And in the wilderness, as you have seen, Hashem bore you , as a man carries his son, on the entire way that you traveled, until you arrived at this place. Yet in this matter you do not have faith in Hashem, your G-d, Who goes before you on the way to seek out for you a place for you to encamp... (Deut. 1: 29-33)
Faith and trust (emunah ve'bitachon) in G-d are the foundation of the Torah.
Our sages said (Makot 23b-24a): Six hundred thirteen mitzvot were given to Moses... David emphasized eleven of them... Isaiah emphasized six... Micah emphasized three... Isaiah returned and emphasized two... Habakuk emphasized one, as it says (Habakuk 2:4), “The righteous man shall live by his faith.”
Emunah, faith, means accepting and knowing clearly that G-d truly exists, that He created everything, and that He performed great miracles for Israel's sake. In other words, it is decisive knowledge regarding something in the past, i.e., that G-d indeed created the world and performed miracles for our ancestors in Egypt and at the Sea of Reeds, and everywhere else described in Scripture.
Bitachon, on the other hand, is the direct result of emunah, and points to the future. It is the conviction that just as in the past G-d performed miracles and wonders, He will do so for us in the future, as well, as shall be discussed below.
[...] Faith, emunah, relates to the creation of the world and everything in it ; the other aspect of faith is the belief that G-d performed great signs and wonders for our ancestors. Neither aspect is based on blind or theoretical faith, but on seeing, on real testimony. In Egypt and the desert, the Jewish People were direct witnesses, because G-d's miracles were performed before the eyes of all Israel. The Torah instructs us that throughout the Exodus, the plagues that broke Egypt were performed openly, so that Israel would see the reality of G-d, would believe in Him, revere Him and cling to His attributes and commandments.
The connection between the signs Israel saw and faith in G-d as Creator of the universe is alluded to in the Torah's starting out with Creation - “In the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth” - and ending with the phrase, “all the mighty acts and great signs that Moses displayed before the eyes of all Israel” (Deut. 34:12). The mighty acts and the miracles and wonders performed before the eyes of Israel imbued them with the belief that G-d created heaven and earth, and that He is the One Supreme Power. The Torah's conclusion attests to its beginning. Such is faith.
Bitachon, trust, on the other hand, is the result of emunah. Since we believe that in the past G-d performed the things I have enumerated, we are certain that He is capable of doing so in the future as well, and that He will fulfill what He promised us. Whoever does not trust in G-d shows that he does not believe in G-d's power and ability, a sign that he does not really believe in G-d's existence. Bitachon, trust, includes also the idea that G-d is all-powerful and in charge of everything, as well as the central idea that we, lowly, weak and finite, are incapable of dealing alone with our adversaries and our troubles. Trusting in G-d means admitting that we are few and weak, that we need to raise our eyes to G-d for help. “Keep my soul and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed, for I have taken refuge in You” (Ps. 25:20); “Place your hope in the L-rd. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yeah, place your hope in the L-rd” (27:14); and, “Be strong, and take courage, all ye that place your hope in the L-rd” (31:25). From the last two verses, we learn the secret of true bitachon: it is exceedingly hard to withstand crushing misfortune, to stand on the brink of despair, and to trust in G-d all the same. This requires enormous strengthening, and it was for this reason that King David said “Place your hope in the L-rd.” Beset by misfortune, place your hope in the L-rd and trust in Him. If you try and it is hard, then “Be strong and take courage.” Fortify yourself and you will find the strength to trust in Him, and then your trust will strengthen you on its own.
The rule is this: Bitachon means a Jew's recognizing and acknowledging that he is a worm and not a man, dirt and dust, like a broken potsherd, weak and finite, and that only G-d can help him in times of trouble, because G-d is omnipotent and infinite, and none can stand against Him. The worse the situation looks, the greater the despair, the more one must strengthen himself with bitachon: “Many are the ills of the righteous man, but the L-rd delivers him from them all” (Ps. 34:20).
Rabbenu Bechaye says (Kad haKemach, entry: Bitachon), “Bitachon must not be tinged with doubt. Even if many evils befall a righteous man, he should serve G-d valiantly and truly trust in Him.”
Rabbenu Bechaye adds (Ibid.):
If someone has bitachon, then we know that he has emunah as well. Bitachon is like the fruit of a tree, and emunah is like the tree. Just as the fruit's existence signifies the existence of a tree or plant on which it grew, but a tree' s existence does not signify the existence of fruit, as some trees, such as shade trees, produce no fruit, so too does the presence of bitachon guarantee the presence of emunah, but not vice versa.
We should reflect well on this holy man's ostensibly puzzling comment that “emunah is no guarantee of bitachon.” Surely, someone who believes that G-d performed miracles for our ancestors, created the world and everything in it, and controls, manages and directs everything, will be certain that G-d will fulfill what He promised us if we follow His path and keep His mitzvot. Surely such a person will act accordingly, despite all the difficulties.
What then is the meaning of Rabbenu Bechaye's comment that emunah is no guarantee of bitachon? Is not bitachon a logical, necessary result of emunah? To our chagrin, it is not. Many fine Jews cry out heartfelt declarations of faith in G-d and in His omnipotence, yet few trust in Him and endanger themselves for the sake of His commandments and for the sake of sanctifying His name.
How easy and pleasant is it to declare one's faith, to make loud speeches about G-d's power and might in the days of old! Who among the Torah-observant does not declare his faith that G-d performed miracles and wonders in Egypt, or that He appeared from Mount Paran to give Israel the Torah? Who does not recite in synagogue the psalms in morning prayers, which state (Ps. 146:3,5), “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, through whom there is no salvation... Happy is he whose help is the G-d of Jacob.” Yet how many of all those who are proud of their daily recitation immediately before the morning Shemoneh Esreh, that “G-d redeemed us from Egypt... delivered us from the house of slavery, slayed all their firstborn... divided the Sea of Reeds, drowned the arrogant but took His beloved ones across,” carry through on their faith in the past with trust in the future?
The prime blight of our day is lack of bitachon, hesitating to trust in G-d, whether due to uncertainty over His true ability to help, fear of mortal man, or fear of “reality” which destroys fear of G-d and our trust in Him. This is so both regarding the individual Jew and the whole Jewish People. It applies both as far as our fears and worries regarding our personal future and private troubles and our fear of enemies threatening the Jewish People.
The same Jew who mumbles in his prayers, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we call upon the name of the L-rd our G-d” (Ps. 20:8), cannot understand how the Jewish People and their state will be able to hold out without chariots and horses. The banner of emunah, faith, which is so easy to wave and answer Amen to, demands nothing of a person.
Not so, however, bitachon, trust in G-d. Bitachon demands of a person that he act, accomplish, give, sacrifice, risk his life, he, himself, right now, all the while trusting that ultimately things will turn out well. Not every believer has bitachon. A person's lack of trust in G-d ultimately proves the weakness of his faith, or , G-d forbid, its falsehood.
[Tracing this back to our Parasha, we know that] both Joshua and Caleb demonstrated [...] trust in G-d. Even so, when G-d swore that Israel would not enter the Land, it says, “The only exception will be My servant Caleb, since he showed a different spirit and followed Me wholeheartedly. I will bring him to the land that he explored.” Why was Joshua's name not mentioned here, when he, too, stood firm in his bitachon? It also says, “only Caleb son of Yefuneh will see the land... since he followed the L-rd wholeheartedly” (Deut. 1:36). Why, again, was Joshua omitted?
The answer is inherent in G-d's comment, in both Num. 14:24 and Deut. 1:36, that Caleb “followed him wholeheartedly.” Here we learn once more the need to have full bitachon. Our bitachon must express itself in readiness to sacrifice our lives to sanctify G-d's name, and this was evinced by Caleb but not Joshua. After the ten spies issued their bad report about Eretz Yisrael and incited the people, it says, “Caleb quieted the people for Moses and said, 'We shall surely go up and inherit it'” (Num. 13:30). He silenced them and began to express ideas which ultimately opposed those of the majority. He did not hesitate, although he knew the people's mentality and was aware of their stubbornness and what they had done to Chur [who had been killed]. He – not Joshua – was the first to rise up and try to blot out the chilul Hashem, and in doing so, he took a risk and was ready to sacrifice his life. Caleb “followed G-d wholeheartedly", thereby surpassing Joshua and meriting to be mentioned alone by G-d.
