The parsha begins with very striking words: If you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord, your God, will deliver him into your hand… (Dev. 21:10). Many commentaries explain that on a deeper level, the war that the Torah refers to is milchemet hayetzer – the war against our own individual evil inclinations.
Based on this understanding, Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb points out that is upon us to proactively wage battle against our negative qualities and tendencies. During this month we tend to focus on the past – apologizing for the times we let our anger or pride lead us to make mistakes. Perhaps, though, it is also a time to consider and confront the traits or habits that we so often tend to ignore or deny until a larger problem has surfaced. We need not wait for our greed to overcome us, or our jealousy to ruin our relationships – we should instead confront those parts of ourselves, and work to overcome them, before they overcome us.
While on the one had we see that there is much value to contemplating how we can preemptively work our middot, we learn that there are also moments that challenge us to overcome a middah without premeditation or preparation. Though we start the year with certain goals, and each day with certain objectives - there must always be room for flexibility and spontaneity in our avodat Hashem as well as our encounters with others.
In this vein, Rav Moshe Taragin explains that in our parsha we learn the importance of seizing unexpected and unplanned opportunities for performing mitzvot. Perhaps the most salient example is that of shiluach haken (sending away the mother-bird), as the Torah commands:
If a bird's nest chances before you on the road, on any tree, or on the ground, and [it contains] fledglings or eggs, if the mother is sitting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother upon the young (22:6)
The Torah states clearly that this is a mitzvah that one might “chance upon” - it is one of the prime examples of a mitzvah mizdamenet – a mitzvah that one can only fulfill in his lifetime if the right circumstance presents itself. It is unlike most mitzvot that must be done at predetermined times and/or with specific preparations.
While there is much value in preparing, planning, and finally performing a mitzvah, there is also immense value in chancing upon the opportunity to help another – and seizing it. The opportunity for mitzvot, for growth, for helping others surround us and at times require spontaneity and flexibility in our routines. This is highlighted as well with the obligation of hashavat aveida (returning a lost object):
You shall not see your brother's ox or sheep straying, and ignore them. [Rather,] you shall return them to your brother (22:1).
The Torah speaks against our human nature to “ignore” the needs of others when it interferes with our own interests, needs, and schedules - as we all know too well that it is difficult for us to stop in our tracks during our busy days and especially to go out of our way to delay our goals to help out a friend, let a lone a stranger.
The fact that the mitzvot of shiluach kaken and hashavat aveida – both of which reflect compassion and sensitivity - cannot be planned in advance teaches us that ultimately our responsibility to and compassion for others is supposed to become instinctual – so that we not only to act with sensitivity because we are mandated to do so and we have prepared (mentally and otherwise) to do so, but because it has become part of our essence to be kindly, giving, and caring - and we could not pass up the opportunity to do so.
By commanding us with mitzvot that we must “chance upon” and interrupt our daily routines in order to fulfill, the Torah teaches us that we cannot lose sight of the end-goal, of the greater mission – which is to be a good-hearted and good-natured individual with instincts to help those around us. These mitzvot remind us not to get too caught up in the details that we lose sight of the bigger picture. During this time, let us be constantly aware of our end-goal by focusing both on our performance of mitzvot between man and the Divine and repenting in this area, but also channeling our energies on bettering ourselves in our daily interactions and relationships. Let us work not only to change external behaviors, but to also work on a deeper level to change our underlying middot and challenge our inclinations so that we can instinctively make right choices in the coming year. Shabbat Shalom, Taly
