Ki Tetze
Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19
Isaiah 54:1-10
“An Amoni or a Moavi shall not enter into the congregation of G-d…because they did not meet you with bread and water…and they hired against you Bilaam…
“However, G-d would not listen to Bilaam” (Deuteronomy 23:4-6).
Male members of the nation of Moav and Amon were never to be permitted to enter into the Jewish people through marriage even if properly converted. A rather harsh condemnation it would seem. What had these nations done that was so egregious as to preclude their entering our nation forever?
Nebuchadnezzer, the king of Babylonia, and Titus, the Roman emperor, for example, were evil men who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Nonetheless, their descendants, if properly converted, were permitted to marry into the Jewish nation.
However, the Torah points out that the Moabites and the Amonites failed to welcome the Jews with food or even sell it to them as they traveled in the desert during their journey from Egypt to Israel, a cruel behavior to be sure but only a crime of omission.
True, they also hired Bilaam for the express purpose of cursing the Jewish people. This was, however, an example of the old Yiddish saying, “A mensch tracht und G-t lacht. A man plans and G-d laughs.” Bilaam’s intended curse was turned into a blessing by G-d. So this was a case of intended evil, which was thwarted. Were these actions, although certainly reprehensible, worse than that which the Egyptians committed against the Jewish people during the 210 years of torture, misery, slavery and murder?
Maimonides speaks to this question. His response is remarkable in that it points out the degree of refinement required of the Jewish character.
He writes that Moav and Amon were descendants of people who had greatly benefited from the loving kindness of our forefather, Abraham. Abraham had rescued his nephew Lot and his family from the horrible fate that befell the city of Sodom. Lot had fathered Moav and Amon. Then the nations that they produced demonstrated that they lacked one of the most basic and essential of human traits: gratitude. Gratitude is the key that illuminates the puzzle of Amon and Moav.
Because their ancestor was saved by our ancestor, they were obliged to us; they should have been grateful. The essence of their evil was their total lack of appreciation and their refusal to acknowledge the kindness that they had received.
We are by nature selfish creatures. The quality of kindness is a characteristic passed on to us from Abraham, our father, the pillar of loving kindness. Everyone has a degree of this trait, but many are able to sometimes suppress it deep within their personalities. If someone fails to go out of his way to show kindness to another, we cannot judge him as being unworthy of being a member of the human race, since we know that we are all somewhat egotistical by nature and sometimes find it difficult to refrain from thinking of ourselves first and foremost.
Gratitude, on the other hand must be deeply ingrained in every human being. It is the foundation of the relationship of children with parents, husbands with wives and all of us with the Almighty, and it is supposed to spill over to all of our relationships. The lack of it indicates a severe lack of decency.
What kind of person does not repay those who were kind to him? Such a person has no place among the Jewish people. He has intentionally removed himself from humanity by failing to acknowledge and repay those who have helped him when the opportunity presented itself. Amon and Moav behaved in this despicable manner and demonstrated their unworthiness to be viewed as human beings at all and were therefore not to be accepted into the Jewish nation.
Shabbat Shalom.