דבר תורה שופטים

Then the officials shall address the troops, as follows: “Is there anyone who has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard but has never harvested it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another harvest it. Is there anyone who has paid the bride-price for a wife, but who has not yet married her? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another marry her.” The officials shall go on addressing the troops and say, “Is there anyone afraid and disheartened? Let him go back to his home, lest the courage of his comrades flag like his.”

ואיש אחר יחנכנו [LEST HE DIE IN THE WAR] AND ANOTHER MAN DEDICATE IT — which is a matter that causes grief of mind.

DEDICATED IT. Chanakho (dedicated it) is similar to the word chanukkat (dedication of) in the dedication offer of the altar (Num. 7:10). The word chanokh (train) in Train up a child (Prov. 22:6) is similar. Our rabbis, of blessed memory, learned from the latter that we train (mekhannechin) children. The reason that [one who has not dedicated his house is released from service] is that such a man’s heart and desire is to dedicate his house. Look, his mind will be upon his house, not on the battle. He will therefore flee and cause others to flee.

WHEN THOU GOEST FORTH TO BATTLE AGAINST THINE ENEMIES, AND SEEST HORSES, AND CHARIOTS etc. This is a new commandment which he now declared to them as they came into battles. The purport of the verse, For the Eternal your G-d is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you is to admonish them against becoming faint-hearted and that they should not fear their enemies. He states that they are not to rely in this matter on their own strength, thinking in their hearts. We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war, but instead they are to turn their hearts only to G-d and rely on His help, thinking that He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, and He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man, for The Eternal taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that wait for His mercy. He states to fight for you against your enemies meaning that He will make them fall before you by the sword. He states to save you meaning that they will be spared in battle and that not a man among them will be missing, for it would be possible that they vanquish their enemies and that many of them, too, would die, as is the way of battles. Therefore Joshua cried out when about thirty and six men fell in [the battle of] Ai, for in His commandatory war not one hair of their heads should have fallen to the ground, for the battle is the Eternal’s. Now the priest who serves G-d is to admonish [the warriors] to fear Him, and give them assurance [of His help]. The officers, however, speak in the customary way of the world, lest he die in the battle, for in the normal course of events even some people of the group of the victors die. He commanded that these three categories [of people] return because one’s heart is on his [new] house, vineyard, and wife and he will [be the first to] flee.

The mishna continues its discussion of the speech given before battle. “And the officers shall speak to the people, saying: What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it” (Deuteronomy 20:5). He is sent home if he is one who builds a storehouse for straw, a barn for cattle, a shed for wood, or a warehouse. Similarly, it applies if he is one who builds, or if he is one who purchases, or if he is one who inherits, or if he is one to whom it is given as a gift. In all these instances, the man returns from the war encampment. The next verse states: “And what man is there that has planted a vineyard, and has not used the fruit thereof? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another man use the fruit thereof” (Deuteronomy 20:6). He is sent home if he is one who plants a whole vineyard of many vines, or if he is one who plants as few as five fruit trees of another variety, and even if these five are from the five species. The produce need not be all of one species. The same applies if he is one who plants, or if he is one who layers the vine, bending a branch into the ground so that it may take root and grow as a new vine, or if he is one who grafts different trees onto one another. And it applies if he is one who purchases a vineyard, or if he is one who inherits a vineyard, or if he is one to whom the vineyard is given as a gift. The next verse states: “And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her” (Deuteronomy 20:7). He is sent home if he is one who betroths a virgin, or if he is one who betroths a widow. This applies even if his yevama, his late brother’s wife, is a widow waiting for him as her yavam to perform levirate marriage; and even if he heard that his brother died in the war and the widow begins to wait for him only then, he returns and goes home. Each of these men, although they are exempt, still hear the address of the priest and the regulations of war at the local camp, and thereafter they return to their respective homes. However, they still support the war effort, and they provide water and food for the soldiers and repair the roads.