Leaving the Desert Behind
INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT
HASHAVUA
PARASHAT KI
TEITZE
Leaving the Desert
Behind
By Rabbi Yaakov
Beasley
Our
parasha continues discussing the laws of warfare that began in
Parashat Shoftim. Just as
Chapter 20 began with the introduction When you go out to war, so too does our
parasha. However, a huge
difference exists between the two sections that a cursory read often
overlooks. In Chapter 20, the
phrase when YOU go out to war refers to the people as a whole, and the laws
are addressed to the national collective.
However, at the beginning of our parasha, the phrase when YOU go
out to war clearly refers to an individual soldier, specifically one who may
not be able to overcome his lustful desires in the heat of the battle. Clearly, our parasha reflects a
shift in focus from the public needs to the behavior of private members of the
community. Indeed, the 72
commandments contained within our parasha reflect almost every area of
human endeavor, from business to personal life.
This week, we shall investigate the laws of warfare as they are
reformulated in our parasha, Chapter 23:
9
When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every
wicked thing. 10 If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some
occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come
inside the camp. 11 But it shall be, when evening comes, that he shall wash with
water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp. 12 Also you shall have a place outside
the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your
equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and
cover your refuse. 14 For Hashem your G-d walks in the midst of your camp, to
deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be
holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from
you.
The
Rambam, in his philosophic treatise Moreh Nevukhim (the Guide to the Perplexed),
discusses why the Torah felt the need to re-emphasize the holiness of the camp
before battle, even though the laws of warfare had been previously
discussed:
Guide to the Perplexed Part III, Ch.41: This book [ever referring to
the Rambam's code Sefer Shoftim, or Sefer Devarim] also includes the commandment
[Dev.23:13-14] to prepare a secluded place and a peg [paddle, spike]. For one
of the purposes of this law consists, as I have made known to you, in
cleanliness and avoidance of excrements and dirt and in man's not being like the
beasts. And this mitzva also reinforces in the soldiers, by means of the actions
it enjoins, the awareness that the Shekhina [Divine presence] dwells among
them, as is explained in the reason given for it "For the Lord your God
walks in the midst of your camp" [Dev.23:15]. It has also included another
concept, saying: "That He see no ervat davar [unseemly, unclean, unchaste
thing] in you, and turn away from you [v.15]. This is [an admonition] against
what we know are widespread practices among soldiers in a camp after they have
stayed for a long time away from their homes. Accordingly He, may He be exalted,
has commanded us to perform actions that remind us that the Shekhina has
descended among us so that we should be preserved from those actions, and has
said: "Therefore shall your camp be holy, that He see no ervat davar in
you..." Etc. He has even commanded that a man "who has had a nocturnal emission"
should go out of the camp "and at sundown he may re-enter the camp" [v. 12]
Accordingly everyone should have in mind that the camp is like a "sanctuary
of the Lord' and not like the camps of the Gentiles destined only to destroy and
to do wrong and to harm others and rob them of their property. On the
contrary, our purpose is to inspire people to obey God and to introduce order
into their lives.
According to this approach, the Torah was very cognizant of the real
dangers that accompany every military camp or gathering. Is it possible to maintain an elevated
state when a person is separated from society, training together with other men
only for the purpose of warfare and potential bloodshed? Did living in this manner automatically
lead to a coarsening of a persons values and conduct? This approach is also found in the
commentary of the Ramban, who attempts to explain what laws Moshe gave the
people in Shemot 15, immediately after leaving
Egypt:
"It
may mean that Moshe instructed them in the ways of the desert, namely to be
ready to suffer hunger and thirst and to pray to God, and not to murmur. He
taught them ordinances whereby they should live, to love one another, to follow
the counsel of the elders, to be discreet in their tents with respect to women
and children, to deal in a peaceful manner with the strangers that come into the
camp to peddle. He also imparted moral instruction, i.e., that they should
not become like bands of marauders who do all abominable things and have no
sense of shame, similar to that which the Torah commanded, "When you go out
[as] a camp against your enemies, be on your guard against anything evil" (our
verse in Devarim 23).
(Commentary to Shemot 15:25).
What, however, was the wicked thing that the Torah commanded that we
avoid at the beginning of our section?
According to the Rambam and the Rambans commentary in Sefer
Shemot, this was a general category referring to the common lessening of
morals and standards that often accompanied the going out to war. For the Rambam, the subsequent laws
(physical hygiene, spiritual cleanliness) detail specific actions to maintain
this general goal. However, the
Ramban in our parasha provides a different explanation of what wicked
thing was meant to be avoided:
"Be on your guard against any wicked thing - 'because Satan
indicts people in the hour of danger.' This is Rashi's language. The correct
interpretation regarding this precept appears to me that the Torah is warning of
a situation when sin is rampant. The well-known custom of forces going to war is
that they eat all abominable things, rob and plunder, and are not ashamed even
of lewdness and all vileness. The most upright of men by nature comes to be
possessed of cruelty and fury when the army advances against the enemy.
Therefore, the Torah warned, "be on your guard against any wicked thing". The
plain meaning is that this is an admonition against doing anything forbidden. In
the Sifri it is stated: 'I might think that the Torah is speaking of the laws of
defilements and purities and tithes. It therefore says 'erva' ... [Here
Ramban quotes the entire Sifri, see above]
besides the specific admonitions
which are stated concerning these severe sins, he added yet a [special]
prohibition to an army that we guard the Israelites who are there, just as he
said, "For Hashem your God walks in the midst of your camp" [see verse 15]. Thus
he who commits any of the great sins while in the army, those about whom it is
written [Jer.7:30] "they have set their detestable things in the house
whereon My Name is called to defile it"
The Sages [in the Sifri] added
evil talk [Iashon hara as derived from this admonition] in order that
contention should not increase among them and smite them with a very great
plague, [even] more than the enemy [will inflict upon
them].
