Could there be a greater act of mesirut nefesh, than Moshe’s decision to depart this life, so as to not to delay the vengeance of Hashem, and of Bnei Israel?! Read how the commentaries on this week's parsha see it.
We read in our Parasha, (31:1-3):’Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying,: Take vengeance for the Children of Israel against the Midianites; afterwards you will be gathered unto your people.’
‘Moshe spoke to the people, saying:’Arm men from among yourselves for the legion that they may be against Midian, to inflict Hashem’s vengeance against Midian.’
Rashi brings the commentary of our Sages:’ Moshe spoke’:’Although he heard that his death depended on the matter, he did it joyfully.’
We read in our Parasha, (31:1-3):’Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying,: Take vengeance for the Children of Israel against the Midianites; afterwards you will be gathered unto your people.’
‘Moshe spoke to the people, saying:’Arm men from among yourselves for the legion that they may be against Midian, to inflict Hashem’s vengeance against Midian.’
Rashi brings the commentary of our Sages:’ Moshe spoke’:’Although he heard that his death depended on the matter, he did it joyfully.’
Rav Yissachar Eilenberg, in his commentary on Rashi ‘Tzeida Laderech’, asks on this Rashi:’How do we see in the passuk, that Moshe ‘did it joyfully’?
‘The Midianites did two wrongs: one to Heavens, by causing Israel to sin in idolatry and in immorality, AND one to Bnei Israel, as they caused 24,000 of them to perish, as a result of their advice.
‘Hashem said to Moshe :’Take vengeance for the Children of Israel, as I forgive their offence against Me, as nothing that men do has an ‘effect’ on Me; the main vengeance is for what they did to Israel.
‘When Moshe heard this, he opined that, as his death depended on this vengeance, if he said the words of Hashem, to Israel as they were said to him, out of their affection for him, they would say: Just as Hashem overlooked the offence against Him, so too, we will forgive the offence against us, so that the decree against Moshe would not be carried out, as yet.
‘Moshe, who was happy to carry out Hashem’s Will without delay, changed the message to Bnei Israel, and said ‘the vengeance of Hashem’, and Bnei Israek would surmise that since Hashem seeks the vengeance for the offence against His honor, who are they to delay, and they were therefore compelled to immediately act.
‘This change to the charge of Hashem, is a clear proof that Moshe acted with great joy, and did not delay, though it was in his power to do so, had he relayed Hashem’s words, as spoken to him.’
Rav Shimon Schwab, similarly expounds:’ We need to delve on the comment of Rashi: where in the psukim do we find an allusion that ‘Moshe acted joyfully’?
‘We can answer: Hashem commanded Moshe to say :’Take a vengeance for Bnei Israel’, but Moshe changed the charge, to say:’Inflict Hashem’s vengeance’, so that the people should proceed with alacrity and enthusiasm, to avenge the chillul Hashem of the Midianites.
‘This is the proof that he did the Mitzvah joyfully, and did not simply relay the Mitzvah, to them.’
Our Sages, in Yalkut Shimoni, bring a poignant midrash, as to our psukim: ’Why did the Torah use the strong word וידבר: in our passuk? Because Hashem was demanding to avenge the honor of Israel, from Midian. He therefore said to Moshe :’Take vengeance for Bnei Israel against the Midianires; afterwards you will be gathered unto your people’.
Moshe began to appeal to Hashem against the decree: Do I merit death, when I have seen your Ways and deeds, and the Psalmist says:’I will not die, but live, and relate Your deeds’?
‘Hashem answered him: ’Were long years good for men, would I have brought the taste of death to your righteous forefathers, as the Psalmist says: ’Precious in the eyes of Hashem is the death of His chassidim.’
‘Moshe was still not appeased, until Hashem appeased him with two things: He said to him: Moshe, if you wish to live many more years, even a thousand, Israel will not see the vengeance of their enemies, and Midian will not be defeated by them.
‘Immediately, Moshe was appeased, and said: ’Whether it be today or tomorrow, death comes to all; better that Israel should see the fall of their haters, and Midian be mconquered before them.
‘This appeasement of Moshe was difficult before Hashem , for having had to decree his death.
What can this be likened to? To a king who had a son who constantly vexed him, and who was only saved from the king’s wrath by his loving mother, who protected him from being killed by the king, in those moments.
‘When the queen died, the king was inconsolable; when his ministers asked him: Was she the most beautiful of women, so that you think she is irreplaceable? He answered; I am not crying for her, but for my son; while she was alive, when I sought to kill him, she aroused my compassion for our son, and I spared him.
‘Now that she is gone, the son is as ‘good as dead’!
‘So! too, Hashem, it was ‘hard’ in His eyes, that He had to decree death on Moshe, as all the while that Moshe was alive, when Bnei Israel angered Hashem, and He thought of destroying them, Moshe stood, and prostrated himself before Him, and pleaded for foregiveness for them, until Hashem relented, and declared: ויאמר ה׳ סלחתי כדבריך: I have forgiven, as you asked.’
Could there be a greater act of mesirut nefesh, than Moshe’s decision to depart this life, so as to not to delay the vengeance of Hashem, and of Bnei Israel?!
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh, brings this Midrash, and comments:’If this came to relate Hashem’s words to Bnei Israel, as appears from the word ‘saying’, it should have said:’Take your vengeance from the Midianites..’.
‘From the Midrash, we can resolve this linguistic difficulty; The word דיבור, is ‘hard’ language, alluding to two difficult matters; one, to Moshe, on his decreed death, and one to Hashem, that He decreed death on his friend; the softer word ‘saying’, alludes to the appeasement that Hashem appeased Moshe with: that he would see the vengeance from the Midianites, as the Midrash relates.’
