By Rabbi Joshua ( magnetically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman z"l
In this week's parsha, we find a lengthy discussion of how Jewish soldiers should act when they go out to war. As a general statement, they are told, 'venishmarta mekol davar ra' and you should guard yourself from anything evil (Devarim,23:10). The Torah goes on to say that if If a soldier has a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp for that night, to maintain the holy nature of the camp, Soldiers who need to relieve themselves must also go outside of the camp, and dig a place for their waste.The guiding principle here, as the torah states, is 'vehaya machanecha kadosh'- your camp should be holy.( Devarim, 23:15). Ramban cites the Sifrei which explains this to mean that the soldiers should not engage in the kinds of activity that the previous inhabitants of Eretz Yisroel, such as the Cana'anim, practiced and for which they were thrown of the land., such as idolatry and sexual immorality. The Torah especially warns against these practices here, says the Ramban, because at a time of war people let their self- control become lax, and they transgress many cardinal sins. Interestingly, he mentions that according to the Sifrei, when the Torah tells the soldier to guard himself from anything evil the words for "everything evil" "davar ra", should be read as "dibbur ra", "evil speech", and refer ring to evil talk, or leshon hora, and is telling th e soldier to guard his speech during the war. Here , too, we can understand that in a war-time situation, soldiers are apt to lose any control they usually have over their speech, and indulge in evil talk. The Mesillas Yesharim, by Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, brings a source which says that the 'dibbur ra' referred to here is 'nivul peh,' or vulgar speech, which, as is well known, soldiers are also very susceptible to engage in at time of war.. Ramban explains these restrictions as being a message tot he soldier not to engage in the kinds of practices that caused their enemy, with whom they are now engaged with in a war, to be expelled from the land. I would like to suggest another purpose behind the Torah's warning to the soldiers to guard themselves from these prohibitions precisely in the context of war, based on the verse that immediately follows this section of laws.
The Torah tells us, after describing the way in which Jewish soldiers should deport themselves in war, " You shall not turn over to his master s slave who is rescued from his master to you ' (Devarim, 23:16). According to the Talmud, this refers to a Cana'anite slave of a Jew who has fled from outside of Eretz Yisroel to Eretz Yisroel. However, Ramban says that, according to the plain sense of the verse, it is referring to a slave belonging to the enemy who flees from their camp to our camp. The torah is telling us that we should not return the slave to the enemy, in which case he would continue to serve idols, but, rather , guide him towards becoming Jewish and worshiping the One God. I believe that this verse sheds light on the purpose for the wars in which Jews engage, and the laws governing the Jewish soldiers in their encampment.
The wars that are fought against the idolatrous inhabitants of Eretz Yisroel and its surrounding neighbors are meant to remove evil from the land. Before fighting these wars, peace is offered to these nations. Included in the terms of peace is a commitment to observe the seven Noachide laws, which include a prohibition against idolatry, against sexual immorality, and against murder-the three cardinal sins. According to both Ramban and Rambam, peace is offered before both a milchemes mitvah, an obligatory war, and a milchemes reshus, a voluntary war to widen the boundaries. Although,according to Rashi, peace is not offered before a milchemes mitzvah,my teacher, Rav Ahron Soloveichi,zt'l,felt that Rashi would agree with the Ramban that if the enemy accepted peace terms upon itself, they would be accepted even in a milchemes mitzvah. Thus,when a nation goes to war against the Jewish nation, it means that it has refused to accept upon itself the seven Noachide laws, which constitute the minimum of human morality. When the Jewish nation embarks upon war, then its goal is to remove that evil presence from the world. The Jewish camp, the Torah tells us, must be maintained in a state of holiness- " and your camp shall be holy." By maintaining the requisite level of holiness, the Jewish camp will serve as a magnet to others, as well, and inspire them to abandon idolatry and serve the One, true God,even though the warring nation as a whole did not feel this attraction. Rabbeinu Yonah, in his commentary to Avos, 2, 1, as elaborated upon by Rav Yerucham Levovitz in his Da'as Chochman U'Mussar, explains that mishneh, which says that one should be as careful with a minor mitzvah as with a major mitzvah, to mean that a person sanctifies God's name when he is careful in everything he does, always having God in mind during even the smallest activity he engages in.
Based on Rabbeinu Yonah's approach, as explained by Rav Yerucham, we can explain that when the Torah tells the soldier to guard himself from anything evil, it includes, as the Sifrei tells us, everything from the most stringent transgressions, such as idolatry and sexual immorality, to the seemingly minor ones, such as evil talk. In this way, the soldiers will take care in all their actions while at war, and have God constantly in mind. The holy atmosphere that will result in the camp as a result of this deportment of the soldiers will then draw people from the other camp to that aura of holiness, even though their nation as a whole was not drawn in this way..To the extent that slaves belonging to that camp will flee their masters in order to become Jewish. In this way, the true purpose behind the nation's war will be accomplished,
