There is one passage in the TaNaKh1 that has always heightened my discomfort around the concept of wars, which we will read in this week’s haftarah2. It is found in the story of the prophet Deborah. There was a Canaanite king named Jabin, whose general, Sisera, was well known for his military prowess. They oppressed the Israelites during the time of the prophet and judge Deborah. The Israelites’ general, Barak, wins the battle against Sisera, who runs away and ends up finding his death at the hands of Yael, a Kenite woman. Towards the end of Deborah’s victory poem, we read (Judges 5:27-28) that Sisera’s mother is sitting by the window waiting for him, asking the women around her: “Why is he so late? Why don’t I hear the sound of his cars?”3
We, the readers of the story, know that Sisera will not be joining his mother ever again. She doesn’t know that. In my mind’s eye I see this woman sitting by the window, waiting for her son, the images of the boy he had been flooding her memory. I imagine she sees snapshots of his life, his smile as a little boy, his first steps, his first jump over a mud puddle. She remembers his baby smell as she nursed him, the sound of his laughter, the light in his eyes. To me, the text reveals the fear and uncomfortable voices any mother would hear in her head when her child is late coming back home. Even the most jaded of women, one that has been accustomed to hearing about her son’s military victories without a second thought about what that meant to other mothers, has anxiety about her child’s/children’s whereabouts. The text shares her ladies’ answer to her anguished question: they describe their imagination of all the spoils of war he will be bringing (and we, the readers, know he will not, making fools of these women). Yet the text does not describe her reaction when her son does not come back. This is left to our imagination.
Sometimes, in the smugness of the recollection of a reader’s victory, I might look at her as a fool, this unnamed woman who sits by the window, accustomed to her son’s successes, expecting him to come back home. In the emotional heartspace that expects cosmic retribution for human actions, I might look at her as someone who received her comeuppance – after all, did she ever think about other mothers? Another reading looks at her pain as collateral damage. Sisera’s mother is one who belongs to the fraternity of parents who only want to see their children safe and sound, returning home unharmed. I cannot help but see that the text of the Hebrew Bible wants me to empathize with this woman, even if I stand in the other side of the story from her.
This little piece of text teaches me that war (as well as violence) has many consequences, some that are unexpected. King Jabin and Sisera were enemies of the Israelites. They wished harm and destruction to the people of Israel and were not successful. We know what Sisera’s mother went through, her loss and her sadness. The text reminds us of her sorrow. In my life, although others may harm me and my family because of their actions, I will not allow them to mar my soul and harden my heart. While I am appalled by the actions of some people, and I will always seek justice for things that others have done that provoked catastrophes in my personal and my communal life, I will not forget that they are people. I must keep the vengeful desire in check. If I allow myself to forget that all of us were created in the image of God, if I let the mix of emotions cloud my judgment and only see others as enemies, hardening my heart in the face of their suffering, I will be allowing others to mar my soul. Today I wish that we regard anyone who does not stand by our side as a human being. They may deserve punishment for their actions, and they have to pay the price for their actions. Yet whoever stands to receive a just punishment is to be regarded for the totality of who they are. I will not allow in my heart the space to devalue others, to dehumanize them, to transform me into a vengeful person who is blind to the suffering of others.
May we be able to seek justice without vengeance, to clamor for integrity with love in our hearts, and to recognize with reasonable humility the humanity of every one who walks on this earth.
1TaNaKh is an acronym for Torah, Neviym, Kethuviym (The Five Books of Moses, the Books of the Prophets, the Writings), a Hebrew name for the Hebrew Scriptures.
2A portion of the Book of Prophets that is read in addition to the portion of the Five Books of Moses during the Sabbath, Holidays, and other special days.
3I am paraphrasing this verse here, this is not a translation of the text.