Rav Yosef Salant comments:’We need to adduce the reason for Moshe’s death being contingent on the battle against Midian.
‘We find in several instances in the Torah, how insistent the Torah was, that when Bnei Israel enter the Land, they uproot all the places of idol worship; also, that they should not permit any of the inhabitants to live, so that they do not seduce them to learn from their ways, and be led into sin.
‘The vengeance against the Midianites was because of their wiles, they even sending their women to seek to have relations with Bnei Israel - all so as to bring them to stray after Ba’al Peor.
‘For this reason, the command was to take vengeance against them, for more severe is one who causes one to sin, than one who kills him.
‘It was therefore not possible for Bnei Israel to enter the Land, while these harmful forces prevailed there, lest they be influenced by them.
‘Only when these transgressors were vanquished, could Bnei Israel be permitted to enter the Land.
‘As Moshe Rabbeinu’s death was dependent only on their entry into the Land, and the decree that he die in the desert, and not enter the Land, was due to the decree at Mei Meriba, that he not enter the Land, it follows, that as long as Bnei Israel had not yet entered the Land, Moshe would still be alive.
‘Since, as we have expounded, as long as Bnei Israel had not battled Midian, and vanquished them, they could not enter the Land, it follows that Moshe’s death depended upon the battle against Midian, as so long as they did not avenge their vengeance from the Midianites, they were not ready to enter the Land, and so long as they did not enter the Land, Moshe could remain alive.’
Rav David Hofstedter expands on this linkage, asking:’What was so unique in battling Midian, that it depended on Moshe Rabbeinu, unlike subsequent battles which were fought by his successors?
‘More so, when we note that Moshe himself was not actively involved in the battle against Midian, but only instructed Pinchas how to conduct the battle.
‘The answer may be found in the Midrash, explaining that, whereas Hashem commanded to take the vengeance of Bnei Israel, Moshe, in his charge to Bnei Israel, instructed them to take vengeance for the affront to Hashem’s honor.
‘The Midrash expounds, that Moshe explained the reason for the change he made, was that the only reason that the lowly nation - of Midian - acting as they did, was to cause Bnei Israel to transgress against Hashem.
‘Moshe therefore sought to avenge the vengeance of Hashem from Midian - for the forces of purity to vanquish the forces of impurity
‘This battle was not purely to repay Midian for that which they had done, but was also as an atonement for Bnei Israel, to instill in their hearts an abhorrence for the abominable ways of the Midianites.
‘For this reason Moshe yearned to vanquish Midian, and why this was the culmination of his mission on earth - the Midianites had descended to the lowest level of animalstic behaviour, as evidenced by the abominable idolatry of their idol, Ba’al Peor; Moshe Rabbeinu epitomized the diametrically opposite position: the ability of a human being to rise to the heights, by sublimating his animalistic side.
‘This is why he so yearned not to leave this world, until he had achieved this vengeance.
‘This, too, is why this battle was dependent on Moshe Rabbeinu’s existence, because it was not - unlike the subsequent battles - a purely physical battle, but was a spiritual battle, of good defeating bad, and the nullification of the impurity of Midian which had infected Bnei Israel, and which necessitated the spiritual qualities, which only Moshe Rabbeinu had.
‘In doing so, Moshe instilled in Bnei Israel his special qualities, which enabled them thereafter - even after his death - to battle, and vanquish the foces of impurity they were to confront.’
The Alshich Hakadosh, opens his exposition, by commenting:’There are two types of war: the physical war, to kill the enemy, and the spiritual war, to kill the soul of the enemy, by causing him to sin
‘In the first type, only the body is killed, unlike the second one, when the soul is killed, and does not return to its Maker. ‘Edom and Egypt ‘only’ sought to kill Bnei Israel by the sword, and we are therefore commanded not to hate them, should they convert.
‘Not so the one who comes to cause you to sin, which is why there is the prohibition against Amoni and Moab to be part of the Jewish people.
‘The Midianites’, as we have expounded, ‘fought both of these wars against us, as, had Pinchas not acted as he did, Hashem would have annihilated all of Bnei Israel, for the transgressions against Him.
‘Our Sages, in the Midrash, faulted Moshe Rabbenu, that he did not act out of zealotry for Hashem, on seeing the action of Zimri, and killed him.
‘Therefore, it was necessary for Moshe to now atone, by zealotry for Hashem, against the Midianites, for causing Bnei Israel to sin.
‘Our Heavenly Father, out of his love for Moshe, now told him to atone for that fault, before ‘you will be gathered unto your people’, by ‘take vengeance..afterwards you will be gathered unto your people’.
‘This, because, as we have expounded elsewhere, the ‘gathering unto your people’, alludes to the departed righteous assembling to welcome the righteous newly departed to their midst; but should there be a blemish which has not been atoned for, this has to be repaired, before this assembly and gathering. ‘Here, as we noted, there was the blemish of non-action of zealotry for Hashem in regard to Zimri, which needed atonement.
‘Therefore, ‘take vengeance..’ and ‘afterwards be gathered unto your people’, as we then read, that Moshe imediately commanded the people, to ‘inflict Hashem’s vengeance’, thereby atoning for his omission.
A parting message from Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch: ’Moshe imparted Hashem’s Torah to Bnei Israel, the twin bases of which are modesty and faithfulness to Hashem.
‘Before his death, he succeeded in establishing the continued keeping of these two pillars of his mission.
‘Moshe was therefore commanded to vanquish the Midianites, to protect his people from their immorality and idolatry. ‘The vengeance he was commanded to take, was not merely to repay them for their misdeeds; had this been the intention, the Torah would have said:take vengeance against’ - but the purpose was to return, and re-establish Bnei Israel, after the damage caused by the Midianites, free spiritually and morally from their villainy.’
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