Before discussing what Rashi and Ramban add to our understanding of
the verse, let us concentrate for a moment of the rabbinic interpretation that
these verses are the source for the prohibition against slanderous talk. The rabbis are connecting between the
epistemological similarity in Hebrew between the words thing and speech -
conflating davar ra with diboor ra as both davar (thing)
and dibur (word, speech) contain the same root letters. For a moment, let us compare the words
of the Sifri with a more textual based interpretation in the commentary of the
Meshekh Chokhma:
It is not farfetched to understand the verse as meaning that one
should not reveal military secrets, and should not reveal any matters of tactics
or strategy to others. The best way to insure
this is not to allow anyone to leave the camp, lest enemies capture him and
force him to reveal secrets as the Egyptian told David at the end of 1
Sam.30:13-15. This is included in the concept of davar ra [an evil thing] as
discussed in the Sifri: dibur ra [lit. evil speech] which is lashon hara [evil
talk, slander, gossip]. This coincides with what I wrote... We find in the
Jerusalem Talmud [Peah 1:1] "From whence do we deduce the warning about
lashon hara? From 'be on your guard against davar ra [anything
evil]. Rabi said, no, that R. Yishmael derived it from 'You shall not go about
as a talebearer among your people'. In fact, there are two negative precepts
according to the Jerusalem Talmud, for the two kinds of lashon hara (see
also Ketubot 46a, above): one dealing with lashon hara among the children
of Israel, and that is based on You shall not go about as a talebearer among
your people' - among the people of Israel. The second is lashon hara
outside the camp of Israel, and that is the simple meaning of 'When you go out
(as a camp against your enemies) be on your guard against anything evil' in
order not to reveal secrets, as I have explained. (Commentary to
23:10)
The
Meshekh Chokhma interprets the words "When you go out - a camp" as "when you go
out from a camp. In
addition, he notes the following difference between the two mentions of slander
in the Torah - In Vayikra it says, "You shall not go about as a
talebearer among your people" - when you are among your people. Our verse, however, describes a
situation of going out to battle, i.e. Israel versus the enemy. Therefore, he limits the prohibition
against slander to a specific case of giving information over to enemy units,
like the abandoned Egyptian lad dif for David, enabling David to avenge the
capture of Ziklag by the Amalekites.
However, this leads to the obvious question: since we always must be
on our guard against doing or speaking evil, and not only in times of war, why
does the Torah admonish us about this in connection with a situation of armed
conflict? Rashi provides a short
answer Hashem is more likely to punish the Jewish people for their accumulated
wrongdoings when they are facing danger.
The Ramban develops upon this idea in two directions. First, unlike the Sifri which explains
"from any wicked thing" as referring to certain specific sins, the Ramban widens
the admonition cover unethical and unseemly deeds in general. More importantly, he expands the
rationale for refraining from unseemly acts. Not only do these acts endanger the
people due to the volatile nature of war (see Rambans commentary to
Devarim 20:4)[i], but they forget that the
camp is more than a gathering of hardened soldiers. It is the very reflection of Gods name
and presence on earth. For this
reason, those who go out to war must behave in a manner that reflects extra
stringencies and caution, for they have the potential to carry the Divine banner
on their shoulders. As such, the
verses reflect a challenge for all of us to remind ourselves that even in our
daily lives, we carry a far greater challenge and opportunity than we often
remember.
[i] Rambans commentary on
Devarim 20:4: The intention
of the verse, "For it is the L-rd your G-d who marches with you to do battle for
you against your enemy, to save you" is to admonish [the Israelites] against
becoming faint-hearted and to warm them not to fear their enemies. He states
that they are not to rely in this matter on their own strength, thinking in
their hearts, "We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war" [Jer.48:14] but
instead they are to turn their hearts only to G-d and rely on His help, thinking
that "He delight not in the strength of the horse, and He takes no pleasure in
the legs of man" [Ps.147:10] for "the L-rd take pleasure in them that fear Him,
in those that wait for His mercy." [Ps.147:11]. He states "to do battle for you
against your enemy" [Deut.20:4] meaning He will make them fall before you by the
sword. He states "to save you" [Ibid.] meaning that they will be spared in
battle and that not a man among them will be missing in action [see Num.31:49]
for it would be possible that they vanquish their enemies and that many of them,
too, would die, as is the way of battles. Therefore, Joshua cried out [Josh.7:7]
when "about thirty-six men" fell in the battle of Ai, for in His obligatory war
[milchemet mitzva] "not one hair of their heads should have fallen to the
ground" [1Sam.14:45] "for the battle is the Lord's" [Ibid.,17:47]. Now the
priest who serves God is to admonish [the warriors] to fear Him, and give them
assurance [of His help]. The officers, however, speak in the customary way of
the world, "lest he die in the battle", [Deut.20:5] for in the normal course of
events even some people of the group of victors die. He commanded that these
three categories [of people] return [verses 5-7] because if one's heart is on
his [new] house, vineyard, and wife then he will [understandably be the first
to] flee.