In this week’s parsha, Hashem instructs Moshe to go to battle with Midyan, in revenge for having caused Bnei Yisrael to sin with Baal Peor. Moshe relays the directive to the people who go to battle with Midyan. When they return from battle, Moshe realizes that Bnei Yisrael only destroyed the males of Midyan but took the women and children captive. The very same women who engaged in promiscuous activity with members of Am Yisrael and caused them to sin with Ba’al Peor, which resulted in a plague! Moshe is very upset with this result.
The Torah states:
“Moshe became angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds—who had returned from the campaign of war. Moshe said to them, ‘Did you allow all the females to live?’”
The Oznayim L’Torah inquires as to why the Torah repeats Moshe’s name here. First we are told that Moshe is upset, then the Torah repeats that Moshe speaks. The Torah could have simply stated that “he said” and it would be understood that Moshe was speaking, as he is the subject in the previous sentence. Why the need to repeat his name?
Perhaps we can derive a significant lesson from this repetition. There was a break between Moshe’s immediate feeling of anger and the moment that he spoke. Moshe did not address the nation in the heat of the moment. He waited a little for his anger to subside and then he spoke to them. This is highlighted by the use of the word, “vayomer” which is typically identified as a softer form of speech as compared to “vayedaber.”
In the midst of experiencing anger, a person does not always act rationally. Moshe took a breath, gathered himself and then spoke to the people. That is why his name is repeated a second time. To emphasize that it is not the same Moshe in his state of anger, who addressed the nation. It was Moshe in a peaceful state of mind, who spoke in a respectful manner.
Several baalei mussar speak of a chassid who when he got angry would put on his designated “anger coat,” which he kept in his attic. He purposely kept it there so that when he was angry, he would have to walk up three flights of stairs to get his coat, and after the tireless climb up all those stairs, his true anger would subside.
The Rambam suggests that when it comes to behavior, people should avoid extremes and steer towards the middle path. Yet when it comes to anger, the Rambam states in Hilchot Deot 2:3 that one should go to an extreme to avoid getting angry, as anger causes one to lose their senses.
During the Three Weeks, as we recall the destruction of the Batei Hamikdash due to sinat chinam, we should contemplate ways of improving our relationships with our family and friends and being more tolerant of others who may have differing views or hashkafot. We ought to consider the way we react to others. If we get angry—which can happen—we should follow Moshe’s lead and take a “break.” Try not to react immediately while in the heat of the moment, so as not to say something we may later regret. As is stated in the Talmud: “Three things are very telling about a person, the way he acts when he drinks, contributes to charity and the way he reacts when angry,” (Eruvin 65b).
May we be able to interact in a positive manner with each other, so that we may be zoche to a geula shleima bimhera biyamenu!
Rabbi Shalom Rosner is rosh beit midrash of the Machon Lev English speaking program and rabbi of the Nofei HaShemesh community. He is also the Tzurba Maggid Shiur, giving a weekly shiur on Tzurba Hilchot Shabbat. He is a member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau (www.mizrachi.org/speakers). The RZA-Mizrachi is a broad Religious Zionist organization without a particular political affiliation.
