Parshat Va'era: Midrashic military advice

By Rabbi Avi Billet

Issue of Jan. 23, 2009 / 27 Tevet 5769

It’s that time of year again when the Jews have a chance to revel over and relish in the way G-d “stuck it to those Egyptians” to get Paroh to let his slaves go free.

Last year I heard Rabbi Menachem Leibtag speak on the subject of the Exodus, and the title of his lecture was “Why the book is better than the movie.” His general premise was that the situation reached the point that not only did Paroh want the Jews to leave, but he chased after them to make sure they wouldn’t come back. Their presence was taking away from Egypt’s ability to regroup and rebuild.

Drawing on many textual references, Rabbi Leibtag makes a fascinating case to support his theory.

With these two ideas as background, let us learn a medrash together. Medrash Tanchuma on Bo, Chapter 4, summarizes the 10 plagues with a very interesting twist: plagues are a perfect parallel to how an army justly attacks its enemy (be they rebels or invaders) to bring about surrender.

Recall, G-d did not want to kill the Egyptians; He just wanted them to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. In the aftermath of their continued refusal, led by Paroh of course, some of them died as a result of being in the plagues’ “military zone.”

As the subject of wars has been on a few Jews’ minds of late, here is Tanchuma’s analysis of the war waged with Egypt over 3300 years ago.

When a king has to fight those who rebel against him, he begins by cutting off the rebels’ water supply. This is the plague of Blood. Then he sends in many army units (Tanchuma uses the word ‘colony’) whose presence becomes known, though they might not be actively fighting. This is the plague of Frogs. The next step is to have the archers shoot their arrows from a distance — to begin piercing skin. Parallel to the plague of Kinim, lice, this might be the equivalent of modern day air strikes or artillery.

The armed legions, also known as the ground troops, make their entrance, striking where the archers could not reach. They wreak havoc and cause fear because anyone they encounter is susceptible to their wrath - even though their instructions might not yet be “to kill.” (8:17-21) This is the plague of Arov — a mixture of animals. Most commentaries believe the Arov were a major nuisance but not a threat to life as they filled the land of Egypt. What types of animals featured in Arov is a subject of debate (see “The Living Torah” in which Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan enumerates at least 10 different possibilities as to their identity).

Androlepsia follows, which is the seizure of prisoners, who are ultimately punished regardless of their innocence or guilt. This is Dever, pestilence. Interestingly, the Egyptians who kept their animals indoors (as per the warning they were given) were not subject to this plague.

The chemical warfare begins in order to encourage submission to a superior superpower. Naphta, a particle that burns, is brought in. It is sometimes used for capital punishments, and sometimes on the tips of arrows. This is Shechin - the boils that came from the coals and ashes Moshe had thrown into the air to cause the plague.

Catapults follow — like the hail of Barad.

Then troops converge on the city and actually take it over, leaving nothing standing. This is comparable to the locusts of Arbeh.

The final two stages are solitary confinement of the key players in the revolt and revolution — also known as the Plague of Darkness. The last stage is full-scale all-out war when you don’t take any chances or prisoners, but finally put an end to the trouble that has been haunting your population. This is the Plague of the Firstborn.

Was G-d giving the Jewish people a blueprint for how to fight wars for all time? It is somewhat ironic that the Jewish people, after more than 2,000 years, finally are in a position to call the shots as to how a war will be fought. There is no such thing as a “just” war, but Israel manages to get as close as anyone can to valuing human life, even though one of the side effects of war is the destruction of human life.

I would not be so presumptuous as to say the Tanchuma’s way is better, or that my way is better. I know nothing of the military, not enough of the politics, nor am I a citizen of the State of Israel.

But I do know the war will never really end until the enemy is dealt a crippling blow that will prevent the rebuilding of their military infrastructure. And Gazans need to stand up to their representatives to say, as Rabbi Leibtag suggested, “We don’t want the Jews to come back in here, and we do not want to give them a reason to come back in here.”

Until the Jews do not need to defend themselves from Gaza shelling, and until the Gazans give themselves the opportunity to build factories, schools, businesses and places of honest labor — to better their own lives instead of focusing solely on destroying Israel — there will not be peace in the land.

Perhaps Israeli leadership will eventually be forced to look to the Medrash Tanchuma for some military advice.

Avi Billet welcomes your thoughts and comments at avbillet at gmail.com.