Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s talks are known throughout the Jewish world. They combine chassidic teachings and philosophy, along with tips for a better life. We have collected pearls from his teachings that are relevant to our daily lives. This week he comments on the Torah section of Matot-Masai.
"Take the Israelites’ revenge of the Midianites, and then you will be gathered in to your people." (Num. 31:2)
In this week's Torah reading, God says to Moses, "Take the Israelites’ revenge of the Midianites, and then you will be gathered in to your people." The Ohr haChaim poses a question: God commanded Moses to go to war with the Midianites, after which he would be gathered to his people - but Moses didn’t go to war and instead took Pinchas ben Eleazar to lead the war! The Ohr haChaim asks why did Moses send Pinchas instead of leading the battle himself as God commanded him?
There is a great foundation here that teaches us how to behave to others. The Torah tells us that a person who received a benefit from another must show gratitude without limits. A person who shows gratitude will achieve outstanding virtue and spiritual exaltation while a person who lacks gratitude is fundamentally flawed. Gratitude is one of the most important things that the Torah demands of us.
Moses was the leader of all the Israelites. But when it came to the plague of blood and the plague of frogs, Moses sent his brother Aaron to start these plagues. Rashi explains (Exodus 7:19) "Because the Nile protected Moses when he was put into it, therefore Moses did not strike it to initiate the plague of blood or frogs, and Aaron instead struck it." Since Moses was saved by the Nile when he was a baby, therefore when God commanded him to bring the plagues of blood and frogs by striking it, Moses understood that he could not strike it himself. One cannot throw a stone into a well from which one drank water. Moses teaches us the obligation of gratitude and how a grateful person should conduct himself.
Our rabbis explain that when Moses fled after Pharaoh sought to kill him for slaying the Egyptian, Moses hid in the land of Midian for several years. Because he lived in Midian and benefited from the Midianites, he could not go to war against them himself, which would have demonstrated a lack of gratitude to them. Since Moshe could not fight the Midianites after benefiting from them and hiding away in their land, he sent Pinchas to lead the war against them.
Moses appointed Pinchas who had already begun fulfilling the commandment to take revenge from the Midianites by killing Zimri ben Salu and the impure Midianite woman Zimri was consorting with. Pinchas went to war with righteous warriors "a thousand for each tribe, a thousand per tribe." The Gemara says (Sota 44a) that the warriors chosen for battle were people so righteous that they wouldn’t speak between putting on the hand tefillin and head tefillin. Their thoughts and the hearts were completely connected and devoted to our Father in heaven.
While Moses fought the spiritual war in heaven over the Israelites’ holiness and vanquishing Midian’s ministering angel, Pinchas led the physical war on earth so together the Israelites could defeat the people of Midian.
The war with Midian was difficult and sensitive, because the Midianites had corrupted the Israelites’ thinking and introduced evil thoughts into the people’s minds. They had led the Israelites into immorality and then corrupted the people until their minds were pervaded by evil impressions. This thing was serious and deadly, so a bitter and powerful war had to be fought to cleanse the Israelites from this corruption. As long as the Midianites were alive, their presence would have exerted a terrible and grave impression on the Israelites, because when the root of a problem remains, it has a strong impact on the person who was once connected to it.
There is a wonderful story told about the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel, the author of Divrei Yoel, from which one can learn a lesson. Once he was traveling in Manhattan in New York in a taxi. The gentile driver turned on music in which a woman's voice was heard. The Rebbe instructed his attendant to ask the driver to turn off the channel immediately, but the driver stubbornly refused to turn it off. The Rebbe plugged his ears. Despite that, as soon as he got home, he took off his clothes and asked his attendant to burn them in a fire! The attendant was surprised and asked him, "Why? They are almost new!" The Rebbe said to him: "Because I heard bad things while wearing these clothes, I am afraid that they may have a negative effect on me. I am concerned that I will remember the singing I heard whenever I will wear them! Therefore burn them!"
In the Midianite War, the Midianite men and women caused the Israelites to have sinful thoughts and their evil influence didn’t stop as long as they were alive. Therefore Moses commanded the Israelites to kill all of them, because as long as they were still around their nefarious influence would continue over the Israelites.
This war was difficult and in each and every generation, we have to carry out a similar battle against baleful thoughts in our mind, staying away from them and keeping them as far away as possible. As long as a person has flawed thoughts he cannot achieve a complete rectification and elevate himself to exalted and holy places.
We can learn from the righteous to fight evil without sacrificing the great quality of showing gratitude.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel