One of the descriptive prophecies of our people that was forced upon the non-Jewish seer Bilaam has now become current even amongst the less literate of our people. Undoubtedly when Providence spotlights a passage it behooves us to study it carefully and being that we will read it tomorrow morning, this Shabbos is a good time to reflect on it.
הֶן־עָם֙ כְּלָבִ֣יא יָק֔וּם וְכַאֲרִ֖י יִתְנַשָּׂ֑א לֹ֤א יִשְׁכַּב֙ עַד־יֹ֣אכַל טֶ֔רֶף וְדַם־חֲלָלִ֖ים יִשְׁתֶּֽה׃
Yes, a people that rises like a young lioness,
Rises above like a lion,
Rests not until it has feasted on prey
And drunk the blood of the slain.
Those who applied this prophecy as a mandate for the recent twelve-day war focused on the shocking and seeming impetuous and irresponsible boldness of the young cub as well as its determination to know no rest until the menacing enemy is taken away. Privileged is the generation to whom age-old verses pulsate with renewed vigor and meaningfulness!
Nevertheless, reflecting on the aptness of the simple translation should inspire us to look even more deeply into this “providential pick”.
Most Interestingly one can frame the military events of our recent history through the eyes of the Ohr Hachaim whose yahrzeit is today. The Ohr Hachaim, authored by Harav Chaim Ibn Atar, is one of the staples of Torah commentary melding together all forms of interpretation from the literal to the mystical. The commentary was the “Friday night study” in countless pre-war chassidic homes, once Rashi had been well reviewed.
Who is the young lioness cub, according to the Ohr Hachaim? “Soldiers who are inexperienced in battle do not usually distinguish themselves for bravery the first time they go to war. Not so the lion. He displays bravery the first time he faces an adversary... The Jewish people proved valiant though they had a history of hundreds of years of slavery behind them. Nonetheless they overcame such mighty kings as Sichon and Og.”
As I reviewed these lines my mind travelled to what I had learned as a child about the 1948 war of independence. That war declared against the freshly hatched state cobbled together some thirty thousand almost untrained Jewish fighters with even fewer rifles and only a few bullets per person and no tanks or air force of any significance. They came up against a coalition of Arab troops all backed by tanks, artillery, and air power. The world expected that Jews profoundly scarred by the holocaust and total novices to the requirements of warfare to fail and fall within days. We once again became an “עם כלביא”.
Who is Rav Chayim Ibn Atar’s mature lion that rises high above? “וכארי יתנשא, unlike other nations who gradually lose their strength, becoming exhausted by the many wars they fight, the Israelites will lift themselves up like a mature lion time and again without showing signs of age”
After relentless fighting with its painfully endless losses of life that continued for close to two years and in a global culture of greater isolationism and focus on national prosperity, Israel’s resilience is well captured by the Ohr Hachaim’s matured lion.
Perhaps as the Ohr Hachaim may cast the final part of the quartet as a reference to our enemies, the depiction of the contrast between our people and our enemies is one that we have come to know as definitive of our struggles. “It is human nature that the more the casualties in war mount, so too should the value of the survivors grow. Nevertheless, our enemies drink blood [and revel in the blood of the slain].”
Even in times of war the Torah legacy that sees every life as a world of the greatest optimism and valued contribution, grows through the searing tears and the never to be closed wounds of war.
As we begin the three weeks may we be blessed with Rabbi Akiva’s mantra that those who witness the difficult prophecies should merit to witness the prophecies of the complete geula.