יברכך ה’ וישמרך 

יאר ה’ פניו אליך ויחנך 

ישא ה’ פניו אליך וישם לך שלום

Bircat Cohanim, the blessing of the Priests, is found in this week’s Parasha, Naso. This three verses text contains the words with which God instructs the Cohanim to blessing the congregation of Israel. It is worth clarifying that although the Cohanim are the ones who “recite” this prayer, it is the Creator, and not the Cohanim, who grants us these blessings.

We will now examine its content.

The first pasuq says 

“May HaShem (= God) bless you and protect you.”

BLESS YOU: This means: May HaShem grant me all the material blessings I need: a house, food, clothing, money, etc. Of course, the fact that God blesses me does not mean that I don’t have to work to make it happen. God’s blessing does not replace human effort. The farmer works the land and sows the seeds. And when God grants His blessing, the farmer reaps the fruits. The Divine blessing, therefore, implies a kind of association between man, who must strive and work, and God who blesses that effort with succes.

AND PROTECT YOU: We need Divine assistance in order to enjoy His blessings. How? We ask God to protect us from disease, accidents, tragedies. In this case, we also have the obligation to take the first step and become a “deserving” recipient of this blessing: if we ask HaShem to watch our health, we have to do everything in our power to stay healthy. We must avoid taking unnecessary risks and not exposing ourselves to accidents, misfortunes. 

Furthermore, Divine protection comes to complement Divine blessing. In a way, we are asking God to protect us from His material blessing. Firstly, because when all my material needs are met, my character can be negatively affected. I can fall into ostentation, arrogance, ungratefulness, and forgetfulness of God.

We ask HaShem to generously grant us what we need and at the same time to protect us from the adverse effects of material abundance.

“May HaShem enlighten you with His presence and grace you.”

ENLIGHTEN YOU: Now it is not about material but more spiritual blessings.  How does God enlighten us? Granting us  wisdom to understand His Tora. We must dedicate time and effort to study Tora. And the Almighty will bless us by illuminating our intelligence. By opening our eyes so that we understand His Tora and absorb its values. But wisdom is not enough …

AND GRACE YOU:

When a person has too much wisdom, sometimes he or she might lack social skills or “emotional intelligence”. An individual may be wise but not sensitive or empathetic enough. The smartest kid in the class isn’t always the most popular. In this blessing we ask HaShem to “grace us ”, that is, to inspire us to be loved by others, to  find grace in the eyes of others.  

“May HaShem direct His presence towards you and grant you peace.”

DIRECT HIS PRESENCE: This means “May God favor you,” may He grant you a special, particular attention. The greatest punishment for the Jewish people is to be “abandoned” by God. In fact the Tora affirms that if the Jewish people abandon the Tora, God will withdraw His special protection and we will be exposed to our numerous enemies. When the Tora describes this state of abandonment,  a consequence of our abandonment of God, it calls it  hester panim, “the hiding of God’s Face from us”.  

Our blessing, on the other hand, speaks of the ideal situation: when God directs His Face (His Presence, His Protection, His blessing) towards us, watching us closely. This is a privilege that we must earn. The closer we get to God, the closer He will get to us.

AND GRANT YOU PEACE: The best way to understand this expression is to think about the State of Israel. If Medinat Israel were a corrupt, marginal third world country the world would probably leave us alone. But Israel is under permanent Divine protection (or Intervention). Israel miraculously survives the constant attack of her tireless enemies. Israel won all the wars waged against her. Israel grows and thrives. This is surely thanks to the Jews who live in Israel, who fight to protect Israel and make it a prosperous country. But human effort is not enough. Israel is privileged to have  Divine assistance. The “eyes of God” permanently watch our beloved land and its inhabitants. However,  when the Creator grants us the privilege of His blessings, our enemies cannot tolerate it. And they will do everything in their power to prevent us from living in happiness, peace and prosperity.

We ask HaShem to favor us with His blessings but we also ask Him to save us from those who envy us and try to destroy us. So we may enjoy God’s blessings in peace. This is the ideal to which we aspire, as individuals and as a nation.

