Parashat Matot-Masei

This week's parashah speaks of the return of the warriors from the battlefield. After the vengeance against Midian, the Torah does not move immediately to a celebration of victory. The warriors and the vessels require purification before returning to the camp. Even a just war, even a vengeance required to remove wickedness from the world, may have harmful effects upon a person. Rav Kook explains that divine vengeance is not a release of instinct but an act that comes to remove the causes that darken life. Precisely for this reason, one who fights against evil must beware not to become attached to it. In the generations of the Tanach, Rav Kook writes, they knew 'in the depths of darkness to choose the good and to turn away from the evil.' This is our mission too. To root out the enemy without hesitation, to understand that there is wickedness that must be uprooted, but to remember that even after victory, purification is needed – not only of the vessels, but of the soul as well.