its deliverer in times of distress, and he should
know that he wages war for the uniqueness of His name, and he should place his
life in his hands, and he should not fear nor should he think about his wife
and his children, but he should erase them from his thoughts and dedicate
himself solely to the war, and whoever begins to think and deliberate is battle
and frightens himself violates a negative commandment, as is written,
""Let not your heart be soft, etc.". Yet more, all
Israelite casualties are his fault, and if he was not victorious and did not
fight with all his heart and with all his might, he is considered as one who
has spilled the blood of all, as is written "so that he does not melt
the heart of his brothers, like his heart" - and it is
stated clearly by tradition: Cursed is the man who does God's work dishonestly,
and cursed is the man who holds back his sword from blood. (Laws
of Kings and Wars 7:15)
They have caused a split among us.
We are not talking about a small group of Torah students, whose Torah
is their profession. We have many excellent examples proving that is possible
to combine the book and the sword, this one helping the other, lacking nothing
himself.
Behold, an innovation in Israel. A segment of the
population does not wish to join the covenant, is not prepared to lend a shoulder,
does not wish stand as one even when there rages what Maimonides considered to
be a milchemet mitzvah. I cannot comprehend how everyone lets this
happen. There is no longer shame in the land. I have no more words to express
my anger and my sorrow. Perhaps on the eve of the Days of Awe, in the midst of
awful times, the population at large will examine its soul, and probe its
relation to the present, the place and the reality. Perhaps...
Dr. Chaim Rubinstein is involved in education
On the Covenant and the
Kindness -
and Give Tal (and Rain)
As a Blessing? Another Perspective
My friend Chayim Rubinstein has given
vent to his anger regarding the Tal law, which is indeed is not a just law nor
a law applying to all equally; this is because it actually "cleanses the
rat" of discrimination between those liable for conscription and the
yeshiva student in the ultra-Orthodox sector.
It
may well be, however, that this law - unjust as it is - is an attempt to cope
with a warped situation which is, in my opinion, only a symptom of a deeper
malaise in the Israeli society.
My
friend Chaim expounds the passage "You are stationed today - all of
you" and rightfully asks: "Is that really so?
What
is that common covenant which enjoys consensus in Israeli society? Can we
still claim with certainty that the entire Israeli public is united around
common national and social aims?
In order to deal with the rifts found in
Israeli society, we must first recognize their existence, and then define those
things which Israeli society considers to be the absolute minimum for the
existence of a properly functioning society and for the creation of solidarity
between its various components.
From
the period when it was yet possible (in Leibowitz's words) to describe the
"historical Jewish nation" as a people characterized by a life style
of observance of Torah and mitzvoth, it has been very difficult to define the
common denominator of the Jewish people. Most of the people who define
themselves as Jews by one criteria or another, do not live in Israel. Some of
them has never visited Israel. In the State of Israel there exist many small
groups, Jews by one criteria or another, and non-Jews - who do not share the
national Zionist ethos, as envisaged by the founders of the State and the
generation of '48. Ex-minister Yuli Tamir defines the group to which she
belongs as that group which is emotionally affected by "Shir
HaReut" - The Song of Companionship"; this group is steadily
shrinking, and the "national consensus" cannot be defined by this
criterion.
For
obvious reasons, the principle of protecting physical existence is one of the
basic values of any society struggling for its life; the laws from the Laws of
Kings regarding milchemet mitzvah represent a similar principle. These
laws present an interesting fusion of the demand for solidarity in times of
existential war, and of the consideration for the feelings of the individual. (It is interesting to
note how different commentators expanded the concept "the man afraid
and soft of heart" (cf. Article by Deputy Chief Justice (ret) Menachem
Elon in the Parashat Hashavua sheet (Shoftim, Num. 87) issued by the Ministry
of Justice, the division for Jewish Law, ed. By Aviad Hacohen and Michael
Vigoda.)
It
is important to acknowledge the sad fact that Israeli society is divided and
torn; there is no common agreement about its political and social goals; there
is no agreement regarding the current military activity, and, even if we do not
support the use of ideological refusal to serve as a legitimate means in the
political conflict, we feel that the existence of such a phenomenon among a
group which is not a group of "shirkers" is an expression of that
rift. Similarly, we must admit the fact that the chareidi public -
consciously or unconsciously - does not see value in the existence of secular
State of Israel. Within this sector, there is even a group which considers the
existence of a secular Jewish state to be the mother of all sin; this group -
even though it be a minority within the chareidi population - does
influence public opinion in the general chareidi public which is
prepared to recognized the existence of the State "de facto", benefiting
from what the government has to offer in order to protect its community's
interests. The future of the Jewish nation, according to this view, depends
upon the observance of the Torah by this group, and not in the physical
existence or security of the State of Israel.
There
is a feeling that we have changed from a society which is concerned with all
its citizens - including the weak - to a society in which the powerful win and
the government cares mainly for the interests of pressure groups. This,
together with the social and economic gap, chips away even more at the
solidarity and cohesion of society as a whole.
Therefore,
on the one hand, it seems to me that there is much to repair in order to
recreate that common existential basis. Of late, a declarative attempt to
really define that common basis - "The Kinneret Contract"- has been
made, but, for various reasons, it does not seem to have met with success.
Perhaps this is a beginning which expresses an important need, but thus far its
influence upon the character of Israeli society seems negligible.
On
the other hand, the Tal Law, even though it is unjust and clearly
discriminatory, is perhaps a beginning step which may facilitate gradual
integration of parts of the chareidi community into Israeli society,
primarily because it has the support of part of that community's leadership.
This will probably depend not so much on the law itself as upon the dynamic
which will be created.
Therefore
the moral obtuseness, the lack of equality and justice in society, the
media-publicized utterances of some religious-nationalist rabbis regarding
collective punishment, their following chauvinistic and racist notion, the
blood which is shed daily, and the baseless hatred between man and his fellow,
pain me more these days than the Tal Law... and who knows, perhaps some
blessing will flower from it...
Pinchas
Leiser, editor of "Shabbat Shalom" is a psychologist.
Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser
(Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein
Translation: Kadish Goldberg
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