כי זה שנתים הרעב בקרב הארץ ועוד חמש שנים אשר אין חריש וקציר 

There has been famine in the land for two years now, and for the next five years, there will be no plowing, no reaping.

Genesis 45:6

Popular wisdom notwithstanding, modern archeology helps us to corroborate some historical aspects of the Tora’s narrative. Sometimes, it also provides us with cultural or historical tools to understand some little details that the Tora tells us that might go unnoticed. 

Let’s see now a couple of examples.

THE REASON FOR THE FAMINE

We all know Yosef’s story and rise as the Vizier of Egypt. Yosef interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, who saw seven full cows coming up from the Nile and seven thin, unhealthy cows coming from the Nile. Yosef interpreted the dream, predicting that Egypt would benefit from seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. 

Famine also affected other regions in the area, such as the land of Israel (Canaan). That’s when Yosef’s brothers came to Egypt for food, and Yosef recognized them, and after a dramatic reunion and reconciliation, his father and his brothers settled in Egypt.

Personally, and although I never thought much about the subject, I always assumed that the years of famine in Egypt were due to the same factor that determined hunger in the land of Israel: a severe drought. The problem with this assumption is that there is virtually no rain in Egypt (between 10 and 15 days a year), and Egypt’s abundant water comes exclusively from the Nile. But if lack of rain is not a phenomenon that could affect Egypt, what caused starvation in Egypt?

THE ARCHIVES OF AMENEMHAT

Modern archeologist and egyptologist David Rohl refers to ancient archives that recorded the measurements of the river Nile. Records show that the average level of the Nile was approximately 30 feet height. When the river dropped to, say, 25 feet, fewer crops were expected since the waters that annually overflowed the river would cover less land. When this happened, Pharaohs lowered the taxes to alleviate the farmers. On the other hand, when the river level rose to 40 or 45 feet, the water covered more territory, producing more crops, and taxes were obviously up. 

The most exciting thing for our subject is the records of a gradual and “exceptional” flood of the Nile in the time of Amenemhat III, which allows us to entertain a perhaps different explanation of some of the details of Yosef’s story.

TOO LITTLE OR TOO MUCH WATER

The archives record that in the times of Amenemhat, the Nile rose to 50 feet, producing an unprecedented abundance in Egypt. But then, and according to these identical records, the waters rose higher and higher, reaching almost 70 feet high! And suddenly, the abundance of water became a national emergency. The waters of the Nile rose like tsunamis, destroying the levees, drowning the cattle, and razing the adobe houses. The water did not recede. And it flooded the land during the plowing and sowing seasons. And as a result, there was no harvest. The starvation caused by these floods threatened Egypt on an unprecedented scale.

According to what was discovered in these archives then, it is possible that the famine in Yosef’s time was not a product of the drought but of the overflowing of the Nile.. This data would allow us to understand better a mysterious (or superfluous) little word that our Tora incidentally mentions, as in passing. 

When Yosef tries to comfort his brothers, who feel guilty about having sold him as a slave to Egypt, he tells them that in all these events, the Divine Providence intervened. It was God who sent Yosef to Egypt to save its people from famine. And then Yosef says (Genesis 45: 6): “… two years of hunger have already passed, and there are still five more years in which [the land] will not be plowed or harvested”

It is obvious why the Tora says that there will be no harvest. But why would Yosef mention that the land will not be plowed? Typically, every year, the farmer tries to plow and sow at the right season, even after a year of drought, hoping for the rain to come. The variable is the harvest, not the plowing.

We can understand now that in Egypt, the problem was not the drought but the flooding that prevented the plowing and sowing of the land.

Thanks to the discoveries of these archives, we can better appreciate the exquisite accuracy of the biblical story, even in what seems to be an extra and otherwise, irrelevant detail, like: “that the land will not be plowed”.

WHEN YOU DREAM OF COWS 

Ramban asserts that the cows represent “plowing” and wheat represents “harvesting”.

