The pasuk says “Ki seitze l’milchama... “ - when you go out to war against your enemy... The Sifri says that when you go to fight against your enemy and you want Hashem to give the enemy in your hand, then make sure you comply with all it says in the parsha. Follow Hashem’s instructions and He will deliver the enemy into your hands. What does the Sifri mean? After all, the mitzvos written in the parsha come after the war, not before!
There is a Midrash in Vayikra Rabba perek 8 that talks about the nesiim during hakomas hamishkan. Each day, one nasi brought a korban – there were twelve nesiim and twelve days of korbanos. Aharon hakohen was the kohen gadol, and he had to be makriv a korban each day - the minchas chavitin. The Midrash tells us that Aharon’s korban was as beloved to Hashem as the korban of the nesiim which was only brought once. What does the midrash mean?
The Yismach Moshe says from the Rokeach that usually the highest level of an avoda is the very first time a person does a mitzva. It’s new, fresh, and exciting, so the person puts all his heart and soul into it. However, as time passes, the person gets used to the mitzvah, so he doesn’t do it with the same excitement anymore. “Ain chasidus k’tchilaso” - the greatest chasidus is when you start the avoda. Says the Yismach Moshe, you can imagine that when the nesiim brought their korban for the very first time and the only time, they most definitely did it with major hislahavus and excitement. But one who continuously brings a korban each and every day, we would imagine that his excitement would cool down, as it’s human nature to lose your initial fire of inspiration. However, by Aharon hakohen, that never happened. Even though he was makriv the minchas chavitin every day, it was beloved like the korban of the nesiim, meaning that it was bought with the same hislahavus as the korbanos of the nesiim. That’s why the korban of Aharon hakohen was beloved to Hashem like the korbonos of the nesiim.
Rav Mendel M’Riminov in parshas Chayei Sara explains the pasuk “Mi yaale b’har Hashem umi yakum bimkom kodsho”. The first avoda of a person is “mi yaale b’har Hashem” – who is zoche to climb the mountain of Hashem, to rise to the highest level of serving Hashem. And there is another avoda – “umi yakum bimkom kodsho” – who will maintain that level. Even after you were zoche to climb the high madreigos, you have to work even harder to maintain it. For most people, it’s a lot harder to maintain then to climb. That’s because, as we said, the initial climbing of madreigos comes along with an excitement and a bren. It’s so much harder to keep up the excitement as time goes on.
The Chasam Sofer brings out this lesson from the pasuk “ki seitze l’milchama al oivecha” - when you go out to war and you see a yefas to’ar...The lashon is not so clear. When you are leaving Eretz Yisrael to fight, at that point you’re not in the land of the enemy. So when it says that you see a yefas to’ar, that’s not when you are leaving. It’s when you enter the land of the enemy. So what is the lashon of ki seitze? It should have said “ki silachem” - when you go out to war and find a yefas to’ar.
Says the Chasam Sofer, the truth is that it’s not possible for a person’s machshava to always be on the same level. Every person has his moment of hisorerus and he gets a bren to do everything l’shem shomayim on a high level. When that moment happens, a person should declare and say to Hashem, “You know that deep down I want to do all my mitzvos with a bren like I am doing it now. I am now megale daas that all my avodas Hashem that I am going to do the rest of the day should be on the same way I am doing it now”. You are able to be mekadesh your avoda for the future based on the way you’re doing it now, even though it’s not going to be done on the same level. That is peshat “ki seitzei l’milchama” – when a person goes out to war, his thoughts are all l’shem shomayim. He isn’t thinking of any ulterior motives. And the ikar is at the time of the yetziah – at the beginning – that a person is mekadesh his thoughts. If it later happens that he sees a yefas to’ar, even though it’s not l’shem shamayim, Hashem will accept it as if it was lishma since he started out lishma.
Yes, we might not always be able to maintain our initial high madreigos and excitement, but let’s remember just how important that initial excitement is. By starting off with a fire and a bren, we can be mekadesh our thoughts and it will impact all future actions. This lesson is especially apropos during the yimei ratzon, where we aim to climb to higher madreigos with hislahavus. Some of us may wonder, what’s the point if those levels won’t necessarily be maintained? And the answer is clear – the way we start will impact the entire year. Our hislahavus in our avodas Hashem during Elul will give us a jumpstart to a year of growth and success in our avodas Hashem.
