These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1478 – Can Women Be Told Not to Come to Shul to Make More Space for Men During Covid? Good Shabbos

The Spiritual Reality Created by the Decrees of the Chachomim

The first mention of the concept of Bnei Yisroel having a monarch is in Parshas Shoftim. The people wanted a melech (king). The Torah presents all the halachos of a melech. The melech may not have too much money or too many horses, nor is he allowed to have too many wives. The Torah mentions a concern that too many wives would cause him to stray from the derech Hashem.

Famously, the Navi says that Shlomo Hamelech had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and, in his old age, (as the Torah predicted) they indeed “turned his heart.” They had a negative effect on Shlomo Hamelech “and his heart was not complete with his G-d as was the heart of Dovid, his father.” (Melachim I 11:4).

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 21b) says that Shlomo had confidently predicted that he would not stumble by violating the Torah’s prohibition: “I will take many and I will not stray.” The Gemara says that he was mistaken. The obvious question is, how could the wisest of all men make such a gross error? When we say that he was the wisest of all men, we don’t just mean that he knew and understood the Theory of Relativity thousands of years before Einstein. It means he was a chochom who understood life, who understood himself, and who understood the nature of man. So how could he make this mistake and say “It’s not going to affect me?” What was his thought process?

The truth of the matter is that we find someone who, in a subsequent generation, made the same mistake. The Gemara says (Maseches Shabbos 12b) that Rav Yishmael ben Elisha said, “I will read (by candlelight on Shabbos) and will not (absentmindedly) tip (the candle in violation of a Shabbos prohibition). The halacha is that reading on Shabbos by candlelight is not permitted. This is a rabbinic decree. The Gemara relates that one time he read by candlelight on Shabbos, confident that he would not tip the candle. He got involved in studying a sugya and was so absorbed in his studies that he almost did tip the candle on Shabbos.

When that happened, he proclaimed, “How great are the words of the chachomim who forbade reading on Shabbos by candlelight.” Now, are we to assume that until this incident occurred, Rav Yishmael did not think “How great are the words of the chachomim?” That would be very difficult to say. What, then, is the meaning of this incident?

Rav Elya Baruch Finkel mentions a fundamental principle from Rav Aharon Kotler: The Torah creates a spiritual reality. Just like there are certain laws of nature which affect the reality of this world, so too the laws of the Torah affect the reality of this world. If the Torah writes, “Don’t have too many wives lest they will cause his heart to stray…” this creates a reality in creation – like gravity or any other force of nature – that “if you do this, this and this will happen.” This is part of the concept of “He looked into the Torah and created the world.”

If you throw something up, it is going to come down. It is an undeniable fact. So too, if the Torah writes “He shall not take too many wives for they will cause his heart to stray” that creates an incontrovertible fact that it is going to happen. This was Shlomo’s mistake. Yes. Shlomo was the wisest of all men. But he didn’t realize that once the Torah said this (that too many wives will cause a king’s heart to stray), it becomes a reality for every human being, no matter how smart or how wise or how careful he might be.

According to Rav Elya Baruch Finkel, that is, in fact, what happened with Rabbi Yishmael. When he started reading by candlelight on Shabbos and then saw that he almost tipped the candle towards him, he proclaimed: “I see how great are the words of our chachomim.” That means: I realized that if the Torah says something, that creates a reality. That is Hashem’s word. But I had thought that the chachomim making a gezeira is different. Sure, I respect the chachomim. I know they are wise, but I didn’t think that their gezeiros would also create such a reality. I did not realize that if they make a decree not to read by candlelight lest you absentmindedly tip it, then inevitably, that will happen to someone who reads by candlelight.

Where do we see this nogeah l’maaseh (applicable) in practice? There is a Biblical prohibition of yichud (forbidden seclusion between a man and a woman). People may say: “Fine, when someone is 35 years old and is alone together with a woman in a room, I can understand that his natural inclinations may tempt him to do something inappropriate. But “over the hill” people like me don’t need to worry about yichud.” No. If the Torah says do not seclude because it leads to forbidden relationships, no matter what age you are, the halacha applies.

I recently read an incident with the Minchas Chinuch. He was in his seventies and a woman came to ask him a shaylah (halachic inquiry). The woman closed the door behind her. The Minchas Chinuch realized that he was violating yichud with a woman. What did he do? He jumped out the window! Imagine a man of that stature at his age jumping out of a window! But that was the only way he saw to get out of the problem situation!

That is what the Torah is saying over here. Even Shlomo Hamelech cannot deny the laws of nature and so too, he cannot deny the laws of spiritual nature either.

Biblical Draft Deferments Explained

The Torah lists people who are exempt from going to battle during a time of war. One exception is a person who built a house but did not make a chanukas habayis (house dedication). Another exception is a person who planted a vineyard, but had not yet partaken of the fourth year’s crops. Another exception is a person who betrothed a woman (erusin), but had not yet married her (nisuin).

Finally, the Torah says that a fearful person is sent home lest he weaken the hearts of his fellow soldiers during battle and cause them to flee. Rashi brings the famous machlokes Tanaim as to the nature of this fear. Rabbi Akiva takes the expression literally. A person is frightened by the sounds of battle and cannot bear seeing a drawn sword. Rabbi Yossi Haglilee says the Torah is speaking of a person who is fearful that he may die in battle as a result of his personal aveiros (sins). According to Rabbi Yossi Haglilee, the Torah hides the embarrassment of the person who is afraid to do battle and allows him to take his deferment alongside the others who are newly married or have not yet enjoyed their new home or new vineyard. The Torah invented three other exceptions to spare embarrassment to the person who was afraid of battle.

