8This week, Moshe Rabbeinu speaks about the recruitment process for the Jewish army. People at certain pivotal life stages- people who just got married less than a year ago, planted a new vineyard without tithing it, built a new house without consecrating it- were exempt.
The Torah has a reason: that the person might be replaced. That his wife will remarry. That another man will take over his house or vineyard. That, says Rashi, causes great anxiety to a Jewish soldier.
But why was that explanation necessary? surely the fact that he might arrive home in a coffin is reason enough!
Rabbi Shimon Schwab OBM answers that these soldiers were truly righteous men. They knew that their chances of survival were small. But they had made investments for the sake of Torah. They wanted their vineyards to be tithed, their houses to be consecrated, their children to be raised as committed Jews. Those dreams could be ruined if the wrong man takes over. That is what a Jewish soldier concerns himself with.
We all have dreams and aspirations for our homes and our possessions. But sometimes life gets in the way and distract us. ‘Another man’-in the form of personal daily struggles and temptations- can easily replace the real ‘us’. Now that we have entered the month of Elul, the last month of the year, we have a golden opportunity to go back to being the people we want to be. To return to Hashem.
(as heard from Rabbi Daniel Staum. View the original lecture here)
Growing with the Parshah 