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Parashat Masei - Thorns in our sides - Rav Meir Kahane
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land before you, those of them whom you leave shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you upon the Land in which you dwell. And it shall be that what I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you. (Num. 33:55-56)
Regarding Eretz Yisrael [...], non-Jews are divided up into only two groups. The first is non-Jewish nations who were in the Land when Israel arrived there to conquer and occupy it. The second is all the rest of the non-Jewish nations, including idolaters, descendants of Noah, and foreigners and alien residents. The Torah saw a twofold danger in the nations who dwelt in the Land before Israel arrived to conquer it, namely the seven Canaanite nations. On the one hand, like all the nations, the Canaanites constituted a spiritual danger to Israel, who had been commanded to establish a Divine, Torah-oriented state in Eretz Yisrael, isolated and set apart from the abominations of alien cultures. Moreover, the Canaanites posed a unique danger in that they viewed Israel as conquerors who had taken their land. They would hate Israel forever and would forever dream of revenge and seek opportunities for reconquest. Following is the great commentator Abarbanel (on Ex. 34:11-12): Verses 11-12 inform us that since G-d is driving out the Amorites and the other nations, it is improper for Israel to forge a covenant with them. If a nobleman helps someone by fighting his battles and banishing his enemies, it is morally inappropriate for that person to make peace with them without that nobleman's permission. So, too, with G-d driving out Israel's enemies, it is inappropriate for Israel to forge a covenant with them, for that would profane G-d's glory.
This is especially so considering that this friendship and this covenant will not succeed. With Israel having taken their land, there is no doubt that they will constantly seek Israel's downfall. This is why it is said, “[the land] where you are coming.” Since Israel came to the land and took it from its inhabitants, and they feel that is has been stolen from them, how will they make a covenant of friendship with you? Rather the opposite will occur. “They will be a fatal trap for you.” When war strikes you, they will join your enemies and fight you.
How exalted and true are Abarbanel's words! This is the real reason for the approach taken by Halachah to the seven nations. G-d understood the mentality of these nations. He knew that they would view Israel as conquerors and thieves and would forever relate to them with resentment and hatred.
The Torah explicitly commanded, at least regarding driving out the Land's inhabitants, because if they remain via a peace treaty, they will become “barbs in your eyes... causing you troubles in the Land.” (Num. 33:55). Not in vain are the words “yerushah” - inheritance, and “horashah”- driving out, so similar in Hebrew. G-d knew that without driving out the nations of the Land, the Land would not be an inheritance for them. Rashi explained the same way: (on Num, 33:52-53):
“Vehorashtem”: Drive them out. “Vehorashtem et ha'aretz”: If you first “clear out the Land of its inhabitants”, then - “viyeshavtem bah” - you will be able to survive in it.
Otherwise, you will be unable to survive in it.
And Or HaChaim writes (Ibid., v. 55):
“They shall cause you troubles in the land” (Num. 33:55): Not only will they hold on to the part of the land that you have not taken, but the part which you have taken and settled as well. “They shall cause you trouble” regarding the part that you live in, saying, “Get up and leave it.”
It follows that those same laws that applied to the seven nations apply to all the nations that live in Eretz Yisrael in every age. This includes those of our day, who view Eretz Yisrael as their own land and soil, and who view the Jewish People as a nation of conquerors, robbers and thieves. That same danger looms over the Jewish People and its control over Eretz Yisrael in our time as then.
After all, what difference is there as far as G-d's warning that “those who remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing you troubles in the Land” (Num. 33:55), between the seven nations and between any nation that dwells in the Land, views it as its own, and then Israel come and conquer it from them? Surely, it will feel that same hatred and that same fierce will for revenge as did the seven nations, as explained by Abarbanel (quoted above).
This logic appears already in Or HaChaim (on Num. 33:52):
“You must drive out”: Although the verse said of the seven nations, “You shall not allow any people to remain alive” (Deut. 20:16), here, the Torah is talking about other nations found there besides the seven. It therefore was careful to say, “all the Land's inhabitants,” meaning, even those not of the seven.
What does that mean for us and for today's situation in Israel?
As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane points out in his commentary on the Parashah:
While it is true that the national religious movement in Israel has put forth great efforts in the fulfilling of the mitzvah «Yishuv Ha'Aretz» (the settling of the Land), it is important to point out that they are familiar with only half of the mitzvah. For the mitzvah of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz» has two sides to it. Well known to us all is the first side — the establishing of settlements. That's the «nice» part of the mitzvah. But it is the other side that has been totally ignored by those who proudly wave the banner of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz». Obviously, we are speaking of the mitzvah of expelling the gentile from the Land. [...]Settling the Land and expelling the gentiles in it are not only two sides of the same mitzvah, but each side is actually dependent on the other. The Torah constantly warns us about the impossibility of fulfilling just half of the mitzvah: «If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you, those who remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing you troubles in the Land you settle» (Num. 33:55) Another settlement is not the answer to the Arab terror, but rather the Arab terror is the result of our being content with making settlements and not completing the entire mitzvah — which is the expulsion of the Arabs. The solution to the terror is the fulfillment of the entire mitzvah of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz».
[As Rav Meir Kahane points out in an early article from 1973, asides from all-out war and forced expulsion, there is an additional, maybe intermediate, way to fulfill the mitzvah of expelling the gentiles – offering them the option of voluntary transfer with financial incentives]:
The majority of Arabs will not agree to leave Israel under any circumstances, but sizable numbers — more than we think — will, IF THEY ARE GIVEN SUFFICIENT INCENTIVE. It is up to those who wish to save Israel from a disastrous crisis that will lead to who-knows-what, to furnish that incentive and to ignore the false protests of ignorant and equally false «liberalism». [...] So let us ignore those who are «overly righteous» and speak of the need for a PRIVATE body of wealthy and influential Jews to set up the machinery for an ongoing emigration fund with an initial capitalization of at least 20 million dollars. I emphasize that this is only the initial funding, for the emigration fund will, hopefully, require much more than this. These same people should also begin the task of contacting governments of states that are underpopulated of in need of manpower for their own self-interest as well as for the purpose of defusing the time bomb that is the Arab population of the Land of Israel. Governments should also be discreetly asked how much they would be willing to contribute to this fund, which would do more to solve the Middle East problem than all the United Nations plans yet created. A careful table should be drawn up — based on living conditions in different countries and the size of families — so as to ascertain how much should be allotted to individuals and families who would wish to emigrate.
With a fund of money, with visas, with exact charts, the Arabs — and here I stress that this plan would be offered to both the Arabs of pre-1967 Israel and those of the liberated lands — would then be approached and offered a sizable sum (more than enough to begin a fresh life) to emigrate to the county of their choice (within the list of states that has agrees to take them in). Most people prefer not to discuss unpleasant subjects such as Arab emigration or time bombs. The problem of ignoring a bomb arises from the fact that it simply does not lie there. Eventually it explodes.
[The latter proposal is not so far-fetched: In December 12 2008, the left-wing Haaretz newspaper website published an article stating that «A Palestinian poll released on Thursday showed that 40 percent of the residents of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip wish to emigrate, compared to 25 percent in the West Bank.» Check out the link:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/palestinian-poll-40-percent-of-gaza-residents-wish-to-emigrate-1.259420]
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from “The Jewish Idea” and “Beyond Words, Vol. 1, 'Defusing the Bomb'” of Rav Meir Kahane HY”D and from “The Writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, HY”D”
Regarding Eretz Yisrael [...], non-Jews are divided up into only two groups. The first is non-Jewish nations who were in the Land when Israel arrived there to conquer and occupy it. The second is all the rest of the non-Jewish nations, including idolaters, descendants of Noah, and foreigners and alien residents. The Torah saw a twofold danger in the nations who dwelt in the Land before Israel arrived to conquer it, namely the seven Canaanite nations. On the one hand, like all the nations, the Canaanites constituted a spiritual danger to Israel, who had been commanded to establish a Divine, Torah-oriented state in Eretz Yisrael, isolated and set apart from the abominations of alien cultures. Moreover, the Canaanites posed a unique danger in that they viewed Israel as conquerors who had taken their land. They would hate Israel forever and would forever dream of revenge and seek opportunities for reconquest. Following is the great commentator Abarbanel (on Ex. 34:11-12): Verses 11-12 inform us that since G-d is driving out the Amorites and the other nations, it is improper for Israel to forge a covenant with them. If a nobleman helps someone by fighting his battles and banishing his enemies, it is morally inappropriate for that person to make peace with them without that nobleman's permission. So, too, with G-d driving out Israel's enemies, it is inappropriate for Israel to forge a covenant with them, for that would profane G-d's glory.
