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Matot Masei 5784 Plagues of Vengeance | A Pacifist Commentary

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Matot Masei 5784 Plagues of Vengeance | A Pacifist Commentary
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ByRabbi Anita Josefa Barzman MD Founder, micro-mishkan.net
במדבר ל״א:א׳-ב׳

(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃(ב)נְקֹ֗ם נִקְמַת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מֵאֵ֖ת הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים אַחַ֖ר תֵּאָסֵ֥ף אֶל־עַמֶּֽיךָ׃

Numbers 31:1-2

(1) ה׳ spoke to Moses, saying,(2) “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.”

Right at the start of this Parsha, we learn that "avenging the children of Israel on the Midianites" is to be Moses' final assignment from God. What can we understand from this?
The lens of this moment - more than ten months since October 7 and more than 10 months into Israel's "war on Hamas" - requires of me, and perhaps of you, that in 5784, we engage with Parshiot Matot-Masei with a particular sensitivity to the ideas, in our texts and traditions, that privilege vengeance and dispossession.
These themes are dominant in Matot-Masei (along with themes of standards of justice, and the establishment of cities of refuge).
At this moment in history, I suggest that we cannot turn away from what Matot-Masei is saying about vengeance and dispossession. In this commentary, I will explore the theme of vengeance.
Let us take off our rose-colored glasses and continue.
במדבר ל״א:ג׳

(ג) וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־הָעָ֣ם לֵאמֹ֔ר הֵחָלְצ֧וּ מֵאִתְּכֶ֛ם אֲנָשִׁ֖ים לַצָּבָ֑א וְיִהְיוּ֙ עַל־מִדְיָ֔ן לָתֵ֥ת נִקְמַת־ה׳ בְּמִדְיָֽן׃

Numbers 31:3

(3) Moses spoke to the militia,“Let troops. be picked out from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to wreak God's vengeance on Midian.

במדבר ל״א:ז׳

(ז) וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙ עַל־מִדְיָ֔ן כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה ה׳ אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיַּֽהַרְג֖וּ כׇּל־זָכָֽר׃

Numbers 31:7

(7) They took the field against Midian, as ה׳ had commanded Moses, and slew every male.

"God's vengeance on Midian"; let us remind ourselves what this is about. For this, we must circle back to the Parshiot Balak and Pinchas [please see my commentary from this year on Parshat Pinchas: Pinchas 5784 Brit Shalom Now More Than Ever
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/580453?lang=bi
במדבר כ״ה:א׳-ג׳

(א) וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בַּשִּׁטִּ֑ים וַיָּ֣חֶל הָעָ֔ם לִזְנ֖וֹת אֶל־בְּנ֥וֹת מוֹאָֽב׃(ב) וַתִּקְרֶ֣אןָ לָעָ֔ם לְזִבְחֵ֖י אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ן וַיֹּ֣אכַל הָעָ֔ם וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֖וּ לֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶֽן׃(ג)וַיִּצָּ֥מֶד יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְבַ֣עַל פְּע֑וֹר וַיִּֽחַר־אַ֥ף ה׳ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Numbers 25:1-3

(1) While Israel was staying at Shittim, the menfolk profaned themselves by whoring with the Moabite women,(2) who invited the menfolk to the sacrifices for their god. The menfolk partook of them and worshiped that god.(3)Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and ה׳ was incensed with Israel.

"The matter of Baal Peor". This is worthy of deep exploration; in the setting of my commentary this week, the exploration will be somewhat brief.
In the origin story of the Jewish people, "the matter of Baal Peor" is an important element. Here, it is said to be the basis for the vengeance on all the Midianites.
The verses directly above, from the end of Parshat Balak, show us what this "matter" is. Israelite men engaged in sex with Midianite women; possibly cultic sex, or perhaps...simply plain old sex - no cultic elements required... or perhaps both.
And:
תהילים ק״ו:כ״ח

(כח) וַ֭יִּצָּ֣מְדוּ לְבַ֣עַל פְּע֑וֹר וַ֝יֹּאכְל֗וּ זִבְחֵ֥י מֵתִֽים׃

Psalms 106:28

(28) They attached themselves to Baal Peor, ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

