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Lech Lecha 5766 Veterans
by Rabbi Dr. Barry Leff
Congregation B'nai Israel
Toledo, OH
In today’s Torah portion, we tell the story of the world’s first Jewish War
Veteran: Abraham.
This week’s parsha, Lech Lecha, is mostly known for the opening – the part
where Abraham receives his calling from God to leave his home and go to “a
land that I will show you.”
A little further on in this week’s narrative, however, we see Abraham going
off to war. It’s a sad commentary in a way, but the first Jew to have to go
to war was the first Jew. Abraham is barely settled into his new home in
Canaan when he gets caught up in a war not of his making.
An evil axis of four Iraqi kings (they were called Sumerians back then, but
basically they came from Iraq) decide to make war on a coalition force of
five Canaanite kings. Students of the Bible know this episode as “the war of
the five kings.” Even though there were really nine kings involved.
When the war broke out, Abraham was comfortably living in Mamre, which is
near Hebron. Minding his own business herding his sheep. The war was
relatively far off – in the Valley of Sidim, over near the Dead Sea.
Unfortunately for him, Abraham’s nephew Lot lived in Sodom – right in the
path of the battle. Lot and his family were taken captive by the Iraqis.
Abraham had no interest in going to war. He wasn’t interested in trying to
find glory on the battlefield, or in plundering and looting. But when his
family was attacked, he felt he had no choice. He had to do something to
save them from slavery. When someone who escaped during the battle came and
told Abraham his relatives were captured, Abraham put together a strike
force of 318 soldiers—his trained servants, who Abraham armed—and went after
the bad guys.
The Torah says Abraham divided his forces by night, and, with God’s help, he
prevailed. He recaptured all the stolen property and liberated all the
captives including his nephew and family. The Canaanite kings were
delighted. One king set up a feast in Abraham’s honor, another one offered
him blessings in the name God. The king of Sodom in fact is so happy to get
his people back, he tells Abraham, you can keep all the stuff you recovered,
I’m happy just to have my people back.
Abraham’s reaction was to tell the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand
to the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I
will not take anything – not so much as a thread or a sandal strap.
I won’t take anything of yours—you will not say to others that you made
Avram rich. Just provide what the soldiers have eaten, and let the men who
went with me take their share.” And immediately afterward the Torah
continues “After these things the word of the Lord came to Avram in a
vision, saying, Fear not, Avram; I am your shield, and your reward will be
great.”
There are many important lessons we learn from how Abraham conducts himself
in the first Jewish experience with war.
To start with, Abraham is reluctant to go to war. He does not go to war for
money, or for glory, or for ego. He does not go to war to protect strategic
economic interests. He only goes to war when his family is attacked. He goes
to war in self – defense.
This is a lesson the Jewish people have learned well. Both as an ethical
matter, it is not appropriate to go to war to steal other people’s money,
and as a practical matter – Israel is now, and always has been, a relatively
small nation in the greater collection of nations. Our ambition is to live
in peace, not to conquer a lot of territory. Since the modern state of
Israel has come into being it has been forced to go to war many times – in
1948, in 1967, in 1973, and of course the latest “non-war” war in 2000.
Having been dragged into a war that he didn’t start and didn’t want a part
of, Abraham refused to use it as a time for personal enrichment. But Abraham
does express a concern for his soldiers – for the veterans. He tells the
king of Sodom, just provide the food for the men, and let them take their
share.
That sort of sums up how we as a society should treat our veterans. When
they are serving, we have to provide their food – and of course, not just
their food, but their housing, their equipment, their armament. The Torah
tells Abraham provided his men’s equipment, and that they were trained. We
can’t ask someone to serve and not provide him with resources he needs to
get his job done.
And when they come home we should let them “take their share.” How do we let
our veterans “take their share?”
It’s not to take a share of the spoils of war – we’ve already established
that we don’t go to war for financial gain. Rather, the veterans should get
a share of what they would have had if they hadn’t gone off to serve the
country. This is really what the GI Bill and similar later programs are all
about. The young people who go off to fight our battles often forgo their
own educational opportunities while they serve. I used my veteran’s benefits
to learn a trade – how to be a flight instructor – and to help pay for my
PhD in business. I very much appreciated the fact that my country gave me a
share, that they supported me after I served them.
Elsewhere the Bible brings an interesting teaching on who is entitled to
have a share. Not every soldier risks his life – some are out on the front
lines with guns in their hands, but others work in support roles.
You might think that only those who were out there in the thick of the
fighting deserve a share, deserve our consideration. King David tells us no,
all the soldiers deserve a share, and according to Midrash, David learned it
from this week’s parsha. In the book of Samuel after a battle we are told
that the “bad and worthless men of those that went with David”
said that those who didn’t actually go into battle shouldn’t get a
share—they wanted to cut off those who didn’t actually fight. David said,
“no, you shall not do that with that which the Lord has given us…as the
share of the one went down to the battle shall be the share of the one who
remains by the baggage: they shall share alike.”
The Midrash says David learned this from this week’s parsha—Abraham divided
his forces, so presumably some were in battle and some weren’t—yet he asked
for a share for each of them.
The Bible tells us that all of our veterans deserve our support, regardless
of where or when they served. Even those who serve in a time when there is
no active war going on deserve our consideration and thanks, for just as
much as those who went to war, they have put their own lives on hold, they
have accepted the burden of military training, which is not all fun and
games, and they know that at any moment they can be ordered into harms’ way,
anywhere in the world. My daughter Kiri joined the US Army one month before
9/11 – she can tell you how quickly expectations change.
There is also a message in the sequel to the war. “After these things the
word of the Lord came to Avram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Avram; I am
your shield, and your reward will be great.” Abraham’s reward does not come
because of his successes in battle. It comes because of his faith in God,
because of his relationship with God. The greatest shield—one we invoke in
the Amidah, magen Avraham, the shield of Abraham—is God.
Today we honor our veterans. Their willingness to serve, their willingness
to go through difficult training, to put up with terrible food and worse
hours, their willingness to risk their lives so that our nation can be free
is a debt we as a society can never fully repay, we can only acknowledge.
Thank you.
I am personally honored that the organizers of today’s Veteran’s Shabbat
specifically invited me to speak today. I’m proud to observe that four
generations of the Leff family have served in the US military: my
grandfather served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, my father
served in the Army in Germany during the time of Korea, I served in the Army
in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam-era, and my oldest daughter served in
the Army in the days leading up to the Iraq conflict. When I speak of the
sacrifices veterans make, I know first hand what it’s like.
May we as a society learn the lessons of war and soldiers that we learn from
Abraham in this morning’s parsha: we should be reluctant to go to war, only
going to war for self-defense, not for financial gain. And, since, sadly,
war is not yet obsolete, so we will continue to need a military in the years
to come, may we as a society remember to properly take care of our veterans,
those who put themselves on the line so that we can live free.
May God protect also protect the future veterans, those who are currently
serving in the military to protect America and Israel, whether they are
serving at home or abroad, in Iraq, Afghanistan, or in the West Bank,