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The Only Certainty is Uncertainty

There are words that I know from Talmudic discourse which are really helpful. I wish they had simple English translations. How do you say “kal va’homer” in English? 

A kal va’homer is a logical inference known in Latin as an argument a fortiori. Isn’t it easier to say “kal va’homer?

What is a “hava amina?”

A Hava Amina is an unstated but implied rejected hypothesis.  

Sara shared this definition with me: it is the thing you would have thought, but if you had thought it, you would be wrong.  When the Talmud or Midrash states a law or derives halakhic significance from the phrasing of a verse, there is an alternative assumption which is never stated but which is rejected by the rabbinic teaching.

I’d like to discuss a hava amina this morning.

Parashat Bahalotcha opens as the Israelite camp, after two years, is finally ready to leave Mt. Sinai and make our way to Eretz Yisrael. The Torah describes how our encampments traveled through the desert and how a series of trump blasts organized our comings and goings. And then the Torah introduces another use of those trumpets for a different sort of coming and going:

וְכִֽי־תָבֹ֨אוּ מִלְחָמָ֜ה בְּאַרְצְכֶ֗ם עַל־הַצַּר֙ הַצֹּרֵ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֔ם וַהֲרֵעֹתֶ֖ם בַּחֲצֹצְרֹ֑ת וְנִזְכַּרְתֶּ֗ם לִפְנֵי֙ ה אֱ-לֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְנוֹשַׁעְתֶּ֖ם מֵאֹיְבֵיכֶֽם׃ 

“And when a war comes to your land against an aggressor who attacks you, you shall sound short blasts on the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God and be delivered from your enemies.”

The Torah introduces a special obligation to sound t’ruah blasts at a time of military crisis and in so doing we will be remembered before God and will be saved from danger. According to Rambam, this verse teaches that every crisis creates an obligation for teshuvah and introspection. According to Ramban, while daily prayer and the prayers we recite together on Shabbat are a rabbinic innovation, there is a Torah mitzvah to turn to God in prayer at a time of existential danger and this verse is the source. 

The Sifre on Bamidbar, the halakhic midrash on the Book of Numbers poses a question I had not thought to ask to refute a hava amina I have trouble reconstructing:

כי תבואו מלחמה בארצכם בין שאתם יוצאים עליהם בין שהם יוצאים עליכם. 

When the Torah says “when a war comes to your land” that entails an obligation to sound the trumpets in tru’ah blasts whether or not invaders come to our land or if we invade the land of our enemy.

What is the hava amina, why would we have thought that we should only pray if we are attacked but not when we attack? 

I’m going to set aside that question for now and return to the flow of Parashat Bahalotcha itself. 

The first half of the Parsha contains descriptions of following God through the desert. We organize our encampment by means of trumpet blasts, and we learn when to move and when to rest by following a Divine cloud that would rest upon the mishkan when we encamped, and then would lift to indicate we should pack up our belongings and follow to the next location in our journey. It’s a simple and idyllic description of an entire nation being guided by visible instructions from God:

וּלְפִ֞י הֵעָל֤וֹת הֶֽעָנָן֙ מֵעַ֣ל הָאֹ֔הֶל וְאַ֣חֲרֵי כֵ֔ן יִסְע֖וּ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּבִמְק֗וֹם אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִשְׁכׇּן־שָׁם֙ הֶֽעָנָ֔ן שָׁ֥ם יַחֲנ֖וּ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ 

עַל־פִּ֣י ה יִסְעוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְעַל־פִּ֥י ה יַחֲנ֑וּ כׇּל־יְמֵ֗י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשְׁכֹּ֧ן הֶעָנָ֛ן עַל־הַמִּשְׁכָּ֖ן יַחֲנֽוּ׃ 

“And whenever the cloud lifted from the Tent, the Israelites would set out accordingly; and at the spot where the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. 

At a command of the LORD the Israelites broke camp, and at a command of the LORD they made camp: they remained encamped as long as the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle.”

If the cloud stayed a few days or a few weeks at a location, we remained at that location a few days or a few weeks. When the cloud lifted and it was time to move on, we got up and followed. 

Moshe believed that this is how it would work. He goes to his father in law with confidence and enthusiasm and encourages him to join us on our journey:

נֹסְעִ֣ים  אֲנַ֗חְנוּ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמַ֣ר ה אֹת֖וֹ אֶתֵּ֣ן לָכֶ֑ם

“We are traveling to the place that God has said he would give to us.”

What could possibly go wrong? 