The records of the Nile may help us understand the symbolism of Pharaoh’s dream, and his confusion, differently. “The cows that rise from the Nile” represent the rise of the Nile. Usually, “the cows are full, healthy, that is, the annual flooding of the Nile brings food and prosperity. The mysterious and confusing element of Pharaoh’s second dream is that he saw seven “thin”, “hungry” cows coming up from the Nile. These skinny cows were an oxymoron for Pharaoh because the flooding of the Nile was supposed to be a source of abundance, not hunger!

The extreme flooding of the Nile for so many years in a row, as David Rohl suggests, was an exceptional phenomenon in the history of Egypt. In that case, it is not surprising that neither Pharaoh nor any of his advisers were able to understand the meaning of that mysterious dream until Yosef came to the Royal Palace. 

“Emuna” is generally translated as faith, and is understood as “believing in the existence of God”. But the Emuna / faith of Yosef went far beyond a passive faith/belief type. Yosef’s Emuna consisted of focusing his mind in God in bad times and in good times . His active faith guided his steps: stopping him before doing something morally wrong and motivating him to do what is right.   There is a fundamental difference between Yosef and his ancestors. HaShem spoke and communicated directly with Abraham, Itshaq and Ya’aqob. But HaShem never spoke directly with Yosef. In that sense, Yosef is similar to us: we do not have the privilege of a “direct” prophetic  revelation from God. Like Yosef, we also have to actively seek HaShem, think about Him, feel His presence and mainly, allow Him to guide our steps.

LIVING UNDER GOD’S SIGHT

When harassed by Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39: 9) Yosef had HaShem in his mind. At the time of that particular event, Yosef saw in his mind the image of his father Jacob, who reminded Yosef that what was about to happen with Potiphar’s wife was not be right in the eyes of HaShem. It is not rare or unusual than God’s memory appears by remembering our parents, especially what THEY taught us about God.  The most important manifestation of  Emuna should take place on the moral sphere. Emuna means: feeling that HaShem is watching us. This aspect of Emuna will prevent us from doing what is wrong in His eyes.

BAD BEGINNING. GOOD ENDING.

Later on, we see that Yosef’s Emuna also helped him to forgive his brothers. Yosef told them that when they sold him to slavery (Bereshit 50:19): “It is possible that you thought to do me wrong, but HaShem transformed that evil into a great good, to achieve what we are seeing today: saving the lives of many people”. Yosef’s Emuna made him realize that, many times, what today seems like a big problem, tomorrow turns out to be a great solution.

FAITH IN BAD TIMES

When Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of sexual harassment, Yosef was taken to jail. He was imprisoned for a  crime he did not commit. Apart from being a slave, Yosef was now a criminal. Nothing lower than that position in Ancient Egypt. Yosef had no hope of getting out of jail. He had no family to be looking for him and no one who knew him or cared about him. And yet, in this unjust and desperate situation, Yosef did not abandon HaShem. Many people in those circumstances would have lost their faith thinking: “If HaShem does not help me, why should I continue to believe in Him and be guided by His laws?”. Or “If this is happening to me, maybe God does not exist… “. When one is the victim of a great injustice, it is very possible that he would feel that HaShem abandoned him, or that ח”ו God does not exist. But Yosef persevered. He had HaShem present even in jail and never stopped believing in Him (40: 8).

FAITH AND HUMILITY

We read in this week’s Parasha, that Pharaoh suddenly needed the services of Yosef. The Egyptian monarch takes Yosef out of jail and tells him his dream. Yosef listens to Pharaoh’s dream and realizes what it means. The Tora does not say that HaShem revealed to Yosef the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream, as it happened with Daniel and Emperor Nebukhadnetsar a thousand years later. Yosef interprets the royal dream, apparently, on his own. Any average individual would have boasted of possessing a great wisdom or superpowers to interpret dreams. Yosef, however, did not attribute to himself the interpretation of the dream. “God [and not me!] is the one who will reveal the [meaning of] Pharaoh’s dream,”   said Yosef (Bereshit 41:16).   This too seems to be the reason Yosef did not ask anything in return for his service. When an opportunity of this kind arises, when, for example, the authorities take an inmate out of jail to ask for some type of information or to use some of his talents, the prisoner realizes that he has the possibility of getting out of jail, and he tries to make a “deal” with the authorities to go out. Yosef did not ask anything in exchange for interpreting Pharaoh’s dream. Because he attributed the interpretation to God, not to himself.

