Yiftach: The Right Man at the Wrong Time
SICHOT
OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVA
PARASHAT
CHUKAT
SICHA
OF HARAV MOSHEH LICHTENSTEIN SHLITA
Yiftach:
The Right Man at the Wrong Time
Translated
by
TIME
OF TRANSITION
The haftara of Parashat Chukat (Shoftim 11:1-33),
which recounts the story of Yiftach and the war that he waged against Amon, is
found exactly in the middle of the book of Shoftim. Ten chapters precede it and ten
chapters follow it. The fact that
the story of Yiftach is found at the midpoint of the book is not merely an
accidental, though interesting, statistical piece of information, but rather it
reflects a most essential aspect of Yiftach's leadership. With respect to his very essence,
Yiftach is found in the middle of the book, and the dynamic of the transition
from the first half of the book to the second half is a critical issue for
understanding the person and accomplishments of Yiftach. The fact that the story appears in the
statistical midpoint of the book with respect to the number of chapters is
lovely, but the heart of the matter is in the transition itself, and that will
be our focus.
THE
DELIVERERS
To understand the world in which Yiftach operated, we must examine what
happens in the book as a whole. The
book is called the book of Shoftim, the word shoftim being used
here in the sense of "leaders."[1]
A key verse that repeats itself in different forms throughout the book is "And
so-and-so judged (vayishpot)
The
moshi'a seizes leadership and steps out into the public arena as a
military leader during a security crisis and resolves it. When the crisis is over, he does not
continue to lead the people, but rather he goes home. When we examine the verses, we see that
nowhere does it say with respect to the early shoftim truth be said, it
would be better to call them moshi'im that they continued to lead the
people. The formula that
characterizes the beginning of the book is not "And he led the people for forty
years," or the like, but rather, "And the land was quiet for forty years." The
moshi'a does not lead the people following his military victory, but
rather his actions bring to calm and tranquility that last for a certain period
of time.[2]
Indeed,
some of these shoftim are not described by Scripture as leaders that are
active for an extended period of time, or even as army mobilizers. Thus, for example, all that we are told
about Shamgar ben Anat (3:31) is that he conducted a successful military raid
that led to calm, no information being given as to how long he led the
people. Similarly, Ehud ben Gera
who was active during the same period achieves quiet for eighty years, as it is
stated: "And the land was quiet for eighty years" (3:30). This does not mean that he led the
people for eighty years, as is implied by the charts hanging in many classrooms,
but rather that his actions achieved a certain degree of calm for that
duration. Even in his old age, and
even after he died, the quiet continued until a new threat arose in the wake of
additional sins (see 4:1-2). This
is the meaning of the verse that states that the land was quiet for eighty
years, and not that Ehud ruled for such a long period, twice as long as that of
any other leader known to us during the period of the early prophets, and
astonishing in and of itself. There
is no need to assume that Ehud began his career very early in life and that he
continued in office until a ripe old age, but rather that his actions brought
about an extended period of calm.
TURNING
TO GIDON
This is the course of events described in the first half of the book of
Shoftim, deliverers arising who deliver Israel and then go home. This system led, of course, to
instability, and to a situation in which every man did what was right in his
eyes. It was only natural then that
at a certain point the people decided that they had had enough of this chaos and
so they turned to Gidon that he should establish a stable regime: "Then the men
of Israel said to Gidon, Rule you over us, both you, and your son, and your
son's son also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midyan" (8:22). Gidon, however, refuses their offer, and
declares: "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the
Lord shall rule over you" (8:23).
Nevertheless, the basic dynamic of the transition from chance deliverers
to fixed leaders is preserved and it is realized a little later, following the
end of the anarchy and despotism of the period of Avimelekh and the men of
Shekhem.
THE
FIRST SHOFET
We
now come to the decisive role of two gray and unknown figures and the importance
of a small section in the middle of the book:
And
after Avimelekh there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Pu'a, the son of
Dodo, a man of Yissakhar, and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Efrayim. And he judged
And
after him arose Yair, the Giladi, and judged
On the first reading, Tola the son of Pu'a seems to be a very minor
figure, who was not credited with any significant achievements. Nothing is reported about him except for
the fact that he was a shofet and that he was buried; he did not deliver
Tola
was followed by Yair the Giladi, who deepened the process. Regarding him, Scripture focuses on his
sons and their ass colts. In other
words, we are witness here to the rise of people who are close to those in
power, and to the special benefits that they receive. Modern man, who has had his fill of
bureaucracy and is no longer sensitive to the exploitation of power for personal
benefit, has little good to say about bureaucracy and those close to power. But if we consider the alternative,
namely, anarchy and a society in which there is no guiding hand whatsoever, we
will well understand which is the least of all evils, and how dangerous is the
situation in which the individual is abandoned as prey in the hands of
bullies. Yair's development of some
kind of bureaucracy marks the establishment and the deepening of an orderly
regime, and in this lies its importance.
Thus, Scripture notes these facts about the ass colts, and does not see
them as irrelevant information.
MILITARY
AND CIVIL LEADER
It
is at this point in the development of the period that we find Yiftach. For the first time since the transition
to orderly leadership, a security threat arises. The people do not react by turning to
the civil shoftim who are leading and administrating the day-to-day
regime; rather, they decide that they must search for a charismatic deliverer
and a heroic figure in the style of previous deliverers.