Moshe receives instructions from God. The people receive instructions from Moshe. They have been told it is time to leave Har Sinai and to go to Eretz Yisrael. נֹסְעִ֣ים  אֲנַ֗חְנוּ We. Are. Going. Because I said so. Because we follow God’s instructions. The Torah just explained. When the clouds lift, we move. 

The apotheosis of this vision of obedience and Divine guidance appears at the end of Chapter 10 with two verses that are bracketed in the Torah by two inverted - upside down - letter nuns. 

וַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה ׀ ה וְיָפֻ֙צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃

וּבְנֻחֹ֖ה יֹאמַ֑ר שׁוּבָ֣ה ה רִֽבְב֖וֹת אַלְפֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

“When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say:

Advance, O LORD! May Your enemies be scattered, And may Your foes flee before You!

And when it halted, he would say: Return, O LORD, You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands!”

In these verses our obedience and our certainty in following our Divine path is so intimidating and so powerful that our enemies scatter before us. The ark coming to rest signals to the multitudes of the Jewish people to gather around and come close in safety and tranquility. 

But it doesn’t turn out that way. In Rav Soloveitchik’s words, at the inverted nuns, Jewish history is inverted. The people complain. We miss the free fish we ate in Egypt. We miss the cucumbers and the garlic. We miss meat. 

And God gave us meat. Moshe is broken by this complaint. He recognizes the degree of self-indulgence that could lead to this sort of base and mundane complaint on the cusp of a march to destiny. And he understands that he is not in charge. 

Earlier this week, after Shacharit, a few of us encountered the observation of Rabbi Ilai Ofran that throughout Sefer Bamidbar - indeed throughout the Torah - whatever it is that the people request, for good, for bad, in wisdom and in folly - whatever the people want ends up happening. They want meat. They get meat. They decide not to go to Eretz Yisrael, they remain in the wilderness for a generation. 

The final episode of the parsha is the most dramatic instance of this dynamic. Miriam has been stricken with tzara’at and must quarantine outside the camp. Moshe prays on her behalf but it will be seven days before she can return to the camp. The cloud lifts. We know what we are supposed to do. Pack up and follow the cloud. Miriam will follow along behind us as well. But that is not what happens.

וְהֶעָנָ֗ן סָ֚ר מֵעַ֣ל הָאֹ֔הֶל וְהִנֵּ֥ה מִרְיָ֖ם מְצֹרַ֣עַת כַּשָּׁ֑לֶג 

The cloud lifts from the tent when Miriam is revealed to be covered in tza’raat. But not only does the Torah not record that we obeyed the instructions from Above, the Torah explicitly says the opposite. We ignore the cloud itself. We waited for Miriam. 

וְאַחַ֛ר נָסְע֥וּ הָעָ֖ם מֵחֲצֵר֑וֹת וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר פָּארָֽן׃

“Only afterwards did the people travel onwards from Hatzerot and arrive at the Wilderness of Paran.”

What happened to following the cloud? What happened to scattered enemies?

There is an inversion in Parashat Bahaltocha. The first half of the pararhsa delineated a theory of leadership from above that flows from God to Moshe to the people leading to scattered enemies as we march towards our destiny. The second half of the parasha tells a more complicated story of a reality in which the course of history was determined by the choices made from the ground level. Some of those choices were good. Some were bad. But they were nearly all implemented in such a way as the actual history of the Jewish people was written by the Jewish people and not by Divine clouds. 

The parasha ends with a dramatic act of solidarity and compassion. More important than obedience. More important than discipline and perseverance and strategy is a first principle of Jewish ethics - don’t leave anyone behind. This is the core animating idea of Jewish leadership. One has to love God to be a jewish leader and love Torah and to love Klal Yisrael - but one has to love Klal Yisrael a bit more. 

So why do we pray - d’oraita with a Torah obligation when we start a war? What is the rejected implicit unstated hava amina? The hava amina is that we call out to God in prayer only when we are attacked so that God should stand beside us and prevent us from being victimized. But when attacking our enemies the time and means of the battle were chosen by us. Don’t waste time in prayer; press the advantage. 

The Torah therefore has to teach us to pray in all cases. Because when one starts a war, the only thing one knows is how it begins. The future is always indeterminate. Nothing is guaranteed. We have no cloud to follow. We will write, with God’s help, our own destiny. 

This Shabbat, we pray. We pray out of our fears and our pride and our love. As I mentioned last night, our tefilot this Shabbat are certainly d’oraita. These are Torah obligated prayers. After Shabbat we continue to move forward as best we can, in search of God’s guidance, and leaving no one behind.