The haftarah of our parsha contains a pasuk which can underscore the importance of shalom— peace. It states: “How pleasant are the footsteps of the herald upon the mountains, announcing peace,” and the midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9) says that this pasuk shows us the greatness of peace, for it teaches us that when Mashiach arrives, he will not open [with anything] other than with peace.
Peace is so important on a practical level, as preserving peace may provide us with protection and safety, while a lack of it may incur a state of vulnerability. In our parsha it states, “If a matter of judgment is hidden from you, between blood and blood, between verdict and verdict, between plague and plague, matters of dispute in your cities—you shall rise up and ascend to the place that Hashem, your God, shall choose.” The Arizal seems to explains this pasuk as follows: “If a matter of judgment is hidden from you”—when you experience Hashem’s judgment and don’t understand His ways; “between blood and blood”—if you come and ask how it can be that so much Jewish blood has been spilled; “between verdict and verdict”—if you further ask how it can be that a mother and her child have been slaughtered even on the same day; “between plague and plague”—if you continue to ask how it can be that the Beit HaMikdash was burnt; “matters of dispute in your cities”—the answer to all these questions is that because of the hostility and lack of shalom, these punishments are meted out; “you shall rise up and ascend to the place that Hashem, your God, shall choose”—through Yerushalayim, peace is able to return and dwell amongst people and nullify decrees.
This insight of the Arizal can perhaps teach us how a lack of shalom might result in the unwanted, while maintaining shalom can bring protection, sparing us from the unfortunate.
This concept might similarly be seen from a contrast between the punishment of the Dor HaMabul (Generation of the Flood) and that of the Dor HaFlagah (Generation of the Disunion): The Dor HaFlagah went to such an extreme of openly waging war against Hashem. They said, “Come and let us make for ourselves a tower and fashion an idol at its peak, and put a sword in its hand, and it will [thereby] give the appearance as if it were waging war against Him” (Bereishit Rabbah 38:6). Yet, as Rashi notes, while the Dor HaMabul were obliterated, the Dor HaFlagah were not. Why? Rashi explains that the Dor HaMabul were robbers and there was hostility among them, whereas the Dor HaFlagah would behave with love and friendship among themselves.
The implication from Rashi perhaps is that although the Dor HaFlagah were technically more deserving of a more severe punishment, because there was peace and harmony amongst them, they were spared from it. This perhaps shows that when we have shalom, we merit protection and safety, while when we don’t, it may leave us vulnerable.
It is perhaps evident from the Arizal that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed because there was a lack of peace, which may imply that it could have been spared if there was peace. The Gemara (Yoma 9) teaches that although the generation during the second Beit HaMikdash occupied themselves with Torah, mitzvot and acts of kindness, because there was baseless hatred, the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. We can suggest from this that indeed, there might have been a lack of inner peace amongst the people, thus enabling them to be subject to such utter destruction; but had there been peace amongst them, perhaps it would have protected them from such calamity.
Peace may bring blessings. The Midrash (Ibid) says that “Great is peace for all blessings are subsumed within it,” and as the Etz Yosef seems to understand, this teaches us that all success—be it temporal (perhaps meaning “material”) or spiritual—is dependent upon peace. Indeed, the pasuk states “Hashem will give might to His nation, Hashem will bless His nation with peace,” which—as the Etz Yosef seems to explain—means that in order for Hashem to bestow enduring success and prosperity upon His people, He blesses them with peace—the vessel that holds all blessing. Furthermore, when Bnei Yisrael achieved a state of unity at Har Sinai, the midrash notes that Hashem said, “Here is [the] time [at] which I will give [the] Torah to My children!” and the Etz Yosef explains, if Bnei Yisrael wouldn’t have achieved a state of complete unity then, Hashem would have waited to give the Torah until a time when Bnei Yisrael achieved a state of shalom. Thus, it seems from here that even the precious gift of the holy Torah itself was given only once there was peace amongst Bnei Yisrael! This can perhaps show how there may be much blessing in store for us, and through having shalom, we can unlock that bounty of blessings.
Additionally, peace may even bring forth Mashiach’s arrival. As the Chafetz Chaim says: It’s quoted in the name of the Zohar that if just one congregation would guard the midah of shalom as necessary, they are able to merit the coming of Mashiach. Thus, the coming of Mashiach is in our hands (Shemirat HaLashon 2:7).
We perhaps see from all the above that shalom has the power to protect us, to bring blessing and to bring Mashiach as well. Hence, although maintaining peace may at times require effort and giving of ourselves in some way, yet the potentially enormous benefits that can be gained from shalom may far outweigh that which we may be giving up on in order to preserve and pursue peace.
Binyamin is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work
