Parshas Re'eh: Rav Shimshon Pincus - The Mighty Forces Of Gog U'Magog
Some people make the terrible mistake, says Rav Shimshon Pincus, of trying to explain events that happen in this world based on Pasukim in the Torah. We [know] that we cannot darshan halachos directly from pasukim in the torah. To get to proper halacha there is a long chain that we follow. First the Mishna, then the gemara, rishonim, acharonim. We have long ago stopped being capable of deriving anything from the source.
Similarly when it comes to Drashos we are far disconnected from properly understanding the pasukim themselves. We can only go by what the rabbanim and darshanim of previous generations have passed down to us. For example in Parshas Re'eh the torah tells us that the Brachos and Klalos were given on Har Gerizim and Har Eival, respectively. We would think that these were two great mountains where the throngs of Klal Yisroel stood with Moshe's booming voice in the valley below. However that is far from the case. Tosfos in Sotah brings the Yerushalmi that says that Har Gerizim and Eival were not mountains but rather low mounds of dirt. Who would have thought that? Not us as we are not capable of deducing anything from the torah on our own.
Many people are busy looking for signs of Moshiach. When world powers start looking ominous, everyone is quick to label them Gog U'Magog and predict the final great war. But in reality we have no idea what Gog U'Magog means and what it will look like, says Rav Shimshon. Just like the supposed gigantic Har Gerizim was a molehill and not a mountain, it is entirely possible that Milchemes Gog U'Magog will be some small event so trivial that we do not even pay attention to it. The Yerushalmi hasn't given us any clues and we surely should not decide for ourselves.
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