This is especially so considering that this friendship and this covenant will not succeed. With Israel having taken their land, there is no doubt that they will constantly seek Israel's downfall. This is why it is said, “[the land] where you are coming.” Since Israel came to the land and took it from its inhabitants, and they feel that is has been stolen from them, how will they make a covenant of friendship with you? Rather the opposite will occur. “They will be a fatal trap for you.” When war strikes you, they will join your enemies and fight you.
How exalted and true are Abarbanel's words! This is the real reason for the approach taken by Halachah to the seven nations. G-d understood the mentality of these nations. He knew that they would view Israel as conquerors and thieves and would forever relate to them with resentment and hatred.
The Torah explicitly commanded, at least regarding driving out the Land's inhabitants, because if they remain via a peace treaty, they will become “barbs in your eyes... causing you troubles in the Land.” (Num. 33:55). Not in vain are the words “yerushah” - inheritance, and “horashah”- driving out, so similar in Hebrew. G-d knew that without driving out the nations of the Land, the Land would not be an inheritance for them. Rashi explained the same way: (on Num, 33:52-53):
“Vehorashtem”: Drive them out. “Vehorashtem et ha'aretz”: If you first “clear out the Land of its inhabitants”, then - “viyeshavtem bah” - you will be able to survive in it.
Otherwise, you will be unable to survive in it.
And Or HaChaim writes (Ibid., v. 55):
“They shall cause you troubles in the land” (Num. 33:55): Not only will they hold on to the part of the land that you have not taken, but the part which you have taken and settled as well. “They shall cause you trouble” regarding the part that you live in, saying, “Get up and leave it.”
It follows that those same laws that applied to the seven nations apply to all the nations that live in Eretz Yisrael in every age. This includes those of our day, who view Eretz Yisrael as their own land and soil, and who view the Jewish People as a nation of conquerors, robbers and thieves. That same danger looms over the Jewish People and its control over Eretz Yisrael in our time as then.
After all, what difference is there as far as G-d's warning that “those who remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing you troubles in the Land” (Num. 33:55), between the seven nations and between any nation that dwells in the Land, views it as its own, and then Israel come and conquer it from them? Surely, it will feel that same hatred and that same fierce will for revenge as did the seven nations, as explained by Abarbanel (quoted above).
This logic appears already in Or HaChaim (on Num. 33:52):
“You must drive out”: Although the verse said of the seven nations, “You shall not allow any people to remain alive” (Deut. 20:16), here, the Torah is talking about other nations found there besides the seven. It therefore was careful to say, “all the Land's inhabitants,” meaning, even those not of the seven.
What does that mean for us and for today's situation in Israel?
As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane points out in his commentary on the Parashah:
While it is true that the national religious movement in Israel has put forth great efforts in the fulfilling of the mitzvah «Yishuv Ha'Aretz» (the settling of the Land), it is important to point out that they are familiar with only half of the mitzvah. For the mitzvah of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz» has two sides to it. Well known to us all is the first side — the establishing of settlements. That's the «nice» part of the mitzvah. But it is the other side that has been totally ignored by those who proudly wave the banner of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz». Obviously, we are speaking of the mitzvah of expelling the gentile from the Land. [...]Settling the Land and expelling the gentiles in it are not only two sides of the same mitzvah, but each side is actually dependent on the other. The Torah constantly warns us about the impossibility of fulfilling just half of the mitzvah: «If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you, those who remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing you troubles in the Land you settle» (Num. 33:55) Another settlement is not the answer to the Arab terror, but rather the Arab terror is the result of our being content with making settlements and not completing the entire mitzvah — which is the expulsion of the Arabs. The solution to the terror is the fulfillment of the entire mitzvah of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz».
[As Rav Meir Kahane points out in an early article from 1973, asides from all-out war and forced expulsion, there is an additional, maybe intermediate, way to fulfill the mitzvah of expelling the gentiles – offering them the option of voluntary transfer with financial incentives]:
The majority of Arabs will not agree to leave Israel under any circumstances, but sizable numbers — more than we think — will, IF THEY ARE GIVEN SUFFICIENT INCENTIVE. It is up to those who wish to save Israel from a disastrous crisis that will lead to who-knows-what, to furnish that incentive and to ignore the false protests of ignorant and equally false «liberalism». [...] So let us ignore those who are «overly righteous» and speak of the need for a PRIVATE body of wealthy and influential Jews to set up the machinery for an ongoing emigration fund with an initial capitalization of at least 20 million dollars. I emphasize that this is only the initial funding, for the emigration fund will, hopefully, require much more than this. These same people should also begin the task of contacting governments of states that are underpopulated of in need of manpower for their own self-interest as well as for the purpose of defusing the time bomb that is the Arab population of the Land of Israel. Governments should also be discreetly asked how much they would be willing to contribute to this fund, which would do more to solve the Middle East problem than all the United Nations plans yet created. A careful table should be drawn up — based on living conditions in different countries and the size of families — so as to ascertain how much should be allotted to individuals and families who would wish to emigrate.
With a fund of money, with visas, with exact charts, the Arabs — and here I stress that this plan would be offered to both the Arabs of pre-1967 Israel and those of the liberated lands — would then be approached and offered a sizable sum (more than enough to begin a fresh life) to emigrate to the county of their choice (within the list of states that has agrees to take them in). Most people prefer not to discuss unpleasant subjects such as Arab emigration or time bombs. The problem of ignoring a bomb arises from the fact that it simply does not lie there. Eventually it explodes.
[The latter proposal is not so far-fetched: In December 12 2008, the left-wing Haaretz newspaper website published an article stating that «A Palestinian poll released on Thursday showed that 40 percent of the residents of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip wish to emigrate, compared to 25 percent in the West Bank.» Check out the link:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/palestinian-poll-40-percent-of-gaza-residents-wish-to-emigrate-1.259420]
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from “The Jewish Idea” and “Beyond Words, Vol. 1, 'Defusing the Bomb'” of Rav Meir Kahane HY”D and from “The Writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, HY”D”
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Parashat Mattot – G-d's vengeance. We deliver! – Rav Meir Kahane
Hashem spoke to Moses, saying, “Take vengeance for the Children of Israel against the Midianites; afterwards, you will be gathered unto your people." (Num. 31:1)
Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among yourselves for the legion that they may be against Midian to inflict Hashem's vengeance against Midian." (Num. 31:3)
Great is revenge for it resurrects G-d, proves His existence, and humbles the arrogant sinner so that the righteous and the world joyfully declares (Ps. 58:12), “Verily there is a reward for the righteous. Verily there is a G-d Who judges on earth.” In this regard our sages said (Tanchuma, Matot 4), “Moses yearned to see G-d's revenge on the Midianites before his death, and he would ask G-d to let him see it with his own eyes. Of Moses it says (Ps. 58:11), 'The righteous man shall rejoice when he sees vengeance.'” It says here, “Moses yearned.” He did not merely wish or hope, but he yearned.
The righteous yearn to see revenge against the evil, for it proves that “there is a G-d Who judges on earth.”
By contrast, whoever relents from revenge against Israel's enemies is actually giving up on avenging G-d, for whoever attacks the people of Israel is actually attacking the G-d of Israel by showing that he does not fear Divine retribution. Our sages said (Sifri, Matot 157):
“The L-rd spoke to Moses saying, 'Take revenge for the Children of Israel against the Midianites'... Moses spoke to the people saying, 'Detach men for armed service against Midian, so that the L-rd's revenge can be taken against the Midianites'” (Num. 31:1-3): This is in praise of the righteous. They do not depart from the world until they take revenge on behalf of Israel, which is the revenge of Him Who brought the world into being."
G-d told Moses to take revenge “for the Children of Israel", and Moses called it “G-d's revenge,” to inform us that the two are the same. Our sages also said (Sifri, Beha'alot'cha, 84):
“Arise, O L-rd, and scatter Your enemies! Let Your foes flee before You” (Num. 10:35): Can He Who created the world be said to have “enemies”? Rather, the verse informs us that if someone hates the Jewish People, it is as though he hates G-d.
Elsewhere Sifri teaches (Matot 157):
Moses told them, “You are not taking the revenge of flesh and blood, but of Him Who brought the world into being, as it says, 'The L-rd is a zealous and avenging G-d' (Nachum 1:2)”.
