WARTIME BRIDES

    Based upon who will be fighting the wars, namely the tzaddikim righteous -- as explained before, the newest communiqué brought down by Moshe is surprising to say the least.  We have been told that should a soldier, in the heat of battle, see a woman that he desires; he may take her home and marry her, even though she may presently be married.  True there are some restrictions to this law such as she must have her hair shaven making her completely bald, let her nails grow long and ugly, change her beautiful clothes that she had on, trying to tempt our soldiers to act immorally…this seems to have worked, although to her disadvantage, and wear clothes that do not make her attractive, and allow her to mourn for a 30-day period for the loss of her parents and previous life.  If after this time period of constantly seeing this captive woman in such a state as compared to his wife or other Hebrew women who are walking around with a smile on their face and, in general in a good mood and dressed beautifully, he still wants to marry her, he may do so, converting her to our people by force.   Moshe explained this strange law in the following manner.  “If Hashem would not have allowed the soldier this possibility, regardless of how great a tzaddik he was, his yetzer hara—evil inclination—would have got the best of him and he would sin acting in a base manner possibly raping her, like the other nations that we are fighting.  Hashem wants us to act in a moral manner under all circumstances, especially ones like this".

 MARITAL BLISS OR BUST

  Marriage is a tremendous invasion of privacy.  Before marriage, you could do what you wanted; dress in any manner, and go to sleep without ever considering someone else.  But then you get married and that all changes.  Now you need to take your spouse into consideration for everything including what you will have for dinner.  Now, for most of us, we actually enjoy this invasion of privacy…not only do we enjoy it, we actively seek it.  But there are others, I’m sure that you met them, who are not happy with their choice of mate and are just waiting for the end of time, so they can end their time with them.  Well, this is no longer necessary.  Moshe has given us a way out of bad choices, namely divorce.  All one need do is write his wife a bill of divorce, give her the dowry promised her in the ketubah and it is done.  So there’s no need to be miserable anymore.  Just beware; should you divorce your wife and then decide to reconcile, be sure to do so before she has a chance to marry someone else. For if she does marry another, she is forever lost to you.  “Why?!” you ask.  Simply put, because Hashem doesn’t want us to engage in “legal promiscuity.” 

 HONEY, ARE YOU HAPPY?

Yes, you heard me right.   The command is not to enjoy each other’s company…no, not at all.  It is only to make you happy that you married your spouse.  Hashem feels so strongly about this that He has not only exempted your husband from active military duty for the entire year, but your husband is not to engage in any of the other things related to the war effort, such as repairing the roads or supporting the troops with food and/or supplies, unlike the other groups of people who are also exempted from the army.  So enjoy your first year together ladies…it’s literally a gift from Hashem.  

 JUSTICE & AMALEK

    Moshe spoke about two seemingly unrelated topics; insuring that we act justly in all matters including business, especially insuring that the weights that we use are honest measures and that we remember how Amalek attacked us a few months after leaving Egypt.  Moshe explained that the attack of Amalek, or people of his ilk, is predicated upon our non-compliance with Hashem’s law.  If we choose to cheat our fellow man by using one set of weights for purchasing and another for selling, thus cheating one or both parties, then we don’t deserve to live peacefully on our land and we will be attacked.  It is very important to remember that we are representing Hashem in everything we do, so when we act inappropriately we defame Hashem and deserve punishment.