Book of Shoftim - Judges (Chapter 2)
Heroism
From an English speaking class
I imagine myself teaching music like that. "It's chapter three, it's a sonata in La Major by Mozart chapter three." I have a whole lesson on that. If you want, one day, when we finish the Bible, I can arrange for a lesson on the history of music. I would love to teach music literature and teach the history of Western culture and when we are done with that, I would like to engage in creative writing. I would like to be a part of it, not lead it. I have a lot of dreams.
In any case, chapter two: "And the angel of the LORD went up from the wheel to the weeping." Joshua tells from where they started. He said this prophecy in six verses. We've talked about it already. It goes up and what it actually says is this: I brought you to the Land of Israel, you were supposed to conquer the people from the Land of Israel, and because you were lazy and did not do it, your weakness is going to turn into your punishment. That's basically what happened. Your weakness, your laziness, where you did not want to do, it will be the pupa who rose up on its creator, it will become a monster, which has now become your punishment.
This is what God said through the angel of God. All the commentators explain that it is not an angel, it is a prophet, and they all say it is Pinchas. I will explain to you how I know this, that is, how they know it.
The prophecy is that because of your weakness, that you did not rise up and conquer these people, it is going to be your punishment. These people are going to eat you inside you. This is the first part.
The response of the people of Israel was instead to say: "Oh, let's get revenge and get rid of them, if that is the case. No, no. We will get revenge. Well, let's go. Let's go end with them." Instead, they cry. They heard it. "As the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, and the people lifted up their voice and wept.
They heard the prophecy. It's already meant to be, but is there nothing we can do? that's it? They cried. I think about it now, it reminds me of the sin of the spies, when they got the decree because they cried for free, that they were going to spend 40 years in the desert. Then there were people who tried to get on. The illegal immigrants said: "What do you mean 40 years? We are going to immigrate. We are going to conquer the Land of Israel" and they went before the nation and they tried to conquer the Land of Israel and enter. You would admire them because of their spirit, but they were wrong. Because they were not with everyone, they were not ordered to do so and everyone was killed.
Here here, we see they did not listen, they just cried. They did not try to leave. That's one thing. The warning here is that they did not conquer the Land of Israel, which they were supposed to do. Then we have the second part of Chapter B which is a summary. We read that. This is a summary but not in the eyes of a prophet. This is a summary in the eyes of a historian. It goes all the way back and it is a historical summary and "Joshua will send the people, and the children of Israel will go every man to his inheritance to inherit the land." They inherit the land and worship God all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who live after Joshua, and then Joshua died .. Write to us when .. he was 110 years old and where they buried him and what they did. They all died and a new generation was born. Historical survey, it goes back to when Joshua gave up the land and everything. Then in verse 11 "And the children of Israel shall do evil in the sight of the LORD, and serve the owners." Idolatry. "And leave God ..." In other words, this historical summary emphasizes not the fact that they did not conquer Israel, but the fact that they did not worship God. We have two different summaries here. We have two different emphases.
Is one a result of the other? Are one the eyes of the prophet and the other the eyes of the historian? We can read it critically. What is God trying to teach us? What is the cardinal sin here? Where is the root of the problem?
Redemption depends on repentance. In other words, the spiritual level of the nation, is what determines their physical strength. It is their physical strength that determines their spiritual level. If they were not afraid and were not lazy and they were going to conquer the Land of Israel, then it would ensure their spiritual level. What comes first?
... that's how I put it. You can say that this is what Dina says, but maybe the Torah says that one leads to another. Or you can say that they are both independent .. You can say that they are both sides of the same coin. I do not want to decide, it's just very interesting that we'll start with the story. The story is detached and in Chapter B and part of Chapter C, it gives us this different perspective, a perspective of the builder. We are in the middle of watching the play and for a moment, someone pulls the curtain aside.
two sides. They pull the curtain aside and we get some of what goes on behind the scenes from the Prophet's point of view, then someone else pulls the curtain aside and gives a historical overview of how this period is viewed. Because he keeps saying. He continues I think I might read it. Beginning with verse eleven. I will read it in Hebrew ... If you have any questions what that means, ask me.
Reading the verses ..
