Regarding Sichon’s victory in the war it engaged in with Moav, the pasuk says: “Regarding this the moshlim [poets] would say: ‘Come to Cheshbon—let it be built and established as the city of Sichon’” (Bamidbar 21:27). The Gemara explains that moshlim [poets] can also refer to those who rule [moshel] over their yetzer (their nature and impulses); such people say: “let’s make an accounting [cheshbon] of this world—weighing a mitzvah’s loss against its gain and a sin’s gain against its loss.”
Rav Ovadia Yosef asks, all this notwithstanding, what does the idea of someone who is moshel over his yetzer have to do with the context of the pasuk, which is related to the war between Sichon and Moav? Rav Ovadia explains that it is a known strategy of war that, when a king makes a siege around his enemies and wants to quickly defeat them, he must first conquer their most important stronghold so that he can easily rule over the enemy’s other locations. This is what Sichon did. He first conquered Cheshbon, the most important city of Moav and its stronghold and capital, and from there he was able to rule over the rest of Moav. Likewise, this is the way one has to conquer his yetzer—to first conquer the most important stronghold: the Torah.
The parsha begins with saying, “This is the law of the Torah…” and then goes on to discuss the laws of the parah adumah. The Torah could have just said “this is the law of the parah adumah.” Why did it say “this is the law of the Torah” and then goes on to discuss the laws of parah adumah? The Rokeiach writes that this is to teach us that the same way parah adumah purifies a person who is impure, so too does Torah study purify us. Perhaps we can ask further, why specifically is this lesson taught by the purification process of parah adumah and not by any other purification process mentioned in the Torah?
The parah adumah would purify someone who became impure through a dead body, and a corpse is the highest level of tumah. The lesson gleaned from the Rokeiach is perhaps teaching us that Torah study can even purify someone who is on the highest level of tumah, much like the parah adumah can purify someone who has incurred the highest level of impurity Thus, this lesson might be most appropriate in the context of the parah adumah since it highlights the power of Torah study. Based on this, we can begin to understand why our attention should initially and primarily be placed toward Torah.
The importance of learning mussar, endeavouring to improve our midot, and in general becoming better people is of the highest value. Yet, if a person is not involved in Torah, one might not see success. The mishna (Peah 1:1) says, “The following are the things for which a man enjoys the fruits in this world while the principal remains for him in the world to come: Honoring one’s father and mother; acts of kindness; and the making of peace between a person and his friend; and the study of the torah is equal to all of them.” The Klausenberger Rebbe asked, why does it state “Torah study is equal to all of them”; it should state “Torah study is greater than all of them”! He explains that the expression of “Torah study is equal to all of them” means that by studying Torah, one is able to do all the other matters stated in this list. By setting times to study Torah, one will be able to honor his parents, do deeds of kindness, and increase peace among people. But without Torah study, one will not succeed.
When we endeavour to come close to Hashem and change ourselves for the better, first things first should be turning to the Torah and indulging in Torah study. The Zohar says, one who is far from Torah is far from Hashem, and that it’s impossible to achieve any good attribute or character trait or fear [of Hashem], unless it’s through Torah. This is where we need to start; first things first: Torah. This is the first area we need to try to “conquer.”
Binyamin Benji is a graduate of Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan and Wurzweiler School of Social Work. He can be reached at [email protected].