FAITH IN GOOD TIMES

It is important to have Emuna, faith in HaShem in bad times. But the most significant achievement in regard to a person’s Emuna is to keep HaShem in mind when he or she is in good health, happy and financially well. The faith of many people fails when facing the challenge of affluence, wealth and well-being. Then, a person might forget HaShem because he feels he does not need him any more ח”ו. Our Hakhamim warned us about this phenomenon when they told us גדול נסיון העושר מנסיון העוני that “the challenge of wealth” , having HaShem present when I’m well, “is more difficult than the challenge of poverty”, having God in mind when we require His help.

This week’s Parasha describes among other things the Ark of the Covenant, or aron haberit. The Ark was inside the Qodesh HaQodashim, the most sacred area of ​​the Mishkan or tabernacle.

What was inside the Ark of the Covenant? Among other things: a scroll of the Tora, a sample of the man and the rod of Aron haKohen. The Ark also contained the two Tablets with the Ten Commandments. But what happened with the first set of tablets  that Moshe broke when he saw the People of Israel worshiping the golden calf? 

What happened with the remains or pieces of the broken first Tablets? Our Rabbis assert that the fragments of the first tablets were also placed inside the Ark, next to the second Tablets (לוחות ושברי לוחות מונחים בארון).

And what can we learn from the fact that both the new Tablets and the remains of the first Tablets were in the same sacred place, same category?

1. We learn that an element that had qedusha (holiness) cannot be discarded in a dishonorable way.  This is why religious objects that carry the name of HaShem – say a Sefer Tora, Tefilin, a Mezuza – when can no longer be used they cannot be thrown away. We keep them until they can be buried. That is why in every synagogue there is a Geniza, usually a large box, where these and other religious objects or books that are no longer used are placed. And eventually all these elements will be taken to a cemetery where they are buried. According to Shulhan Arukh, a sefer Tora that has some unfixable imperfection (pasul) should be buried next to a Talmid Hakham.

2. The Hakhamim also learned  a great lesson from the fact that the remains of the old Tablets were kept next to the new tablets. If a respected Tora scholar is affected  by Alzheimer or senility, and loses his knowledge and wisdom he should still be treated with the same respect.  This individual is like the old broken Tablets. The content is gone and the  wisdom completely shattered. And still we should not stop honoring him!  

We learn from the fact that the Ark contained in the same place the new and the old “broken” tablets that we owe this person the same respect and honor that we gave him before. 

“Am Israel” is a leading example in terms of how much values honor parents, scholars and elders, regardless of their present mental condition. It is important to keep this in mind because we live in a society that appreciates and honors people, only when they are useful. 

Our Tora teaches us to honor not just what a person is but also what a person was.

PROBLEMS IN GOD’S LAND

This week’s Parasha begins with the story of Abraham, our first patriarch. God blesses Abraham repeatedly, assuring him that numerous peoples and civilizations will come from him and inherit the precious land of Canaan (Israel). But things happen differently than Abraham would have expected. Shortly after arriving in Israel, a tremendous famine hits the region, probably due to a lack of rain. The Midrash says that there was never such a famine in the land of Israel, and Abraham is forced to escape. But he does not return to the north, where he came from. Abraham traveled south to Egypt, which, thanks to the generous Nile, was not affected by droughts.

PROBLEMS IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

Abraham arrives in Egypt as a refugee escaping from starvation. In Egypt, he is a foreigner who can be easily abused. And besides, he has a very delicate problem. Despite her advanced age, his wife Sara was still a very beautiful woman. And Abraham knows the duplicity of Egyptian morality. For the Egyptians, adultery was forbidden, and marriage was sacred. And not even Pharaoh could take a married woman. But there was no moral or legal problem in taking a widow! Therefore, it was very tempting for any Egyptian to kill Abraham and take his wife. Human life in those times was worth nothing, especially that of a foreigner. Foreseeing all this, and with few other options, Abraham devises a plan: posing Sara as his sister. That way, Abraham when the Egyptians would come to Abraham asking for his “sister’s” hand, he would negotiate for months… He would start by demanding an exorbitant dowry for Sara, leading to long negotiations, and in the meantime, Abraham could sell all the merchandise he brought with him, buy some food, and return to Israel as soon as possible. The plan is perfect!

