Weekly Dvar Torah: Jews Go to War?
“When you go out to wage war against your enemy, G-d will deliver him into your hands, and you will take back his captives”
כִּי תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ וּנְתָנוֹ ה’ אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּיָדֶךָ וְשָׁבִיתָ שִׁבְיוֹ.
Who is the enemy?
What’s this war all about?
Who are the captives?
Jews are not known to be big-time warriors, so what kind of war is this all about?
Every Jew has two souls, one animal soul, and one G-dly soul, and they battle to take control of the person, the animal soul is like a little enemy inside the person, it’s called the Yetzer Hora, the evil inclination, this guy tries the hardest to get us to indulge in self-serving materialistic pleasures, and to prevent us from doing G-d’s will, it’s all about selfish me, me, and more me.
The G-dly soul, tries to get the person to do the right thing by fulfilling G-d’s will, and to be spiritually inclined to serve G-d and to make this world a better place, help others, do good deeds and care for others, and not to be self-centered and selfish.
Sometimes we get frustrated, this guy is all over me, I want to do the right thing, but how will I manage this detractor, he’s always in the way, I’ll never make it.
Says G-d and He assures us, when you will go out to war on this enemy of yours who is bullying you from within you, for starters he is not the real you, even when you feel that he is part of you, he is not you.
You are the real you, the real you is the Nashama, the G-dly soul, the spark of G-dliness within you is the real you.
This other side in you, the animal soul, is not really you, he is your enemy, and against enemies you wage war.
Secondly, G-d says, you will always be on top, “עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ” = on top of your enemy, you have the upper hand, because you are you and he is not you, the G-dly soul is on home turf.
Thirdly, G-d will deliver the evil inclination of the animal soul to the G-dly soul, because the real you is part of G-d, so you have G-dly powers when you need it to wage war against G-d’s detractors.
Fourth, you will return his captives.
This is essential, G-d sent us on a mission to refine the world and cleanse the good from the bad, we must find the lost holy sparks and polish them, when we eat it’s not about our selfish pleasures, but we eat to be healthy and with holiness, we thank G-d for the food, and we use the energy that we got from the food, to serve G-d, give charity, and do Mitzvos to fulfill our mission.
Comes the enemy and captures those lost sparks, he muddies them up, he tempts us to eat for personal pleasure, he gets us to deviate from our mission, and this way he takes the holy sparks into captivity.
G-d reassures us, don’t be disheartened, just be determined to fight off this enemy, you will always have the upper hand, when you wage war against this enemy, you will be victorious, because the enemy is only a foreign agent without any home base, G-d will easily deliver him to you, and you will return the captives, the holy sparks that he captured, and you will bring them back home to their G-dly place.
Start the war with a victory march, because you won the war from the get-go.
Have a victorious Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos
Rabbi Yosef Katzman
P.S. Welcoming our new grandson, Yehoshua Zelig son to our son Levi and Freidy Katzman, the Rebbe’s Shluchim to Chabad of the South Shore in Staten Island, New York, Mazal Tov!
