Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shemuel Akhamzadeh
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה ×ֶל־מֹש×Ö¶Ö¥×” לֵּ×מֹֽר׃ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
× Ö°×§Ö¹Ö—× × Ö´×§Ö°×žÖ·×ªÖ™ ×‘Ö¼Ö°× ÖµÖ£×™ יִשְׂרָ×ֵ֔ל מֵ×ֵ֖ת ×”Ö·×žÖ¼Ö´×“Ö°×™Ö¸× Ö´Ö‘×™× ×ַחַ֖ר תֵּ×ָסֵ֥ף ×ֶל־עַמֶּֽיךָ׃ “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.†Numbers 31-1,2
The Midrash tells us the reason Hashem commanded Moshe to wage war with Midian and not Moab. Even though Moab initiated and made a pact with Midian to curse the Israelites ( Numbers 22,7), the Midrash explains that Midian pursued a fight that was not theirs to fight. While the Moabites were fighting for self defense, Midian was fighting the Jews due to the hatred they had for them, a baseless hatred.
The Gemara states ×ª× ×™× ×¨’ × ×—×ž×™×” ×ומר בעון ×©× ×ת ×—× × ×ž×¨×™×‘×” רבה בתוך ביתו של ××“× ×•×שתו מפלת × ×¤×œ×™× ×•×‘× ×™×• ×•×‘× ×•×ª×™×• של ××“× ×ž×ª×™× ×›×©×”×Ÿ ×§×˜× ×™× Rabbi Nehemya says: Due to the sin of baseless hatred there will be great discord within a person’s home; his wife will miscarry, and his sons and daughters will die when they are young (Shabbat 32b).
One who hates for no reason will never have peace. Why so? Peace is achieved when the cause of a conflict is removed. When there is no cause and hate is an end to itself it will always be around.
Our sages teach us due to ×©× ×ת ×—× × Baseless hatred our holy temple was destroyed and it will not be rebuilt until the cause of its destruction is removed. We all owe it to ourselves, especially during these three weeks when we are mourning the destruction of our holy Bet Hamikdash, to look into our hearts and uproot any feeling of hate and replace it with love, a baseless love for our brethren. Doing so will fix all the destruction that baseless hate brought for us.
Shabbat Shalom