Do You Know You?

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

The mitzvah of Eglah Arufa is well known. If a person was found killed outside of the city, the sages must come and, with great gravity, perform a ritual acknowledging the loss. They must declare that it was not due to their negligence that the person was killed.

The commentaries wonder why this mitzvah of Eglah Arufa is placed between two mitzvos about war: Not to cut down a fruit tree when setting siege on a city, and the mitzva regarding a woman captured in battle. What is the connection between Eglah Arufa and war?

During my youth I was fond of reading biographies of people who fought in the IDF. I once read a story written by someone who fought in the Six Day War. He wrote that a few weeks after the war he was driving on a highway when suddenly he found that traffic had come to a standstill. He got out of his car to see what was going on and he saw that a car had slipped down an embankment and people were trying to help the driver out to safety. He writes that he remembers thinking at the moment, “What is the big fuss. During battle, tens of people were in such situations- in tanks, trucks, and cars- and we just kept moving forward. What is the big deal?”

I believe that by placing the mitzvah of Eglah Arufa amongst the laws of battle, the Torah is sharing a precious message. Often circumstances will bestow a certain perspective upon us. But we must remain in touch with our own value system.  Experiencing the ravages of war should not desensitize us to the loss of even a single person.

Sometimes when the media reports battles or “incidents”, they report losses as if they are statistics in a game of sports. This side lost 5; the other side lost 10. The listener might actually think that if they lost fewer people they are the winner. The impression might be given that it is like a basketball or soccer game. The Torah comes to remind us that even after witnessing the losses of war, we must remain sensitive to each individual loss, because that is our value system.

Similarly, we are often sucked into the value system that surrounds us. We define victory and failure accordingly. This demands a reality check: What are the values that we hold dear?

For many years Jewish continuity was gauged by the intermarriage rate. This is a view that was thrust upon us, but it is not a Jewish perspective.  A Jewish community that just manages to marry Jewish does not a have a strong prognosis of continuity. Upon contemplation many will feel that a different definition involving vibrant education and observance might better express our feelings of success.

Similarly, a person may grow up feeling that when they own a certain class of vehicle, or own a certain type of home, they will have “arrived.” It is worth considering whether those are sentiments that really represent one’s own value system. If they do, then they are a reflection of self. But if they don’t, then one’s definition of “arriving” needs to be revisited to accurately portray what a person feels is important.

The Torah recognizes that a person can go through life experiences that will impact his or her perception of even the most basic values. The value of life can be diminished as a result of war. By strategically placing Eglah Arufa right in between other war related mitzvos, the Torah reminds us to retain our treasured value system even as we encounter the challenges of life.

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