We see here that "the matter of Baal Peor" wasn't only about sex; as this verse from Psalm 106 shows, it was also about participating in non-Jewish / local practices, which wouldn't include sacrifices to the dead. Thus we can read from this that "the matter of Baal Peor" was also about participation in local [Midianite] religious / spiritual practice which diverged from those that were evolving for the Jewish people.
It was the Israelite men who had sex with the Midianite women: what about their responsibility?
Was the sex consensual? Had the Midianite women "seduced" the men? Where is the agency in this picture?
If while in Midian, some Israelite men "regressed" to non-monotheistic practices: who's "to blame"?
Indeed, first "all of the men" who'd been involved were killed: in Parshat Pinchas we read that Moses ordered the fratricidal killing of all Israelite men who'd had sex with Midianite women ("the matter of Baal Peor"); self-directed vengeance.
במדבר כ״ה:ד׳-ט׳

(ד) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה קַ֚ח אֶת־כׇּל־רָאשֵׁ֣י הָעָ֔ם וְהוֹקַ֥ע אוֹתָ֛ם לַה׳ נֶ֣גֶד הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ וְיָשֹׁ֛ב חֲר֥וֹן אַף־ה׳ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃(ה) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־שֹׁפְטֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל הִרְגוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֲנָשָׁ֔יו הַנִּצְמָדִ֖ים לְבַ֥עַל פְּעֽוֹר׃(ו) וְהִנֵּ֡ה אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל בָּ֗א וַיַּקְרֵ֤ב אֶל־אֶחָיו֙ אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֔ית לְעֵינֵ֣י מֹשֶׁ֔ה וּלְעֵינֵ֖י כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהֵ֣מָּה בֹכִ֔ים פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃(ז) וַיַּ֗רְא פִּֽינְחָס֙ בֶּן־אֶלְעָזָ֔ר בֶּֽן־אַהֲרֹ֖ן הַכֹּהֵ֑ן וַיָּ֙קׇם֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ הָֽעֵדָ֔ה וַיִּקַּ֥ח רֹ֖מַח בְּיָדֽוֹ׃(ח) וַ֠יָּבֹ֠א אַחַ֨ר אִֽישׁ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶל־הַקֻּבָּ֗ה וַיִּדְקֹר֙ אֶת־שְׁנֵיהֶ֔ם אֵ֚ת אִ֣ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאֶת־הָאִשָּׁ֖ה אֶל־קֳבָתָ֑הּ וַתֵּֽעָצַר֙ הַמַּגֵּפָ֔ה מֵעַ֖ל בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃(ט)וַיִּהְי֕וּ הַמֵּתִ֖ים בַּמַּגֵּפָ֑ה אַרְבָּעָ֥ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֖ים אָֽלֶף׃ {פ}

Numbers 25:4-9

(4) ה׳ said to Moses, “Take all the ringleaders and hang them publicly before ה׳, so that God's wrath may turn away from Israel.”(5) So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.”(6) Just then a certain Israelite man came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.(7) When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand,(8) he followed the Israelite man into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked.(9)Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.

This is a frenzied scene of collective violence. Please make no mistake: the "plague" that is "checked" by Pinchas' solitary acts of violence - the killing of "the Israelite man and the [Midianite] woman" - is the "plague" of widespread up-close-and-personal killing of Israelites by Israelites.
It is a "plague" of violence that was instigated, "required" by God and Moses.
Can one act of violence ever truly end other acts of violence? Even the briefest of explorations of our Parsha suggests that the answer is: No, it cannot.
Pinchas' zealotry for which he is granted an eternal "covenant of peace" - Brit Shalom - and 24,000 Israelite men are killed to demonstrate.... what, actually? What is the lesson to be learned from this?
Where is the peace, the wholeness? Because now, returning to our Parshiot this week, we will see that much more violence and killing is to be required:
במדבר ל״א:א׳-ב׳

(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃(ב)נְקֹ֗ם נִקְמַת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מֵאֵ֖ת הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים ...׃

Numbers 31:1-2

(1) ה׳ spoke to Moses, saying,(2) “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites...”

The "operating instructions" tell the Israelites to seek vengeance on the Midianites.
What was the original transgression? Hasn't enough atonement be done? 24,000 Israelite men obliterated?
I suggest that just as the swallowing of Korach "and his band" does not truly obliterate the impulse to question or challenge leadership (as is abundantly evidently throughout the remainder of Tanakh and of Jewish history), so too the murder of 24,000 seems not to adequately address the primal concern of obliterating the other.
Are we seeing here that the origin story of the Jewish people requires an extreme extirpation of any tendencies to not adhere?
And can such tendencies ever truly be extirpated? Annihilated? Can we view the murder of 24,000 of the Israelites' own number as a crimes against their own people?
It is as if the Israelites' coming to terms within themselves with these acts framed as transgressive is no longer a concern. Their responsibility in the pivotal actions in this drama are projected outward, here onto the Midianites, in what can be seen as a well-known psychological phenomenon: projecting unwanted / difficult inner contents out onto "the other".
במדבר ל״א:י״ד-ט״ז

