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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

Whether or not to forgive all the enemies and haters of the Jewish people, that is a question for G-d.

The job of the IDF is simply to arrange the meeting between them…

ENEMY TERRITORY

In this week’s parsha, Behaaloscha, we read about the journey of the Jewish people through the wilderness of nations. An inseparable part of these journeys was the journey of the Aron, about which it is written: “And it came to pass, when the Aron set out, that Moshe said: ‘Rise up, O L-rd, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You’” (Behaaloscha 10:35).

Who are these enemies? Who are these haters? And what exactly is the meaning of this prayer?

Rashi explains that “Your enemies” refers to those who are “gathered together,” and “those who hate You” refers to “the pursuers – those who hate Israel, for whoever hates Israel hates the One who spoke and the world came into being.” With this, the request of Moshe Rabbeinu in these words becomes clear. Moshe prays and asks G-d that the enemies of the Jewish people – and there is certainly no shortage of them – both those who gather and those who pursue, should not succeed in carrying out their plots and harming the Jewish people. Such a request and prayer was necessary three thousand years ago, during the journey of the Jewish people through the wilderness, and it is no less necessary today, when enemies and haters of Israel, of every variety of antisemitism, emerge from every side and corner. Perhaps this is why, when we open the Aron to take out the Sefer Torah, we recite this very verse every time, on weekdays, Shabbos, and festivals.

But instead of becoming embittered by the situation on the ground, and distressed that for thousands of years our enemies have been trying to harm us, perhaps there is a redemptive message in this pasuk? Could it be that beneath the surface we can find a strengthening moral lesson that will spur us to increase our service of G-d and bring about the ultimate Geula?

In a wonderful sicha (Likutei Sichos vol. 23 sicha 2), containing a long, precise, and intricate explanation of Rashi’s commentary quoted above, the Rebbe elaborates on the powerful depth of this pasuk.

Let us begin with the distinction between “Your enemies” and “those who hate You.” What is the difference between an oyeiv (enemy) and a sonei (hater)? As we said, we have enemies and haters in abundance; we truly lack for nothing in that department… So what is the difference between Musa Abu Marzook and Ahmad Tibi? Both are enemies and haters, and we would be equally happy to be rid of both of them, would we not?

An enemy is a description of behavior; it refers to a person who actively fights against another and carries out acts of hostility and terror. A hater, by contrast, is a psychological-emotional characterization, and is far more dangerous. It refers to a person who harbors deep hatred toward another in his heart. Such a person not only fights against the other, but constantly seeks ways to torment and harm him. He is consumed by this hatred and perpetually occupied with searching for ways and ideas to cause the most harm possible to the object of his hatred. He is obsessive, and his sole desire is to pursue and embitter the life of the one he hates.

But who could hate G-d with such obsessiveness? After all, if you believe in G-d, why would you hate Him? And if you don’t believe in G-d (Heaven forbid), then there is nothing to hate… But how can one believe in G-d on one hand, and on the other hand hate Him obsessively to the point of constant pursuit? This sounds like a complete paradox!

This is what Rashi resolves with his words: “Those who hate Israel, for whoever hates Israel hates the One who spoke and the world came into being.” In truth, it is impossible to believe in G-d on one hand and hate Him on the other. But there are (many, many…) people who believe in G-d yet hate the Jewish people, and it is about them that Moshe prays, beseeches, and implores that they “flee from before You (from before us!).”

But why does this matter? And what exactly is the empowering message embedded here?

LOVE TRUMPS HATE

Moshe emphasizes in his prayer that Hashem does not save us because we deserve it, or because of the merit of our spiritual service, but primarily because whoever hates Israel essentially hates Hashem Himself. The reason is that the pasuk refers to a situation in which there is a serious deficiency in Israel’s service of G-d – they genuinely do not deserve to be saved – and therefore Moshe calls out to G-d: “Rise up, O L-rd.” Those nations are not interested at all in the question of whether we deserve miracles or not, whether we deserve redemption, salvation, and rescue or not. They know one thing – that the Jews are the “chosen people,” the people of the Creator – and therefore they fight against them. If they were to succeed (Heaven forbid) in harming the Jewish people, it would be a terrible and dreadful desecration of G-d’s Name. Therefore: “Not for our sake, O L-rd… but for the sake of Your Name give glory” (Tehillim 115:1) – redeem the Jewish people, act for the sake of Your great Name that it not be desecrated, as the Navi Yechezkel says (36:23): “My great Name which has been desecrated among the nations.”

