Parshas Behar - Bechukosai 5762 Guess Who Won?

                By Rabbi Joshua (victoriously known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


   In parshas Bechukosai the Torah enumerates the blessings that will come to the Jewish people if they are true to God and His Torah. Among these blessings are victory against any enemies that may attack. In describing this blessing the Torah says, "Five from among you will pursue a hundred and a hundred from among you will pursue ten thousand" (Vayikra 26:8). Rashi explains that when the Torah says 'from among you', it refers to the weak among you and not the mighty among you. Rabbi Shimon Schwab, in his commentary "Mayan Beis HaShoeivah'' asks, was it reallly the practice to send weak people out to fight? His answer goes to the heart of the Torah's approach toward waging war

   Rashi points out that the two sets of numbers in the verse we are studying do not seem to be proportionate. If five will pursue one hundred, it should follow that one hundred will pursue two thousand Why does the Torah say that one hundred will pursue ten thousand? Rashi answers that we see from here that there is no comparison between a relatively few amount of people who observe the Torah to a large number of people who observe the Torah. Rabbi Schwab understands Rashi to be referring back to the beginning of the parsha when God says that the blessings will come "if you will walk in my statutes and observe my commandments" (Vayikra 26:3). Rashi there explains that 'walking in my statutes' cannot refer to the observance of the commandments because that is mentioned in the next clause. Rather it refers to Torah study and means that we are laboring in the study of Torah and investing major effort to understand God's word. Thus, concludes Rabbi Schwab, when Rashi says that it is the weak who will be doing the fighting, he is referring to people who have become weak through the study of Torah. It is, after all, through this kind of study that the Torah says we will merit victory. Thus, when Rashi goes on to say that there is no comparison between the few who observe Torah to the many who observe Torah, he is referring to the power of collective Torah study 
   
   What is the idea behind the power of Torah study to grant victory in battle? Rabbi Avraham Kahane Shapiro, the former Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, in an essay on the concept of laboring in Torah study, writes that by doing so one connects himself with God. To expand on his words, Ramban in his introduction to his commentary to the Torah, says that the entire Torah actually consists of names of God in various combinations of letters. The Nefesh haChaim writes that Torah study is the supreme way for us on earth to discover God's thoughts. In parshas Ki Seitzei we are told "For God, your Lord walks in the midst of your camp to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you" (Devorim 23:14).  Since God stands behind our troops, we need to connect with Him in order to ensure divine assistance. The best way to do this is through Torah study. The Talmud, in fact, tells us that the night before Yehoshua embarked on his first battle to capture the Holy Land he was visited by an angel and chastised for his failure to engage in Torah study properly in preparation for the war. When those who fight the wars are people who labor in Torah study, then, they help assure God's presence in their camp, and consequent victory over our enemies.

   The story is told that the maskilim of Brisk, who mocked Torah, once put on a play in which they depicted a typical Jewish war. Before the war, the kohein announced all the various exemptions from war, as spelled out in the Torah. As each category was called out, more and more people left the ranks. There is in fact one opinion in the Talmud that the categories mentioned were covers for the people who were not fit to fight spiritually - namely, those who were afraid due to sins they had committed. In the end, only two people were left to fight the battle - the Gaon of Vilna and Rav Aryeh Leib, famed author of  'Sha'agas Aryeh'. Some people then went to to rabbi of Brisk and complained about the audacity of the maskilim to mock the Torah with a play of this nature. The rabbi however, said that it was a very good play, except that the final scene was left out - the scene in which the two remaining soldiers, the Vilna Gaon and the Sha'gas Aryeh, won the war. By connecting to God through intensive Torah study, the soldiers in the Jewish army bring God's presence into the camp and assure victory.