MURPHY LAWS
But Abraham’s plan did not work as he expected. Why? Because Abraham underestimated his wife’s beauty. And he never suspected that Pharaoh himself would be interested in Sara! When the king’s men saw her, there were no negotiations. Pharaoh’s men took Sarah by force, without Abraham’s consent, and then showered “her brother Abraham with gifts”, probably exceeding any exorbitant sum Abraham expected to be offered as a fake dowry.  Abraham is now desperate. God is not communicating with Abraham to tell him what to do, and he could not be sure if Sara’s kidnapping was part of a Divine plan to return to Israel and look for another wife to have children or if he had to wait for some type of Divine intervention.

REPARATIONS

Miraculously, and while Sara is still untouched, Pharaoh and his entire court suffered a rare affliction that the monarch correctly interpreted as a sign of Divine punishment. Pharaoh discovers the actual marital status of Sara, and he summons Abraham, rebukes him, and returns Sara to him. Then he expels Abraham from Egypt. Without knowing what had exactly happened in Pharaoh’s palace, Abraham is now safe, sound, and ironically “rich”. He returned to the land of Canaan with his beloved wife Sara.

How is it possible that the people of Israel reproduced so greatly in Egypt within a period of just 210 years?

Let us recall that the Tora explicitly indicates just two things:

 1- The number of Jewish men who arrived to Egypt was 70.  

2- When they left Egypt, there were 600,000 men between the ages of 20 and 60 years old. Including the women, children and elderly we assume a number of approximately 3 million.

THE MORE COMPLEX RESPONSE

Rabbi Shemuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865) formulated a couple of ideas that, although not far from the peshat– that is, the literal meaning of the biblical text- are still a little bit controversial.  He says that based on one explicit verse, Jews were in Egypt not for 210 years, but for 430 years (Shemot 12:40).  He also states that when the Tora speaks of the generations that have passed since the jews arrived to Egypt (too few to cover more than 400 years) the text does not refer to “father > son” rather, “patriarch > descendants” (this article in Hebrew explains in more detail the opinion of Rabbi Luzzatto) .

THE SAGES’ RESPONSE

Rabbi Luzzatto’s position might have a textual merit, but let us first explore the feasibility of what our Sages themselves state: the amount of time that the Jews spent in Egypt was indeed 210 years (116 of which they had spent in slavery). 

Our Sages, who also inquire as to how 70 families became 600,000, explain that Jewish women would birth to up to “6 children at a time” (bekeres echad). Yet I believe that we don’t even need to resort to the case of multiple sextuples to explain the increase in numbers.

THE EFFECTS OF MARRYING YOUNG

The most essential thing to understand is that 210 years could cover up to 10 generations- when taking into account that Jews, who have always practiced premarital abstinence, generally marry young. Until today, most observant Jews marry on average by 21-24 years of age. If 70 men arrived in Israel (with their wives) and each couple had, say a total of 6 children, in 6 generations will count: 3,265,920  (70 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6). 

We have an explicit example of a family of 6 generations in the case of Yehuda. Yehuda came down to Egypt and Nachson left Egypt, six generations later. Yehuda> Peretz> Hetsron> Ram> Aminadab> Nahshon. And Nahshon probably already had his own children when he left Egypt.  Dibre haYamim I (7:22) counts 9 generations from Efrayim, the son of Yosef, to Yehoshua bin Nun.   

RABBI ELYASHIV RESPONSE

I believe that the best way to grasp the realism of these Biblical numbers and the Rabbis’ opinions comes from the life of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv z”l.  This prestigious contemporary rabbi was the only child born to his parents after 17 years of marriage. He was born in 1910 and died in 2012. He reached a privileged age of 102 years. 

Now, how many descendants did Rabbi Elyashiv left in this world when he passed away? 

He had 12 children. And according to Wikipedia at the time of his death he had about 1,400 descendants, over 6 generations (See here). The secret? 1. His children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren also had a significant number of children (probably an average of 8 children) and 2. They married relatively young.