To forgo such revenge is wrong, indeed, abominable! The issue here is not personal revenge, which is not only permissible to forgo, but forbidden to carry out (Lev. 19:18): “Do not take revenge nor bear a grudge against the children of your people”. Our sages said (Torat Kohanim, Kedoshim, 4), “You may take revenge and bear a grudge against others [i.e., non-Jews],” and Yalkut Shimoni (Vayikra 19:613) states, “Do not take revenge nor bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you may do so against non-Jews.”
As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane points out in his commentary on the Parasha:
[...] when Pinchas and the Israeli army return from battling Midian, Moses angrily questions Pinchas: “Have you saved all the women alive?!” Concerning this, the Ramban quotes the “Sifri”: “Pinchas answered Moses: As you commanded us, so we did!”
Pinchas assumed that this war was the same as any other obligatory war (milchemet mitzvah) or permissible war (milchemet reshut), whose laws are outlined in Deuteronomy 20:10. In most of these wars, only males are to be killed (with the exception of obligatory wars against Amalek or against the nations who dwelled in the land previously, where all are to be killed, including women and children). We can now understand what Pinchas meant when he said, “as you commanded, so we did.” He meant, as you commanded us in the Torah.
And so when Moses saw that Israel left the females alive, he explains, “Behold, these (specifically the females) caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Bileam, to revolt against the L-rd in the matter of Pe'or, and there was a plague among the congregation of the L-rd.” Moses is teaching us a vital lesson here: There is another category of war – a war of vengeance. As opposed to the regular wars, where the laws are pre-set regarding who is to be killed or spared (see Rambam, Hilchot Melachim, Ch. 6), the wars of vengeance are a direct response to what was done to Israel. It takes into consideration specific actions of the enemy in the past. Therefore, the way in which the enemy is treated varies from one war to another, depending on the specific circumstances. In the case of the war against Midian, which was fought to avenge what the women of Midian did, it would have been proper for the Jewish army to make the women of Midian the very first victims. And so, we have learned a principle regarding a war of vengeance – that the type of vengeance which is exacted, depends on what or who is being avenged.
[As Rav Meir Kahane continues in The Jewish Idea]: The Torah dons sackcloth over the distortion of the concept of revenge, which has become a a target for the arrows of all Jewish Hellenists and worshippers of the [Western] alien culture, as if revenge were negative and evil by nature.
The very opposite is true! No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place. G-d, Himself, is called “Nokem”, Avenger: “The L-rd is a zealous and avenging G-d. The L-rd avenges and is full of wrath. He takes revenge on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies” (Nachum 1:2). Our sages also said (Berachot 33a), “Shall we say that even revenge is great because it appears between two names of G-d? 'A G-d of vengeance is the L-rd' (Ps. 94:1). R. Elazar responded, 'Indeed. Where revenge is necessary, it is a great thing'” [see Rashi].
“It is a great thing!” It is a great mitzvah to take the revenge of the righteous and humble from the evildoer. Whoever forgoes or rejects such an opportunity is cruel, and he denies belief in G-d.
The evildoers' presence in the world and their taking control of it constitute a challenge and threat to G-d's exclusive sovereignty. It is thus imperative to rid the world of them. Therefore, regarding Israel's war against its enemies, also enemies of G-d, our sages said (Tanchuma, Shoftim 15):
“When you go forth to battle against your enemies” (Deut. 20:1): What do the words, “against your enemies” add? G-d said, “Go forth against them as enemies. Show them no mercy, just as they show you none.”
Our sages said, “Go forth against them as enemies,” not as friends. These evildoers will never care about your welfare, so you should not care about theirs. This is the ethical, philosophically based law of G-d. Regarding one's enemy, there is no room for love and forgiveness. On the one hand, he will not show loving pity for Israel if he has the opportunity to dominate it. As our sages said (Yalkut Shimoni, Devarim 20:923, quoting Eileh HaDevarim Zuta):
“When you go forth to battle against your enemies”: If you take pity on them, they will go forth to battle against you. It is like the shepherd who used to watch his sheep in the forest. He found a wolf cub and took pity on it, letting it suckle from the goats. His employer saw this and said to him, “Kill it! Take no pity on it or misfortune will strike the flock.” The shepherd did not heed him. When the wolf was grown, it would see a lamb or kid and kill it. His employer then said, “Did I not tell you to show no pity?” Moses said the same to Israel: “If you take pity on them, then 'Those that you let remain shall be as thorns in your eyes' (Num. 33:55).”
A curse upon those who falsify G-d's attributes! Hillel clearly gave us a great principle when he said, “That which is hateful to you do not do to your fellow man – this is the whole Torah.” Yet he concluded, “The rest is commentary. Go learn it!” (Shabbat 31a). The principle has a commentary and only an ignoramus, fool or charlatan would ignore it and intentionally conceal the end of Hillel's utterance. Does this great principle apply to the way we must approach a non-Jew who is an enemy of the Jewish People? Must a Jew put himself on equal terms with a cursed, wicked non-Jew who thirsts for his blood? Anyone with the least bit of Talmud under his belt, anyone who has studied even a small measure of Shas [Mishnah] and Poskim [halachic authorities], will understand how ridiculous this is.
Love thine enemy? Is he our “neighbor”, our “re'a”? Read not “re'a” but “ra”, evil! He is an evildoer, an enemy. There is no obligation to be friendly to him. Quite the contrary, our sages declared (Bamidbar Rabbah 21:4): “'Harass the Midianites' (Num. 25:17): Why? 'For they harass you' (Ibid.). Our sages accordingly accordingly said, 'If someone comes to kill you, kill him first.'” We must kill him, not love him.
At the same time, we must not relate lovingly and forgivingly to those who rise up against G-d, and the law is that any enemy who rises up against Israel is considered to have risen up against G-d.
The rule is this: Whoever conquers his evil impulse and his false thinking, will go on to uproot evil and take revenge on evildoers because of G-d's command, clinging to G-d's traits and without any personal interest. Then he will be called merciful and saintly for having eradicated evil.
To our sorrow, and once more due to the terrible exile in which we were blinded by the alien culture, G-d's attributes have been corrupted and distorted, deliberately so by those who cast off G-d's yoke and with depressing ignorance by a large portion of the holy camp. It has reached the point in which war and revenge against the nations and the sanctification of G-d's name through Jewish victory have entirely disappeared from our agenda. Yet, in the original Jewish idea, precisely as we received from Sinai laws of the Sabbath and of separating meat and milk, so were we given laws of war and revenge, which are practical laws during this pre-Messianic era in which we live.
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D, and from 'The writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, HY"D'.
Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among yourselves for the legion that they may be against Midian to inflict Hashem's vengeance against Midian." (Num. 31:3)
Great is revenge for it resurrects G-d, proves His existence, and humbles the arrogant sinner so that the righteous and the world joyfully declares (Ps. 58:12), “Verily there is a reward for the righteous. Verily there is a G-d Who judges on earth.” In this regard our sages said (Tanchuma, Matot 4), “Moses yearned to see G-d's revenge on the Midianites before his death, and he would ask G-d to let him see it with his own eyes. Of Moses it says (Ps. 58:11), 'The righteous man shall rejoice when he sees vengeance.'” It says here, “Moses yearned.” He did not merely wish or hope, but he yearned.
The righteous yearn to see revenge against the evil, for it proves that “there is a G-d Who judges on earth.”
By contrast, whoever relents from revenge against Israel's enemies is actually giving up on avenging G-d, for whoever attacks the people of Israel is actually attacking the G-d of Israel by showing that he does not fear Divine retribution. Our sages said (Sifri, Matot 157):
“The L-rd spoke to Moses saying, 'Take revenge for the Children of Israel against the Midianites'... Moses spoke to the people saying, 'Detach men for armed service against Midian, so that the L-rd's revenge can be taken against the Midianites'” (Num. 31:1-3): This is in praise of the righteous. They do not depart from the world until they take revenge on behalf of Israel, which is the revenge of Him Who brought the world into being."
G-d told Moses to take revenge “for the Children of Israel", and Moses called it “G-d's revenge,” to inform us that the two are the same. Our sages also said (Sifri, Beha'alot'cha, 84):
“Arise, O L-rd, and scatter Your enemies! Let Your foes flee before You” (Num. 10:35): Can He Who created the world be said to have “enemies”? Rather, the verse informs us that if someone hates the Jewish People, it is as though he hates G-d.
