Driving Out The Nations

Moshe Rabbeinu gives a serious warning to the Jewish people that they must not be foolish and they must realize the importance of driving out the nations that were inhabiting the land.

He tells them that if they do no drive them out, and inherit their land, they will be as “thorns in your eyes and a pain in your side.” You must not have compassion towards them, for allowing them to live among you, will cause you great grief.

Moshe is really trying to explain that misplaced compassion can be dangerous. If we are not tough with our enemies, they will see our kindness as weakness, and they will take advantage of it.

This is why in several places it is written that destroying our enemies is actually a merciful act. The elimination of evil makes the world a better place.

This lesson was learned in a most painful way on October the seventh. Many of the victims of the nearby Kibbutzim had bent over backwards to try to help the residents of Gaza. They used information about where they lived and their general moving about, against them during the massacre.

Many couldn’t believe how these same people could turn against them, and act like brutal savages. Had they taken Moshe’s warning more seriously, perhaps many lives could have been saved.

Misplaced compassion can be very dangerous as the undeserving recipient of such compassion, does not appreciate these gestures. It makes them even more angry and they become the predators that Moshe warned us about.

Hashem gave us a beautiful land. If we want to keep it, we must drive out those who wish to take our land from us.