Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you well during these challenging times.
I met Tomer on Wednesday afternoon in Bat Yam. It was his wife’s 5th yahrzeit, and her death at an early age had made it hard for Tomer to work steadily as he serves as both father and mother for his six children aged 11-19. Tomer’s apartment building was destroyed by an Iranian missile, and while – thank G-d – he and his children were physically unharmed, his apartment was wrecked. “The army allowed me to go in to retrieve whatever I could find; it was all upside down except for the shelf of Torah books and the picture of the Baba Sali.”
Tomer is not visibly observant, but Shem Shamayim shagur b’fiv, Hashem’s name tumbles unself-consciously off his lips as he sees Hashem everywhere and is loud, proud, and unambiguous about that. His faith is typical of what we encounter amongst the Israeli masses—halachically observant or not—emunah peshutah, a pure and simple faith in a loving G-d Whose supportive presence ensures that we are not facing our challenges alone, “lo ira ra ki Atah imadi—I will fear no evil for You are with me.”
His clarity is good. We know exactly where he stands vis-a-vis G-d. From the way he spoke, I would guess that his children have no doubts about his loyalty to them either. And that is critical. Both our faith and our faithfulness need to be made perfectly clear.
This lesson is taught directly in our Parsha. When the tribes of Gad and Reuvein asked to be given their allotment of land on the already conquered eastern bank of the Jordan river, Moshe reacted very negatively, accusing them of abandoning their brethren and equating them to the spies whose lack of faith made them fearful of proceeding to Eretz Yisrael (Bamidbar 32:5-16). As Ramban notes, they were in fact guilty of neither accusation as they had intended all along to fight by their brothers’ side, but the ambiguity of their initial response could have been profoundly harmful by sowing serious doubts in the hearts of their brothers, weakening both their faith and their national bond.
That is what moved Moshe to demand (Bamidbar 32:22) that they and we aim for greater clarity about where we stand, “v’heyitem neki’im mei-Hashem umi-Yisrael, you must be clear before G-d and before Israel.” Simply, Moshe was saying that if they would join their brothers in the battle for Eretz Yisrael they will have acted with faith in G-d and fulfilled their moral obligation to their people. Yet the Talmud (Pesachim 13a, Yoma 38a) takes it further, understanding that Moshe was mandating that we not only do the right thing but communicate it clearly and unambiguously so no one can have any doubt about our faith or our faithfulness.
This Shabbos we will read the words Moshe leveled accusatorily at the tribes of Reuvein and Gad: “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?” Moshe could not accept what that situation would do to the cohesion of Klal Yisrael. That remains a real worry today, 658 days into the current battle. At the very least, our gratitude, admiration, and loyalty towards those on the front lines must be clear and unambiguous and it must tumble unself-consciously off our lips.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and may we be blessed with truly good news, besorot tovot.
Moshe Hauer