12 Mar STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL: LESSONS FROM PURIM AND TORAH LEADERS

We have previously
discussed the
difference between
Chanukah, where the
Maccabees took up
arms to defend their
sovereignty, and
Purim, where the Jews relied on prayer
without engaging in physical defense. Today,
we will delve into that topic again,IY”H.
While almost every sensible Jew supports
the war against the terrorists and enemies,
conflicting statements in Chazal require
clarification for a clear understanding of the
Torah’s approach.
The Importance of Non-Resistance
Against Aggressors.
Chazal(ה ויצא תנחומא (‘tell us that during
hard times of crisis, when a vicious enemy
tries to harm us, we should not fight in the
heat of the moment. Instead, we should let
the situation be, and eventually, it will pass.
However, those who stand against them and
fight often end up being defeated. There are
numerous examples in history, some of
fighting and some of not fighting enemies,
which clearly demonstrate that whenever we
fought an enemy or stood against them, we
were bitterly defeated. Conversely, whenever
we chose to shy away or avoid direct conflict,
we were able to survive. While fighting and
standing against them often brings
devastating results, using methods of hiding
or escaping usually saves the person.
The prophet cried out: “Come, my people,
enter into thy chambers … hide yourself for
a little moment” (כ ,כו ישעיה(. Hashem
declared: I told you to restrain yourselves
and to surrender to the conditions that prevail
at the moment.
few brings’) מדרש תנחומא ויחי סימן ה)Midrash
:(מלכים א כא) Tanach from examples
Navot owned a vineyard next to King
Ach’av’s palace. Ach’av wanted Navot’s
vineyard to expand his own property and
offered to buy it or exchange it for another
vineyard. However, Navot refused because
the land had been passed down to him from
his ancestors and he did not want to give it
up.
Ach’av was deeply upset by Navot’s refusal
and went home in a sulking and depressed
mood. His wife, Queen Izevel, saw his
distress and asked him what was wrong.
When Ach’av explained the situation with
Navot’s vineyard, Izevel took matters into
her own hands. She forged letters in Ach’av’s
name, ordering the leaders of Navot’s city to
falsely accuse Navot of cursing Hashem and
the king. This led to Navot being stoned to
death, and Izevel told Ach’av that he could
now take possession of the vineyard.

From here, we see the devastating results of
Navot’s refusal to compromise (when
Ach’av demanded his land), and so it is
written about him: “Navot was stoned, and is
dead”.
Mordecai, in refusing to bow down to
Haman, chose not to temporize or
compromise his beliefs. This defiance nearly
led to the destruction of the nation of Israel,
as Haman sought to annihilate the Jewish
people in response.
On the other hand, David fled and escaped
from Shaul, and he also fled from Avshalom
his son.
King Shaul sought to kill David, who was
anointed as the next king of Israel. David,
rather than fight against Shaul, chose to flee
and avoid direct confrontation, as he
respected Shaul’s position as king. Later,
when David’s own son Avshalom rebelled
against him and sought to take the throne,
David again chose to flee in order to avoid a
bloody conflict within his own family. These
instances demonstrate David’s wisdom in
avoiding unnecessary confrontation and
preserving life.
Avraham relied upon Sarah when he was at
risk of being killed and asked her to say she
was his sister to save himself. Yitschak
demeaned himself before Esav, as is said:
“And Yitschak loved Esav” (כח ,כה בראשית(.
Similarly, Yaakov fled from Esav, as it is
said: “Yaakov fled into the field of Aram”
.(הושע יב, יג)
Moshe did likewise, as it is said: “He fled
.(שמות ב, טו) “Pharaoh from
This approach was taught by our sages, who
demonstrated how one should handle times
when a wicked person harasses you. They’ve
learned this from the story of Rabbi Akiva,
who recounted an incident where his boat
capsized, and he found himself in the sea,
struggling for his life not to drown. In this
desperate moment, he managed to grab onto
a wooden board to stay afloat. However, the
constant high waves still threatened his life.
Rabbi Akiva found a way to survive by
lowering his head under the water, allowing
the waves to pass over him safely. This
clever and resourceful act saved his life
amidst the perilous sea.
The Gemara concludes by saying that we
learn from this that whenever wicked people
come to harass you, you should follow Rabbi
Akiva’s example and lower your head, not
standing against them directly. This is the
method of survival.
Our sages and rabbis throughout the
generations have always warned to behave
in such a way: to accept the exile until
Hashem redeems us and not to fight back
against the oppressors.

