This week, Jews throughout the world will read from parashat Matot-Mas’ei, which contains an unusual and highly detailed purification ritual following Israel’s war against Midian. After the Israelite soldiers return, Eleazar, the high priest, requires them to purify themselves and their spoils before reentering the camp. They must pass gold, silver, iron, and other metals through fire and then through water. The soldiers, too, must undergo purification on the third and seventh days, echoing the ritual of contact with death. These sacred pauses compel the warriors to confront the spiritual and emotional impact of war before rejoining communal life.
This ritual suggests that violence—however justified or even commanded—is spiritually contaminating. Unlike many texts, even Jewish ones, that glorify war as heroic or cleansing, this parashah embeds discomfort and sacred restraint around warfare. The requirement to purify after battle signals that strife is fundamentally unnatural, a rupture in the ideal human condition. Rejoining the community is not automatic; it demands reflection, ritual, and responsibility.
The episode invites us to reconsider how we process conflict—not only physical battles, but interpersonal disputes, political divisions, even workplace rivalries. Often, we seek to “move on” from arguments or moments of stress, without acknowledging their emotional residue. Were we to heed the lessons of this parashah, we would recognize that after any conflict – within or without – we must find a way to cleanse ourselves of the traumatic and moral reside of battle.
This might mean finding moments of solitude, ritualizing reconciliation, or pausing before reentering everyday conversation or work. Even after family arguments, hectic drives, or toxic online exchanges, reentry into community should not be casual. It should be sacred.
In an increasingly rapid and polarized world, our Torah reminds us that peace is not simply the absence of conflict—it is the presence of purification. To rejoin the tribe, we must first find a way to make ourselves whole again.
Rabbi Josh Knobel