But Moshe’s prayer points to and teaches yet another important – and even deeper – detail.

The prayer of Moshe Rabbeinu essentially contains two elements:

A. If the nations of the world see that they are able to harm Israel – while everyone knows that they are G-d’s “treasured people,” yet He does not help them – this is a desecration of G-d’s Name.

B. Through this request (“Rise up, O L-rd”), Moshe wishes to reveal the bond between Israel and G-d, a supremely exalted bond of love that is not dependent on the observance of Torah and commandments; a bond that nothing in the world can weaken.

By way of introduction: there are two ways of explaining the special relationship between the Jewish people and Hashem.

1. A bond that comes through Israel’s service/avoda – when the Jewish people observe Torah and mitzvos as required, they draw close to and unite with G-d, and therefore they merit in return a “special relationship” – namely, salvation and rescue from the nations of the world who plot to harm them.

2. An intrinsic bond, not dependent on anything – not even on Torah and mitzvos. This is the bond that stems from the Jewish people being “children unto the L-rd your G-d” – and a father loves his son without any reason.

And this is the content of the prayer: “Kumah (rise up), Hashem (O L-rd)” – specifically this Name. The Name Havaya denotes the bringing into existence and sustaining of the world. From the perspective of worldly reality, the salvation of the Jewish people depends on their spiritual service – measure for measure. But when Moshe asks “Rise up, O L-rd,” he is asking and imploring that there be a “rising” – an elevation of the Name Havaya above the limitations of nature and the world, above the natural order of creation – and from there, redemption, salvation, and rescue will flow beyond all logic.

The Rebbe continues to explain that in order to bring this supernatural Geula into the realm of the world, we must draw down this “Kumah Hashem” – this rising and elevation of the Name Havaya – into the reality of the world. Therefore, we find three different styles and formulations in the verses and in the words of our Sages. In the language of the Torah it says: “Rise up, O L-rd, and let Your enemies be scattered” – for in the Torah shines forth the root-source and the allusion of all things, and the Name Havaya is the root of the eternal bond of the Jewish people with G-d.

In Tehillim, by contrast, we find a similar pasuk with a change of wording: “Let G-d arise (Yakum Elokim) and let His enemies be scattered (v’yafutzu oyevav)” (Tehillim 68:2) – this Name (Elokim, numerically equivalent to hateva, “nature”) alludes to the root and source of the material world, and to the need to draw the eternal bond of the Jewish people with G-d into the reality of the world. In the language of Rashi (quoted above), G-d is called “the One who spoke and the world came into being” – the word world (olam) shares a root with concealment (he’elem) – and through the fact that even within this great concealment and hiddenness we maintain our eternal bond with G-d, above all logic, we bring about the immediate nullification of all the “enemies and haters” of every kind, and G-d redeems us with a complete redemption, now, truly.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a brief story of rescue – one of many – that attests to “Rise up, O L-rd, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.”

A group of soldiers entered a dangerous area in Gaza. Intelligence reports had warned that terrorists were waiting in a certain building, and that entering the street from the front could be lethal. The soldiers prepared for a major ambush.

A moment before pushing forward, one of the soldiers suddenly felt an internal impulse to stop and choose a different route, without any prior information. A debate broke out among the soldiers, but in the end everyone agreed.

A few minutes later they discovered that the original road was entirely rigged with explosive devices and the blast could have killed the entire unit.

The soldier later explained that he had no clear reason for his sudden decision. One of them described it as a feeling that “someone was watching over us from above.”

Good Shabbos!

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