Wednesday, Nov 6, 2024

Learning From Our Worst Enemies

 

Over our beautiful Yom Tov of Sukkos, I was actually inspired to think about our many enemies. First of all, as we all know, during Sukkos there are numerous references to those who would destroy us. The korbanos were actually meant to protect the nations from the results of their own sins (Rashi 29:18). However, they have never appreciated what we did for them and so have lost this gift. The nations will be given one mitzvah, that of sukkah, to be tested at the End of Days (Avodah Zarah 3a). Finally, they will be faulted at that time for not paying homage to the Bais Hamikdosh on Sukkos (see Zechariah 14:16-17). Thus, Sukkos is the one Yom Tov when the other nations and especially our enemies come readily to mind.

Secondly, after the evil leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, was killed over Yom Tov, the rest of our enemies came out of the woodwork, defending and praising the mass murderer of so many. Yet, there were lessons to be learned from his so-called life and final elimination. Furthermore, to add an almost comedic irony to this lesson plan, just before Yom Tov, the New York Times (Sunday Magazine, October 13, 2024, page 20) actually seemed to publish a pro-Jewish article. Not only that, but it almost encouraged Torah study in the form of Daf Yomi. Wonder of wonders! Perhaps there was a hirhur teshuvah in honor of the upcoming Yom Tov? No, not quite, but it did give us an opportunity to gain from an odd but time-honored source, learning from our enemies.

Now, we know that we are mandated to learn from the best. We just recently lained in the Torah, “Ask your father and he will relate it to you, your elders and they will tell you” (Devorim 32:7). Dovid Hamelech (Tehillim 119:100) added that “From all my teachers I grew wise… From wise elders I gain understanding.” Yet, just before this, Dovid Hamelech also declared that “mei’oyvai techakmeini – each of Your commandments makes me wiser than my enemies.” Many meforshim (see, for instance, Rav Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, rov of Chust/Yerushalayim, Tehillos Maharitz to Tehillim 119:32, and the Baal Shem Tov, quoted in Tehillos Dovid, page 606) derive another lesson from this posuk. They deduce that we can learn from the energy our enemies expend on hurting us and doing foolish things how much more effort we should put into our mitzvos and learning.

The ongoing war with Hamas and the general increase in world anti-Semitism plus the positive phenomenon of a number of our enemies being sent to their everlasting punishment caused me to contemplate lessons from these sworn adversaries. However, let us begin chronologically with the Times’ attack on Daf Yomi. The writer, Michael David Lukas, began innocently enough with an unexpected encounter with both Talmud study and Daf Yomi. After admitting to a poor Jewish education focusing on the false application of “tikkun olam” and “rodef shalom,” he confesses that his Hebrew School education gave him no connection whatsoever to classic Jewish texts. But Hashem runs the world, and because of Covid lockdowns, he began receiving emails about many study opportunities, including Daf Yomi. He describes this new learning experience as “transformative,” and “found unexpected joy in the Talmud’s humanity and community-minded ethic.”

Great, right? Not really. If the Times is publishing something about Jews, especially the Orthodox, there must be an agenda. Behold, how the other shoe falls loudly and falsely: “In the days immediately following the attacks of October 7, the Talmudic rabbis felt like a comforting reminder of Jewish resilience. But in the later weeks and months, as the horrors of October 7 gave way to a brutal Israeli bombing, my relationship to the Talmud began to curdle.” While Mr. Lukas tries to “disentangle Daf Yomi from the bombs,” he does not succeed. In fact, he becomes so totally focused on “much of Gaza in ruins, tens of thousands of people killed, …tens of thousands of worlds destroyed,” that he can no longer look to the “rabbis…for the answers to my big existential questions.”

