5785/2025
In Parashat BeChukotai, Hashem describes how Bnei Yisrael will thrive if they listen to His Mitzvot. Hashem says that: “V’Radfu MiKem Chamishah Me’ah, U’Me’ah MiKem Revavah YirDofu, V’Naflu Oiveichem Lifneichem LaCharev”, “Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.” (VaYikra 26:8). According to the first part of the Pasuk, Hashem will help us defeat our enemies when we are outnumbered in a 20:1 ratio, 100 to 5. According to that math, the latter part of the Pasuk should say that when we have 100 people, we will defeat 2,000 of our enemies. However, the Pasuk states that we will defeat them despite being outnumbered in a 100:1 ratio, 10,000 to 100. Why did the Pasuk change the ratio of when we will miraculously defeat our enemies?
Many Mefarshim, such as the Chizkuni and Rashi, explain that the change in ratio can demonstrate to us the power of togetherness and Achdut of Bnei Torah and Mitzvot. The reason the former part of the Pasuk has a lower ratio than the latter is that when more Jews and Bnei Torah collaborate, their capacity to defeat their enemies increases. Hence, when we have 5 people, we can defeat an army 20x our side. But when we bond as a community, our power increases exponentially. There is an invaluable lesson that can be learned. We are different, have disagreements, and we have reasons for these disputes. However, these disputes hold us back. When we put aside our differences to fight against a common enemy or to reach a common goal, our ability to achieve increases immensely. Although we should work through these differences, we must not let these differences get in the way of achieving our ultimate goal, of serving HaKadosh Baruch Hu to the best of our ability.