RASHI COMMENTS ON the Torah’s pointing out that Bilaam was killed by the sword:
He came against the Jewish People and exchanged his craft for theirs. They (Jewish People) are victorious only with their mouths, through prayer and supplication, and he (Bilaam) came and adopted their craft to curse them with his mouth. So they too came against him by exchanging their craft for the craft of the nations who come with the sword, as it says, “And you shall live by your sword” (Bereishis 27:40). (Rashi 31:8)
Rashi is not saying that we should leave our swords at home and attack our enemies with siddurim. When we get to that level, there won’t be any enemies left in the world to fight, as it says, “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Yeshayahu 2:4).
What Rashi is saying is that if and when we have to go to war, the only way our swords, or guns, will do their job to rid the world of evil is if we pray to G–D first for success. The rules of engagement are different for the Jewish People, and even though G–D directs the bullets of Jew and gentile alike, He wants it to be more obvious to the Jew, something to do with living on a higher level of spiritual consciousness.
That is, you will recall, Moshe was punished for hitting the rock to bring water, instead of just speaking to it. And not just punished, but banished from Eretz Yisroel. The moment physical movement is involved in accomplishment, a person operates on a lower level of consciousness, and that is not how a person is meant to survive in Eretz Yisroel.
But go and tell that to the Attorney General of Israel and the highly secular Supreme Court that is trying to empty out the yeshivos and make soldiers out of the future Ba’alei Mesorah of Torah. Not that this is surprising from people who do not believe Torah is from G–D and that learning it protects the Jewish People more than armies. That’s all through Tanach and in the Gemora. It’s just alarming.
The truth is, it has been hanging over heads for decades now. Though there are many ba’alei teshuvah today, thank G–D, and many secular Israelis are at least somewhat traditional, the country, overall, has become increasingly secular. It had been happening since 1948, but it really sped up at the end of the 80s with the collapse of the USSR and resulting influx of millions of Russians, some not being Jews.
That’s when it first became legally permissible to import treif meat, for the non-Jewish immigrants. Right. And no one expected Jews with a desire for all things Europian not to jump on the treif bandwagon and open up treif restaurants, especially in highly secular Tel Aviv and Haifa?
One could wonder, does everything still apply today? So late in the final exile right in advance of the final generation, the world and the Jewish People are at a big low. Hester panim is intense, which means G–D makes it even harder to see Him in everyday life. Even those who learn Torah and live by the mitzvos have been heavily influenced, relatively speaking, by the outside world. Maybe G–D says, “Now that there is not much difference between you and the rest of the nations of the world, you might as well live and die like them!”
Life, however, seems to say otherwise. The many stories of miracles happening for people, especially just after they prayed or did something similar, show that G–D’s still listening and still helping. It’s just not an automatic national thing yet, where the miracles happen for everyone, even those unworthy.
One thing is for certain. If you don’t rely on prayer to get the job done, even if you have to physically do something, you definitely cut G–D out of the picture and put yourself into that other world of everyone else.
I’m not going to spend time proving it now, but I will end by saying, yes, the rules of engagement of the Jewish People have never changed and still apply. The only variable in the equation is whether or not we’re prepared to accept and believe that, and go with it while the rest of the world screams that we’re out of our minds. Given Jewish history, the burden of proof is on them, not the ba’alei emunah, something the Three Weeks testify to.
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I am very pleased to announce that Volume 3 of Sha’ar Hagilgulim has now been published through Amazon. This completes the comprehensive re-edit and re-publication, b”H.
On the same topic, Series Two of the “Sha’ar HaGilgulim Course” continues this week, b”H. For more information or to register, go to: https://www.shaarnunproductions.org/Sha-ar-HaGilgulim-Course.html.
Have a great Shabbos,
Pinchas Winston
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