The holy Chafetz Chaim
writes on the pasuk: “תתגרו אל
Midrash The .)בם“ )דברים ב, ה
says: “If you see Esav, seeking
to provoke you, do not stand
against him, but hide
yourselves from him.
“The Torah teaches us not to
confront the nations even
when they provoke us. We
should follow in the footsteps
of our father Jacob in his battle
with his brother Esav. As the
Ramban explained in Parshat
Vayishlach, there is an allusion here for all
generations: everything that happened to our
father with his brother Esav will always
happen to us with the descendants of Esav. It
is fitting for us to follow the path of the
righteous, preparing ourselves for the three
things he prepared himself for: prayer,
charity, and escape through war, to flee and
escape, etc.
“And behold, as long as we have followed
this subjugation Hashem have saved us from
their hands. But since we have strayed from
our path and adopted new ways, abandoning
the weapon of our father and grasping the
weapon of our enemies, we have walked
haltingly and found many evils and troubles.”
There are many more examples of the same,
and therefore the obvious conclusion should
be that whenever we are terrorized by
neighboring terrorists, we should not respond
but rather maintain silence, as responding
can only worsen the situation.
Standing Up to Defend Our Sovereignty
and Dignity.
On the other hand, we have exactly opposite
instructions as the Torah divides Jewish wars
into two parts: a voluntary war, a mitzvah
war which is an obligated war. A voluntary
war is to expand our borders, while mitzvah
wars are those we were commanded to wage
when we conquered the land of Israel and the
war against Amalek. Also, war against an
enemy that comes to attack us is considered
a mitzvah. This is written in the Torah(פרשת
(‘הלכות מלכים פרק ה)Rambam the and) שופטים
expounds on it. Now, how can there be a
mitzvah or even voluntary war when the
correct approach according to the sources we
mentioned above is to be submissive and
surrender to our enemies’ aggression?
Add to that an open and clear halacha(שולחן
ס״ו שכט סימן ערוך (that when there is a
possible attack on a Jewish establishment
such as a city or village, we must violate the
Shabbat and go help them defeat the enemy.
Again, we see that the Torah obligates us to
stand against those who come to fight us.
We all familiar that Yaakov Avinu prepared

for three things before meeting Esav, one of
which was to prepare for war(,לב וישלח רמב״ן
ט (. Surprisingly Chazal did not rebuke him
for this, unlike other leaders such as
Mordecai as mentioned before. On the
contrary, our sages said that we should learn
from Yaakov’s way of preparing when
meeting an adversary. What’s the difference?
Assessing the Situation and Acting
Accordingly.
The obvious answer is that we always have
to assess our abilities. In a place where we
are few and fighting back will only bring
more harassment and aggression, of course,
we should avoid doing so and ‘swallow the
bullet.’ But once we are able to defeat the
enemy, we must do so. To better explain this,
we need to differentiate between when we
were in exile, where we didn’t have the
capabilities to fight back since we were few
and defenseless; then we must surrender and
save whatever we can. However, whenever
we have our own country and an army, we
must not allow others to threaten our
existence and sovereignty, lest we be
repeatedly attacked.
We find this very same idea in the
Gemara(ב ,ו מגילה (which discusses two
contradictory statements. In one statement it
says in the name of Rabbi Yitzhak: “If you
see a wicked man whom the hour is smiling
upon, i.e., who is powerful and victorious,
do not provoke him, as it is stated: ‘Contend
not with evildoers’ (לז תהלים(. And not only
that, but if you provoke him, his undertakings
will be successful, as it is stated: ‘His ways
prosper at all times(י תהלים (.“‘
On the other hand, Rabbi Yochanan said: “It
is permitted to provoke the wicked in this
world, as it is stated(כח משלי (:’ They that
forsake the Torah praise the wicked; but they
who keep the Torah contend with them.’”
After suggesting a couple of answers, the
Gemara concludes that there is a difference:
when a wicked person has fortune on their
side and is powerful, one should not fight
them to avoid being defeated. However, if a
wicked person is not favored by fortune and
is vulnerable, then we should confront them
for their cruelty.