“And it shall come to pass, if you indeed listen to these ordinances, keep them, and observe them" - Rashi explains that this refers even to the “light" commandments that people trample underfoot. Sadly, many today trample underfoot a precious commandment that has long awaited fulfillment. Worse still, some have, in violation of the prohibition against adding to the Torah, effectively transformed this commandment into its opposite: refraining from military service.
Perhaps one could argue in defense of those who act this way because they fear what is written later in our parashah: “Beware lest you forget the Lord your God... and you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to attain wealth, in order to establish His covenant, which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day" (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). In other words, military service presents a profound spiritual test. A soldier may come to attribute success to his own strength and forget that it is God who grants the power to succeed. Every morning we pray, “Do not bring me into the hands of a test." Is that, then, the reasoning of those who say: “Why enter such a test - and risk our lives as well? Better to avoid conscription altogether. Surely that is what God wants."
Or is such an approach itself a violation - not only of the prohibition against adding to the Torah, but also of the commandment, “Do not stand idly by your neighbor’s blood," from which Maimonides derives the obligation to go out to war? In a holy war, even “a groom leaves his chamber and a bride her bridal canopy." This is especially true when fighting for our land, the land that the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us.
The Or HaChaim further sharpens the danger of this spiritual decline. He explains that the evil inclination begins by causing a person to forget that God is the One who grants the strength to achieve success. This is merely the first step. That is why the Torah immediately continues: “And it shall be, if you forget the Lord your God... and go after other gods" (Deuteronomy 8:19). If a person forgets that God is the source of every blessing, he will ultimately forget God Himself, and eventually follow other gods - not only in thought but also in action, as the verse says: “You shall serve them... and bow down to them." As the Gemara in Tractate Sanhedrin teaches, “One who bows to Markulis is liable, even if he does not intend it as an act of worship." From this we learn that remembering God as the source of our strength is a fundamental safeguard in divine service. Without it, the evil inclination can gradually lead a person from one level of spiritual decline to the next.
Does this mean, then, that one should avoid spiritual tests by refusing to enlist in the army? If so, what is the purpose of God granting us the power to achieve strength? Our parashah teaches the opposite. The warning is not against possessing strength, but against forgetting its true source. This message is especially relevant in light of the great victories God has granted us since Simchat Torah 5784: “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to attain wealth."
Ramban explains that the people of Israel are naturally mighty and courageous in battle. Scripture compares them to lions and to “a wolf that tears its prey," and they conquered the kings of Canaan through warfare. Therefore, the Torah warns that if a person thinks, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth," he must remember that it was God who brought him out of Egypt, when he possessed no power of his own. He must also remember the wilderness, where he had no means of survival, yet God provided all his needs. Even the strength a person develops through his own efforts is ultimately a gift from God, who gave him the ability to transform potential into reality. If, God forbid, a person forgets God, then both his strength and all that depends upon it will ultimately disappear, just as the strength of Israel's enemies vanished before them.
To reinforce this point, Ramban cites another verse: “Hear, O Israel: You are crossing the Jordan today to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, with great cities fortified to the heavens" (Deuteronomy 9:1-2). In other words, God is telling Israel an undeniable truth: these nations are stronger and more powerful than you. How, then, can you possibly defeat them in battle? Their cities are vast and heavily fortified. Moreover, they are inhabited by the sons of Anak, whose strength you learned of through the spies, and of whom it had long been said that no one could stand against them.
Once all of this is understood, Ramban explains, you must recognize that victory is impossible through your own strength alone. Only when you understand that “the Lord your God is the One who goes before you as a consuming fire" will you realize that He is the One who destroys and subdues your enemies. Military strength is real, but it is not the ultimate source of victory. Even against mighty nations, it is God's hand that prevails.
Malbim expresses this idea in slightly different language. We must remember - as a nation and as soldiers - that even the strength we exert through our own efforts is not truly our own. The very ability to move our limbs, to think strategically, and to act with courage is a gift bestowed from above. Every action in this world is ultimately sustained by a higher power that grants us life, vitality, and the capacity to act. God gives us this strength “in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers." Therefore, we must observe His commandments so that both this strength and His covenant will endure. It is no coincidence that we declare in the liturgical hymn HaAderet VeHaEmunah: “Strength and might belong to the Eternal."
A fine line therefore separates two very different kinds of confidence. On one side stands the arrogance of “my power and the might of my hand." On the other stands the confidence that comes from remembering: “It is He who gives you the power to attain wealth," so that His covenant may be fulfilled. But we must not confuse the two, warns the Or HaChaim.
Commenting on the verse, “You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God is giving you," the Or HaChaim explains that this is itself a positive commandment. The verse concludes, “whom the Lord your God gives you," teaching that neglecting this commandment is tantamount to despising a gift from God. He continues by lamenting how widespread this failing has become, particularly among those devoted to Torah study. Many, despite observing the majority of the commandments, diminish the importance of those they regard as "minor" commandments, failing to appreciate that each is equally part of God's Torah.
What, then, constitutes the proper human effort, and to what extent is it required?
Rabbi Nissim of Gerona (the Ran), one of the foremost medieval Spanish sages and among the principal halachic authorities relied upon by Rabbi Yosef Karo, addresses this question in his Tenth Discourse. He examines these verses alongside the continuation of our parashah: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you today for your good" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).
Our sages derived from this passage the well-known principle that “everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven." God does not require human beings for His own sake. Rather, He chose our forefathers, and after them their descendants - from among all the nations - to bear His covenant. This raises an important question: if everything ultimately depends on God, why is there any need for an army at all?
