Q:
You said before that the Jews were not predator-soldiers like other nations and that’s one of the reasons why the battlefield victories of גיבורים ביד חלשים were so out of the ordinary. But at the beginning of Mesichta Brachos (3b) it says that when the people came to Dovid and told him that there was a need for more parnasah for the people, so Dovid said “Go fight against your enemies.” That shows they were predators. They attacked their enemies.
A:
It’s a good question and I was waiting for somebody to ask it.
Let me explain to you. It states in Tehillim לעשות נקמה בגוים – to do revenge against the nations, תוכחות בלאמים – and rebuke against the peoples, לאסר מלכיהם בזקים – to bind their kings in chains, ונכבדיהם בכבלי ברזל – and their honored ones in bonds of iron (Tehillim 149:7).
Now what does that mean? You have to know that we have a big debt against the umos haolam. Not like the goyim think we’re plotting against them. We’re not plotting against them. We ought to. Why shouldn’t we? They’ve done so much. There should be organizations that are thinking of getting even.
If let’s say there’s a hooligan, a hoodlum who starts up with Jews, why do Jews let him get away with it? They should take his phone number, find out where he lives and they should organize to call him up all hours of the night. They should drive him crazy; and his mother and father. Why not? It’s a good idea, to drive him crazy until he moves.
Or other ways. There are ways of making life miserable for a hooligan.
But Jews are not doing it. No Jews are doing it; they have other troubles to think about. We can’t think about that. We’re busy learning Torah. We’ll sit down and think of ways and means of revenge? It’ll be wasting our lives. We have more important things to do. So Jews are not thinking about revenge at all.
But Dovid said “Look, they did so much against us.” You know how much they persecuted us, the goyim on all sides?
And there’s another thing. The goyim have sheva mitzvos Bnei Noach. The goyim are not supposed to worship idols. A goy doesn’t have to keep kashrus. He’s not obligated in Shabbos. But it’s a sin and it’s a crime to worship idols.
We’re accustomed today, religious freedom; you bow down to your idols and also you’ll get privileges of a religion in America. I remember once I was visited by a senator. He was investigating Chaim Berlin, about the draft deferments in Chaim Berlin. The senator was talking to me. He said “We give draft deferments to Indian medicine men too.” Indian medicine men, ovdei avodah zarah, get draft deferments as divinity people, as clergymen. Everybody in America! America recognizes all religions.
That’s in America. But al pi din people who worship idols are sinners. It’s a crime to worship idols. There’s one G-d. You can recognize Him from nature. Anybody who wants I’ll prove it to you. It’s easy to see G-d from nature.
So not only do the gentile nations attack us but a lot of them are ovdei avodah zarah too. However, we’re too busy to worry about them.
But when it’s a time of necessity so Dovid said “Look, it’s our job to go out. We have to teach them a lesson because they’re fresh with us. They’re always impinging on our borders. They’re making raids all the time on us. So usually we’re too busy with our affairs. We can’t do anything. But now you say you need parnasah, let’s say, so let’s go out and make a raid against them. They’re raiding us all the time so let’s raid them.”
Why should Jews sit in Eretz Yisroel and wait until Arab commandos come and kill chalilah somebody? Let them make a few raids of their own. Why not? They don’t have to wait. Let them go out and burn a few villages.
Of course they’ll make an outcry in America. So we wait until they do something and then we take revenge. But actually we’re justified without that. They did so much against us.
Believe me, if we made commandos to raid Germany it wouldn’t be wrong. For all that the Germans did to us! They’re still wearing our jewels and our furs. They murdered us and took from us the things that they’re still wearing. It would be justified making a war on Germany. But we have other troubles to worry about. We’re not going to think about that.
So Dovid, when he was talking to his people, so he said “Look, you need extra supplies? So look at these reshaim. Look what they did to you. Go out and take revenge. He said לעשות נקמה בגוים – take revenge against them. And it was fully justified.
TAPE # 249 (December 1978)
