When free choice is no longer ours to choose

This doesn’t look like such a good idea, said Benjy, commander of an elite company in Golani’s Egoz unit, in the summer of 2006. “I know,” responded his commander, “but orders are orders.”

Their mission was to cross the border into Lebanon, and take the ridgeline some 3 kilometers opposite in an effort to support IDF troops to the east. 

I have visited the border by Kibbutz Avivim many times, and it never ceases to amaze me, the fortitude and raw courage it must have taken, for Benjy to lead his men over wide open territory in broad daylight, beneath the guns of Hezbollah terrorists in the hills above. 

This was the same Benjy Hillman, o”bm, subsequently killed in that battle at Maroun Aras , who was cited for bravery some years earlier, when he single handedly charged armed terrorists who had infiltrated one of the settlements in Gush Katif . Alone, he saved the lives of those under fire, by choosing to attack armed terrorists, rather than wait for backup forces to come to his aid. 

How does a person make such choices? Whence comes the courage and bravery necessary, in the face of what would cause most people to be frozen with fear, to ignore the most basic survival instinct and make what would post facto prove to be the right choice?

This week’s portion, Beshalach, presents us with a fascinating opportunity to explore the nature of our freedom to choose: “And G-d did not take the Jewish people via the land of the Philistines lest they see war and desire to return to Egypt.” 

G-d knew that the Jewish people, straight out of 200 years of Egyptian servitude, were not ready to fight, and the inevitable encounter with the warlike Philistine tribes would terrify them and have them wanting to return to Egypt. So G-d takes them northeast, towards the Red sea, where they encounter … the entire Egyptian army!

Since G-d splits the sea to save the Jewish people and subsequently vanquishes the entire Egyptian army, why couldn’t G-d do that to the Philistines instead? G-d could simply have caused the Philistines not to want to fight, avoiding the conflict all together; why the need for such an elaborate detour?