This week's Parsha, which we will read, B’ezrat Hashem, is Parshat Shoftim – the first of four Parshiot read in the month of Elul: Shoftim, Ki Teitzei, Ki Tavo, and Nitzavim-Vayelech. In each Parsha read during Elul, Chazal have revealed themes connected to the Yemei HaRachamim v’Slichot – the Days of Mercy and Forgiveness, and each commentator attempts to find the connection between the Parsha and these auspicious days.
I would like to begin with a wonderful yesod presented by the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh which begins in this week's Parsha and continues into next week's. In Parshat Shoftim, the Torah discusses going out to a discretionary war:
When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots, a people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for Hashem, your G-d, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. And when you approach the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people.
From here, the Torah warns us with four warnings:
And he shall say to them, "Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Let your heart not be faint; do not fear, do not panic, and do not be broken before them. For Hashem your G-d is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you."
Rashi explains, these are four warnings corresponding to four actions that the kings of the nations do – they clash their shields to make noise to frighten those against them, they trample with their horses and make them neigh to make the sound of their horses' hooves, they shout with their voices, and they blow trumpets and other noise-making instruments (Sotah 42a). The enemy comes with the victory of flesh and blood, but Bnei Yisrael come with the victory of the Almighty.
From here, I would like to shift and learn these matters through the lens of the Midrash, as referenced by the Ohr HaChaim: He writes, perhaps the Torah hints at the battle of a person with his Yetzer Hara – his evil inclination – and is looking to remove fear from his heart. He references the opening words we’ll read next week, and the well-known battle that is the greatest of all – i.e., the battle with the Yetzer Hara, as brought in the Chovot Halevavot. In this battle, there are two difficult things for a person that weaken his strength: one is that he is not trained in war as his Yetzer Hara is trained and accustomed to this type of battle; the second is that the human psyche embraces the words of the Yetzer Hara in everything it tells him regarding prohibitions like stealing, robbing, arrogance, and eating whatever his soul desires, and this prevents him from listening to the words of Torah and Mitzvot. Moreover, after he has stumbled in many aveirot, the forces of evil that were born from his evil deeds increase, and he finds himself among them – like a cake being cooked on coals with no one to turn it, left to burn on one side without remedy.
Therefore, the word of Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes and says: When you go out to war; against the ultimate enemy; you will see with the eyes of your intellect; a horse, the Yetzer Hara, ready and prepared for battle, unlike the chariot, the human comprised of multiple pieces including inclinations and desires; where the forces of evil have increased as a result of one’s transgressions. Nevertheless, Hakadosh Baruch Hu reassures: do not fear them; for Hashem is with you. The Torah agrees that if you were on your own, unassisted by Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you would be justified in being afraid of this battle; however, seeing that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is on your side, you need not fear; rest assured that He will save you provided you want to rehabilitate yourself morally and ethically.
The Eglah Arufah and the Value of Life
In the very next section, our Parsha deals with the matter of the Eglah Arufah – the decapitated calf. The procedure of Eglah Arufah addresses the case of a murder victim found in a field, with no known perpetrator. The Torah instructs that the elders and judges must measure which city is closest to the corpse, and the elders of that city then take a young heifer down to an uncultivated valley and break its neck there. The Kohanim are present, and the city’s elders wash their hands over the heifer and declare that they were neither involved in the shedding of blood nor negligent in preventing it. They then plead for atonement on behalf of the nation, asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu not to hold them accountable for innocent blood. Through this ritual, atonement is achieved for the community.
The commentators ask, why is the parsha of Eglah Arufah juxtaposed to the parsha of going out to a discretionary war? The sefer Sukkat David provides a wonderful answer – it is natural that when a person sees so many thousands of people being killed, it is possible that this will lead to a disregard for the matter of murder and bloodshed, and someone might come and murder his neighbor and say, “So what?!” Because when a person sees wars where many die, the value of human life is diminished, as we see among the nations of the world, that always after wars, and certainly during wars, there are many murders, as the power of murder increases because they have seen thousands and thousands of people being killed in the fields – this leads to the devaluation of human life, which is considered nothing and not important at all. Therefore, the Torah comes to be stringent about this to such an extent that even if they find one corpse whose killer is unknown and there is no way to judge the murderer, nevertheless, the Torah gave the parsha of Eglah Arufah to find the murderer according to the reason of the Rambam, that this is a strategy that has the benefit of finding the murderer. This teaches everyone how great and severe the matter of bloodshed of a Jewish soul is.