WHO WAS BILAM?

Although one of the Perashiot we read this week is named after the King of Moab, Balaq, the main protagonist is a very mysterious individual named Bil’am (Balaam). Who was Bil’am? Bil’am was a non-Jewish prophet. And according to our Sages, God revealed Himself to Bil’am on a level similar to that He revealed to Moshe (Moses).

But let’s not assume that because God revealed Himself to Bil’am, Bil’am was like Moshe. Actually, although both Moshe and Bil’am received a prophetic message, they processed this experience in a completely different way.

MOSHE’S EXPERIENCE

Communicating with God made Moshe realize how small and limited he was. An illustration. Moshe had many questions. One of the issues that most troubled Moshe was not understanding God’s administration of justice. How can it be that if God is all goodness (omnivolent) and all powerful (omnipotent), righteous men often suffer? However, after his “close encounter” with God, this question disappeared. But it did not disappear because Moshe found an answer to this question, but because closeness of God allowed Moshe to better realize his own insuperable limitations. His encounter with God made Moshe understand why he could not understand. As he approached the Infinity of God’s Wisdom, Moshe became aware of his own infinite smallness. And he understood that trying to grasp “God’s thoughts” is beyond the cognitive capacities of a human being, regardless of how wise or intelligent he may be. That is why after experiencing Divine revelation, Moshe, who was already a humble man, behaved with even more humility and became “the humblest man on the face of the Earth” (Bamidbar 12:03).

BILAM’S EXPERIENCE

Bil’am also had a close encounter with God, a similar overwhelming epiphany that Moshe Rabbenu experienced. But Bil’am’s reaction was exactly the opposite of Moshe’s. When God revealed himself to Moshe, Moshe focused on God, on his Infinite Wisdom and how far is from our grasp. But when God revealed to Bil’am, Bil’am focused on himself. Bil’am thought that if God communicated with him, it was because he, Bil’am, was a very special and unique person: an enlightened person. Bil’am convinced himself that if God spoke to Him it is because he was the most important man on the face of the planet. And he acted that way. Far from becoming aware of his finitude by becoming more aware of God’s infinity, Bil’am boasted that he could now understand Divine Wisdom. And at one point he uttered the most arrogant phrase ever written in the Tora: yode’a da’at ‘Elion,“ [I am Bil’am], the one who understands the mind of the Almighty. ”

THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

The same spiritual experience affected Bilam and Moshe Rabbenu in completely opposite ways. Moshe became the humblest man and Bilam, in the most arrogant. Bil’am, for example, referred to himself in the third person. And he also boasted that God spoke “through his mouth,” as if he were His chosen one. Bil’am boasted that he had the ability to destroy an entire nation, Israel, with the power of his word, without the need for a military confrontation. Bil’am thought that he could “force” the Divine will and “compel” God, through his magic to do whatever he, Bil’am, wanted.

WHEN DONKEYS SPEAK

Our rabbis point out that Bil’am learned a lesson in humility from whom he least imagined: his donkey.

When Bil’am was on his way to meet Balaq, who hired him to curse Israel, he was riding on his ass (a female donkey). The animal suddenly stopped and strayed from its path. The Tora explains that the animal was frightened because she saw an angel, and therefore stopped. But Bil’am punished his donkey and threatened her with his sword. God, then, “opened the mouth” of the animal and the donkey revealed to Bil’am why it had strayed.

Our rabbis explained the following:

Bil’am boasted that God “spoke through his mouth.” Now, Bilam saw that even a donkey, who was never considered a very intelligent animal, could also speak and transmit a Divine message, if God wants it. Ergo: Bil’am was not even superior to his donkey.

Bil’am also claimed that he could wipe out the entire nation of Israel with his magical curses. But then, why did he threaten to kill his donkey with his sword? Bil’am flaunted powers that he himself knew he did not have.

Finally, Bil’am claimed that he could understand the Divine Mind. And God shows Bil’am that he was not even able to understand the mind of a donkey…

The humble man is like Bamboo, says a Chinese proverb, the higher he grows the more he leans.

