Thought for the Week

Shabbat Mattot-Mass'ei

Dear Members and Friends,

Time gives commentary to every text we read. Every generation brings new perspectives. We live in a particular moment, shaped by our values, our reality, and the moral frameworks of our time. When we read the weekly Torah portion, we don’t just read its stories. We bring ourselves to the text, and the passage of time becomes its commentary on the passage of text. The job of a Rabbi is to try to define the key and timeless message of the text and then apply it to today’s reality.

This week’s Torah portion, Mattot-Mass'ei, contains one of the most disturbing episodes in the entire Torah: the war against Midian. God commands Moses to ‘exact vengeance’ on the Midianites (Numbers 31:2), and the Israelites follow the order with devastating precision. Every male is killed. The women and children are taken captive. Even Balaam, the prophet who had earlier blessed Israel, is executed. When Moses learns that the women have been spared, he becomes angry, insisting that they, too, had played a role in leading Israel to the sin of driving people away from God. The result is a command to kill most women (Numbers 31:16-18).

How do we engage with such texts? This is not the Judaism most of us know and love today. Our Judaism is the one that celebrates peace, compassion, and the infinite value of human life. Our Judaism emphasises the importance of repentance and, therefore, gives a second chance to everyone. How do we respond to texts that seem so brutal and genocidal? Do we cancel or censor them? Do we ignore them and pretend they are not a part of our heritage? Or do we study them, face them honestly, and interpret them?

Rabbis traditionally choose the path of study and reinterpretation. They never denied these texts, but they also refused to leave them unaddressed. There are two main strategies that Torah scholars employ to interpret texts: placing them within a historical context and applying exegetical techniques. Let’s use both to gain a deeper understanding of this passage.

We must acknowledge the historical context of this text. The ancient Middle East was not a world of Geneva Conventions or human rights. Warfare in biblical times was often unacceptable by today’s standards, practised by all ancient cultures, not just ancient Israelites. Therefore, it is important not to impose modern ethics on ancient societies. Sometimes we read texts not to teach what to do, but to learn what not to do.

Throughout the ages, rabbis imposed many restrictions on biblical commandments associated with violence. For example, Sefer HaChinuch, a 13th-century work that explains the 613 commandments and their reasons, has a relevant passage. On the commandment to destroy the Seven Canaanite Nations (Mitzvah 425), the book states that although the commandment still exists in theory, it no longer applies in practice because these nations have been historically wiped out and can no longer be identified. Therefore, the command remains part of the Torah's law, but it is not actionable in our time. In other words, one cannot extend this violent commandment to any other nation. According to the same book, self-defence is permissible and indeed required, but it comes with a warning against harming innocent people and using excessive and disproportionate force.

Over time, Rabbis introduced a nuanced moral framework for war, centuries before such concepts became common in Western law. These are just a few examples:

✦ Always try to achieve peace first. This principle is based on the verse ‘When you approach a town to attack it, you shall offer it terms of peace.’ (Deuteronomy 20:10 Maimonides codifies in his Mishneh Torah that any war must only follow a sincere attempt at peaceful resolution.

✦ Prohibition against baseless destruction. This principle is called Bal Tashchit. Rooted in Deuteronomy 20:19–20, it forbids the destruction of fruit trees during war. The Rabbis expanded this to include all forms of unnecessary damage to civilian life and infrastructure.

✦ Show compassion to the enemy. In his Laws of War, Rambam stipulates two conditions of conducting a siege (6.7-8): ‘When you attack a city in order to defeat it, you cannot encircle it on all sides – rather, an avenue has to remain open to allow anyone who wishes to flee and save themselves.’
Nachmanides writes in his commentary on this text: ‘God commanded us that when we lay siege to a city, we leave one of the sides open to give the population a place to flee to. It is from this commandment that we learn to deal with compassion, even with our enemies, and even at the time of war.’ Other commentators also mention that the opening allows access to food and water, further emphasising the humane conduct expected of Israel even in warfare.

We live in a world of many wars. All wars cause immense suffering to innocent people, and this must stop. Naturally, I have my attention directed to Israel and Gaza, and what I see is a direct contradiction to Jewish law and Jewish morality. Too many Palestinians have died. Too many have been denied basic needs and dignity. Too many Palestinians suffer from the violence in the West Bank. Too many innocent Gazans died, sometimes in queues for food. All of this goes directly against Judaism and must be stopped. The world is rightly shocked and outraged by what we see.

Equally, Israelis are deeply traumatised by this war. They have suffered from attacks on numerous fronts. Most Israelis had to take their children and elderly parents to bomb shelters. Even one hostage kept by terrorists is too many, but there are over 50 hostages still held in Gaza without any access to humanitarian support. The world must remember them too.

There is an underlying question we must ask ourselves. In what world do we want to be - in the world of the Torah or the world of the Rabbis? I choose the Rabbinic tradition, which interprets, limits, and redefines those brutal biblical texts in ways that reflect evolving moral conduct. I want to live in a world that treats its enemies with dignity and respect, even if they do not extend the same courtesy to us. I want to live in a world that chooses life over death, universalism over tribalism, and humanity over indifference.

The Book of Proverbs offers its quiet wisdom:

“If your enemy is hungry, give them bread to eat.

If they are thirsty, provide them with water.

For if you do, you shall rake coals over their head,

and God will reward you accordingly” (25.21-22)

May this be God’s will. May we have the courage and humanity to build such a world.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Igor