War and Peace
Rabbi David Baum, Parashat Shoftim,
Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, August 14, 2010 (5770)
Our country is in the midst of two wars, Operation Enduring Freedom, arguably the longest running war in our nation’s history, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Since 2001, Israel has been through two wars, the second Intifada and the second Lebanon War.
The term ‘war’ is thrown around quite often. Football players have been quoted as equating their sport to war (the game is won in the trenches), and every time there is something we want to eradicate, we declare war on it such as the war on poverty from the 1960′s, the war on drugs from the 1980′s, or the war on terror in the 2000′s.
There are many definitions of war:
- the waging of armed conflict against an enemy;
- an active struggle between competing entities; “a price war”; “a war of wits”; “diplomatic warfare”
- a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious; “the war on poverty”; “the war against crime”
We all know war when we see it, but do we ask ourselves, how should we act during war? Our parashah gives us a Jewish response for why and how we fight.
Our parashah tells us about how soldiers practice during war.
Chapter 20 gives us some of the rules of biblical warfare:
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more numerous than yourselves, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you and brought you out of Egypt. And when you are close to battle, the priest (Cohen) shall come forward and speak to the people, saying to them, “Shema Israel, Hear Israel, as you draw near today to do battle against your enemies, do not let your hearts melt, fear not, and do not tremble, nor be terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” (Deuteronomy 20:1-4).
Essentially, this is a speech to give the troops hope and motivation to win be victorious in battle. We are all familiar with pre-battle speeches in movies. Here is one from the movie Braveheart:
WALLACE
Yes. Fight and you may die. Run and you will live, at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that, for one chance to come back here as young men, and tell our enemies that they make take our lives, but they will never take our freedom?
Deuteronomy: This is an interesting pep talk. For one, the Torah highlights that they are fighting a people who are greater than them and have more resources. Second, who would you like to hear from, a general who is going into battle with you, or a priest who knows nothing of war?
The truth is, the Torah is being realistic and is acknowledging human nature. It is natural for people to be scared when they famous tough odds – they have real fear and you have to acknowledge this. In fact, the rest of the procedure involves the commander asking the troops questions, one of them being:
8“Is there anyone afraid and disheartened? Let him go back to his home, lest the courage of his comrades flag like his.”
The goal is to have the soldier overcome their natural fears of death. In Braveheart, William Wallace uses the idea of freedom and personal impact, “when YOU are dying in your beds, alone.” The Torah gives us an alternative.
In the speech, the Torah seems to be giving a history lesson to the troops about a moment when they were in a similar circumstance: the Exodus from Egypt when Pharaoh’s horses and chariots were approaching them. But what the Torah is really doing is getting them to think of themselves as a people, not as a person. They are fighting together, they are united with God as their center, and they are not only fighting for themselves, but for the Jewish future and the Jewish past. If they fail, then the generation of the Exodus also fail.
It is not YOU, it is WE, and it’s not just now, but past, present, and future.
One of the rules I learned as a community organizer was that true power came from organized people. But how do you get organized? You get organized by being in relationship with each other and having a shared destiny.
There are immense problems that lie before us. What seems like constant wars in the Middle East, the continued survival of Israel, terror, environmental disasters, poverty, hunger, homelessness, disease, and more and more.
As we watch the news alone, we must think to ourselves, what can I do against these chariots and horses?
First, we have to look in the mirror and tell ourselves that alone, there is nothing you can do, and trying to tackle these large issues alone is not only impossible, but foolish. In the end, you will ultimately lose faith and retreat.
But there is an alternative.
In the first line of our parashah, we read: “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof”…Justice Justice shall you pursue Tirdof (תרדוף) (is the verb form of the root רדף, while the noun form, רודף means a pursuer or someone who chases after someone or something) that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
AJ Heschel states, “It implies more than merely respecting or following justice-we must actively pursue it”.
Tzedek, as we read in our Etz Chaim Humash, is both formal justice to govern society and distributive justice, “ensuring that everyone gets at least the minimum of what is necessary to live.”
In the end, the goal of war is peace, as the prophet Isaih wrote which we will recite together during the prayer for the country, “They shall beat their swords into plough-shares, Their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaih 2:4)
But how do we get their? Through being Rodfei Shalom:
The rodef shalom first appears in Hillel’s famous statement in Pirkei Avot: “Be among the disciples of Aaron - a lover of peace (ohev shalom) and a pursuer of peace (rodef shalom); a lover of all people, bringing them closer to the Torah.” A few centuries later, the Avot d’Rabbi Natan elaborates on Hillel’s words:
“How to be a rodef shalom? The phrase teaches us that a person should be a pursuer of peace among people, between each and every one. If a person sits in his/her place and is silent, how can s/he pursue peace among people, between each and every one? Rather, one should go out from one’s own place and go searching in the world and pursue peace among people.”
In other words, we can do this by being in relationship with each other and asking each other basic questions that we are scared to ask each other: What keeps you up at night? In other words, what are the things in your life that are holding you back and oppressing you? And when you work with that person for justice, they will work for you for justice for what oppresses you.
Each person has their own seemingly insurmountable chariots and horses that pursue them, but we won’t know what they are until we ask each other. Once we know, then we can pursue justice together. If we fail, we not only let ourselves down, but the past and the future. But if we succeed by pursuing Tzedek, Justice, than we bring our people one step closer to the end of war, to Shalom.
But we cannot be complacent, we have to chase after it to end war.
We pursue Tzedek in order that you we may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving us. We all share space on this land together, the sooner we start acting like it by pursuing justice, the sooner we will see Shalom in our time.