Elsewhere Sifri teaches (Matot 157):
Moses told them, “You are not taking the revenge of flesh and blood, but of Him Who brought the world into being, as it says, 'The L-rd is a zealous and avenging G-d' (Nachum 1:2)”.
To forgo such revenge is wrong, indeed, abominable! The issue here is not personal revenge, which is not only permissible to forgo, but forbidden to carry out (Lev. 19:18): “Do not take revenge nor bear a grudge against the children of your people”. Our sages said (Torat Kohanim, Kedoshim, 4), “You may take revenge and bear a grudge against others [i.e., non-Jews],” and Yalkut Shimoni (Vayikra 19:613) states, “Do not take revenge nor bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you may do so against non-Jews.”
As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane points out in his commentary on the Parasha:
[...] when Pinchas and the Israeli army return from battling Midian, Moses angrily questions Pinchas: “Have you saved all the women alive?!” Concerning this, the Ramban quotes the “Sifri”: “Pinchas answered Moses: As you commanded us, so we did!”
Pinchas assumed that this war was the same as any other obligatory war (milchemet mitzvah) or permissible war (milchemet reshut), whose laws are outlined in Deuteronomy 20:10. In most of these wars, only males are to be killed (with the exception of obligatory wars against Amalek or against the nations who dwelled in the land previously, where all are to be killed, including women and children). We can now understand what Pinchas meant when he said, “as you commanded, so we did.” He meant, as you commanded us in the Torah.
And so when Moses saw that Israel left the females alive, he explains, “Behold, these (specifically the females) caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Bileam, to revolt against the L-rd in the matter of Pe'or, and there was a plague among the congregation of the L-rd.” Moses is teaching us a vital lesson here: There is another category of war – a war of vengeance. As opposed to the regular wars, where the laws are pre-set regarding who is to be killed or spared (see Rambam, Hilchot Melachim, Ch. 6), the wars of vengeance are a direct response to what was done to Israel. It takes into consideration specific actions of the enemy in the past. Therefore, the way in which the enemy is treated varies from one war to another, depending on the specific circumstances. In the case of the war against Midian, which was fought to avenge what the women of Midian did, it would have been proper for the Jewish army to make the women of Midian the very first victims. And so, we have learned a principle regarding a war of vengeance – that the type of vengeance which is exacted, depends on what or who is being avenged.
[As Rav Meir Kahane continues in The Jewish Idea]: The Torah dons sackcloth over the distortion of the concept of revenge, which has become a a target for the arrows of all Jewish Hellenists and worshippers of the [Western] alien culture, as if revenge were negative and evil by nature.
The very opposite is true! No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place. G-d, Himself, is called “Nokem”, Avenger: “The L-rd is a zealous and avenging G-d. The L-rd avenges and is full of wrath. He takes revenge on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies” (Nachum 1:2). Our sages also said (Berachot 33a), “Shall we say that even revenge is great because it appears between two names of G-d? 'A G-d of vengeance is the L-rd' (Ps. 94:1). R. Elazar responded, 'Indeed. Where revenge is necessary, it is a great thing'” [see Rashi].
“It is a great thing!” It is a great mitzvah to take the revenge of the righteous and humble from the evildoer. Whoever forgoes or rejects such an opportunity is cruel, and he denies belief in G-d.
The evildoers' presence in the world and their taking control of it constitute a challenge and threat to G-d's exclusive sovereignty. It is thus imperative to rid the world of them. Therefore, regarding Israel's war against its enemies, also enemies of G-d, our sages said (Tanchuma, Shoftim 15):
“When you go forth to battle against your enemies” (Deut. 20:1): What do the words, “against your enemies” add? G-d said, “Go forth against them as enemies. Show them no mercy, just as they show you none.”
Our sages said, “Go forth against them as enemies,” not as friends. These evildoers will never care about your welfare, so you should not care about theirs. This is the ethical, philosophically based law of G-d. Regarding one's enemy, there is no room for love and forgiveness. On the one hand, he will not show loving pity for Israel if he has the opportunity to dominate it. As our sages said (Yalkut Shimoni, Devarim 20:923, quoting Eileh HaDevarim Zuta):
“When you go forth to battle against your enemies”: If you take pity on them, they will go forth to battle against you. It is like the shepherd who used to watch his sheep in the forest. He found a wolf cub and took pity on it, letting it suckle from the goats. His employer saw this and said to him, “Kill it! Take no pity on it or misfortune will strike the flock.” The shepherd did not heed him. When the wolf was grown, it would see a lamb or kid and kill it. His employer then said, “Did I not tell you to show no pity?” Moses said the same to Israel: “If you take pity on them, then 'Those that you let remain shall be as thorns in your eyes' (Num. 33:55).”
A curse upon those who falsify G-d's attributes! Hillel clearly gave us a great principle when he said, “That which is hateful to you do not do to your fellow man – this is the whole Torah.” Yet he concluded, “The rest is commentary. Go learn it!” (Shabbat 31a). The principle has a commentary and only an ignoramus, fool or charlatan would ignore it and intentionally conceal the end of Hillel's utterance. Does this great principle apply to the way we must approach a non-Jew who is an enemy of the Jewish People? Must a Jew put himself on equal terms with a cursed, wicked non-Jew who thirsts for his blood? Anyone with the least bit of Talmud under his belt, anyone who has studied even a small measure of Shas [Mishnah] and Poskim [halachic authorities], will understand how ridiculous this is.
Love thine enemy? Is he our “neighbor”, our “re'a”? Read not “re'a” but “ra”, evil! He is an evildoer, an enemy. There is no obligation to be friendly to him. Quite the contrary, our sages declared (Bamidbar Rabbah 21:4): “'Harass the Midianites' (Num. 25:17): Why? 'For they harass you' (Ibid.). Our sages accordingly accordingly said, 'If someone comes to kill you, kill him first.'” We must kill him, not love him.
At the same time, we must not relate lovingly and forgivingly to those who rise up against G-d, and the law is that any enemy who rises up against Israel is considered to have risen up against G-d.
The rule is this: Whoever conquers his evil impulse and his false thinking, will go on to uproot evil and take revenge on evildoers because of G-d's command, clinging to G-d's traits and without any personal interest. Then he will be called merciful and saintly for having eradicated evil.
To our sorrow, and once more due to the terrible exile in which we were blinded by the alien culture, G-d's attributes have been corrupted and distorted, deliberately so by those who cast off G-d's yoke and with depressing ignorance by a large portion of the holy camp. It has reached the point in which war and revenge against the nations and the sanctification of G-d's name through Jewish victory have entirely disappeared from our agenda. Yet, in the original Jewish idea, precisely as we received from Sinai laws of the Sabbath and of separating meat and milk, so were we given laws of war and revenge, which are practical laws during this pre-Messianic era in which we live.
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D, and from 'The writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, HY"D'.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Parashat Pinchas – Peace through vengeance – Rav Meir Kahane
Pinchas son of Elazar the Kohen turned My wrath away from the Children of Israel by zealously taking up My cause among them, so that I did not consume them in My own zeal [kin'ah]. Therefore say, “Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace.” (Num. 25:11-12)
Precisely he who takes G-d's revenge merits an “everlasting covenant” and a “covenant of peace”.
Zeal [kin'ah] is a Divine trait: “I, the L-rd your G-d, am a zealous G-d” (Ex. 20:5). Kin'ah is a Divine attribute, and it is the trait of any Jew who zealously takes up G-d's cause. It always involves revenge, as Rashi explains (Num. 25:11):
“By zealously taking up My cause”: By executing My vengeance, by displaying the anger that I should have displayed. “Kin'ah” always denotes glowing with anger to execute vengeance for a thing.
For this G-d praised Pinchas.
Revenge is zeal for a good cause. By switching the order of letters, “lekanot”, to be zealous, becomes “lenakot”, to cleanse. Whoever is zealous on G-d's behalf cleanses the evildoer through his revenge. Until he does so, the evildoer remains unclean.
G-d is also the “G-d to Whom vengeance belongs” (Ps. 94:1), and “a zealous G-d” (Ex. 34:14). Likewise, He is a G-d Who does not clear the guilty until He takes revenge on His enemies: “He will by no means clear the guilty” (Ibid., v. 7).
