Pick your Enemy – Pinchas
In the beginning of the parsha we read about the reward that HKB”H gave to Pinchas, for averting His wrath from Am Yisrael by killing Zimri and Kozbi.
In Shittim, 200,000 people died – 24,000 in the plague and 176,000 were killed by the judges (Rashi, Bamidbar 25, 5). The Midrash explains how the judges knew which men in Am Yisrael were guilty of sinning with ba’al peor. The ענני הכבוד, which normally filtered the sun’s rays so that Am Yisrael would not be too hot in the midbar, developed cracks, through which the unfiltered sun shone directly on the sinners and spotlighted them.
Immediately following this, Hashem commands Moshe –
צרור את המדינים והכיתם אותם. כי צררים הם לכם בנכליהם אשר נכלו לכם על דבר פעור ועל דבר כזבי בת נשיא מדין אחתם המכה ביום המגפה על דבר פעור. (במדבר כה, יז-יח).
Rashi translates צרור – to make them your enemy. Despite the fact that Moshe spent many years of his life in Midyan with Yitro, HKB”H commands him to disregard any feelings of compassion he might have had for them and to smite them, not to eradicate them, but to deal them a severe blow. We know the Midyanim continued to trouble Am Yisrael continuing into the period of the Shoftim.
The question all the mefarshim ask is – “What about Moav?” Just last week we read about Balak and Bilam who were instrumental in orchestrating Shittim. Why did HKB”H not command Moshe to also smite Moav? The most prevalent reason given by the mefarshim is that Rut was to be descended from Moav so Moshe was not allowed to attack them.
Am Yisrael over the generations acquired numerous enemies, each of whom sought to destroy or severely harm them, but HKB”H’s attitude to each is not equal. Am Yisrael’s enemies are graded in severity by how we are supposed to deal with them.
Our most severe treatment of an enemy is that of Amalek, where Am Yisrael is commanded to totally wipe them out and all memory of them.
תמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים (דברים כה, יט)
We know that Amalek was the first nation after Am Yisrael left Egypt to attack and thus chilled the waters, paving the way for further attacks. But that was not the main reason for their severe punishment. It is because Amalek did not merely wage war on Am Yisrael but directly against HKB”H Himself. Shaul Hamelech had the opportunity to wipe out Amalek, but he botched it and the night before Agag was slain by Shmuel, he managed to sleep with a slave woman and his lineage continued (Haman, etc.). We know that before Mashiach comes there will be a war with Amalek and HKB”H will battle them Himself and eradicate them once and for all.
Amalek was not the first enemy though, before them we had Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Not only did the Egyptians enslave Am Yisrael but they also engaged in genocide, killing untold thousands of first born Israelites by throwing them into the Nile and when the Israelite slaves could not fulfill their brick production quotas, they killed children by cementing them into the foundations of the buildings. The Egyptians were cruel, terrible enemies and killed many more Jews than Amalek did when they attacked in Refidim. But surprisingly, our treatment of them is mild in comparison –
לא תתעב מצרי כי גר היית בארצו . בנים אשר יולדו להם דור שלישי יבא להם בקהל ה' (דברים כג, ח-ט)
Not only are we not commanded to attack or kill them, we are even commanded not to despise them and we are allowed to accept converts from them from the 3rd generation after we left Egypt. Those Egyptians who sinned against us were punished by the 10 plagues and drowning in the Red Sea, but future generations do not inherit their culpability.
Prior to the Egyptians we had another sworn enemy – Eisav. After Yaakov stole his blessing, Eisav swore to murder Yaakov and it was not for lack of trying, but because of Divine protection of Yaakov, that he repeatedly failed. Similarly with Eisav and his descendents, the Torah tells us -
לא תתעב אדמי כי אחיך הוא . בנים אשר יולדו להם דור שלישי יבא להם בקהל ה' (דברים כג, ח-ט)
We are not commanded to wage war against Edom, the descendants of Eisav, nor despise them, despite that Edom has been responsible for perhaps the largest number of deaths in our nation throughout history. They will receive their just punishment when Mashiach comes –
והיה בית יעקב אש ובית יוסף להבה ובית עשו לקש ודלקו בהם ואכלום ולא יהיה שריד לבית עשו כי ה' דבר (עובדיה א, יח)
The most surprising of all our enemies however and our treatment of them are Amon and Moav. We know that Moav was directly responsible for the deaths of Am Yisrael in Shittim, but that is not the only reason we are commanded to deal with them severely–
לא יבא עמוני ומואבי בקהל ה' גם דור עשירי לא יבא להם בקהל ה' עד עולם. על דבר אשר לא קדמו אתכם בלחם ובמים בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים ואשר שכר עליך את בלעם בן בעור מפתור ארם נהרים לקללך ..... לא תדרש שלמם וטבתם כל ימיך לעולם. (דברים כג, ד-י)
Certainly hiring Bilam to curse us is a reason not to allow them to ever convert, or prohibit us to interact with them in any way, but it is preceded by another reason – that they did not greet us with bread and water when Am Yisrael left Egypt. The order of their iniquities seems to hint that the fact they did not give us bread and water was worse than hiring Bilam.
