What is Peace?

Parshas Ki Seitzei

Posted on September 4, 2014 (5774) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

In this week’s parsha, the Torah portrays for us an accurate and unforgiving view of war and its personal consequences. No one who participates in a war escapes unscathed from these consequences. The ones who are killed or wounded have suffered these consequences on their very physical bodies. But even those who have survived the battle whole are affected by the consequences of that struggle.

That is the supremely important, albeit subliminal message of the beginning of this week’s parsha. A Jewish soldier, who according to the ritual requirements of becoming such a soldier and being accepted for the battle as outlined in last week’s parsha, a G-d-fearing patriotic and observant person, somehow enters into a sexual relationship with a non-Jewish woman, a relationship which Rashi points out to us will only bring him future grief and regret.

The heat and passions that war and combat engender within a person cannot be limited to the actual battlefield alone. They carry on within the psyche and body of the combatant and find different ways of expression in all other areas of human life and experience.

The observant Jew, who under ordinary and usual non-combat circumstances is scrupulously pious and moral in one’s behavior, now becomes a sexual predator and enters into a physical relationship with a non-Jewish stranger. Is this not the strongest message possible that the Torah wishes to communicate to us about the consequences and effects of war!?

War requires the abandonment of personal inhibitions. That will help explain the scenario portrayed for us by this opening parsha of this week’s Torah reading. Without inhibitions there can be no morality or piety.

But as all of us living here in Israel are well aware of, war is a constant state of affairs in our national and personal life. The Jewish people have been at war here in the Land of Israel for almost all of the years of the past century. These wars may not be of our choosing or our initiative but they are omnipresent in our lives and society.

And because of this difficult state of affairs, Israeli society has been affected and even shaped by the presence of constant combat and warfare. Much of the rough spots that still exist in our society – the divisiveness, the absence of mannered courtesy, the unnecessary assertiveness, etc. – are all consequences of our being in a constant state of war. Inhibitions and piety are hard to maintain under such conditions and consequences.

Peace is not merely an absence of a hot war. It is a state of mind that induces tranquility, rationality and all around general goodness. That is why peace is so exalted in the works of the prophets and throughout the Talmud and Jewish tradition. And that is why we pray three times daily that its presence should be felt amongst us. With peace – both inner and outer – such events as portrayed for us at the beginning of this week’s parsha simply do not occur.

There is no people that long for peace as greatly as do the people of Israel. May the Lord somehow bless us with the achievement of peace and thereby restore us to normalcy, piety and eternal goodness.

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

Battling Our Inner Enemy

Parshas Ki Seitzei

Posted on August 14, 2013 (5773) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

Jewish homiletical (sermon)  tradition has dealt with the “enemy,” who is being warred against in the opening verse of the parsha, as being the evil instinct of the “warrior” itself. In the immortal words of the famous cartoon character Pogo, “we have met the enemy and they are us!” This is in consonance with the words of the Talmud that the opening topic of the parsha – marriage to the attractive woman, a non-Jewish captive – has specific reference to one’s own struggle with the basic desires and evil instincts that bedevil us all.

The true struggle in life is therefore not really against others who may not wish us well as much as it is against our own conflict-torn nature. Temptations, both physical and monetary, and power-driven ambitions abound in our everyday existence. Falsehoods, lame excuses, or the feeling that “everyone does it” and that one will never get caught up and publicly exposed in the scam or scandal are the weapons of the enemy that lurk within us, preying on our built-in weaknesses.

Unless one truly realizes how vulnerable each and every one of us is regarding our internal enemy, there is little hope of creating effective defensive strategies to combat it. The haughty arrogance of unwarranted self-righteousness is one of the most serious moral and personal defects that a person may possess.

This is the message that the Talmud delivers to us when it states that one who sins and yet remains confident that one will later be able to repent and cancel the sin, is never able to truly repent of that sin. One should not underestimate the enemy that lies within us.

The month of Elul traditionally was set aside as a particular time when that internal enemy was to be identified and confronted. In our busy and crowded world, our schedules allow precious little time to think about our true selves – our goals and the purpose of our existence. Our enemy confounds and confuses us with all of the myriad details, pettinesses and distractions that our super busy world inflicts upon us.

Rabbi Yisrael of Salant was once asked if one has only ten minutes a day to study Torah, should one study Talmud or Mussar (the ethical teachings of Judaism.) He answered that one should study Mussar for then he would come to realize that he has much more time than just ten minutes in the day to study Torah. By that Rabbi Yisrael outlined his method of confronting the inner enemy that convinces us that we are unable to improve, that we are too weak or habit-stricken or that we are simply too busy and preoccupied with other issues to think about ourselves.

Ignoring the enemy is the surest way of being defeated by it. I think that tradition placed such an emphasis on the month of Elul, for it is the self-confrontation that this month indicates to us that is the strongest weapon in our spiritual arsenal. In preparation for the days of awe and judgment that are soon upon us, let us use this time wisely and efficiently.

Shabat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

The Chain Effect of Our Actions

Parshas Ki Seitzei

Posted on September 7, 2011 (5771) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

Rashi in his commentary to this week’s parsha emphasizes the idea of cause and effect. Rashi points out that this is true in both a negative and positive sense. In the words of the rabbis of the Mishna, a mitzva causes other mitzvot to occur while a transgression automatically drags along other sins in its wake. This is why the rabbis describe a wise person as being one who can see the future consequences of events and human behavior.

It is not only the individual act itself that is of consequence and importance. It is rather the sequence of behavior and related consequences that flow from that individual act that are just as important. The Jewish soldier who takes the captive woman unto himself in a moment of temporary passion is not intending that the end result of this act will be enduring domestic strife, hatred and eventually a dissolute and dangerous child.

But all behavior creates a ripple effect in life and many unintended consequences are derived from an intentional act of poor judgment and base desire. And the opposite is also true. A positive act of tradition and Torah service brings to the person performing that act of goodness and kindness unforeseen opportunities to perform other acts of goodness and kindness.

The performance of mitzvot leads to there being a protective fence that surrounds one’s home and is redemptive in so many other unforeseen ways. Again, Judaism is committed to a far sighted view of life and behavior and the understanding that nothing that a person does or says is truly to be deemed inconsequential.

The charitable person will be given many continuing opportunities to be charitable. The miser will soon realize that no one will frequent his home or office. Initially he may feel relieved at this situation, but he will eventually regret it for it brings with it a loss of stature, a poor reputation and a loneliness of the soul.

The story is told about a wealthy man who, because of his wealth, gave much charity and had many visitors and was held in great esteem in his community. People came to him for advice and succor, though he was not particularly noted for his wit or wisdom. One day he decided that he would no longer give any charity. As this news spread, the visitors soon dwindled and eventually stopped altogether. The man complained to his wife: “I don’t understand why people stopped coming. My funny jokes and good advice are still available to them!”

People often mistake honors and attention paid to them as being their personal right when that honor or attention is only given to them because of their good deeds. It is clear that a person’s actions and behavior propels his reputation and standing in the eyes of humankind as well as Heaven.

The Psalmist put it most bluntly: “If only humans would be wise and discerning and appreciate what their end will look like.” It is not only about our eventual mortality that the Psalmist speaks. It is also certainly about the consequences here in our lifetime – of our acts, attitudes and behavior.

Shabat Shalom,

Rabbi Berel Wein