Yet besides fulfilling G-d's command, Pinchas also saved Israel from destruction. After all, Israel were duty-bound to take revenge and they did not do it. Following is S'forno (Num. 25:11):
“By acting zealously in their midst for My sake”: He avenged Me for all to see, so that when they saw his deed and did not protest, they would find atonement for having seen the sinners and not having protested. In this way, he turned My wrath away from them.
Ibn Ezra wrote, “He was zealous like his Maker, Who is described as being zealous on this earth. Had Pinchas not acted zealously, G-d would have annihilated Israel with a pestilence in His zeal.”
Passing up the opportunity to carry our zealous, halachically mandated revenge is such a terrible sin that whoever refuses to do so deserves annihilation! Such was King David's intent in (Ps. 106:30), “Pinchas rose and wrought judgment, and the plague was stopped.”
The avenger, Pinchas, merited not only a covenant of peace, but that the priestly gifts should be named after his deeds. Our sages say (Chulin 134b):
Those who expound on unclear verses would say, “The shankbone corresponded to the hand [of Pinchas]: 'He took a spear in his hand' (Num. 25:7). The jowls corresponded to [his] prayer: 'Pinchas rose and prayed' (Ps. 106:30). The stomach corresponded to the belly in “[He drove the spear] through the woman's belly” (Num. 25:8).
Since G-d leaves it to good men to further the cause of goodness, after Pinchas took G-d's revenge against Zimri ben Salu and Kozbi bat Tzur, Moses appointed Pinchas leader when he sent G-d's hosts to take His revenge against the Midianites (Num. 31:6): “Moses sent forth the thousand men from each tribe as an army, along with Pinchas son of Elazar the Kohen.”
Who won the “covenant of peace”, the everlasting reward of peace, if not Pinchas? Pinchas acted zealously on G-d's behalf, taking G-d's revenge, and becoming the first “mashuach milchama”, or Kohen anointed to lead the nation in war (Deut. 20:2-4). Yet G-d said (Num. 25:12), “Tell him that I have given him My covenant of peace”.
Here we have a reward well-suited to the deed. Precisely he who gives up his peace and tranquility, devoting himself to G-d's battle and to taking G-d's revenge, merits everlasting peace. And precisely he who rebels against G-d, treating His command to fight and root out evil and evildoers with contempt , will never have peace, for there is no peace for the wicked, those who cast off their yoke.
Today, people have risen up to destroy us who are smitten with the alien [Western secular] culture.
Tragically, these include even Torah scholars and learned Jews who have pronounced that, halachically speaking, there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our land, hence we are forbidden to treat them as enemies.
They have gone so far as to rule that if an Arab tries to attack or even to kill a Jew with a stone or weapon and flees, one may not kill him, but may only catch him and deliver him to the authorities, our impoverished regime which is better off ceasing to exist.
If someone renders a halachic ruling that there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our midst, that we are obligated to treat them with mercy, and that it is forbidden to kill one of them even after he tries to attack and kill a Jew, that person is nothing but a “rodef” [one who attacks with the intent to kill], who collaborates with the gentiles in the killing of Jews.
[As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane puts it in his commentary on Parashat Pinchas]:
Pinchas' act of killing Zimri and afterwards meriting the peace covenant teaches us that the Torah's way of bringing peace is by making the world a better place. The first step towards this goal is the uprooting of evil and evil-doers from the world. “Depart from evil” (Ps. 34:15) – this is the first step in making the world a better place. On the other hand, making peace with evil, or even worse, giving in to it, is the very opposite step that one can take if he wants to arrive at peace.
Peace is not the mixing of good and evil and the attempt to create a co-existence between them, as we have been trained to think! The very opposite. There is no co-existence between good and evil, nor is there partnership between good people and evil people! The Master of the Universe demands of the righteous that they burn out the evil from the world - “and you shall burn out the evil from thy midst”, the Torah commands us in so many places, for only in such a way will peace reign in the world.
[See also Peirush HaMaccabee on Shemot, Chapter 1]:
To burn evil out of our midst – this is the greatest compassion for the world, for all who are compassionate to the cruel will eventually be cruel to the compassionate (Tanchuma, Metzora 1); because this convoluted compassion allows the wicked to continue to commit evil. Can clay say to he who forms it, What are you doing?! (Isaiah 45:9); rather, we willingly accept upon ourselves the yoke of His Kingdom in love, in understanding and faith that He is indeed truth, and all His words are truth and justice.
On the commandment to walk in all His paths and to cleave unto Him (Deuteronomy 11:22), the Ibn Ezra comments: And cleave unto Him – ultimately; and this is a great secret. The Avi Ezer (super-commentary on the Ibn Ezra, written by the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo ha-Cohen of Lissa) explains:
The words of the Rav [i.e. the Ibn Ezra] are true, for Hashem's secret is given to those who fear Him (Psalms 25:14), who cleave unto His attributes, as Chazal said: Cleave unto His attributes. And in the cleaving itself there is a great secret: not to confuse one person’s task with another’s, to show compassion in a place where one must be angry (for instance against a student or a sinner), or to be humble in a place where one must garb himself with pride or vengeance, as with the actions of Pinchas. And few indeed are the people of greatness who cling to the attributes in truth and do not stumble in them. Are these not the greatest people in the world…?
Engrave these words deep on your heart.
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' and 'Peirush HaMaccabee on Shemot' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D, and from 'The writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, HY"D'.
Precisely he who takes G-d's revenge merits an “everlasting covenant” and a “covenant of peace”.
Zeal [kin'ah] is a Divine trait: “I, the L-rd your G-d, am a zealous G-d” (Ex. 20:5). Kin'ah is a Divine attribute, and it is the trait of any Jew who zealously takes up G-d's cause. It always involves revenge, as Rashi explains (Num. 25:11):
“By zealously taking up My cause”: By executing My vengeance, by displaying the anger that I should have displayed. “Kin'ah” always denotes glowing with anger to execute vengeance for a thing.
For this G-d praised Pinchas.
Revenge is zeal for a good cause. By switching the order of letters, “lekanot”, to be zealous, becomes “lenakot”, to cleanse. Whoever is zealous on G-d's behalf cleanses the evildoer through his revenge. Until he does so, the evildoer remains unclean.
G-d is also the “G-d to Whom vengeance belongs” (Ps. 94:1), and “a zealous G-d” (Ex. 34:14). Likewise, He is a G-d Who does not clear the guilty until He takes revenge on His enemies: “He will by no means clear the guilty” (Ibid., v. 7).
Yet besides fulfilling G-d's command, Pinchas also saved Israel from destruction. After all, Israel were duty-bound to take revenge and they did not do it. Following is S'forno (Num. 25:11):
“By acting zealously in their midst for My sake”: He avenged Me for all to see, so that when they saw his deed and did not protest, they would find atonement for having seen the sinners and not having protested. In this way, he turned My wrath away from them.
Ibn Ezra wrote, “He was zealous like his Maker, Who is described as being zealous on this earth. Had Pinchas not acted zealously, G-d would have annihilated Israel with a pestilence in His zeal.”
Passing up the opportunity to carry our zealous, halachically mandated revenge is such a terrible sin that whoever refuses to do so deserves annihilation! Such was King David's intent in (Ps. 106:30), “Pinchas rose and wrought judgment, and the plague was stopped.”
The avenger, Pinchas, merited not only a covenant of peace, but that the priestly gifts should be named after his deeds. Our sages say (Chulin 134b):
Those who expound on unclear verses would say, “The shankbone corresponded to the hand [of Pinchas]: 'He took a spear in his hand' (Num. 25:7). The jowls corresponded to [his] prayer: 'Pinchas rose and prayed' (Ps. 106:30). The stomach corresponded to the belly in “[He drove the spear] through the woman's belly” (Num. 25:8).
Since G-d leaves it to good men to further the cause of goodness, after Pinchas took G-d's revenge against Zimri ben Salu and Kozbi bat Tzur, Moses appointed Pinchas leader when he sent G-d's hosts to take His revenge against the Midianites (Num. 31:6): “Moses sent forth the thousand men from each tribe as an army, along with Pinchas son of Elazar the Kohen.”
Who won the “covenant of peace”, the everlasting reward of peace, if not Pinchas? Pinchas acted zealously on G-d's behalf, taking G-d's revenge, and becoming the first “mashuach milchama”, or Kohen anointed to lead the nation in war (Deut. 20:2-4). Yet G-d said (Num. 25:12), “Tell him that I have given him My covenant of peace”.