ואחר כן תבוא אליה…ולקחת לך לאשה
רש”י :לא דברה תורה אלא כנגד יצר הרע

WAR CRIMES
Throughout human history, the military leaders of all the peoples of this planet motivated their warriors to conquer the enemy, encouraging them with the promise of obtaining the tempting spoils of war: money, land… and the women of the enemy. They were part of the booty that belonged to the victor. And a great incentive to fight with more courage and adrenaline. Captured women were treated like objects, at the will of the soldier. After being abused the poor victims were killed or in the best case scenario sold as slaves. Wartime sexual assault was never questioned but normalized. And is not a  just thing of the past. In this article with the surprising title “”Challenging a tradition that enjoys impunity” we can read about the prevalence and normalization of wartime rape, even in the 20th century.

THE TORA IS DIFFERENT
In this week’s Parsha we see that the Tora demands of the Jewish soldier an exceptional behavior, completely different from the Gentile soldier. An attitude of respect towards the enemy that has no precedent or parallel in the annals of history, probably until well into the 20th or 21st century (remember, for example, Japan’s invasion of Nanjing, China, in 1937; or the behavior of the Russian soldiers in Germany, or even the abuse of ISIS in the XXI century). The Tora, with an incredible and perhaps unappreciated sense of anticipation for human rights, refers in this week’s Parsha to “the rights of female prisoners of war”. If the soldier wished to be intimate with that woman, he was obliged to marry her (something the Tora, in this suggestive way, discourages). If the Jewish soldier married her—these prisoners of war, or ‘ebed kena’aní, were automatically converted to Judaism—he had to allow her to mourn her family, grow her nails and shave her hair (following the customs of Gentile civilizations in biblical times) and only later could he marry her. Furthermore, once married, he could not discriminate against her or her children or make her work as a servant. All these “regulations” went through the soldier’s head and in a certain way made him reflect on whether it was really OK for him to get carried away by his impulse “now” and have to go through all this process “later”. The idea, obviously, is that all these regulations managed to dissuade the Jewish soldier from taking advantage of that defenseless woman.

POSTPONEMENT AS A STRATEGY IN LIFE

We should be amazed at the mental training, education, and control, that the Tora demands of a Jewish man. The Tora —attentive to the psychological state of a victorious soldier facing an attractive and defenseless woman in the enemy camp, where adrenaline easily combines with testosterone—doesn’t tell the soldier “you can’t be with that woman,” period. First, since most probably a simple “no” in these circumstances might bring the unintended consequences: abuse and rape. The Tora designed a strategy for the soldier to “take his time, think and reflect” and not get carried away by his impulse in the midst of war. This “mental mechanism” that the Tora designed is: positive procrastination. Rashi explains that this biblical commandment goes beyond the specific case of a soldier on the battlefield. The Tora  is teaching us a strategy to deal with our own yetser hara’: our physical urges, instincts and desires, when they are inappropriate. Instead of saying “NO”, the Tora tells the soldier: “YES, but NOT NOW.” Delayed gratification is a well-known psychological tool that educates the individual and trains him to control his impulses, and mature.

ONE NOW OR TWO A LITTLE LATER

The 1972 marshmallow experiment was a study on “delayed gratification.” It was led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University. In this study, children were offered a choice between a single marshmallow now or two marshmallows, if he or she waited a period of time. Once he explains this to the child, the researcher leaves the room for about 10 minutes and then returns with the second marshmallow in hand for those who resisted the temptation of immediate gratification. In follow-up studies, researchers found that children who were able to wait longer and control the urge to eat one marshmallow NOW tended to have better youth and adult life outcomes, better scores on SAT, educational achievements, and even the right body-mass index (weight), and other matters that demand “delaying gratification in the present” for greater gratification in the future

NEGATIVE PROCRASTINATION

But procrastination is a double-edged sword. Delaying a good and healthy project, which we know is necessary to improve our lives, is usually one of the most common psychological traps we set for ourselves. For example, when we need to lose weight, and we know we have to follow a strict diet, many times instead of saying to ourselves: “I’m not going to do it”, “I’m giving up good health”–an argument that our common sense and our guilt would not tolerate– we use the psychological strategy of procrastination, but in a negative way: we delay the diet from one week to the next. In this way, our guilt is silenced, because “we have decided to do it”,  but time will eventually bring oblivion, and the good resolution will probably die…

