Shoftim: Unfinished Business

Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to be engrossed in the words of Torah.

Nonbinary Hebrew Project:
B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah

Feminine God Language:
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah

When you [an Israelite warrior] take the field against your enemies, and see horses and chariots—forces larger than yours—have no fear of them, for your God יהוה, who brought you from the land of Egypt, is with you. Before you join battle, the priest shall come forward and address the troops. He shall say to them, “Hear, O Israel! You are about to join battle with your enemy. Let not your courage falter. Do not be in fear, or in panic, or in dread of them. For it is your God יהוה who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you victory.” 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 taken her [into his household]? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another take her [into his household as his wife].” 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.” When the officials have finished addressing the troops, army commanders shall assume command of the troops.

ולא חנכו [WHAT MAN IS THERE THAT HATH BUILT A NEW HOUSE] AND HATH NOT DEDICATED IT — i.e. has not yet dwelt in it. The term חנך denotes beginning a thing (here, it means beginning to live in it; cf. Rashi on Genesis 14:14). ואיש אחר יחנכנו [LEST HE DIE IN THE WAR] AND ANOTHER MAN DEDICATE IT — which is a matter that causes grief of mind. ולא חללו [AND WHAT MAN IS THERE THAT HATH PLANTED A VINEYARD] AND HATH YET NOT EATEN OF IT — לא חללו means, has not yet redeemed it in the fourth year of its growth, for the fruits had either to be eaten in Jerusalem or to be given a non-holy character (חולין), by exchanging them for money and the money’s worth to be consumed in Jerusalem (The phrase therefore means no more than: who hath not eaten of it). פן ימות במלחמה [LET HIM GO AND RETURN] LEST HE DIE IN THE WAR — The meaning is: let him return so that he not die, for if he will not hearken to the words of the priests he deserves death (Sifrei Devarim 194:5).

הירא ורך הלבב [WHAT MAN IS THERE] WHO IS FEARFUL AND FAINT-HEARTED — Rabbi Akiba said, Take these words as what they literally imply; they mean that he cannot stand in the dense ranks of battle and look on a naked sword. Rabbi Jose, the Galilean, said that it means one who is afraid of the sins he has committed, and therefore Scripture gave him the opportunity of attributing his return home to his house, his vineyard, or his wife, in order to veil the motives of those who really returned because of the sins they had committed, so that people should not know they were great sinners, and whoever saw a person returning would say, “Perhaps he has built a house, or planted a vineyard or betrothed a wife” (Sotah 44a).

ופקדו שרי צבאות, after all those who were sent home had left. If even one of the people that should have been sent home were included in the roll call by the commanders this might eventually prove demoralising if the party in question became a casualty of war. Compare Amos 9,1 הך הכפתור וירעשו הספים, “strike a knob and the very foundations will quake,” [insignificant appearing actions have far-reaching consequences. Ed.]

מי האיש אשר בנה בית חדש ולא חנכו, “who is the man who has built a new house and has not yet consecrated it?” The expression חנך used here by the Torah for moving into one’s private home is the same as that used by the Torah for the consecration of the Altar in the Tabernacle, i.e. חנכת המזבח.
Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra writes: “seeing such a man’s heart and his craving is so dedicated to consecrating his new house he cannot concentrate on the battle as a soldier should. He may therefore become a liability by fleeing, and other comrades may follow his example, the result being demoralization of the army.”
In connection with the new vineyard the Torah speaks of it not having been חללו instead of חנכו. The word חללו is similar to חליל, flute; it was customary to dance to the accompaniment of flutes when the first harvest of a new vineyard was brought in.
Our sages in Pessikta Zutrata, quoted by Rashi, understand the word as חולין, “secular, profane i.e. after the grapes during the fourth year were holy, now in the fifth year they were available, freely, to the owner for the first time. In the previous year they could be eaten only after having been redeemed, etc.

MISHNA: 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 Sages taught (Tosefta 7:20-21): The Torah states: “What man is there that has built” (Deuteronomy 20:5), and then “that has planted” (Deuteronomy 20:6), and finally “that has betrothed” (Deuteronomy 20:7). The Torah has taught a person the desired mode of behavior: A person should build a house, then plant a vineyard, and afterward marry a woman. And even King Solomon said in his wisdom: “Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house” (Proverbs 24:27). The Sages explained: “Prepare your work outside”; this is a house. “And make it fit for yourself in the field”; this is a vineyard. “And afterward you shall build your house”; this is a wife.

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.

The mishna adds: In what case are all of these statements, with regard to the various exemptions from war, said? They are said with regard to elective wars. But in wars whose mandate is a mitzva, everyone goes, even a groom from his room and a bride from her wedding canopy. Rabbi Yehuda said: In what case are all of these statements, with regard to the various exemptions from war, said? They are said with regard to wars whose mandate is a mitzva. But in obligatory wars, everyone goes, even a groom from his room and a bride from her wedding canopy.

אבל מלחמת מצוה הכל יוצאים – a war of the Land of Israel, and the war against Amalek. Everyone admits that it is obligatory, and everyone goes out in it [to fight]. But the wars of the House of David to extend and widen the brder of Israel and to assess taxes from peoples such as the war of Aram Naharayim and Aram Tzobah (Syria), everyone agrees that it is option. But the First Tanna–Teacher and Rabbi Yehudah did not disagree other than with a war that Israel fights with its enemies in order that they not grow stronger over them and trouble hem. The first Tanna–teacher calls that an optional war, and holds that a person is not permitted to make himself idle from the commandment in order to fight in a war like this, but Rabbi Yehuda holds that this also is a commanded war, for after it is to save Israel from the hand of their enemies, and one who engages in a commandment is exempt from another commandment. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.