Here we have a reward well-suited to the deed. Precisely he who gives up his peace and tranquility, devoting himself to G-d's battle and to taking G-d's revenge, merits everlasting peace. And precisely he who rebels against G-d, treating His command to fight and root out evil and evildoers with contempt , will never have peace, for there is no peace for the wicked, those who cast off their yoke.
Today, people have risen up to destroy us who are smitten with the alien [Western secular] culture.
Tragically, these include even Torah scholars and learned Jews who have pronounced that, halachically speaking, there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our land, hence we are forbidden to treat them as enemies.
They have gone so far as to rule that if an Arab tries to attack or even to kill a Jew with a stone or weapon and flees, one may not kill him, but may only catch him and deliver him to the authorities, our impoverished regime which is better off ceasing to exist.
If someone renders a halachic ruling that there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our midst, that we are obligated to treat them with mercy, and that it is forbidden to kill one of them even after he tries to attack and kill a Jew, that person is nothing but a “rodef” [one who attacks with the intent to kill], who collaborates with the gentiles in the killing of Jews.
[As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane puts it in his commentary on Parashat Pinchas]:
Pinchas' act of killing Zimri and afterwards meriting the peace covenant teaches us that the Torah's way of bringing peace is by making the world a better place. The first step towards this goal is the uprooting of evil and evil-doers from the world. “Depart from evil” (Ps. 34:15) – this is the first step in making the world a better place. On the other hand, making peace with evil, or even worse, giving in to it, is the very opposite step that one can take if he wants to arrive at peace.
Peace is not the mixing of good and evil and the attempt to create a co-existence between them, as we have been trained to think! The very opposite. There is no co-existence between good and evil, nor is there partnership between good people and evil people! The Master of the Universe demands of the righteous that they burn out the evil from the world - “and you shall burn out the evil from thy midst”, the Torah commands us in so many places, for only in such a way will peace reign in the world.
[See also Peirush HaMaccabee on Shemot, Chapter 1]:
To burn evil out of our midst – this is the greatest compassion for the world, for all who are compassionate to the cruel will eventually be cruel to the compassionate (Tanchuma, Metzora 1); because this convoluted compassion allows the wicked to continue to commit evil. Can clay say to he who forms it, What are you doing?! (Isaiah 45:9); rather, we willingly accept upon ourselves the yoke of His Kingdom in love, in understanding and faith that He is indeed truth, and all His words are truth and justice.
On the commandment to walk in all His paths and to cleave unto Him (Deuteronomy 11:22), the Ibn Ezra comments: And cleave unto Him – ultimately; and this is a great secret. The Avi Ezer (super-commentary on the Ibn Ezra, written by the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo ha-Cohen of Lissa) explains:
The words of the Rav [i.e. the Ibn Ezra] are true, for Hashem's secret is given to those who fear Him (Psalms 25:14), who cleave unto His attributes, as Chazal said: Cleave unto His attributes. And in the cleaving itself there is a great secret: not to confuse one person’s task with another’s, to show compassion in a place where one must be angry (for instance against a student or a sinner), or to be humble in a place where one must garb himself with pride or vengeance, as with the actions of Pinchas. And few indeed are the people of greatness who cling to the attributes in truth and do not stumble in them. Are these not the greatest people in the world…?
Engrave these words deep on your heart.
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' and 'Peirush HaMaccabee on Shemot' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D, and from 'The writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, HY"D'.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Parashat Balak – Israel alone, a precious blessing – Rav Meir Kahane
“Behold! It is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations.”(Num. 23:9)
[It is] G-d's decree that the Jewish People must remain apart, separate from the nations, so as to be cut off from their abominations, and their alien culture.
Toward that end, G-d established for the Jewish People a special land of their own, the Land of Israel. There and there alone they would live lives of G-dliness and build a perfect state and society based on Torah and holiness.
The concept of a Jewish People alone is tied to the concept that G-d is alone.
G-d is alone and cannot be compared or equated to anything else.
He is One and Unique, as it says (Deut. 4:35), “You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that the L-rd is G-d and there is none besides Him”; and, “To Him Who alone does great wonders” (Ps. 136:4).
Just so, the Jewish People are alone, set apart from all the nations, as it says (Lev. 20:26), “I have separated you from the nations,” and, “It is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Num. 23:9).
Just as G-d stands apart from every concept in the world, so must Israel remain separate from all the other nations of the world. This is the intent of Ps. 148:13-14: “Let them praise the name of the L-rd, for His name alone is exalted... He has raised the honor of His People, the glory of His faithful followers, the Children of Israel, the nation close to Him. Praise the L-rd!”
Although G-d is alone, and Israel are obligated to remain alone, they are still “the nation close to Him”. Between G-d and Israel there exists intimacy amidst total isolation.
G-d is close to the nation set apart; ready to help them against every trouble and foe. As it says (Deut. 32:12), “G-d alone guided them. There was no alien power with Him”; and,“Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone” (Ibid., 33:28).
He [G-d], alone, determines the fate of individuals, nations and kings, and we need not fear mortal man and his armies or being alone.
[As we find in Peirush HaMaccabee,] the Gentile sees physical greatness and might, and measures his chances of success accordingly. Balak, for example, told Balaam, Now, come and curse for me this nation, for it is mightier than me (Numbers 22:6). The Jew, however, knows that he is the fewest of all the nations (Deuteronomy 7:7) – yet he is exalted above all those nations if he is faithful to G-d’s covenant: Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand (Leviticus 26:8).
Nonetheless, for those of no faith, or even of little faith, isolation is a frightening concept. Even observant and G-d fearing Jews are fearful of this concept.
The person of weak faith longs for friends and allies, for help from strong nations against the surrounding dangers. Yet whoever relies on the non-Jew and his aid, and fears that without such aid the Jews and their land will be unable to survive, has been caught by lack of complete trust in G-d, bordering on denial of His existence. The individual Jew and the Jewish People as a whole will not be forgiven if they abandon their faith in G-d, the Supreme, Omnipotent King, Who rules over the world and over the nations. He, alone, is our salvation.
Precisely this proves one's true faith and trust, for it is impossible that one who fears mortal man really believes in G-d. Real trust in G-d requires the Jew both to trust in Him and cast off all fear of mortal man and reliance on human aid.
When one scorns the non-Jew's aid, this necessarily makes him trust in G-d. Conversely, as long as a Jew lifts his eyes in hope to the non-Jew and his aid, it is impossible that he will completely believe in the existence of G-d as a Supreme Power.
In conclusion, true bitachon (faith) means believing that G-d is all-powerful and is not impeded from saving the many or the few. It also means that if we obey G-d and His most difficult, ostensibly dangerous commands and mitzvot, no mortal power on earth can defeat us as a nation. Not only do we need not fear flesh and blood, but we are forbidden to lift our eyes to the nations and ask them for help.
Whoever accepts this principle of bitachon unreservedly, truly believes that G-d is the One Supreme Power, G-d of heaven and earth.
Whoever hesitates, whoever fears the non-Jew, shows that he questions G-d's ability to help His people. It is doubtful whether he completely believes in G-d as an Omnipotent Supreme Power.
“It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Num. 32:9)
The nations have no say regarding Israel's future. The non-Jew is only a tool in G-d's hands, as it says, “O Assyria, rod of My anger” (Isa. 10:5). That is, Assyria and the other nations are nothing but a tool in G-d's hand, a rod and a staff with which to smite anyone targeted by G-d's anger. Neither Assyria nor any kingdom or monarch can rule by themselves over others, or even over themselves, for indeed, “Like watercourses, the king's heart is in G-d's hand. He turns it whenever he desires” (Prov. 21:1). It thus says, “He shall drive the enemy before you and shall proclaim, 'Destroy!' Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone” (Deut. 33:27-28). Following is Or HaChaim (Ibid.):
“Israel shall thus dwell securely”: When? When they are alone. “They shall dwell” naturally follows “He shall proclaim, 'Destroy!'” G-d commanded Israel to annihilate every soul of the inhabitants of the land. By doing so, “Israel shall dwell securely, alone”.
To our sorrow, those who try to pervert the separatist faith and trust of “a nation that shall dwell alone” (Num. 23:9) by claiming that it is forbidden to rile up the nations, and that the Jewish People, even when powerful, still depend on the nations, have no faith and distort the whole concept of trust in G-d. The Jew who believes and trusts in G-d, will arrive at truth and faith and tranquility, whereas he who trusts in man, in human strength, will arrive at falsehood and tragedy. This is because someone who trusts in G-d will attain the spiritual level of, “Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone” (Deut. 33:28); whereas someone who relies on his own arrogance or on the nations will arrive, G-d forbid, at, “How does the city sit alone” (Lam. 1:1).
