Spiritual Spoils of War

"When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the Lord, your G‑d delivers them into your hands, and you take them captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her, you may take her for a wife." (Deut. 21:10-11)

These are the opening words of parashat Ki Teitze.

Rashi tells us that the "beautiful woman" that the Jewish soldiers met in battle were in fact purposely sent there by the enemy to distract them. The Torah permitted a liaison with such non-Jewish women – after the soldiers met other stringent requirements – in order to assuage their lustful inclinations.

But if so, asks Rabbi Chaim Vital, foremost student of the Holy Ari of Tzefat, why does the Torah not permit such an approach with other commandments? If a man cannot control his physical craving for non-kosher food, for example, why does the Torah not let him eat a little?

In answer, Rabbi Chiam Vital explains:

The war in which the Jewish warrior encountered the seductive non-Jewish woman was a discretionary war not specifically commanded by G‑d – unlike the wars to eradicate the seven idol-worshipping nations of Canaan, which were expressly commanded in the Torah. Such a discretionary war could only be fought by warriors who were tzadikim, men who had complete and total control of their physical inclinations. Thus, if a tzadik was attracted to a non-Jewish woman, it wasn't a weakness from within him that was drawing him to her, but rather a force from outside of him. What could that force be?

Rabbi Chaim Vital suggests that the warrior was attracted to the sparks of holiness within her, which we know are present even among our enemies. His attraction indicated that it was his task to rescue this spark and return it to its source in holiness. This could happen in one of two ways:

1. Upon meeting him, the woman would experience his holiness, desire to cleave to the Jewish faith, to convert and marry him.
2. The meeting alone would draw out whatever holiness was within her, and then she would go on her way.

In either case, she would have to shave her head, (remove all foreign philosophies and ideas), cut her nails, (eliminate excess cultural "baggage" and emotions absorbed from a foreign culture), and get rid of her seductive dress (the "garment" made of evil thoughts and transgressions). Then, she would have to mourn for her father (G‑d), and her mother (Knesset Yisrael, the source of all Jewish souls) and cry over her sins for a full month.

Then, and only then, would the Jewish warrior be capable of deciding what was the right course of action to take – whether to marry her or send her on her way in a respectful manner.

[From "Inner Lights from Jerusalem". Translated and presented by Rabbi David Sterne.]