In other words, because of foreign labor, God put them in the hands of their enemies and their enemies physically fought them. The people of Israel could not stand it. "In all that they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them when the Lord spoke ..." And then what does the Lord do? "And they will have judges and salvation ..." It's a classic. The people of Israel work foreign labor. God sends enemies to kill them. The people of Israel in their war against the enemies. God is called, God sends judges. The judges come to help defeat the enemies. God himself sent the enemies he received .. "Wisened after other gods... They retreated to where they had been before. And why did God do that, because He had mercy on them. Comforting from their cry, he could not stand their crying and their pain, but it never helped. "They did not overthrow them and their hard way." They never let go of their old ways.
In other words, God says I did not let Joshua conquer all the people. We will make a first impression yes. When we look closely, in chapter thirteen of the book of Joshua, he spoke of the land that remains. And in the chapter all the places he was unable to conquer. More precisely, when we read in the first verses of the Book of Judges, he gave a detailed list, of all the places what they did not occupy. Not only that, but he hardly mentioned any of them. That they did not conquer, but they did not conquer them, but the children of Israel used them for money purposes. In other words, it has become more worthwhile for the children of Israel not to conquer them and to take their money. It is direct to the will of God. God said I did not let Joshua conquer everything. Why? For I did not let Joshua conquer quickly. Why? The answer in the verse 22: "For the sake of trying Israel with them"
We talked about it when we talked about the binding of Isaac. It should be experience. When you apply for a job, it can be a test. trial? It can also come from the word miracle as a revelation of look where I am. Look what's going on. Look at that. This is amazing. It's comprehensive. This is the question we talked about in the binding of Isaac. We talked about it at length. What does God try Abraham, why does he not know the answer? Maybe Abraham should know the answer. Maybe this is something that Abraham also somewhere knows the answer to, but until he has no actual experience, he has managed to prove to himself that they are taking the others as well. Look at the difference between the people of Israel and all the other nations.
The people of Israel are ready ... I need to know that there is something in life that is worth dying for. This is what gives life their immense value. This is a paradox. Here is the same wording when it comes to why we have these enemies, it means "for the sake of testing Israel with them," does it mean to test the people of Israel, or does it mean to let them experiment, or does it mean to raise that flag against these other peoples. what? what? An experience of what? "For the sake of testing Israel, who keep the way of the Lord." Then chapter three begins, "And these are the Gentiles whom God has left ... to try Israel all the wars of Canaan... To teach them war..." Then he left them around. He is the one who left them around. Then he goes on to say who were these people he left. In other words, he actually said try what? Hearing you say what the experience is. To try them, and the first verses 22 he speaks of their test to hear to God he speaks of experience. And in Poppy III we talked about trying to teach them war. These people around will learn how to be warriors. That's what it says.
In the book of Joshua they had to learn to fight even Jericho, they had to know a little they turned around seven times and then the wall collapsed. They needed to know something. They should have known something, but they were pushed a little sometimes. The question is even bigger. I'm going to leave the question and then talk about the book. I saw I skipped something I wanted to say.
The two summaries, one speaks of the conquest of the land, a more nationalist view. One speaks of foreign work, a more religious view. This is what the sages probably intend to say that the angel of God should be Pinchas. Because Pinchas is appearing in the arena. Bringers come when they are needed. Sometimes, they need it for national reasons. Sometimes, they need it for spiritual reasons.
When there are uncertain points of certain intersections, certain central points of the people of Israel, when things are very critical and the two unite, national and religious and need a decision, this is where Pinchas comes into the scene. The first time we met with Pinchas in the Pinchas affair, was when the daughters of Midian were in a camp with Israel. Black could not do it with the people of Israel, he was actually surprised by the beauty of the modesty and blessing of the people of Israel that all the house of openings, doors and windows did not turn after. one against the other. They were just in the family. This is what gave him the idea to dismantle this power. He did it through the daughters of Midian, it got to such a point where he took a wife Simon. Zimri Ben Slou took a Midianite woman. He was with her inside the tabernacle. Here it was foreign labor, incest and bloodshed. A complete revolt against Moses.
What is he going to do now? It was not just that I was a weak person and I had my weaknesses and I failed. I chase after this woman enough. You know, I can not .. he did it in the Tabernacle, which made it not only a national thing, but also a religious thing. This is the time that Pinchas appeared. Moses could not think of what to do. "Halacha is blocked" did not remember what Halacha was. They asked Moses what are we supposed to do? And Pinchas came and told them what to do. And they asked, "Wait, what happened to him in court? The Sanhedrin. So he said, 'Whoever blasphemes the Lord, the zealots are hurting him.' When they mistakenly thought that the two and a half and they finally went back there. After all the wars and after all the settlement remembered the day. In the 22nd .. they returned to their land. Were on the other side of the Jordan and across the Jordan, they would look at it and they would remember all the ... they would use it as a way to be a part of the people of Israel. They just left it there. Are they building a monument? This is the center!