First of all, even on the most basic levels, I don’t accept any of Mr. Lukas’ objections to Israel’s defensive actions. Some of the few objective reporters left in journalism have reported accurately that Israel has in fact caused numerous IDF casualties because it has gone far beyond any previous army in avoiding civilian deaths. Secondly, Mr. Lukas makes a crucial mistake in equating actions of a democratic state with the teaching of the Talmudic rabbis. Even if he was correct, which he is not, that Israel has cavalierly overreached and acted immorally in defending itself, that is unrelated to anything he has begun studying in the Talmud. Israel has never been a theocracy and is not even remotely run by rabbis or according to Torah law. As is well known, Israel doesn’t even have a constitution like that of the United States, nor feels subject to Talmudic jurisprudence of any kind. Thus, I must say that although Mr. Lukas may just be innocently mistaken, the Times has once again published another of its many blood libels against Jews, Judaism and particularly the Orthodox.

One of the things we can learn from all of our enemies, as taught by the Baal Shemtov and others, is how to be persistent in one’s beliefs. The New York Times for some reason decided in recent years to stereotype orthodox Jews as immoral, unethical and uninterested in transmitting the basics of civilized behavior to its young. No amount of proof presented by scholars and educators has been able to convince the New York Board of Education and other institutions, including Times reporters, that we are indeed intelligent human beings who are raising productive and civil members of society. This obsession would be somewhat impressive if not for the fact that it has become religious persecution of a minority, which is generally not allowed in the modern democratic world. Yet, we can learn from this perseverance to adhere mightily to our own beliefs, even against governments and an agenda-driven media.

Regarding the diabolical Sinwar, we now know that after he was mortally wounded, he defiantly threw a stick at the approaching Israeli drone. Of course, there is nothing positive to say about this viper and wretch. But what Dovid Hamelech and his interpreters have taught us is that we must look to both friends and enemies to enhance our own positive traits. Meforshim (e.g., Pnei Menachem, Drashos Umaamorim, Parshas Zachor, page 79) tell us that when Dovid Hamelech slew the giant Golias with his own weapon (Shmuel I 17:51) and Benayahu Ben Yehoyada slew the Egyptian with the Egyptian’s sword (Shmuel II 23:21), they were following this teaching of destroying the enemy with his own ammunition. Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, in his Michtav M’Eliyahu, and others suggest that along the same lines we can disarm the yeitzer hara himself. If, for instance, the evil inclination lures us with a powerful temptation, we should offer one of his own most popular excuses. We can tell him, “Absolutely, but not now. I’m busy. Tomorrow I will sin, as you suggest.” Procrastination can work on both sides. The doggedness of Sinwar and Hamas is certainly depraved, but we can learn from their dedication and devotion to their miserable cause.

In the courtyards of the early Chassidim, particularly Belz, this approach became a basic tool in the armory of fighting off the yeitzer hara. The Chasam Sofer once asked a Belzer chossid to relate a teaching of his rebbe, Rav Yissochor Dov. The Chasam Sofer was delighted to hear the rebbe’s question on the first Rashi in Parshas Yisro. Rashi explains what brought Yisro to join Klal Yisroel, mentioning specifically Krias Yam Suf and the war against Amalek. The rebbe asked, “Why did Rashi even ask this question when the Torah itself delineated why Yisro had come?” He answered that Rashi was bothered by why the posuk said that “Yisro came.” Why didn’t the posuk simply state that “Yisro went”? His answer was that the word the Torah used implied that Yisro dropped everything and travelled immediately to join Klal Yisroel. Where did he get this newly-found sense of zerizus, alacrity? He borrowed it from Amaleik. The Medrash teaches that the moment they decided to attack Klal Yisroel, they traveled with incredible speed to do so immediately. Thus, Yisro developed this strategy of utilizing the enemy’s own power against himself (Rabbi A. Klapholtz, Admorei Belz, page 198).

We, too, have ample opportunities to appropriate the best weaponry of our enemies against them. Although some of this seems most useful in warfare, we know that our personal battles are mostly within ourselves. Nevertheless, we do know that our greatest ability to triumph over our external enemies is to win the internal struggle against our mortal foe, the yeitzer hara. Hopefully, if we take all that we have learned and gained from the beautiful and holy days we have just experienced, we can bring the long-awaited geulah sheleimah bimeheirah beyomeinu.

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