(יד)וַיִּקְצֹ֣ף מֹשֶׁ֔ה עַ֖ל פְּקוּדֵ֣י הֶחָ֑יִל שָׂרֵ֤י הָאֲלָפִים֙ וְשָׂרֵ֣י הַמֵּא֔וֹת הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְּבָ֥א הַמִּלְחָמָֽה׃(טו) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מֹשֶׁ֑ה הַֽחִיִּיתֶ֖ם כׇּל־נְקֵבָֽה׃(טז) הֵ֣ן הֵ֜נָּה הָי֨וּ לִבְנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בִּדְבַ֣ר בִּלְעָ֔ם לִמְסׇר־מַ֥עַל בַּה׳ עַל־דְּבַר־פְּע֑וֹר וַתְּהִ֥י הַמַּגֵּפָ֖ה בַּעֲדַ֥ת ה׳׃

Numbers 31:14-16

(14)Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign.(15) Moses said to them, “You have allowed every female to live!(16) Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against ה׳ in the matter of Peor, so that God's community was struck by the plague.

To my ear, in 5784, Moses' angry words - "You have allowed every female to live!" carry a tone of collective punishment. He seems to be saying that all Midianite women bear responsibility for the alleged actions of some Midianite women (if it's even the case that the Midianite women who'd had sex with Israelite men were culpable in the first place).
So it seems that the origin story of the Jewish people, and our "operating instructions", include the idea that collective punishment is warranted and required. "All of them" should have been extirpated. Not allowed to live.
Collective punishment... a war crime.
As I study these Parshiot this year, it feels uncanny that this very week, the government of the State of Israel "successfully" assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, who has been the President of Hamas and had been serving as the chief peace negotiator representing Hamas in cease fire negotiations.
Many wondered: what does this portend for any hope of diplomacy, if the chief negotiator of "the other side" has been assassinated?
How could the current government of Israel possibly expect Hamas to return to that negotiating table after this?
As a physician and a spiritual leader, I am naming this a symptom of the frenzied delirium of vengeance, and I offer you this poem that I wrote on Shabbat Matot-Masei as a prayer for peace:
the dictionary saysthe word “assassin” comes from the Arabichashish(it’s a long story)
then, medieval Latin:assassinus;somehow this wordhas an attribute of:worthless person;a person a thingthat could be killedor thrownaway
assassin
hashish
something aboutthe stuporous or euphoric statein which it’s fineto coldly killanother
frenzied deliriumof vengeance
infinite justifications.
the peace negotiator:unfortunatelyhe was assassinated
the bomb hiddenmonths before;stowed awayin that guest house;resting placefor him
and final resting placeperhaps for hopes of peace
“it seems to mewe’re in the narrow placeright now”she said
it’s notthat i’mdepressed
although one of my dear friendskeeps sayingthis is so
no it’s notthat i’mdepressed
but rather:
my vision’s really good
my vision’s betterthan twenty twenty (and after all - it’s twenty-twenty-four, people!and it’s fifty-seven-eighty-four; momentous tragic year)
no it’s not that i’m depressed
but rather that i seeclear-eyed
and when i see and when i hearsuch news
words such as:
assassination
this word
when I tastehow this wordit means(from way back)
something aboutyour life is worthless
something aboutstuporous euphoria
delirious frenzy ofvengeance
when i hearthis news
when i tastethese words
i tastehow we numb ourselves
i see thedeadness of soul(although you think it’s euphoria)
a bad drug tripthat’s lasted for millenia
a multi millennial bad tripever sinceor maybe since beforemoses was so angrythat not all the women had been killed
it’s not that i’m depressed
i’m grieving aboutunfortunate tragic facts
such asassassinsairstrikesassaults
such as
hostagesprisonerscaptives
october 7september 11maybe tomorrowor maybe today
or a thousand years ago
the frenzied deliriumof vengeance
so: it’s notthat i'm depressed;but rather thatlike hannah(my hebrew namesake)i’m praying fori’m looking forpraying for
a true brit shalomcovenant of peace
while there’s still timewhile we still can
it’s something aboutno more assassinsno more stuporous frenzy
i’m quietly prayingthat we could open our eyesand truly see each other
it’s something abouti’m quietly praying
something abouti’m quietly prayingpraying prayingfor a clear eyedsobercourageousand lastingpeace poem by Anita Josefa (חנה יוספה) Barzman, M.D. 3 August 2024 | 28 Tammuz 5784