You are not just building your own situation. They thought they were disconnecting, that they were in a revolution. They disengaged from the people of Israel. It was also religious. What is foreign work on the banks of the Jordan River. They sent Pinchas and he went and they explained themselves. They said, "No. We had good intentions here." Pinchas said, "Oh." It is this. He always appears when there is danger.
We also said there that many things that happened to them in the wilderness happened again in the time of Joshua. The tearing of the water, a lot of things happened again, but it was a mistake. It's a mistake. Here, too, it is a mistake. If you go by the sin of the calf was not so terrible. It does not look like this. It was not as if once they received the Torah 40 days later, they were bending over to this golden calf. That was not it.... This is not how you do it. This is another Pinchas performance. He appears here at this point in time when Joshua is dead and they are also in danger to the Land of Israel and religiously foreign labor, which is why when "Angel of God", the word angel was already used by the Prophet elsewhere. Who is the angel of the Lord? Because it is a crossroads of religious danger, at a time when things are complicated, it should be Pinchas. It can not be anyone else. This is when Pinchas appears. He also appears in The Mistress on the Hill, and even when we get to it, they almost killed each other. They were very far from the doctrine of God, which means that Pinchas has a long, long, long longevity. And he is the herald. Pinchas is Elijah. It's an ideological thought.
Okay. I want to talk now about what I came up with earlier about "experience." What I want to say now is that if you look at it, you can think, if you read the verses, you can think that the whole idea of war, and knowing how to fight. It's something he's retrospective and not a queen Hila. In retrospect, this means that the people of Israel would listen to the voice of God, they did not have to fight. Everything was easy and smooth. You can think of it because it says so.
It is interpreted as meaning that because you did not do the word of God, I left these enemies here, to teach you war. In other words, if you had listened, you would not have known war. You go to war and do what you're supposed to do. Rabbi Ramer brings something I would like to read, but I do not have time tonight, I probably would not have translated it well anyway. This is true. I was very excited. I actually called a lot of people to tell them about this book. Rabbi Ramer says that you can think or you can put it in your head and think that learning to fight is a disadvantage in the people of Israel. This is something that should not be, but only because of our weakness, our spiritual weakness, we need to learn to fight, compensate and then learn how to fight and then fight our enemies and then rebuild our spiritual thing.
Rabbi Remer says no, that is not true. He proves it in a lot of midrashim, some of what you have already said naturally, which gives me a feeling that I may have taught you well, because we know that Joshua also fought. They know how to fight. The others do not mention any spiritual weakness. In the desert, they also fought Amalek.
Fighting and heroism in the people of Israel is not perceived as an unnecessary evil. Heroism, I do not want to say fighting, but heroism is not unnecessary evil. Heroism is something that God in His grace has left these enemies. I do not want to sound cynical. I want to explain myself because otherwise I would sound pretty cynical.
It is God in His grace who has left these enemies so that we can learn what we need to know and that is to bring us the heroism.
When we went to comfort the mourners of Dror Weinberg's family, we actually know him quite well. Not since he was the commander of the Hebron Brigade, we know him from the time we lived in Kiryat Moshe and the Merkaz Harav and at [Maayan] Buenish's wedding I actually sat next to them. I was sitting next to Dror and his wife.
Anyway, we went to mourn comfort and a few minutes after we arrived, a big rabbi arrived and of course I was pushed aside. I could see, but I could not hear exactly. After we left, he told me what the rabbi had said. The rabbi said that some people have a mission in this world and some people have a mission in the next world ... these are things we do not understand ... Hadassah Weinberg told the rabbi that she wants to say one thing she has a problem with: Dror in his life, and Yitzhak Bunish and all the heroes, all these people In their lives, they were the embodiment of the sanctification of God. To meet such greatness of a person who is a paradise of spirituality .. Yitzchak Buenish I think of Shabbat Kala, Oprof, on Shabbat Chai Sara, it was not Vayra, Parshat Vayra. Our uproar was in Sarah's life .. Parashat Vayra and I still remember what he said as if simply. He was a great man with spirituality and faith, but it did not just stay there. In his act and that of Dror who was a genius. These people in their lives, they were the embodiment of the sanctification of God.
