Holy Pleasures
Translated and adapted by Moshe-Yaakov Wisnefsky, for "The Chumash
of the Lubavitcher Rebbe"
 G-d
spoke to Moses, saying, "Take vengeance for the Children of Israel
against the Midianites…." (Num. 31:1-2)
In
the battles against Sichon and Og, Moses played an active role. Here,
however, he merely prepared the people for war while Pinchas actually
led them in battle.
This
is because G-d commanded the Jewish people to take vengeance against Midian
because they enticed them into the idolatry of Pe'or (Num. 25:17-18).
No Midianite territory was captured or annexed to the land of Israel.
As we mentioned previously, the idolatry of Pe'or is essentially hedonism:
the indulgence in sensual pleasure as an end in itself rather than for
the higher purpose of experiencing divinity or infusing divinity into
reality.
This
attitude toward life is the antithesis of the lifework of Moses. Hedonism
implies that physical pleasures are either too "low" and vulgar
to serve divine purposes or are somehow off-limits for the holy life.
Moses, the channel through whom G-d gave the Torah, championed the truth
that G-dliness can and must pervade all of reality; it must even dictate
our approach to physical pleasures. In fact, if anything, Moses' lifework
proclaimed that it is specifically in the lowest end of Creation that
the potential for holiness is the greatest.
He
used this argument to wrest the Torah from the angels and expose the error
of the Spies. Unfortunately, the misconstruction of this appreciation
for the lowest rungs of spirituality led to the error of Pe'or. In order
to wipe out the source of this error, Moses' inspiration and example was
necessary.
This
theoretical groundwork, which destroys the philosophy of Pe'or's mental
stranglehold, is sufficient to prevent a person from falling into the
trap in the future. But to "avenge" the evil, i.e. to repair
the damage already done and root out any trace of its effect that might
surface sometime in the future, more is required than the detached arguments
of a philosophical theoretician. The battle itself was therefore led by
Pinchas, because Pinchas embodied the ethic and zeal of self-sacrifice.
The inspired zeal that makes a person incensed enough to go beyond the
letter of the law - and even risk his life - reveals a higher, purer level
of motive and consciousness than normal.
Similarly,
in our personal confrontation with the deception of Pe'or, we need to
emulate both Moses and Pinchas. From Moses we learn to cultivate the proper,
Jewish attitude toward materialism and its sensuality, and from Pinchas
we learn to attack its effects on us with righteous indignation.
This
is why Moses calls the war against Midian "G-d's vengeance",
even though G-d had referred to it (in the previous verse) as "vengeance
for the Children of Israel". The evil of strife and contention is
in direct opposition to G-d's name Havayah, inasmuch as the name Havayah
denotes the forces of G-d's creative energy. These forces are different
and even opposite, but they function harmoniously. The egocentrism that
spawns dissention and strife thus undermines the harmonious functioning
of the forces G-d uses to continuously create the world.
This
is an additional reason why this war had to be fought by Moses. The only
way for there to be cooperation and peace between people in this world
is when they submit to the higher authority of the Torah. Firstly, without
this submission, who is to say whose authority is more legitimate? Secondly,
the Torah itself fosters peace, as it is said, "Its ways are the
ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace." Since Moses was
both the channel through whom G-d gave the Torah and the personification
of selflessness, he had to lead the war against Midian.
[Based
on Reshimot 51]
[Adapted
from Likutei Sichot, vol. 13, pp. 28-29, based on Shenei Luchot
HaBerit on this passage.]
Copyright 2001 chabad of california / www.lachumash.org
Rabbi
Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky is a scholar, writer, editor and anthologist. Originally
from Los Angeles, he moved to Israel in 1977, and currently lives in Jerusalem.
While living in Tsfat, he was one of the three founders of ASCENT in 1983.
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