Ki Tavo: How to Battle Against Sichon

At the end of the parsha, Moshe reminds the people of the miracles Hashem performed for them. From leaving Egypt, to receiving manna from Heaven – and the wars with Sichon, King of Cheshbon and Og, King of Bashan. Rashi tells us that these wars, the precursor to the actual conquering of the land, took place in the month of Elul. Using the lens of Rav Tzadok HaKohen, we will explore the spiritual dimensions of these battles and discover how to battle against Sichon, even today.

The conquest of the land of Israel is recorded in the book of Yehoshua, yet we can view the battles of Sichon and Og as the first wars for the land. Under Yehoshua, the Jewish people were commanded to drive out the 7 nations (they were given 3 options) and inherit the land which was promised to them. Rav Tzadok HaKoken reveals that the seven nations represented the seven forces of tum’a (impurity) which counter the seven forces of kedusha (holiness) which the Jewish people represent. The battlefront was thus not only a physical one, but a spiritual one where the Jewish people were charged with overpowering these 7 negative forces. Each time the Jewish people prevailed in strengthening the force of holiness, the victory was already theirs. The fight was nothing more than a manifestation of what was already achieved in the spiritual plane.

Rav Binyomin Eisenberger explains that before each battle took place, the Jewish people would have to perform a self-accounting. This would help them identify the forces of tum’a within themselves and arm them with the strength to expel those forces. Understanding their spiritual standing was vital for the successful conquest of the land of Israel.

The Jewish people needed to remove the threat of Sichon’s spiritual blockage so that they could indeed conduct a cheshbon before each war and succeed in identifying and expelling the forces of tum’a from within themselves. And all this took place in the month of Elul, the month designated for cheshbon…

According to Rav Tzaddok Hakohen, Sichon was named “the King of Cheshbon” because he tried to block the process of cheshbon, introspection, from the Jewish people. It is for this reason that this battle had to be fought first, before any part of the land of Israel could be apportioned. The Jewish people needed to remove the threat of Sichon’s spiritual blockage so that they could indeed conduct a cheshbon before each war and succeed in identifying and expelling the forces of tum’a from within themselves. And all this took place in the month of Elul, the month designated for cheshbon…

We know that Sichon and Og presented a specific threat to the Jewish people, as they stood at the precipice of inheriting the land. We see this in the words of King David (Tehillim 136) where we first thank Hashem for killing mighty kings and then we separerely thank Hashem for smiting Sichon, King of the Amorites and Og, King of Bashan. Rav Yitzchak Adlerstein brings the words of Chazal to suggest that we praise Hashem separately for the defeat of these two kings because in some spiritual sense, they acted as guardians of the seven, tum’a filled nations. They protected them and enabled them to grasp onto what was then the land of Cana’an. Our triumph over them was therefore its own celebration. A celebration that we could now begin to conquer. Rav Adlerstein uses this explanation as an allegory instructing us to find those Sichon and Og-like obstacles which lie on our spiritual path. It is these negative forces which must be uprooted first. 

This helps us understand the words of Rav Kook who writes that if not for the sin of Golden Calf, all seven nations would have made peace with the Jewish people and no war would have been necessary. The acquisition of the land was always pre-destined, but the manner in which it was acquired was decided by our spiritual state. Rav Eliad Skuri quotes the Chazal that if we had not sinned in the desert, we would have entered the land unopposed. It is simultaneously frightening and empowering to consider how we shape history with our mitzvot and aveirot, and this in fact the theme in the air leading up to Rosh Hashanah. Rav Kook expressed that we could have entered Eretz Yisrsel in a glorious way, as we will when Moshiach arrives, carrying the name of Hashem, inspiring the nations with His awe, heralding atime of peace. These are the dreams we paint in our tefillot over the yamim noraim. And it is a dream we can achieve, when we properly utilize the power of cheshbon. 

Interestingly, the Chiddushei HaRim writes that even if no change is implemented, the act of conducting a cheshbon is valuable on its own. The act of pausing to take stock is a powerful blow to the yetzer hara because it transforms us into thinking Jews – something which the yetzer hara desperately resists. We see this in the story out Egyptian slavery, where Pharaoh did his best to ensure that no Jew would have a single moment to sit and think. He even commanded that the Jews made their own straw to stop them finding the time to think about Hashem. Before we even enter the overwhelming area of growth, we first enter the arena of cheshbon, of thinking. That is the most powerful tool in our arsenal in Elul.

May we use this powerful time to destroy the Sichon and Og forces which lie within us and pave the way for a beautiful year filled with spirituality.