Rav Baruch Sorotzkin asks an interesting question: How is it that the Torah risks a significant decrease in the number of soldiers available for war, just to protect those soldiers who are afraid to do battle from embarrassment? The Jewish army needs every able-bodied man who can participate! They are going to war! Why allow all these “fake deferments” just to give these people who are scared because of their aveiros, an excuse to not go to battle?

Rav Baruch Sorotzkin answers that we see from here, how important it is to make sure a person does not suffer embarrassment. Saving a person from humiliation is worth risking the loss of a thousand soldiers!

The truth of the matter is, I don’t know if this is really enough of an answer. Perhaps we can suggest a stronger answer based on a very interesting Ramban in this week’s parsha. The Ramban writes that the reason the Torah said “Do not allow the king to have too many horses” is so that the king won’t rely on his military strength, but rather he should place his trust in Hashem. The Torah doesn’t want the Jewish king to have the strongest army on the battlefield. The Torah wants him to realize that he will win or lose not because of the strength of his army, but because of his bitachon in the Ribono shel Olam.

The Ramban adds that in Sefer Shoftim, when Gidon went to war with Midyan, Amalek, and Bnei Kedem, he had an army of 32,000 men. However, the Ribono shel Olam told him that He did not want Bnei Yisrael to think that they were victorious because they had the larger and stronger army. Gideon was told to go to battle with only 300 men. This way he would recognize that the salvation was not coming from his army, but from Hashem.

In our day and age, we don’t have the same giluy Shechina (Divine revelation) so we cannot say that TZahal should get rid of all of their tanks and planes, etc. We don’t have that same level of siyata dishmaya (help from Heaven), but the truth of the matter is, for those of us old enough to remember the Six Day War in which we defeated the Arab armies in six days, the concern mentioned by the Ramban occurred. People were saying that the victory came “because the Israeli Air Force was so skilled” and “they bombed all of Egyptians planes while they were still on the runway.” They were claiming “Kochi v’otzem yadi asah li es hachayil hazeh!” Nonetheless, today, we can’t make such a cheshbon (calculation) because we don’t have the same level of siyata dishmaya.

Therefore, the true answer to Rav Baruch Sorotzkin’s question of how we can exempt all these hundreds of men is answered by the simple fact that we don’t need all those men when we have siyata dishmaya. So there is no kasha about having so many exemptions.

In addition, the Rashbam explains the reason for the Torah’s specified draft deferments by providing an insight into human nature. The Torah was afraid that a person who planted a vineyard and did not yet eat its fruits, built a house and did not move in, etc., would become depressed upon being drafted that he has no mazal! A person who feels he has no mazal will fear that he is doomed to die in battle. His perception of himself may become so negative that he might assume he will never see the end of the war. Such an attitude will ruin the morale of the entire army. That is why, the Rashbam says, we exempt these people from battle — because these are people who would be going to fight with the wrong attitude. And when someone goes into battle with the wrong attitude, it is very bad for morale.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Technical Assistance by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]

This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochr Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Shoftim is provided below:

• 019 – Copying Cassette Tapes
• 109 – Hasogas G’vul: Infringing on Another’s Livelihood
• 155 – Ba’al Tashchis: Cutting Down That Troublesome Tree
• 202 – Melech v’lo Malkah: A Jewish Queen?
• 249 – May A Daughter Say Kaddish?
• 338 – Relying on a Goral
• 383 – Circumstantial Evidence
• 426 – The Mitzvah of Escorting Guests
• 470 – May a Convict Escape?
• 514 – Can a Ger Be a Rosh Yeshiva?
• 558 – Competition Among Teachers
• 602 – Saying Kaddish for 12 Months
• 646 – Cutting Branches of Fruit Trees
• 690 – The Grandson and Kaddish
• 734 – Making a Bracha on a New House
• 778 – “I’m Bar Mitzvah” – Do We Believe Him?
• 822 – Making a Chanukas Habayis for a New Home
• 866 – Saying Yizkor During the First Year
• 910 – Business Competition Asur or Mutar
• 954 – Visiting The Sphinx in Egypt−Is It Permitted?
• 997 – Finding Out The Future: Mutar or Asur?
• 1041 – Finding Out If “It” is a Boy or Girl? A Good Idea?
• 1085 – Killing Innocent Civilians During Times of War
• 1128 – Getting Undeserved Kavod – How Honest Must You Be?
• 1170 – The Electric Blanket and the Power of Chachomim in Our Days
• 1214 – The Danger of Cutting Down a Fruit Tree
• 1258 – Brachos on the Tefillin – One or Two Brachos?
• 1302 – Cutting Down Your Fruit Tree for Your S’chach
• 1346 – Minhag Yisroel Torah: The Power of Minhag
• 1390 – Saying VaYechulu Friday Night in Shul
• 1434 – Yizkor on Yom Tov – Why?; In the First Year? And Other Yizkor Issues
• 1478 – Can Women Be Told Not to Come to Shul to Make More Space for Men During Covid?
• 1522 – Can You Say Kaddish for More Than One Person at the Same Time?
• 1564 – Is Magic Kishuf or Just Sleight of Hand?
• 1604 – Baal Tashchis – Exceptions to the Issur

A complete catalogue can be ordered from the Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511. Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.