An Egyptian whose ancestors committed genocide against our people may be accepted as a convert after 3 generations, but a Moabite and Amonite – who never greeted us with bread and water, they may never be accepted.
Prior to this Am Yisrael had sent a message to Sichon the king of the Emori asking to travel through his land, explicitly stating that they would not wander into any fields to scavenge food, nor drink water from any wells - they did not need to, they had the well of Miriam and the Man. So why this disproportionate expectation from Moav - to come greet them with bread and water, which they did not even need?
What is going on here?
To understand this we need to go back to the origins of Moav and Amon.
These two nations were descended from Lot. Lot was the son of Avraham’s brother Haran. The Midrash tells how Haran deliberated whether to align with Avraham or Nimrod and said to himself – “If Avraham emerges safely from the furnace, I am with him, if not I’m with Nimrod”. When Avraham emerged unscathed, Haran said “I’m with Avraham”, so Nimrod threw Haran into the furnace but he did not survive. Avraham “adopted” Haran’s son and when Avraham left Ur Casdim to move to Canaan, he took Lot with him.
Lot merited Avraham’s protection and even when his sinful behavior caused a rift with Avraham and Lot moved to Sdom, Avraham was still willing to sacrifice his life and wage war to rescue Lot in the war of the 4 vs. 5 kings. Chazal say that until Lot’s daughters gave birth to Moav and Amon, Avraham was their protector – because he wanted to ensure the inception of the lineage of Rut and Malchut David (from Moav) and the lineage of Na’ama, wife of Shlomo (from Amon). After Moav and Amon were born, Avraham severed all contact with Lot and we never hear about him again.
By all rights, Moav and Amon bore a debt of gratitude to Avraham, for if not for his saving Lot, they would never have been born. But they were ingrates, like their father Lot. After Lot’s being rescued by Avraham we read –
ומלכי צדק מלך שלם הוציא לחם ויין והוא כהן לא-ל עליון. (בראשית יד, יח)
By all rights it should have been Lot expressing gratitude to Avraham for his rescue, but instead it was Malkitzedek, a total stranger, who greeted Avraham with bread and wine. The mefarshim say that at that point Malkitzedek was the Kohen Gadol and the bread and wine he gave to Avraham was Lechem Hapanim and Yayin Nesech (Midrash Rabah).
One can say that at that point Lot was a rescued captive and in no state to greet his savior with bread and wine, but his descendants M’oav and Amon certainly were, many generations later. However, when presented with this opportunity, both refused.
More than their fear of Am Yisrael, causing Moav to hire Bilam, it was this negative middah of ingratitude that precluded them from ever being allowed to convert and be included in Am Yisrael. The basic tenet and premise upon which Am Yisrael is built surrounds the middah of gratitude - for HKB”H.
But it was more than simple ingratitude. It was an ongoing animosity against Am Yisrael that caused Moav and Amon at every turn to do whatever was in their power to cause Am Yisrael harm. Chazal say that Moav and Amon were the worst possible neighbors Am Yisrael could ever want. They give an example.
When the Nevi’im warned Am Yisrael that the first Beit Hamikdash would be destroyed if they did not do tshuva, Moav and Amon went to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Bavel and told him about the prophecies. They urged him to attack Am Yisrael, but he was initially reluctant because of what had happened to Sancheriv during the reign of Chizkiya. But Moav and Amon never let up until he finally agreed and this resulted in Churban Bayit Rishon.
Moshe was commanded by HKB”H not to attack or wage war against Moav, according to the mefarshim – to continue in the steps of Avraham and ensure the inception of Rut and Malchut David. But even after David was born, Moav still continued to exist and cause Am Yisrael grief. When Shaul was pursuing David and his family, they fled to Moav, where the king of Moav killed all of David’s family, excepting for one brother Eliyahu who fled to and found asylum in Amon.