It is such a sanctification of God that such a person lives and people are aware of it. They see that he is great at it and great at it. He took the spirit and he lived his life not detached. Is not this the sanctification of God? Everything is for heaven's sake and it's such a blasphemy .. just the fact that they were murdered is a blasphemy, and in such a way that the Arabs are so happy. It's such a success. I'm sure they did not dream. For them .. and it's so annoying. It's so blasphemous that they died.
If you ask this question about blasphemy .. and I actually heard her question. I did not hear the answer. That sounds right to me. I said, "Yeah, really."
The rabbi's response made me shiver. The rabbi said that trying to understand why they died was impossible. These are heavenly accounts, he said that this generation, the point of this generation, that is, the last 60, 70, 100 years, the renewal of this generation, is that in our generation we have people and it must be all of us. Otherwise, we would not be alive now. There is the idea of devotion to the rule, because otherwise ... I have already been through it with .. "I have been through it already" with the son of Tzipora who was killed [Shmuel Weiss HiD ran as a paramedic to save his injured friend].
I could not sleep at nights, now still, I keep dreaming about it. How can this 18-year-old boy run into the fire? If they just wanted to save these people, not because they were macho or anything like that. They ran inside knowing they were taking a risk. Why did they not hesitate? How did they do it? It's so sad they died. There are a lot of people who did not die. Eliyahu Libman .. each of them has it in some way. Every soldier who goes to the army, what he says is a statement that he is willing to give your life for the rule. Because that's what it is. That's what this kid did
In exile it could not be. There was not that. There has always been a private life. Ability to die for yourself. For your beliefs. For your family, but not for the whole.
In the book of Joshua we talked about each tribe and wars, but here, in the book of Judges it is not enough, there should be a kind of umbrella of unity. It should permeate every individual and every tribe and tribe in his estate, a tribe who sit where they sit and their type of climate and their type of land. And the tribe of Menashe where they had to integrate. In every tribe and in every family and in every detail. This is what a wallpaper book, about each tribe and its personal characteristics and nature unlike any other. It is to be individual and increase their specificity, their individual points, but rather at the beginning of the Book of Judges when it happens. God in His grace leaves the enemies to teach them war, because this kind of heroism that we are talking about, is the heroism of war. physically. This is not a spiritual matter. It is not to be a man of speech or a teacher, it is to build something in the people of Israel without which it would be lacking. It's not a bad thing, it's not something that because you were weak, okay. It's not because of that. from the start. Individual person To be a prophet, Maimonides says you have to be smart ... I'm talking about physical things ... you have to be very, very brilliant and know a lot of things from the outside. He needs to be rich. He must be a hero.
Of course a prophet should have kindness and a wise disciple and a disciple and rabbi and everything. A nation, too, must be wise and heroic. And heroism is what brings us to Hanukkah.
There is much parallel between the Book of Judges and today. We have already returned to the Land of Israel, we are all the time or Miriam's our physical life is in danger, but it's not true. we're here to stay. The people of Israel are in the Land of Israel. It's not so realistic to think that way. We are not talking about 1948, 1950. This little bud as a nation. Now, it's much more that we live in a world of self-realization and individualistic things.
We in the territories feel the physical side of it, but in some cities of the people of Israel .. it's unfortunate, I'm sorry about that, but still, everyone is busy with their own things and whatever. These enemies that we have a part of each other so as not to get lost in privacy, it makes us a nation of devotion, as Rabbi Waldman said yesterday [at Memorial 30 of Isaac Buenisch] after he spoke and Rebecca spoke I had to leave, I could not stay there anymore. I've had enough. They talked about the 12 warriors who were killed, against the 12 tribes of Yah, it is 12 individual, it is not one, but it is not the same as in the war of independence in it. Dedication is different. We want our children to understand that. We no longer understand it. Our grandparents do not understand this. Even in this thing of heroism, there is a whole world of heroism that we are just beginning with.
Alex Tzvitman hi"d, I was amazed. I went to comfort them. We always rode the bus together. I knew who Alex was, but I did not know he was on standby. He would come home on Saturday and they would turn on the TV. They have a Saturday and then they would watch TV. He could not sit and watch TV. He was always standing by the window alert, what's going on there? What's that light there? He was not religious. He did not have the halakhic clarification. It's in his nature. It's really amazing.
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