In the area of ​​our spiritual improvement, procrastination is also a lethal trap. During the month of Elul, and as we get closer to Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, we commit ourselves to adopting new habits and we resolve to make some major improvements in our Jewish lives. For example: “This year I will dedicate an hour every morning to study Tora”, “To read this very good book that has been highly recommended to me.” But then, when we find this project a bit difficult, we suspend it, but without giving it up completely! We tell ourselves that we are not really giving up. We’re just delaying this project until we find a better time. We convince ourselves that right now, we are very busy, business is very demanding, etc. …  The trap is that by not giving up on the idea altogether… by delaying this project into the future, we make it easier for our minds and guilt to abandon it, and eventually it will “die by procrastination”. The destructive side of our imagination — yester hara’ as Maimonides defines it — set us up psychologically, and we became victims of this old syndrome.

1. While in jail, Yosef correctly interprets the dreams of the imprisoned Pharaoh’s officers. Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream. He is standing by the Nile when he sees seven fat cows coming out of the river and seven skinny cows eating the fat ones. Pharaoh has a second dream: seven healthy ears of wheat come out of a stalk, followed by seven thin ears. And the seven healthy ears are swallowed by the thin ones. Pharaoh was troubled and called all the wise men of his land, but none could understand his dream’s meaning. The officer tells Pharaoh about Yosef, and Yosef was immediately taken out of jail and introduced to Pharaoh.
2. Yosef satisfyingly interprets Pharaoh’s dream: both dreams contain a single message: there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of severe famine. Yosef proposed a plan to store grain during the years of plenty as a reserve for famine. Pharaoh is very impressed by Yosef’s wisdom and appoints him to oversee Egypt’s economy and second in command. Pharaoh orders the Egyptians to bow down to Yosef, changes his name to Tzafenat Pa’aneach, and gives him a priest’s daughter as his wife. Yosef was then only 30 years old.
3. Yosef stores extra grain in the cities. Two sons are born to him during this time: Menashe and Efraim. The seven years of plenty end and famine arrives in Egypt. When the people started complaining to Pharaoh, Yosef opened the silos and started selling the grain. Starving people come from all over Egypt to buy food. Hunger also reaches the entire Middle East. Jacob sends all of his children, except Binyamin, to buy food in Egypt. When Yosef sees his brothers, he pretends he doesn’t know them while they do not recognize him. Yosef deliberately accuses his brothers of being spies and imprisons them for three days.
4. On the third day, Yosef frees them all except Shimon, whom he holds hostage, and allows the brothers to return to Canaan. He also warns them that they can only return to Egypt if they arrive with Binyamin to establish their innocence. The brothers acknowledge to themselves that what was happening to them was a punishment for selling Yosef and express their repentance. Yosef instructs his servants to deposit the money the brothers had paid for the food in the grain sacks they were given. The brothers return to Canaan and tell everything that happened to Jacob. Jacob is very disturbed by the events and initially refuses to send Benjamin to Egypt because he is unwilling to the possibility of losing Rachel’s only remaining son. However, in the end, after the food supplies run out and Yehuda personally guarantees his return, Jacob agrees to send Binyamin. He sends his sons to Egypt with generous gifts for the Egyptian ruler.
5. The brothers arrive in Egypt. Yosef orders his assistant to invite them and join him for the evening meal. The brothers arrive at Yosef’s house, they meet Shimon, and when Yosef arrives, they give him the gifts that Jacob sent. Yosef gets very emotional seeing his younger brother Benjamin. The brothers sit down to eat and enjoy a good dinner, and Yosef gives presents to everyone and extra gifts to Benjamin. In the morning, the brothers return, but only after Yosef has his royal cup planted in Benjamin’s food sack. Yosef then sends an officer to confront the brothers and to find the “stolen” silver goblet. The brothers are brought back to Yosef, who demands that Binyamin, the alleged thief, be punished by remaining there as a slave.