Am Yisrael never tried to wipe out Moav and Moav’s nemesis only occurred during Bayit Sheini at the hands of the Nabateans - not Am Yisrael.
The question is, with all these enemies surrounding us, the only one we are commanded to wipe out is Amalek. Why did HKB”H not command us to get rid of the Midyanim, the Moavim and the Amonim (after Rut and Na’ama were born) thus enabling them to continue to be a thorn in our side throughout the Kingdom of Israel for almost a thousand years?
Why didn’t HKB”H command us to wipe out the Edomim, knowing that in the future they would kill countless Jews in inquisitions, pogroms and holocausts?
When Am Yisrael were strong, during the reign of David Hamelech, they certainly had the military power to wipe out these nations, but they were unable to do so.
And the terrifying answer is that HKB”H wanted these nations to continue to exist, because they served an important purpose and that purpose was - to be a thorn in Am Yisrael’s side.
Joan Peters in her book From Time Immemorial speculates what would have happened if, instead of persecuting and slaughtering the Jewish People over the eons, the Christians and the Muslims would have allowed us to live in peace and harmony. Her answer is that if they had, the Jewish People would probably have assimilated and vanished from the stage of history, very much the same way as much of world Jewry is today in the USA and other “friendly” and “tolerant” countries.
It is specifically because these enemies of Am Yisrael were allowed to continue to be a thorn in our side throughout history that we are here to tell the tale today. Out of persecution they forced us to cling to our heritage much more forcibly than if they would have ignored, tolerated or even embraced us. It is ironically these nations who instead greet us with open arms that pose the greatest threat to the continued spiritual existence of the Jewish People.
What this means is that anti-Semitism is a necessary evil. It is a defense mechanism that HKB”H uses to keep us on the straight and narrow. As long as there is chance that Am Yisrael will “kick” - וישמן ישרון ויבעט, there is a need for these enemies to give us a wakeup call and return to our Creator.
From this it follows that all the conventional “wisdom” of how to eradicate anti-Semitism – by educating, by capitulating, by assimilating chas vechalila, etc. is all defunct. There is only one way to protect ourselves from anti-Semitism and that is – to be true to our Creator and follow HKB”H’s Torah. As long as we do so, there will be no need for anti-Semitism. As long as we are devoted to HKB”H, our enemies will not gain the upper hand, as Yitzchak tells his son Eisav –
ועל חרבך תחיה ואת אחיך תעבד והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך (בראשית כז, מ)
Only when Yaakov (and his decendants) are lax in their worship of Hashem will you, Eisav, gain the upper hand.
Moav were afraid of Am Yisrael after seeing what they had done to Sichon and Og, but how did Bilam enable them to strike a blow at Am Yisrael? by making us sin.
We are now in the three weeks before Tisha Be’Av. From Shiva Asar Betamuz, the korban hatamid ceased to be offered in the Beit Hamikdash. Chazal say that the korbanot and specifically the korban tamid was a “secret weapon” of protection for Am Yisrael. As long as the korban hatamid repented for our sins, we were protected from our enemies. Only when we began to rely on the korban tamid to protect us and sinned in the knowledge that the korban tamid would fix everything, did it lose its power.
Today, because of our sins we do not have the Beit Hamikdash. We hope and pray that it will be rebuilt speedily in our days b”H. Meanwhile Chazal said ונשלמה פרים שפתינו – that meanwhile, while the real korbanot are not in effect, our tefilot serve as a substitute.
We should all make a special effort in these weeks when the Beit Hamikdash is foremost in our consciousness, to say the korbanot before shacharit and mincha every day, but more than say them, to understand what we are saying – Why the korban tamid used sheep and not goats? Why it says את הכבש אחד and not את הכבש האחד? What was the minchat chavitin of the Kohen Gadol that was part of korban tamid?
If we really want the Beit Hamikdash to be rebuilt, we have to really want it and to really want it - we need to learn what it entails and what it means. Let us resolve to use these three weeks to develop a deeper understanding of the Beit Hamikdash so that we can truly pour out our hearts to HKB”H and yearn for it and bizchut zeh it will be rebuilt בבי"א.
There are numerous sources on the internet of material to learn more about the Beit Hamikdash. You may check out the Machon’s Youtube channel –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIw4seVetpDdSxT1ZHnviHA
for many interesting lectures and presentations.
