Seek No Allies!!! 1989

Kahane on the Parasha

Rabbi Meir Kahane- Parashat Balak

SEEK NO ALLIES!!!

To be alone is the destiny of the Jew ever since it was decreed "Hen, am l'vadad yishkon," "Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone" (Numbers 23:9). But the word "hen," which is generally translated as a poetical "lo," is much more than that, since the Torah isn't primarily a book of poetry. So the Rabbis, noting that the Hebrew word "hen" is composed of the letters hei and nun, state:

"Take all the letters and you will find [that if one wishes to add two of them together to get the sum of 10] each letter has a partner, but hei [the number 5] and nun [the number 50] have no partners. [For example, the letter aleph (one) and tet (nine) add up to 10; bet (two) and chet (eight) add up to 10; gimel (three) and zayin (seven) add up to 10; daled (four) and vav (six) add up to 10. Only hei (five) has no partner [except for a second hei. Similarly the letter nun (50) has no partner other than another nun to get the sum of 100]" (Yalkut, Balak 23).

This remarkable Midrash emphasizes more than anything the halachic injunction of isolation. Not only must the Jew not be afraid of being isolated, he is commanded to choose isolation. THAT IS WHY ALL JEWS MUST LIVE IN ERETZ YISRAEL- SO AS TO BE ISOLATED FROM THE NATIONS AND THEIR CULTURES!!! In the words of the Rabbis: "separated from the nations of the world and their abominations" (Mechilta, Yitro, Bachodesh Hashlishi 2:3).

But there is another lesson to be learned from the requirement of isolation, and that is that the Jew is NOT ALLOWED to seek allies- that the very act of seeking allies is one of faithlessness to G-d. Thus, we find the prophet Isaiah condemning the Jews of his time for turning to Egypt for aid against the Assyrians who were threatening them: "Woe to the rebellious children, says the L-rd, who take counsel, but not from Me; and who prepare a plan, but not of My spirit, in order to add sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt but did not inquire of My Mouth, to seek strength in Pharaoh's stronghold and to take shelter in the shade of Egypt!" (Isaiah 30: 1-2).

And again: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who rely on horses; they trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, neither do they seek the L-rd" (Ibid. 31:1).

Consider the words of the prophet, and the context in which they were said. Assyria, the mightiest empire of its time, the empire that had vanquished nation after nation, is descending on Israel. Is it not normal to seek allies? What would religious Jews and rabbis say today about seeking help from the United States? Surely they would all cry out the need for "practicality." But the prophet does not. He condemns it.

And the great Biblical commentator, the Radak, explains: "It is not enough that they have sinned and erred, but they add the sin of asking besides me help from someone else without My permission? And this is a great rebellion of the servant against his master, as he places his trust in someone else besides him" (commentary on Isaiah 30:1).

The fear of man, of human flesh and blood, rather than trust in the Almighty, has ever been the cause of tragedy for the Jewish people! Let's consider the national tragedy that befell the Jewish people when its kingdom was split into two after the death of Solomon. Why did this occur? Because Solomon sinned by marrying Pharaoh's daughter who turned his heart from G-d, as it says (1 Kings 11:11), "And the L-rd said to Solomon, 'Since...you have not kept My covenant and My statues which I commanded upon you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.'"

But why such a harsh punishment for marrying Pharaoh's daughter? It hardly, at first glance, seems to fit the crime.

The Seder Olam writes that the original decree was only to last 36 years "in line with the 36 years that Solomon was married to Pharaoh's daughter...The Kingdom was due to have been restored in the reign of King Asa...but Asa ruined it by sending a bribe to the king of Aram [when he was attacked by Basha, King of Israel], not relying on the Almighty but on the king of Aram." The Radak cites the Seder Olam and writes similarly, "The decree was that the kingdom should be split for 36 years corresponding to the 36 years that Solomon was the son-in-law of Pharaoh."

Consider the odd language of the Radak: "the son-in-law of Pharaoh." Why not say: "the husband of Pharaoh's daughter"? Because the real sin was that Solomon married the woman in order to be the son-in-law of Pharaoh! Egypt was the most powerful nation of its time and Solomon hoped to neutralize her and make her an ally by marrying the monarch's daughter, a common method of diplomatic alliance throughout history. Solomon feared man, not G-d, and sought through this marriage to guarantee his kingdom. Therefore, the Almighty punished him with the perfect and most fitting punishment: the splitting of his kingdom.

And that is the reason for the following remarkable statement in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b): "When Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, Gabriel came down and struck a reed in the sea which gathered about it a sand-bank upon which was built the great city of Rome." The point made by the Rabbis is clear. On the day Solomon showed fear of man rather than faith in G-d and made an alliance with Pharaoh to save his kingdom, the ultimate destruction of the Kingdom- Rome- was born. What a remarkable underlining of the foolishness and sin of trusting in humans when all flesh is in the hands of G-d! What a remarkable example of how history is created and guided by G-d!

"Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone." L'vadad! Alone! THAT IS THE JEWISH WAY!

The Jewish Press, 1989

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