By Rabbi Shemuel Akhamzadeh
צָר֖וֹר ×Ö¶×ªÖ¾×”Ö·×žÖ´Ö¼×“Ö°×™Ö¸× Ö´Ö‘×™× ×•Ö°×”Ö´×›Ö´Ö¼×™×ªÖ¶Ö–× ×וֹתָֽ×׃
“Assail the Midianites and defeat them—25:17
× Ö°×§Ö¹Ö—× × Ö´×§Ö°×žÖ·×ªÖ™ ×‘Ö°Ö¼× ÖµÖ£×™ יִשְׂרָ×ֵ֔ל מֵ×ֵ֖ת ×”Ö·×žÖ´Ö¼×“Ö°×™Ö¸× Ö´Ö‘×™× ×ַחַ֖ר תֵּ×ָסֵ֥ף ×ֶל־עַמֶּֽיךָ׃
“Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; …31:2
I recently heard Harav Yaakov Hillel explain the purpose of these two separate commandments in regards to dealing with the Midianites after they caused many Jews to sin and die. We know the Torah does not repeat anything and if we think something is repetitious, we are not clearly understanding it. He quoted Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh who explains that in the previous parasha Hashem told us ‘‎צָר֖וֹר ×Ö¶×ªÖ¾×”Ö·×žÖ´Ö¼×“Ö°×™Ö¸× Ö´Ö‘×™× ×•Ö°×”Ö´×›Ö´Ö¼×™×ªÖ¶Ö–× ×וֹתָֽ×’ Hate the Midianites… Why? Because there were those Jews that even though they weren’t ready to join the Midianites and sin as they truly realized what the Midianites were doing was wrong, they still felt a certain attraction to the way the Midianites acted.
To this Hashem commanded us to despise them – hate their acts and then you can truly defeat them and take revenge on them as commanded in this week’s portion. At times in our daily lives we are willing to tolerate actions that we would not dare do ourselves as we realize they are wrong. However, it does not really bother us when others are involved in these actions. We don’t feel bad at all; perhaps we are a little jealous. But Hashem is asking us to feel that it’s wrong to act like that. We should feel bad in our guts when others are involved in these actions. As the verse in Tehilim says ×ֹהֲבֵ֥י יְהוָ֗ה ×©Ö´×‚× Ö°×֫וּ רָ֥ע שֹ×Öמֵר × Ö·×¤Ö°×©×֣וֹת חֲסִידָ֑יו מִיַּ֥ד רְÖשָ××¢Ö´Ö—×™× ×™Ö·×¦Ö´Ö¼×™×œÖµÖ½×׃
O you who love the LORD, hate evil!…
Shabbat Shalom