We must know and grasp this great principle, which is the key to speedy, magnificent redemption, without suffering or tragedy. A brilliant redemption, in which G-d's promise of “haste” (Isa. 60:22) is fulfilled, will come only when the Jewish People are alone, set apart, in isolation, and trusting fully in G-d to defeat our enemies.
We must never forget the following great principle:
Whoever relies on the non-Jew and seeks his aid, repels the Messiah, pushes off the redemption and brings upon us G-d's wrath and ire. Redemption will come only when Israel are alone, without any outside protection or help. Only when the nations see, with wonderment and mouth agape, how mighty and strong G-d is without help, will G-d's name be magnified and sanctified on earth. Then shall the vision be realized before the eyes of the nations that “The L-rd alone shall be exalted in that day”(Isa. 2:17).
Moreover, Israel , stubborn and insolent, will never believe that G-d is their Redeemer, so long as they have even one gentile nation standing at their side. Only when “the L-rd alone is exalted on that day,” only when Israel sees that “G-d, alone, will direct them” (Deut. 32:12), will Israel believe in G-d and in the Torah of Moses His servant.
Indeed, this is how it will be: a nation alone with G-d alone, and both of them alone facing the whole world. Only in that manner will Israel's redemption come, and so to speak, of G-d, via, “Thus will I be magnified, sanctified and become known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the L-rd” (Ezek. 38:23).
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from “The Jewish Idea" and "Peirush HaMaccabee- Shemot" of Rav Meir Kahane, HY”D
[It is] G-d's decree that the Jewish People must remain apart, separate from the nations, so as to be cut off from their abominations, and their alien culture.
Toward that end, G-d established for the Jewish People a special land of their own, the Land of Israel. There and there alone they would live lives of G-dliness and build a perfect state and society based on Torah and holiness.
The concept of a Jewish People alone is tied to the concept that G-d is alone.
G-d is alone and cannot be compared or equated to anything else.
He is One and Unique, as it says (Deut. 4:35), “You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that the L-rd is G-d and there is none besides Him”; and, “To Him Who alone does great wonders” (Ps. 136:4).
Just so, the Jewish People are alone, set apart from all the nations, as it says (Lev. 20:26), “I have separated you from the nations,” and, “It is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Num. 23:9).
Just as G-d stands apart from every concept in the world, so must Israel remain separate from all the other nations of the world. This is the intent of Ps. 148:13-14: “Let them praise the name of the L-rd, for His name alone is exalted... He has raised the honor of His People, the glory of His faithful followers, the Children of Israel, the nation close to Him. Praise the L-rd!”
Although G-d is alone, and Israel are obligated to remain alone, they are still “the nation close to Him”. Between G-d and Israel there exists intimacy amidst total isolation.
G-d is close to the nation set apart; ready to help them against every trouble and foe. As it says (Deut. 32:12), “G-d alone guided them. There was no alien power with Him”; and,“Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone” (Ibid., 33:28).
He [G-d], alone, determines the fate of individuals, nations and kings, and we need not fear mortal man and his armies or being alone.
[As we find in Peirush HaMaccabee,] the Gentile sees physical greatness and might, and measures his chances of success accordingly. Balak, for example, told Balaam, Now, come and curse for me this nation, for it is mightier than me (Numbers 22:6). The Jew, however, knows that he is the fewest of all the nations (Deuteronomy 7:7) – yet he is exalted above all those nations if he is faithful to G-d’s covenant: Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand (Leviticus 26:8).
Nonetheless, for those of no faith, or even of little faith, isolation is a frightening concept. Even observant and G-d fearing Jews are fearful of this concept.
The person of weak faith longs for friends and allies, for help from strong nations against the surrounding dangers. Yet whoever relies on the non-Jew and his aid, and fears that without such aid the Jews and their land will be unable to survive, has been caught by lack of complete trust in G-d, bordering on denial of His existence. The individual Jew and the Jewish People as a whole will not be forgiven if they abandon their faith in G-d, the Supreme, Omnipotent King, Who rules over the world and over the nations. He, alone, is our salvation.
Precisely this proves one's true faith and trust, for it is impossible that one who fears mortal man really believes in G-d. Real trust in G-d requires the Jew both to trust in Him and cast off all fear of mortal man and reliance on human aid.
When one scorns the non-Jew's aid, this necessarily makes him trust in G-d. Conversely, as long as a Jew lifts his eyes in hope to the non-Jew and his aid, it is impossible that he will completely believe in the existence of G-d as a Supreme Power.
In conclusion, true bitachon (faith) means believing that G-d is all-powerful and is not impeded from saving the many or the few. It also means that if we obey G-d and His most difficult, ostensibly dangerous commands and mitzvot, no mortal power on earth can defeat us as a nation. Not only do we need not fear flesh and blood, but we are forbidden to lift our eyes to the nations and ask them for help.
Whoever accepts this principle of bitachon unreservedly, truly believes that G-d is the One Supreme Power, G-d of heaven and earth.
Whoever hesitates, whoever fears the non-Jew, shows that he questions G-d's ability to help His people. It is doubtful whether he completely believes in G-d as an Omnipotent Supreme Power.
“It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Num. 32:9)
The nations have no say regarding Israel's future. The non-Jew is only a tool in G-d's hands, as it says, “O Assyria, rod of My anger” (Isa. 10:5). That is, Assyria and the other nations are nothing but a tool in G-d's hand, a rod and a staff with which to smite anyone targeted by G-d's anger. Neither Assyria nor any kingdom or monarch can rule by themselves over others, or even over themselves, for indeed, “Like watercourses, the king's heart is in G-d's hand. He turns it whenever he desires” (Prov. 21:1). It thus says, “He shall drive the enemy before you and shall proclaim, 'Destroy!' Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone” (Deut. 33:27-28). Following is Or HaChaim (Ibid.):
“Israel shall thus dwell securely”: When? When they are alone. “They shall dwell” naturally follows “He shall proclaim, 'Destroy!'” G-d commanded Israel to annihilate every soul of the inhabitants of the land. By doing so, “Israel shall dwell securely, alone”.
To our sorrow, those who try to pervert the separatist faith and trust of “a nation that shall dwell alone” (Num. 23:9) by claiming that it is forbidden to rile up the nations, and that the Jewish People, even when powerful, still depend on the nations, have no faith and distort the whole concept of trust in G-d. The Jew who believes and trusts in G-d, will arrive at truth and faith and tranquility, whereas he who trusts in man, in human strength, will arrive at falsehood and tragedy. This is because someone who trusts in G-d will attain the spiritual level of, “Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone” (Deut. 33:28); whereas someone who relies on his own arrogance or on the nations will arrive, G-d forbid, at, “How does the city sit alone” (Lam. 1:1).
We must know and grasp this great principle, which is the key to speedy, magnificent redemption, without suffering or tragedy. A brilliant redemption, in which G-d's promise of “haste” (Isa. 60:22) is fulfilled, will come only when the Jewish People are alone, set apart, in isolation, and trusting fully in G-d to defeat our enemies.
We must never forget the following great principle:
Whoever relies on the non-Jew and seeks his aid, repels the Messiah, pushes off the redemption and brings upon us G-d's wrath and ire. Redemption will come only when Israel are alone, without any outside protection or help. Only when the nations see, with wonderment and mouth agape, how mighty and strong G-d is without help, will G-d's name be magnified and sanctified on earth. Then shall the vision be realized before the eyes of the nations that “The L-rd alone shall be exalted in that day”(Isa. 2:17).
Moreover, Israel , stubborn and insolent, will never believe that G-d is their Redeemer, so long as they have even one gentile nation standing at their side. Only when “the L-rd alone is exalted on that day,” only when Israel sees that “G-d, alone, will direct them” (Deut. 32:12), will Israel believe in G-d and in the Torah of Moses His servant.
Indeed, this is how it will be: a nation alone with G-d alone, and both of them alone facing the whole world. Only in that manner will Israel's redemption come, and so to speak, of G-d, via, “Thus will I be magnified, sanctified and become known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the L-rd” (Ezek. 38:23).
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from “The Jewish Idea" and "Peirush HaMaccabee- Shemot" of Rav Meir Kahane, HY”D
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