Positive Aspect of the Maapilim
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5774
They suddenly rouse themselves, the stalwart men of war,
lightning ablaze in their eyes, their faces aflame, hands on swords.
They raise a great shout with one voice, the voice of the six hundred thousand,
a voice that tears through the tumult, vies with the desert’s roar.
Encompassed by furious storm, resolute, unyielding, they cry:
“We are the brave !
Last of the enslaved !
First to be free !
With our own strong hand,
our hand alone,
we tore from our neck
the heavy yoke.
In the desert imprisoned,
to misery abandoned
by an avenging God,
a mere whispered song
of defiance and revolt
stirred us to rise.
To arms, comrades!
Seize sword and lance,
spear and javelin – advance!
Heaven’s rage defy
and in storm reply.
Since God denies us,
his ark refused us,
we will ascend alone,
outface his wrath,
the lightning’s path.
That is a snippet of a poem written in 1902 by Chaim Nachman Bialik entitled “the dead of the desert”. Kudos to Rabbi Benny Lau for the source.
In this poem Bialik is extolling the virtue of the Maapilim in the desert. Who were the Maapilim? After the people accept the negative reports of the 10 spies and decide that the attempt to conquer Israel is doomed, God punishes them and informs them that their generation will die in the desert and not enter the land. The people are devastated and a group decides to take up arms and move to conquer the land. Moshe warns them; tells them that this is not what God wants and that they will not be successful. They do not listen, attempt conquest, fail miserably and die.
Those are the Maapilim.
Bialik sees in the Maapilim the Israeli spirit of the 20th century, the spirit that believes that against all odds we fight and that our destiny is in our own hands.
Having seen the pogroms, this is the spirit he wants to see in the Jewish people.
This morning I would ask you – is he wrong?
Clearly in the context of our parsha – he is wrong. When Moses informs you that God says no, that really has to be no! Openly defying a direct order from God seems like a really bad idea!
But what about today? Is the spirit Bialik sees in the Maapilim a model for us?
I think the answer is partially yes. Our parsha presents two extremes to the conquest of Israel. Go with God, per divine instruction and have God fight with you. The other extreme is the Maapilim- God specifically directs you not to advance. In each of those cases the answer should be relatively clear, although in real time I guess it was not.
What about today? What about 1948? That is tricky because we have no explicit command either way. What do you do then? Do you follow model A- go with God and until you get explicit instruction you do nothing. Or do you follow model B- the Maapilim and assume that you can take matters into your own hands absent an explicit command from God not to go?
Do we wait for God to bring Mashiach or do we start the process ourselves?
That question is one of the questions that has divided orthodoxy in the last century and a half.
At the core of that argument is Bialik’s notion, absent the revolt against God of course. Do we have the power to direct destiny?
Do we accept “with our own strong hand”, even if we don’t accept “our hand alone,”?
I think the answer is yes, there is something appealing in the Maapilim’s attitude even if they were wrong in this particular instance.
I just finished a book of conversations between Rav Chaim Sabato, Rosh yeshiva of Maaleh Adumin and Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshvat Har Etzion.
Rav Sabato asks Rav Lichtenstein what he means when he says he values humanism as being a Jewish value and ideal.
Rav Lichtenstein responds that at its core “humanism is an evaluation and appreciation of the nature, character and ability of man.”
“There is a certain belief in the ability of man and the responsibility of man for what happens in this world!”
We share that belief. We can shape our destiny and take part in bringing about our redemption, and probably have a responsibility to do so.
That belief lies at the heart of the religious Zionist enterprise.