In
this manner they reach Yiftach and propose that he be their deliverer who will
lead
And
the elders of Gilad said to Yiftach, Therefore we turn again to you now, that
you may go with us, and fight against the children of Amon, and be our head over
all the inhabitants of Gilad. And
Yiftach said to the elders of Gilad, If you bring me back home to fight against
the children of Amon, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
And the elders of Gilad said to Yiftach, The Lord is witness between us, if we
do not so according to your words.
(11:8-10)
The concluding verse of the opening section of the haftara finely
expresses the tension in the job offer: "Then Yiftach went with the elders of
Gilad, and the people made him head and captain over them" (11:11). They view him as a captain regarding
whom they have no other alternative but to appoint him as their head, whereas he
sees himself first and foremost as their shofet.
THE
IMPULSIVITY OF A FIGHTER
It is precisely in Yiftach's insistence on being a shofet that his
personal tragedy lies. As it turns
out, he is unfit to serve as a shofet, because his primary strength is in
his ability to wage war, and not in leading a nation. As was well expressed by Chazal
(Rosh Hashana 25b), Yiftach was one of the "light ones of the world"; he
knows how to fight, and even to rise spiritually during battle ("Then the spirit
of the Lord came upon Yiftach"; 11:29), but he lacks inner spiritual strength
that is suitable for leadership in the post-war period. The story of his vow and the sacrifice
of his daughter testifies to this.
He pronounces the vow without thinking, and without the care that might
be expected in such a situation. As
an impulsive act of a soldier who makes a vow as he goes out to battle, it is
quite understandable. But the
condition for accepting the vow with understanding is the exercise of reason in
the implementation of the vow following the war. In other words, examining the validity
of the vow and the possibility of annulling it is
critical.
Yiftach's
reaction to the vow and its consequences will also demonstrate for us whether he
is graced with leadership skills, whether he is prepared to admit how unsuitable
is his vow, which at the time had expressed his fighting spirit, to civil
reality, and whether he is capable of expressing remorse over having made the
vow. The nullification of a vow is
based on the principle of mistake and/or regret, and the ability to make such an
admission is a quality that attests that the leader is flexible enough to admit
that his declared intentions of the past are no longer suited for present
circumstances. Regret is based on a
person's recognition that his earlier thinking is no longer appropriate given
the change in circumstances. A
person who is capable of such recognition is ready to change his mind, and not
fix his present conduct according to what he thought in the
past.
LACK
OF FLEXIBILITY
Yiftach, however, does not do this.
He does not clarify whether or not his vow is valid, and he makes no
attempt to nullify it. In the
finest military tradition, the senior officer does not consider changing what he
had said, and instead of reconsidering and reexamining his vow, he insists on
its unconditional fulfillment. All
this proves what he have suspected all along, that Yiftach lacks the qualities
that are necessary for leading a nation during times of peace. If he shows no mercy to his daughter,
but rather decides her fate with a total lack of consideration and flexibility,
he will surely act in this manner toward the rest of his people. Indeed, Chazal sharply criticized
the very formulation of the vow and the fact that he did not have it
annulled. The Gemara in
Ta'anit (4a) defines the vow as a request that was improperly presented,
and in other midrashim we find a most critical attitude to the fact that the vow
was not annulled.
We see then that Yiftach was very suited to be a deliverer, according to
the old model that prevailed prior to his day, but he insisted on being a
shofet which was a role that did not match his personality and
skills. For this he paid a dear
price in the account of the vow and his daughter, and it may be assumed that the
period of his leadership was also not particularly successful. Yiftach, then, was the right man at the
wrong time. As long as he headed
the campaign against the people of Amon, he was the person who was appropriate
for the time and place, but later, his insistence on leadership turned him into
a deliverer who was unfit for the role of shofet.
[It
should be noted that this same problem accompanied the shofet who came
after Yiftach Shimshon. He too
fits the model of "deliverer" but is active during the period of the
shoftim, and this is his problem.
Regarding Shimshon it is also stated (15:20) that he judged Israel, but
his primary activity was going out to war and constant going to the land of the
Philistines, so that he never really served as a shofet in an orderly
manner, as did his predecessors.]
[1] To me, this assertion is obvious, but many Rishonim did not
accept it; they understood the term has a legal sense. This is what follows, for example, from
the extensive discussion of the Ran in his derashot regarding the status
of the king within the legal system on the basis of the expression "and our king
will judge us {ve-shofteinu)" and many other sources. The discussion in Tosafot
(Gittin 88b and parallels), who bring proof that a woman is fit to
serve as a judge from Devora, requires further study in light of this question
(there the situation is further complicated by the fact that Scripture says that
Israel went up to Devora for judgment).
The common English translation of the title of the book as "Judges"
rather than "Leaders" also reflects this
understanding.
Of course, there is a common denominator between the two roles, namely,
the need to employ sound judgment when choosing between various alternatives,
but their objectives and their definitions are different.
[2] As stated, the prevailing expression in Scripture is moshi'a,
rather than shofet. The root
sh-f-t appears once with respect to Otniel, but as a description of his
action when he went out to war and in the sense of assuming leadership in battle
"And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out
to war" (3:10), and not in the sense of stable political leadership following
the defeat of one's enemies.
Similarly, Devora is described as a shoftet, and it is entirely possible that her
actions were different than those of all the other figures mentioned in the
first half of the book of Shoftim. This, however, requires broader treatment
than what is possible in the context of the present shiur.
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