 |  | Parshat Shoftim teaches us that before the people go to battle, the priest anointed for war gathers the troops and tells them, “Hear, O Israel! You are about to join battle with your enemy. Let not your courage falter. Do not be in fear, or in panic, or in dread of them. For it is the Lord your God Who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you to victory” (Devarim 20:3-4). These ancient words of encouragement spoken by the priest anointed for war are not a thing of the past. Rather, they are uttered to this very day by chaplains, commanders and soldiers of the IDF before going on missions to give strength and courage to young men and women placed in the most difficult of circumstances. Indeed, the power these very words had on the anxious ears of an ancient Israelite soldier thousands of years ago still resonate in the ears, hearts and minds of the modern Jewish soldier serving the State of Israel in 2024. What is the deeper meaning behind the words of the priest anointed for war?
If we look at the verse, “For it is the Lord your God Who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you to victory,” the second half seems straightforward. Yes, God will do battle for us against our enemy, and God will bring us to victory. This makes sense, and sounds like the sort of thing we might expect to hear from a chaplain to their troops before going into combat. It is reassuring, inspiring and powerful: You will not fail! God will protect you! However, the first half of this proclamation needs a bit more explanation. What does it mean that God marches with us? Unlike the last part of this verse which describes God’s active role in our salvation, the first part seems to imply some sort of partnership between God and the individual: God “marches with you.” The word “with” is key. What does it mean to march with God?
According to the Midrash, marching with God means that we understand and feel that God is always with us. “He Who was with you in the wilderness is with you in your time of distress” (Sifrei 193:1). It seems that before we feel that God will save us, we must first feel that God is with us – that is, God feels our pain, God hears our prayers, God knows our hearts, and just as God did not abandon us in our times of travail in the past, He will not abandon us in our present times of travail. The partnership God is looking for is for us to understand that we do not march alone – that we do not rely on our own strength to get us through the darkest of times. Rather, if we reach out to God to help us keep moving forward, God will deliver us in the end, because we need to feel His strength when we are at our weakest.
This past week has been a very tragic and difficult one for the Jewish people upon learning of the horrific, cold-blooded murders of six hostages: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov and Ori Danino. Seeing their posters solemnly removed from their places at the Ben Gurion Airport after nearly a year of hope was heartbreaking. It is hard not to feel despondent. It is hard not to give into despair. However, we cannot lose heart or faith in knowing that God is on our side, and that we will prevail. Good will triumph over evil and light always dispels the darkness. Nothing can fill the void left by the destruction of the lives of these six precious Jews, but in their merit, we must continue to combat the forces of evil that seek to take much more.
Yes, we believe that God will do battle for us against our enemies and that God will bring us to victory. But first, we must take God by the hand and feel Him marching with us as we continue to do everything we can to offer our support to the holy soldiers of the IDF, the people of Israel and Klal Yisrael. Indeed, salvation will come, but let us try to feel God’s saving hand with us even and especially in our darkest moments, in the fog and friction of war, so that we may fully embrace the victory He has made ready when it comes, and may it come speedily in our day!
Shabbat Shalom!
- Rabbi Dan
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