Chapter 34 of Genesis tells a relevant story about civilian casualties in war. An evil prince kidnaps and rapes Jacob's daughter, Dina -- and then wants to marry her. Jacob's sons pretend to entertain the offer, and then Simeon and Levi enter the city, kill everyone, and rescue Dina.
The Bible suggests the residents of the city deserved to die for their evil behavior. But Jacob is furious, and rebukes his sons: "You have troubled me, to discredit me among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and among the Perizzites, and I am few in number, and they will gather against me and attack me, and I and my household will be destroyed." (34:30)
The next chapter tells us what actually happened: "Then they traveled, and the fear of God was upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue Jacob's sons." (35:5) So what Jacob feared did not come to pass.
But Jacob never forgives Simeon and Levi. On his deathbed, he rebukes them again: "Let my soul not enter their counsel; my honor, you shall not join their assembly, for in their wrath they killed a man, and with their will they hamstrung a bull."
The point of avoiding civilian casualties is not just that the world will object. The world does not object to civilian casualties generally (anyone heard from Nagorno Karabakh lately?); it respects victory and strength, perhaps perversely.
But Jacob's point is that cruelty is corrosive, internally. That, ultimately, is the reason he cannot forgive his sons. Their murder of the entire town was immoral. Rescue the captive, and punish the guilty, but do not lose yourself in the process.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
