When the Bnei Yisroel, after forty years of wandering in the Midbar, finally came to the border of Edom they hoped that they’d be able to pass through Eretz Edom directly into Eretz Canaan. It was on their march route after all and they imagined that their long lost brother – Edom you know are the descendants of Eisav – would let them pass through peacefully.
And so our people sent messengers to the Melech Edom asking permission to march through his country: “You won’t have any trouble from us,” we promised him. “All we want is to pass through the land. We won’t trespass at all; we’ll stick to the main road and not walk through any fields. And if we drink any water from any wells we’ll pay you full price for it” (Bamidbar 20:17). An innocent request from a long lost brother.
So what happened? Edom sent back a message to the Bnei Yisroel: “Don’t even think about it!” לא תעבור בי – “Don’t try to pass through my land, פן בחרב אצא לקראתך – or I’ll go out with a sword against you” (ibid. 18). And he came out with an army to show he meant business.
That was the kabalas panim we got; a smack in the face. וימאן אדום נתן את ישראל עבור בגבולו – Edom refused to allow Yisroel to pass through his borders (ibid. 21).
Tempting Shortcuts
Now you can be sure that the Bnei Yisroel were embittered about that. Is that the way to talk to us? All we want is to go through, nothing bad. And it caused a great deal of discomfort, that refusal. We had to make a big detour around Edom now. If we could have made that shortcut we would have saved ourselves so much wandering in the desert. But וימאן – Edom refused. And so there was no choice: ויט ישראל מעליו – the Bnei Yisroel turned away from Edom.
Now we have to spend time appreciating that story, what it means, because it wasn't a simple matter. We attribute it simply to the meanness and inhospitality of the Edomim but we must understand that it’s not so.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Behind the Scenes
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is behind the scenes and whatever happens He is pulling the strings. And so וימאן means that Hashem caused them to refuse our request. And with a viciousness! ויאמר לא תעבור – Edom said, “You will not pass through our land!” ויצא חזקה לקראתו בעם כבד וביד אדום – And then they went out towards Bnei Yisroel with a massive force and with a strong hand (ibid. 20:20). That’s Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s doing.
Dangerous Shortcuts
You have to understand what kind of danger it would have been to pass through. Edom looked like us, after all. They spoke like us more than any other nation; a little different dialect, but it was lashon kodesh. And even some of our minhagim they still had; Edom was a son of Yaakov after all. They circumcised and their women went out in veils. They practiced hachnasas orchim, other things. It would be tempting to fraternize with them.
Ooh, to fraternize with gentiles? You remember what happened when the bnos Moav, when the daughters of Midyan flirted with the Am Yisroel, how many tens of thousands were destroyed as a result? You remember that story? Twenty four thousand Shimonites were killed in a mageifah! Edom is even more of a temptation. What happened in Midyan was nothing compared to what could have happened in Edom.
Not So Innocent Conversation
Suppose Edom would have invited them in. So the Bnei Yisroel would have been enchanted. “Look! People look like us and talk like us! Fellow human beings! Nice people too.”
The Jewish women, the Bnos Yisroel, would be so happy. They would go out to draw water for the family and they would carry cash with them to pay for the water like they promised; but they'd stop and talk with the daughters of Edom. The men too; they’d see the Edomite men and make conversation. Innocent conversation, exchanging ideas.
Ooooh! Exchanging ideas?! Exchanging ideas with a goy is like exchanging body fluids with a toeivah person. Who would exchange body fluids with a toeivah person? This is worse! A thousand times worse. This is mental fluids, neshamah fluids. Oh no! With a gentile, even a good one, the less you converse the healthier you are.
Good Bad Pastors
Once a good pastor from Manhattan came in front of our shul. He was a mesiras nefesh pastor; a man who was fighting toeivah. And our people were standing and talking to him. When I passed by they said “Rabbi Miller, here he is.” So I shook hands and wished him success and I left right away.
Later I told my people, ‘Don't hang around with him. Make it short and snappy. Be friendly but don't hang around long. “Hello, thank you, much success, goodbye.” That's all. Absolutely you must be friendly. Absolutely you must leave with a good impression. But don't spend any time! The less you have to do with goyim the better you are.’
And so what do you think would have happened in Eretz Edom? And there are girls there, women there. Men mingling with men is one type of tzarah but women are an entirely different problem. The sakanah would have been very great. And so Hakadosh Baruch Hu came to the rescue! He caused the king of Edom to come out with his army: “Nothing doing! You won’t set foot in my land!” And so ויט ישראל מעליו – Yisroel turned away.
