Congregation Beth Shalom

Torah Portion: Bamidbar

Book of Numbers
Chaps. 1:1-4:20
May 27, 2011

The 4th book of the Torah-Bamidbar/Numbers-begins with the following command: "Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.  You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms" (Num. 1:2-3).

The purpose of this census was to determine the military strength of the Israelites.  Their first concern was war-both for defensive and offensive purposes.  A considerable portion of the Hebrew Bible is devoted to warfare.  History-from ancient times to the present-is defined by wars.  Most nations would rather not fight them, but few seem able to shy away.

It is odd how those most ready to commit their nation to war are those who will not have to stand in harm's way. Those who least desire war, more often than not, wear uniforms.  In an address to Congress in 1951, the late General Douglas MacArthur, General of the Armed Forces in the WWII Philippine campaign and recipient of the Medal of Honor, said, "I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting.  I have long advocated its complete abolition, as its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a method of settling international disputes."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Gold Meier is remembered for saying, "The one thing I cannot forgive the Arabs for is that they forced our sons to kill their sons."

As we prepare to commemorate another Memorial Day, we continue to bury dead soldiers from wars we've fought so long we've forgotten why; passed down from one administration to another, cloaked in terms like freedom and liberty but lacking in sensibility.

Religion is too often the underpinning of war.  Mark Twain wrote a piece entitled "War Prayer" that was not to be published until after his death because, in his words, "only dead men can tell the truth in this world."  In his prayer he facetiously writes, "O Lord, our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells. . .for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their pilgrimage, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!  We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.  Amen."

This weekend give pause to the countless number of Americans whose lives were consumed by an insatiable appetite for war.  May their families be comforted among the many who will not give up hope for a brighter tomorrow.

The final words are those of the former Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, who said:  "The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities.  Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith."

Rabbi Howard Siegel