Have the Chutzpah to Wage the War!
Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This week’s parsha, Ki Tzetzei begins by speaking about going to war. The parsha begins: When you go out to war on your enemies, the L-rd your G-d shall deliver them into your hands, and you shall capture from them captives.
Rashi explains that the verse here is referring to a non-obligatory war. In reference to an obligatory war of conquering the Land of Israel, the Torah would not stress, "and you seize their captives," because it has already said: "You may not allow any soul to live". Chassidus explains that a non-obligatory war for each individual refers to conquering all of our mundane activities and using them in the service of Hashem. On a practical level this refers to our commitment to eat, to speak and dress like a Jew. Every detail of life is permeated with sanctity and directed toward fulfilling our purpose of making this world a dwelling place for Hashem.
The Chabad approach toward integrating the life of a Jew, the Torah and mitzvos with the ways of the world and the worldly culture that surrounds us has been clear and resounding; to conquer! This unequivocal credo has successfully guided chassidim for generations and is the theme of this weeks parsha.
As we take a look around us we can see how relevant and vital this message is today. Unfortunately, I heard about a recent meeting of Modern Orthodox Rabbis where they openly admitted that their approach of mixing modernity with Torah had failed. They look around and now realize that many of the next generation do not understand the core message of Judaism. The reason for this is plain and clear. They have become buried by the messages of modern culture and liken their faith to those of others. We have Shabbos, and they Sunday etc. This lack of discernment has many serious implications. The key is to realize that we are here to conquer and not to get too comfortable. It’s not enough just to convince ourselves that we know to interact with the world well enough that we can enjoy the culture without getting too caught up. The subtle messaging of Western cultures passivity and phony equalities are everywhere and you have no control over the fact that these messages are NOT lost on our youth. If we leave this unchecked then we too could be sitting and meeting and asking questions as our friends are in the Modern camp. We don’t need to keep ignoring this problem until we are addressing our youth in our own communities to ask ourselves: What were we thinking?! We need to have a little chutzpa right now and take this problem on as a non-obligatory war.
Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s Chabad began 'Encounter with Chabad' weekends on college campuses. Often, they would be promoted with speakers with academic credentials in the forefront. Graduates of Harvard and Yale, Professors and Doctors were in the headlines and in the advertisements. Amongst all of the prestigious names were also Rabbis, chassidim of the Rebbe that attended these encounters. Later on as the success of the Encounter weekends materialized many young people began to return to Judaism and became the Baal Teshuva movement we see today. When I was in Florida I met Dr. Joel Sinski who was involved in making these encounter weekends twice a year at the University of Maryland. Later on some of the students that were inspired would make trips to Crown Heights for Shabbos. Dr. Sinski said that one thing inspired them the most to change their entire lives and to return to Judaism was the warmth of the chassidic home. It wasn’t the philosophical or scientific answers to their questions they heard at the encounter weekends that did the job. Those answers were helpful to removing their opposition but not enough to inspire the change. It was the warmth and vitality in the home and way they lived and spoke their Judaism and spoke to each other. The special relationship that they maintained through the Shabbos, the davening the learning the fabrengens and the meticulous observance of mitzvos is what was most attractive to them. This is what they wanted for have for their lives and for the lives of their children; a living and vibrant Judaism. This is something that Western culture cannot and does not provide.
Our passion for a complete package, a complete connection to Hashem to reveal niflinu, the wonder of that connection is contagious; and our children are watching, they pick up the message! It’s not about one little detail of a minhag, or staying away from one little influence, it’s about the care and the passion of each and every little thing; it’s the organic connection to all the details and how it impacts our relation to Hashem that makes all the difference. This is the non-obligatory war that we all wage in our homes and in our lives and the stakes could not be greater.
When we look today on the global scene we can see that a new narrative of nations is taking place. You don’t need to be a big chacham to see that society is in free fall and western passivity is at the center of the problem. Until now many western countries have again and again turned their backs on the reality of global terror. When they weren’t blaming Israel they were yawning and changing channels or turning up their iPods as they relegated our struggle in Eretz Yisroel to two equal warring parties (at best!) that just need to negotiate and compromise. They washed away moral clarity and ethics for western indifference. Now the world is beginning to realize that this is a true clash of civilizations and it’s their bedrooms and living rooms that are at stake. What can we learn from this in this week’s parsha about a non-obligatory war? It is only by being dedicated on conquering our own complacency and being decisive in battle that we will be victorious.
Once we use everything in our homes and in our lives in the service of Hashem, then we are converting the world into a place for Hashem. Our accomplishments bring the revelation of Moshiach and Hashem’s kingdom will shine openly over the entire world.
A Good Shabbos