Parshiot Mattos-Masei: Anger by design

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By Rabbi Avi Billet

Issue of July 17, 2009 / 25 Tammuz 5769

As difficult as it is to comprehend warfare and the tactics required to ensure survival of your side, Biblical warfare is a different playing field in which G-d calls the shots. On the most simplistic level, the rules are out of the realm of our understanding.

“Moshe spoke to the people, saying, ‘Detach men for armed service against Midian, so that G-d’s revenge can be taken against the Midianites’....They mounted a surprise attack against Midian as G-d had commanded Moses, and killed all the [adult] males. Along with the other victims, they also killed the five kings of Midian... The Israelites took captive all the women of Midian and their children...” (31:3-9)

To further the difficulties of Biblical war, after the men return not having followed Moshe’s instructions completely, they are commanded, “Now kill every male child, as well as every woman who has been involved intimately with a man. However, all the young girls who have not been involved intimately with a man, you may keep alive for yourselves.” (31:17-18)

Those who gathered in Geneva in August 1949 for the “Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,” would likely cringe over these instructions. After all, civilized countries do not allow any kind of mistreatment of prisoners beyond their imprisonment.

Barring a direct command from G-d, I would not suggest that anyone kill enemy soldiers who have laid down their arms (imprisonment is a different story), or seek out male children or possibly pregnant females in order to destroy all male progeny. (In the case of Midian, many of the women were guilty of causing Israelites to sin and die over Baal Pe’or.)

Even Moshe’s soldiers were sensitive to this idea, which is why they needed to be re-instructed in 31:17-18 to finish the job. Before their reeducation, however, “Moshe was angry at the generals and captains, who were the officers returning from the military campaign.” (31:14)

Why did he get angry over their sensitivity to human life?

Rashi says because when a leader has the power to reproach, he is responsible for the failures of his people. When Moshe delegated G-d-ordered responsibilities, he put the jobs in the hands of others in order that they be carried out. As Colonel Nathan Jessep said in the play “A Few Good Men,” “We follow orders, son. We follow orders, or people die.” Moshe’s anger, it seems, is well placed.

The Midrash (Sifrei 157) states, “Elazar the Kohen said to the soldiers who came from the battlefront, ‘This is the law of the Torah: Moshe — because he got angry, he made a mistake.’ Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah says, ‘Moshe got angry three times and made a mistake each time because of it. In Vayikra 10:16-20 he got angry with Elazar and Itamar when they didn’t follow the instructions for administering the korban correctly. In Bamidbar 20 he got angry and called the people rebels over the water incident. And here he got angry, causing Elazar to have to teach the laws to the people (31:21-24).”

While it seems the midrash is critical of Moshe, it raises an opinion that Moshe went to an extreme in order to give Elazar a platform from which to speak and teach, so that after Moshe’s death people would not be able to say, “During Moshe’s lifetime you never said or taught anything. What gives you the right to speak now, just because he is no longer around?” If Moshe seems to be unreasonable, which may be by design, then Elazar can teach in his stead.

The common denominator of each instance where Moshe lost his temper was his fear that people, for not having followed instructions, would die. This is understandable. I’ve seen many parents lose their cool when their children are careless near a street or a swimming pool, or in other potentially dangerous situations. While anger is not a good quality, in such cases it is often a natural impulse. And this anger’s “existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.” (Col. Jessep)

Whether anger is a good quality (or not), it conveys an important message when coming from someone who — as the midrash paints it — only got angry (erringly) three times in 40 years. (Moshe also became angry in Shmot 16:20, but he was right that time, and was also concerned that people might die.) If we were to use anger sparingly, perhaps that rarity would cause it to have its desired effect.

But the other lesson of the midrash is equally important. A friend of mine once told me, “I never want to be in a position where a younger person is waiting for me to croak in order to take over doing something I do.” Any person whose job is secure should be able and willing to give a younger person a platform from which to shine.

Whether a senior rabbi to an assistant, or an executive owner or partner to a younger partner or to a person rising through the ranks, it takes tremendous strength of character to say, “I’ve accomplished a lot in my time, and I want the next generation to have a shot.” Shul roles, such as gabbai, Torah reader, ba’al tefilah, etc, also fall into this category. It does not mean the more seasoned person must retire early or ride off into the sunset.

As Moshe realized, however, it does mean being able to pull yourself out, either by rouse or design or openly, to share the limelight with the next generation.