The author of “Mei Ha’Shiloach” and founder of Izhbitza-Radzin Hassidism Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner (1800-1854) is identified by many of us with the heartfelt and loving teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, peace be upon him. That is why the Izhbitzer’s view of the Jewish ethics of war is surprising – and extremely relevant in our difficult war against the murderers in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and last but not least, Iran.
It’s a truly revolutionary view that disconnects us from the whims of Christian morality and gives us the spiritual tools to win with God’s help.
In his commentary on Parashat Ekev (Mei Ha’Shiloach Part I), the Izhbitzer points out an apparent problem in the text of two verses that follow one after the other:
And when your God Hashem has thrust them from your path, say not to yourselves, ‘Hashem has enabled us to possess this land because of our virtues’; it is rather because of the wickedness of those nations that Hashem is dispossessing them before you.” (Deuteronomy 9:4)
Followed immediately by (Deuteronomy 9:5):
“It is not with your virtues and your rectitude that you will be able to possess their country, but it is because of their wickedness that your God Hashem is dispossessing those nations before you, and to fulfill the oath that Hashem made to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Rabbi Ovadia Sforno offers the classic interpretation of these two verses: “It is not by your righteousness that you come to inherit the land – for it is true that your inheriting the land is not by your own merit, so much so that it is not appropriate for God to fight for you so that you may inherit it quickly. Rather it is for the wickedness of these heathens that God lets you inherit their land – because He wants His vengeance to be expressed through you, that you will punish them for their iniquity.”
You don’t deserve this land, but the heathens deserve it even less, so, you lucked out.
THIS WILL BLOW YOUR MIND
The Izhbitzer opens: “From the two verses it appears that ‘it is rather because of the of the wickedness of those nations,’ and ‘it is because of their wickedness.’” In other words, we already learned the idea that we did not deserve to inherit the land due to our righteousness from verse 4. What do we learn from the Torah’s repeating the same text almost word for word in verse 5?
Here he lays down the first step in his amazing innovation: “Indeed, God truly chose Israel even without their merits, as it is written (Malachi 1:2-3): ‘I have shown you love, said God. But you ask, How have You shown us love? And God declares, after all—Esau is Jacob’s brother; yet I have accepted Jacob and have rejected Esau. I have made his hills a desolation, his territory a home for beasts of the desert.”
Esau, in this context, is all the Gentile nations.
Jacob and Esau were twins with equal rights, apparently, yet God declares that He loves Jacob and hates Esau, and details the suffering He will inflict on Esau as a result of that hatred.
Second step: “And even in Egypt there was a vilification of Israel, as it is written in the Midrash (Zohar, part 2, 170b), when Satan compares the Israelites to the Egyptians at the Exodus, saying, ‘These are the worshipers of idols and these are the worshipers of idols,’ and yet with all this, God chose Israel because they are a part of God above in their depth and their roots, as it is written (Deuteronomy 32:9): ‘For Hashem’s portion is His people; Jacob is God’s allotment.’”
Two groups that are equally awash in idol worshipping stand on the edge of the Red Sea, and God chooses Israel and destroys Egypt because Israel is an extension of God.
Third step: “And just as we saw that God, blessed be He, commanded to destroy the seven nations of Canaan, which appears to be an act of cruelty, God forbid, and we saw that God hates the nations because they are cruel, and we see from this that the same thing that is bad for the nations is good for Israel, because God, blessed be He, testifies to everything that it is His will.”
The Israelites were commanded to destroy the peoples of Canaan, men, women, and children, ethnic cleansing par excellence, literally an Auschwitz, which God detests among the nations of the world, but commanded the Israelites to carry out in their conquest of the land.
States the Izhbitzer: “And this is the meaning of ‘the wickedness of the nations,’ because this very thing for which they are called evil and wicked by Me, when you utilize this very same thing, you are called doers of My will.”
The same wickedness, the same bloodshed, the same limitless cruelty, when the Gentiles carry it out God calls them wicked, and when the Jews carry it out, they are doing God’s will.
And here the Izhbitzer delivers his punch line: “And the proof is that it is not for your righteousness nor for the wickedness of the Gentiles that God gives you the land; and because, without any reason or merit, He desires you, even if you act like them, God still desires you, and likewise in the wickedness of the Gentiles, it’s merely a reason he provides, but in reality, you are part of Him, and therefore, He approves of everything you do, it will be good in His eyes.”
Conclusion: God loves you even though He is aware of your so-called bad deeds, and from now on everything you do is to His liking.
If we combine all the above ideas, we will arrive at a revolutionary interpretation of Deuteronomy 9:5: “It is not with your virtues and your rectitude that you will be able to possess their country,” meaning, Do not conduct the mitzvah war for the conquest of the land and the destruction of its inhabitants with justice and honesty, because justice and honesty are not the values with which God wants you to fight your enemies.
Rather, “It is with their wickedness that your God Hashem is dispossessing those nations before you.” In a mitzvah war, use the wicked values that the enemy uses, because this is God’s will, and this is how He will chase the enemy away for you.
This surprisingly liberating view stems from the teachings of the Rebbe of Izhbitz, according to which Klal Yisrael is a part of Hashem, blessed be He, and we are incapable of sinning – because everything a Jew does is a clear expression of Hashem’s will.
I have a feeling that if we adopt this insight, which is pure love of Israel, we will rediscover the unity we all yearn for so much.