Happy Disappointments
Now you have to realize they turned away sadly. It meant turning back towards the desert, a detour into the wilderness. It was a disappointment. Maybe they even wept.
A disappointment?! They should have made a big kiddush. They should have said hallel on the yeshuah gedolah. They were rescued from mixing with Eisav! A great misfortune could have happened but Hashem saved us.
וימאן was a blessing, a tremendous chessed! Hakadosh Baruch Hu rescued them from a terrible calamity.
Gentile Clubs for Kikes
You remember when the Jews from Germany came to America and they wanted admission to the gentile clubs.
So the gentiles said, “No! We refuse! וימאן! We don’t want to mix with the kikes!”
Now, the German Jews, had they learned the lesson of this possuk, they would have rejoiced. But instead they appealed to the courts. “וימאן?! You refuse?! We won’t stand for that!”
And finally they won! They won their way into the gentile clubs!
It was the biggest ruination that could have happened to them. They became more and more removed from Torah living. Their children began to intermarry. Today they’re all gone. There are none left from those families. The fact that they broke their way into gentile society was their greatest misfortune!
Walls Work
We’re learning here a very important principle and I’m going to quote from Tehillim something that explains it. In kapitel 125 it says ירושלים הרים סביב לה – Yerushalayim is surrounded by mountains (Tehillim 125:2). Dovid says that there’s a wall of mountains around Yerushalayim, protecting it from the outside enemy. Mountains are natural fortifications.
It’s true but it’s only a mashal because Dovid continues: סביב לעמו 'וה – Hashem surrounds His people, מעתה ועד עולם – from now and forever (ibid. 3). You see how these mountains of Hashem that surround Yerushalayim like a thick wall? Same thing, Hashem surrounds His people like a wall.
Now, what’s the purpose of this wall? כי לא ינוח הרשע על גורל הצדיקים שבט – So that the tribe of the wicked should not rest, cannot encamp together, near the lot of the righteous (ibid.). That’s the principle. Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not want the wicked to mingle with the righteous.
Why? למען לא ישלחו הצדיקים בעולתה ידיהם – In order that the righteous should not stretch out their hand to do wickedness. Because once you associate with them, even the good ones will stretch out their hand and do wrong things too. You’re working in the same office, living on the same block, in the same clubs and schools; when he does wicked things, so eventually you’ll also do wicked things. His wicked ideas will eventually become your wicked ideas.
Hashem Builds Walls
And so Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes a wall between us and the nations of the world. He manipulates history so that the evil ones should not be together with the good ones.
You hear that? Hashem causes things to happen. Always. Here you applied for a job and you were capable, especially capable. But you weren’t accepted. And you go back and wonder what happened. Were my credentials not good? My resume was not good? They didn't like my face?
The answer is that in that office there was somebody who was not good for you. He’d be friends with you. Or even worse, she might. And so Hakadosh Baruch Hu saved your life by having you not accepted in that place.
Policy of Refusal
When they refuse, that’s a yeshua! Because the biggest good fortune is כי לא ינוח שבט הרשע על גורל הצדיקים; they don't mix with them. We don’t begin to realize how many times in our careers we’re given a salvation min haShomayim in order that we shouldn’t be in a certain place or among certain people.
It's a tremendous lesson we're hearing here, a principle of history, that the Hand of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is guiding our nation and He is attempting to ensure the purity of the Jewish people. That’s His policy. To protect the virtue of the righteous, it is imperative that lo yanuach; that those not as good as us should refuse our attempts to mingle.
The History of Segregation
And it’s מעתה ועד עולם; even today that process is going on. It's not only one time that he's talking about; מעתה ועד עולם means that it’s forever and ever. If you study our history you'll see that Hashem is always making walls around us to separate us from the gentiles.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is always guiding the righteous nation: יורה בדרך – He teaches them on the way to go. And included in that is that He’ll always put into the heart of Edom to say, “No!” וימאן! And so we’ll have to detour. וימאן! We’ll be exiled from this land and that land. They’ll libel us. They’ll throw slurs and rocks. We’ll be refused employment. וימאן! We’ll have to live only in the Pale of Settlement or the ghettos. Whatever it is, they’ll refuse and refuse and refuse and we’ll be saved and saved and saved!