The Torah's answer is clear. It does not deny the importance of human strength. The verse does not say, “It is not your strength that built the army, but only God." On the contrary, it explicitly acknowledges human effort: God “gives you the power to attain wealth." The Torah's warning is not against exercising strength, but against mistaking the immediate cause for the ultimate one. We must recognize not only the military and physical means through which victory is achieved, but also the One who granted us those very abilities in the first place.
The Ran develops these verses into a profound principle that explains why military preparation is itself a Torah obligation. If the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the people of Israel to recognize that He alone grants victory, why does He not wage all of Israel's wars through open miracles, as He did at the splitting of the Sea? If God were to destroy every enemy with hailstones from heaven, as in the days of Joshua, no one could ever claim, “My power and the might of my hand."
His answer rests on two fundamental principles.
First, God prefers that the world function through the natural order He created. Although He is fully capable of performing miracles, His will is that the world generally operate according to its natural laws. Open miracles, which suspend those laws, are therefore the exception rather than the rule.
Second, because the world operates through natural means, the Jewish people are commanded to wage war through natural means as well. They are obligated to build a strong army, equip it properly, develop military strategy, and employ real military force. Victory comes clothed in the natural framework of military preparedness.
It is in this context that the Ran explains the verse: “You shall say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to attain wealth."
Precisely because we are commanded to prepare an army and to fight through natural means, there exists the danger of attributing success solely to ourselves. When a soldier or commander wins a battle through rigorous training, superior technology, disciplined planning, and sound strategy, it is only natural to credit military capability for the victory. From a purely human perspective, that conclusion appears justified.
The Torah therefore commands us to remember something deeper: “It is He who gives you the power." Military preparation is both necessary and indispensable. It is the means through which victory is achieved on the physical plane. Yet we must never forget who granted us the physical strength, intellectual capacity, strategic insight, and inner resolve that made such preparation possible. Had there been no obligation to establish an army, there would have been no need for God to grant humanity the power to build one.
Trust in God is therefore not a substitute for practical effort or military strength. Rather, it is the awareness that must accompany the exercise of that strength. The army is the instrument through which Divine providence is manifested in reality. The Torah rejects arrogance and self-glorification, but it also rejects the denial of reality. There is a fundamental distinction between recognizing one's strength and taking pride in it as though it were self-created. The Torah does not require a person to deny his abilities. On the contrary, it teaches that God Himself grants those abilities so they may be used to establish and maintain a strong army.
The proper attitude toward military power is therefore one of humility born of strength. Skill, courage, discipline, and resilience are all gifts from God, and their success remains subject to His providence. The army is an instrument that we are obligated to build and prepare, while recognizing that God is ultimately the One who fashioned both the instrument and the strength behind it. That recognition guards us against the arrogance the Torah condemns.
Our history offers countless examples of this partnership between military preparedness and trust in God, but perhaps the clearest is the war against Amalek. Moses did not instruct the people to remain in their tents and rely solely on prayer. Instead, he commanded Joshua: “Choose men for us, and go out and fight Amalek."
The Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah explains the deeper meaning of that battle: “Did the hands of Moses wage war or break war? Rather, whenever Israel looked upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed; but if not, they fell."
Joshua's soldiers still had to fight with swords. The physical battle was real and indispensable. Yet military effort alone was not enough. Victory depended upon the warriors recognizing that the ultimate source of their strength and success was God. Trust in God did not replace Joshua's leadership - it guided it.
Jacob, our forefather, provides another powerful example of the proper balance between practical preparation and trust in God. As he prepared to meet Esau and his four hundred men, Jacob did not rely solely on the divine promise, “Behold, I am with you." Instead, as our sages teach, he prepared in three ways: through gifts, prayer, and readiness for war. He devised a military strategy, arranging his camp so that if one division were attacked, the other could escape. Even the greatest believers are obligated to make practical preparations for defense and war. Jacob's unwavering trust in God was expressed through prayer, but it did not diminish, even in the slightest, his responsibility to prepare for physical confrontation. Before him, Abraham had done the same when he armed his trained men to rescue Lot.
Above all stands King David, the sweet singer of Israel. Although the Book of Psalms is filled with expressions of absolute trust in God, David was also a warrior, a commander, and a military leader who never hesitated to exercise force when necessary. The Sages describe the relationship between David's military leadership and his devotion to Torah by citing the verse: “David administered justice and righteousness to all his people, and Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army." They explain: “Had it not been for David, Joab could not have fought; and had it not been for Joab, David could not have devoted himself to Torah." Military strength and spiritual leadership were not contradictory - they complemented one another.
Beyond these examples, the Sages established a fundamental halachic and philosophical principle: “We do not rely on miracles." A person must never abandon natural effort while expecting God to intervene supernaturally. It is like someone standing in danger of drowning who continues reciting Psalms while refusing to grasp the lifeline extended to him - the very lifeline sent by the Creator. As the Gemara teaches in Tractate Shabbat: “A person should never stand in a place of danger and say, ‘A miracle will be performed for me,’ for perhaps no miracle will occur."
With God's help, by fulfilling the continuation of our parashah - “Beware lest you forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes that I command you today" - and by appreciating the full weight of this commandment, striving to observe His laws, fulfill His will, and serve Him wholeheartedly, many will joyfully join the camp of their brothers who go out to battle. This includes not only those already prepared for military service, but also many who until now have remained on the sidelines, while recognizing the tremendous burden borne by the families who have carried this responsibility for so long.
In doing so, we affirm that trust in God is not an alternative to military service. Rather, it is the very foundation upon which a strong and faithful army must stand.
The author is the CEO of Tzifha International Real Estate.