The Bigger They Are | Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
Va'etchanan

קטגוריה משנית

As Moshe reviews the tumultuous events of his life, he recounts his battle with Og, the Bashan king. Og is one of the most fascinating "character actors" in all of Tanach.

By tradition, Og lived for a very long time. The Medrash says he survived the Great Flood by hanging on to the Teyva, & that happened 10 generations before Avraham was born & another 400 years before Moshe was born! Og was the last survivor of an extinct race of antediluvian giants, & his stature & power was legendary.

The Torah describes the size of his immense brass bed (9 X 4 amot; an amah being 1.5 feet) in order to show how big Og was, & the Medrash says (perhaps fancifully) that Moshe jumped 10 amot in the air, stretched out a 10-amah spear & stabbed Og in the ankle!

Og’s survival & longevity may derive from the fact that by tradition, he was the one who reported to Avraham that his nephew Lot had been taken captive. While Chazal say Og hoped Avraham would be killed in battle, leaving the beautiful Sara free for Og to marry, this shows that even a chesed done for the wrong reasons is rewarded.

But it’s fair to ask, "what is all this hyperbole about?" Do we really care how huge Og was? It almost sounds like the Torah is entering "fairy-tale" territory with this whimsical "tall-tale" (pun intended). Since we know the Torah never wastes words, there must be something much deeper & relevant for the ages to transmit to us.

I suggest Moshe is not bragging about his own physical prowess, though it was indeed impressive. Moshe is reminding us that no entity on earth, no matter how powerful it may appear, can vanquish us – if Hashem is at our side. Giant empires & empires of giants come & go, but we, Israel, remain eternal. Our primary task is to incur the love & support of Hashem, & then we will overcome these seemingly-invincible enemies.

A favorite Twilight Zone episode has a malevolent giant from another planet ravaging a town, until a young boy (David?) takes out his slingshot & hits him with a rock. Suddenly, there is a strong wind as the giant’s costume deflates, leaving a tiny little alien who runs away in fear.

As we approach Tisha B’Av, we recall the mighty nations of Babylonia & Rome that warred against us & destroyed Yerushalayim & the Bet HaMikdash. But Chazal (Gittin 53) tell us that they had no real power of their own. They were merely "grinding already-ground flour." It was our actions that determine our fate, not theirs. That which led to our disaster, you see, is also the key to our deliverance.

Va'etchanan