Rabbi's Sermons

Shabat Shalom!

You may not be aware of it, but we are in a period of semi-mourning called “Bein Hametzarim – Between the fences of the city”. These are three weeks between the 17^th of Tammuz and the 9^th of Av, next week, when we will remember the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem. One of the customs during these three weeks is to read during Shabbat morning services, three special Haftarot known as “תלת דפורענותא Tlat Depuranuta – The Three Calamities”, which narrate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

This week we read two Torah portions called Matot and Maasei. The corresponding Haftara is the second reading in this series of three. I would like to comment on the roots that are sown in these readings that the sages determined as necessary in this very special period. The readings that are carried out are the following: The 1^st week the 1^st Chapter of Jeremiah, today 2^nd week we will read the 2^nd Chapter of Jeremiah and next week the 3^rd week, we will read the 1^st Chapter of Isaiah. Is there perhaps a relationship between these readings of the Torah and the prophets? This week in Parashat Matot we read about the war with the Midianites, as a direct result of the “Sin of Baal-Peor”, when the Israelites sinned by mixing with the daughters of Moab and Midian. We read this story last week in the previous chapters. Let us remember that after the priest Pinchas murdered Zimri, prince of the tribe of Shimon, and Cosbi, the Midianite princess, God sent an additional plague in which another twenty-four thousand of the people of Israel died. If you think that with this harsh punishment and the fanatical action of Pinchas, it would have been enough, you are wrong. After the Israelites who sinned were punished, God also demanded the destruction of the people of Midian, as it is written in Chap. 31: “¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, ² ‘Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people’. ³ And Moses spoke unto the people, saying, ‘Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites and avenge the Lord on Midian. ⁴ From every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to the war’ ⁵ So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe — them and Pinchas the son of Eleazar the priest to the war, with the holy instruments and the trumpets to blow in his hand’”. In fact, this was Moshe's last mission before he passed away.

In this war, which turned out to be quite brutal, all the Midianite males were killed, all the cities were burned, and the women and children were taken captive. However, and despite the fact that it was not explicitly ordered by God, Moshe decided that all this had not been enough. The text is difficult to read: “¹⁴ And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who came from the battle. ¹⁵ And Moses said unto them, ‘Have ye saved all the women alive?’ ¹⁶ Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Bilaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who hath known a man by lying with him. ¹⁸ But all the women children, who have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves”.

For anyone who reads this text, the cruelty with which Moshe ordered the slaughter of women and children, without the support of a Divine mandate, will be surprising. In fact, God only told him: "Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites" that’s it! From those words, Moshe ordered an army of twelve thousand men, to kill not only the Midianite men in war, but also the children and women after the war!, justifying it by saying that it was because of the women, that the people of Israel came to idolatry, and the people were punished. For Moshe, were those young women the ones who seduced the Israelites and corrupted them morally, or perhaps was the other way around? The fault was of the people of Midian, but where was the responsibility of the people of Israel? Were not the young Israelites who were carried away by their impulses with the young Moabites? Were not they who prostrated themselves before the idols of those peoples?

This cruelty is even more unimaginable if we consider that Moshe himself lived among the Midianites for many years of his life, after escaping from Egypt, and even married Tziporah the Midianite, and developed a very strong personal relationship with his father-in-law Itro priest of Midian. Many will ask: Why? Did Moshe want to show that he was not pro-Midianite after all, and therefore he went to the extreme resolution, of almost achieving a total annihilation of all those people? Or maybe he wanted to show the people of Israel that those closest to us are also the ones most likely to lead us into mistakes? This story "Depuranuta - of a great calamity", in the life of the people of Israel in the desert, begins from this moment, rooted in fear and hatred that was had at that time, specifically towards those who were closest and who were similar to us. The great tragedy with the people of Midian, was trying to show a total, blind and fanatical loyalty to God, just as Pinchas did with Zimri and Cosbi, but this time in a big way... through the almost total annihilation of the other...

In the Haftara of Jeremiah 1 it is written: "¹⁰ See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, (and also) to build and to plant". Perhaps from this text we should understand that we are obliged to “build and plant”? Or should we learn that before a "building and planting" there must be "destruction and ruin"? Didn’t we have any other options?

I believe that today, we have more alternatives. After the 9^th of Av next week, another period of seven weeks of consolation will begin, called Sheva DeNechamata, during which we will read seven Haftarot that will give us peace and tranquility. There will be seven weeks until Rosh Hashana, the new year, a period of preparation with a spirit of "building and planting", of Teshuva - repentance, of creating bonds, of renewing in our lives everything that makes us grow physically and spiritually. It will be a period in which we must remember that after the "destruction and ruin" in our lives (God forbid) or in the social life of a community or a society, as we read with the people of Midian, it will be our obligation to "build and plant" as the Haftara teaches us. It is our duty to renew, grow, put an end to hatred and fanaticism, and above all, seek peace and consolation in these difficult days that we live.

Shabat Shalom and Hodesh Tov!

Rabbi David Laor

July 25^th, 2025