Pick your battles

Sometimes you start the fight, sometimes you respond to it and sometimes you walk away from it.

Sometimes it’s justified to respond to it, sometimes it’s your obligation to respond to it, sometimes you need to walk away from it and then there are those who just like a good fight.

And then you have the cowards who don’t fight because they don’t have the backbone to stand up for anything not because they are truly above it.

(What kind of person are you?)

In all instances there are consequences. Not all consequences are bad, not all of them are good but there are always consequences.

Weighing the options doesn’t always produce a clear answer because we have our own above-mentioned personality basis.

So what is one to do?

In the opening of this weeks Torah portion the Torah states; “When you go out to war over your enemies…”. The commentators delineate two types of wars; Milchemes Mitzvah – a Mitzvah war or an obligatory war and Milechemes Harishus – a permissible or voluntary war.

The Torah is letting us know that there are obligatory wars that one must fight and there are justified voluntary wars. In each instance there are guidelines for how the war needs to be fought, to what extreme and to know what benefits and consequences lie therein.

Before you go to war one needs to find out if the war is an obligatory one and in such an instance one must go to war, no questions asked even if you’re wired for battle.

If the war is not obligatory one then needs to find out if it is a permissible war. If it is one then needs to remove their personal tendencies as well the emotion from it and only weigh the consequences of such a war. Will it bring the outcome desired or not?

If we are driven to a permissible war because of our tendencies then it is often not the right thing to do. If we are driven by the benefits then often times it is the right thing to do.

The Torah recognizes our tendencies and accommodates us as long as we are focused on right and wrong and the true benefit for the community and society.

Next time you decide to pick a fight, respond to one or walk away from one take the above into consideration or call your local Rabbinic war expert.

Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman