Parshat Lech Lecha 5779: 318=1 soldier(s)? A great insight from Rabbenu Bachya

In the parsha(ch.14) we read of the war between the tribes and their kings in Eretz Canaan.

The news comes back to Avram that his nephew Lot is captured and he immediately gets a group together to go and rescue his nephew.

יד  וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָם, כִּי נִשְׁבָּה אָחִיו; וַיָּרֶק אֶת-חֲנִיכָיו יְלִידֵי בֵיתוֹ, שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת, וַיִּרְדֹּף, עַד-דָּן.

14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan

Rashi makes a strange observation here as to how many soldiers were in the ‘army’ of Avram.

שמנה עשר וגו'. רַבּוֹתֵינוּ אָמְרוּ אֱלִיעֶזֶר לְבַדּוֹ הָיָה (נדרים ל"ב), וְהוּא מִנְיַן גִּימַטְרִיָּא שֶׁל שְׁמוֹ:

'שמנה עשר וגו THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN — Our Rabbis said, “It was Eliezer alone whom he armed and it (318) is the numerical value of his name” .

The comment is based on the Talmudic statement in TB Nedarim(32a). There are a number of questions about this Rabbinic interpretation.

1)      If this was really an army of 1+1(Eliezer and Avram), then why use the plural word

חֲנִיכָיו in the verse describing the army.

2)      Later in the chapter Avram says to the king of S’dom, when he is offered a reward for his act of saving Lot:

כד  בִּלְעָדַי, רַק אֲשֶׁר אָכְלוּ הַנְּעָרִים, וְחֵלֶק הָאֲנָשִׁים, אֲשֶׁר הָלְכוּ אִתִּי:  עָנֵר אֶשְׁכֹּל וּמַמְרֵא, הֵם יִקְחוּ חֶלְקָם.  {ס}

24 save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion.' 

If there was only one soldier, how can it say that ‘the young men’ ate food for which Avram is being compensated? Who is being referred to here?

Rabbenu Bachya(13th century Spanish commentator) explains the whole story with a brilliant comment:

אבל הענין היה כי כל המספר הזה היו ילידי ביתו של אברהם אוכלי שלחנו, ואחר שנזדרז לצאת למלחמה מיעט אותן וריקנן, לפי שהזכות הוא המנצח לא רבוי עם, ולכך צוה שיחזרו כל החוטאים כדין תורה ביוצאי מלחמה שאמר הכתוב (דברים כח) מי האיש הירא וגו'. וזהו לשון וירק שכולל לשון זיין ולשון מיעוט מלשון רק. וכיון שנתמעטו מצא אברהם את עצמו עם אליעזר לבדו, ואע"פ שכתוב חניכיו ביו"ד יש בכלל מאתים מנה ויש בכלל חניכיו חניכו, ולומר כי כל חניכיו עמדו עם חניכו, הוא אליעזר לבדו. ומה שאמר אחיו והיה בן הרן אחיו, הודיענו בזה יופי מדתו ומעלתו של אברהם, כי קנא אל הדבר ופנה אל האחוה ולא פנה אל המריבה שהיה ביניהם, אבל נזדרז בדבר כאלו היה אחיו ממש

He explains that the word  וַיָּרֶק is not to be translated ;’and he led them  out’ but  “and he emptied them’ What does this mean? Rabbenu Bachya explains that Avram did start with 318 soldiers as described here. However, as he was a person who followed the mitzvot as much as possible, he knew that before the battle he has to announce to the troops that some may go home, as we find in sefer Devarim 20:5-8.

ה  וְדִבְּרוּ הַשֹּׁטְרִים, אֶל-הָעָם לֵאמֹר, מִי-הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה בַיִת-חָדָשׁ וְלֹא חֲנָכוֹ, יֵלֵךְ וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ:  פֶּן-יָמוּת, בַּמִּלְחָמָה, וְאִישׁ אַחֵר, יַחְנְכֶנּוּ.

5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying: 'What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

ו  וּמִי-הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר-נָטַע כֶּרֶם, וְלֹא חִלְּלוֹ--יֵלֵךְ, וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ:  פֶּן-יָמוּת, בַּמִּלְחָמָה, וְאִישׁ אַחֵר, יְחַלְּלֶנּוּ.

6 And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not used the fruit thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit thereof.

ז  וּמִי-הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר-אֵרַשׂ אִשָּׁה, וְלֹא לְקָחָהּ--יֵלֵךְ, וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ:  פֶּן-יָמוּת, בַּמִּלְחָמָה, וְאִישׁ אַחֵר, יִקָּחֶנָּה.

7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.'

ח  וְיָסְפוּ הַשֹּׁטְרִים, לְדַבֵּר אֶל-הָעָם, וְאָמְרוּ מִי-הָאִישׁ הַיָּרֵא וְרַךְ הַלֵּבָב, יֵלֵךְ וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ; וְלֹא יִמַּס אֶת-לְבַב אֶחָיו, כִּלְבָבוֹ.

8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say: 'What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart.'

Once these pronouncements were made he was left with one soldier, Eliezer, whom he went with to rescue Lot and he succeeds. The food offer is for the original group of 318 which he started out with as described above. The war itself was actually carried out with Eliezer and Avram alone.

In Brisk( Poland/ Lithuania),around 1900, a Purim play was put on, in which this whole scene was played out as to who goes home from war. By the end of the scene the only one left on the stage is an aging Rabbi, and the audience found this very funny. The students went to tell R’ Chaim Brisker (d.1918) about this play which they felt was making fun of the religion. His reaction was to say that the play didn’t end properly, because the old Rabbi would go out to war and win! This was the strength of the army of Israel, whose battles were fought mainly from a spiritual rather than a physical perspective.

This insight by Rabbenu Bachya was explained by Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zal as a sign of hope for our generation even if the predictions of assimilation are very gloomy. He explained that our nation has never been about quantity but always about quality, as seen with Eliezer in the above story. The number of students learning Torah is very high today and more observance is taking place and this should give us hope for the future.

I would add that in Columbia University we had the presence for 4 years of a well-known Chassidic singer, who gained his degree and recently graduated. He commented to me a number of times as to how impressed he was with the level of observance and learning found in the more ‘modern’ crowd of students in Columbia University. Again it is very often more about quality than quantity, and although we must never ‘write off’ any Jew from his/ her faith, the level of commitment and observance of religious Jews is getting stronger and this should give us great hope and optimism for the future of Klal Yisrael, both here and in Israel.