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In last week’s Torah portion (Matos), the Torah narrates the thoughts and events of Jewish history as the Jews and their leader (Moshe Rabeinu) stood on the east bank of the Jordan, poised to enter the land of Israel. Among other things, two of the tribes (Reuven and Gad) actually sought to remain on the east bank, because the land there was good for cattle, of which they possessed a lot. This aroused Moshe’s ire, because on the surface of it, this was exactly the problem that the spies had created forty years previously – they did not want to enter the Land. But, when the two tribes agreed to enter at the vanguard of the Jewish army and vanquish the enemy (the seven indigent nations), and only afterward to return and build their own homes on the east bank, Moshe relented.
This week’s Torah portion relates the forty-two journeys that the Jews underwent in the desert during the course of forty years. And then, Moshe exhorts the Jews to enter the land of Israel and conquer the seven indigent nations of Canaan. He tells the Jews that if they fail to do so, then these seven nations will become “like pins in your eyes.” The entire verse (Num. 34:55) reads as follows, “But, if you fail to expel the inhabitants of the Land from before you, then those whom you leave over will become like pins in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the Land in which you settle.”
When you think about this verse, though, you may wonder, what did these local inhabitants do to the Jews to warrant being expelled from the Land? None of them did any harm to the Jews, nor did they declare war against them. All the troubles that the Jews experienced came from other nations, such as the Phillistines and the Assyrians. Moreover, why does the Torah text tell us that they will be like “pins in your eyes,” as opposed to some other simile or metaphor that describes a state of enmity between two peoples? Why specifically “pins in your eyes”?
The insight offered by R’ Menachem Mendel is truly fascinating. He differentiates between the seven indigent nations of Canaan and all other nations. He says that all other nations, whether the Phillistines, the Assyrians,etc, were quite open and “up-front” about their hatred toward the Jews. They did not hide their enmity. However, the seven indigent nations of Canaan knew what was at stake. It was their very existence and the possession of the land that was at stake. So, they took a different approach than that of the other nations. They attempted to be friendly and cooperative, while hiding their dislike of the Jews. In truth, this approach was much more insidious, because it masked their true intentions. They knew that it was useless to take on the Jews in a frontal, physical attack. The Canaanite nations had their own traditions, which informed them that eventually, the Jews would return to Canaan and take it back from them. So, they sought to undermine the Jews in a different fashion – by seducing them to sin. Only by seducing them to sin, they knew, did they have a chance of fending the Jews off. Therefore, their strategy was to act nice, to appear pliable and accepting of the Jews, and at the same time to try to get the Jews to do something they shouldn’t do. (This strategy already worked partially even before the Jews crossed into Israel, when the Midianites seduced the Jewish leaders, using the most desirable Midianit women. In that case, Moshe Rabeinu ordered a war of retribution against them and wiped them off the face of the earth).
And for similar reasons, the Torah commanded the Jews to wipe the seven indigent Canaanite nations of the face of the earth. It is one thing when your enemy is forthright and open about his intentions. It is quite another when he conceals his true intentions, acting nice while attempting to seduce and undermine – in that case, since you cannot know what to expect from him, and you do not know how, when, and where he will attack, the only option is to rid yourself completely of his presence. And that is why the Jews were commanded to expel, convert or wipe out the seven indigent Canaanite nations living in the land of Israel. When you don’t know what to expect from your enemy, the best policy is to rid yourself of him completely…
Specifically, how did the seven nations hope to “trip up” the Jews? Obviously, persuading them to commit “serious” sins such as illicit relations, idol worship, etc, would not work. The Midianites had already tried that and failed. So, the seven Canaanite nations tried to trip up the Jews with more “minor” sins, such as in how they dress and how they speak. They got friendly with the Jews, and then suggested that they try on this piece of clothing, or that other garment that was not so modest, for example. Or, to speak negatively about things that needn’t be spoken of at all. The strategy was to get the Jews to falter spiritually, and then it would not be necessary to make war against them, because their own God would see that the Jews were not worthy of inhabiting the land of Israel. If the God of the Jews judged the Jews to be unworthy, He Himself would keep them out of Israel. Ultimately, this strategy did not work, for the Jews were commanded to rid the land of these nations completely, and that is what they did.
The Ilana deChaya draws a very interesting lesson for today. He quotes from the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi Shabbat 75B) that says that only one person in a hundred dies from natural causes. The rest – 99% - pass away as the result of eyn harah – the “evil eye.” Although according to biology and physics, we “see” because rays of light enter our eyeball and activate nerve endings on the retina, kabala and chasidut understands the visual process in a different manner. According to kabala and chasidut, our ability to see is because our eyes “emit” rays, that encounter objects outside of us and thereby make us aware of them. And therefore, vision is an active, not a passive activity. From this stems the concept of eyn harah, or “evil eye.” When we draw attention to ourselves in a negative fashion, such as by wearing immodest clothes or speaking negatively, the negative attention affects us badly. As the Talmud Yerushalmi says, it affects most people in the worst possible way. And for that reason, it is incumbent upon us to avoid all of the negative influences, from wherever they might be coming. Even when people act friendly and approach us pleasantly, it is best to respond civilly but hold them firmly at bay, in order not to attract extraneous negative attention from them, which can be very damaging. As R’ Menachem Mendel writes, “And this matter I see with my own eyes every today, as many people come to me and pour out their hearts in bitterness and also write to me from faraway places about strange diseases and suffering that they undergo. And I see that in the vast majority of cases, it comes from the ‘evil eye҅and sometimes I investigate as to the source of the problem and I find that it occurred just at the time when the ‘evil eye’ has influence, and they admit as much. And therefore, one must be very careful not to go about in such clothes nor to look at them at all.”
The Ilana deChaya concludes by commenting on a previous verse (Num 33:51), “For you are crossing the Jordan river toward the land of CanaanŔ He interprets this to mean that, “as you seek to subdue the coarse earthliness within you and to enter the realm of holiness within” - at that point I warn you - Ӆand you shall conquer the inhabitants from before youŔ That is, you must completely distance them, so that you do not take on their characteristics arrogance and bad qualities. And if you fail to do so, but rather take on their conduct and wear their clothes, then, they will be “like pins in your eyesŔ That is, they will cause the evil eye to have influence over you as you wear their clothes. For, the word here for “pin” (sicah) is from the word soche, meaning “vision” (as in Sarah our fore-mother, who was originally called Yiscah, since she was socheh be’ruach hakodesh – she had holy spiritual “vision”).
From the Ilana deChaya of R’ Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, parshat Ma’asei