The Israelites had been wandering in the desert for forty years. They were trying to get to the land of Israel, but they kept running into various obstacles on their way there. In this week's Torah Portion (Chukat; Numbers 19:1-22:1), G-d goes on what seems to be a tangent to describe one of these obstacles: Sichon, King of the Amorites. Within this historical account is a description of one of the cities that the Israelites ended up taking over, Chesbon (חשבון). Rabbinic scholar Rashi comments on Leviticus 21:27 that this description of Chesbon and this military account is to set the scene for next week's Torah portion, Balak.
In the Talmud (Bava Batra 78b), Rabbi Yochanan has a different idea. As I pointed out about Genesis 5, the passage is more than a genealogical accounting. It ends up being a lesson about caring about human beings. Rabbi Yochanan takes a homiletical approach to the military account. For the people referred to in Leviticus 21:27 as "those who speak in parables" (המשלים), Rabbi Yochanan interprets those as "those who rule over their evil inclination." When the passage says "Come to Chesbon" (על כן יאמרו חשבון באו), that is taken to mean "let us take an account of the world," i.e., the financial loss incurred by the fulfillment of the mitzvah in comparison to its reward.
I think this homiletical approach has a point because the word חשבון literally means "accounting." However, R. Yochanan linking it to reward and punishment is problematic for me, because Pirke Avot teaches that we should ultimately do mitzvahs out of love of G-d instead of fear of punishment. Being rewarded for good behavior, according to Pirke Avot, is seen as a lower motivation. R. Yochanan provides another explanation for the accounting, which is that those who do not calculate and examine their ways will be consumed like a fire, much like the one mentioned in Leviticus 21:27.
Later in the Talmudic passage of Bava Batra 78b, R. Yochanan mentions that the fire of arrogance will consume one in Gehenna, which is the closest eschatological concept of a Hell in Judaism. Bringing it to arrogance makes sense because arrogance is over-believing in oneself and inflating one's value. The inflated sense of confidence leads one to only think of the self, even at the expense of others.
I think this homiletic interpretation is compelling because there is another passage in Jewish text that analogizes personal development to a battle: Pirke Avot (4:1). In Pirke Avot, Ben Zoma asks who is strong (איזהו גבור?). The answer: one who overcomes their personal inclination (הכובש את יצרו). Ben Zoma then cites Proverbs 16:32, which states that "He who is slow to anger is better than a strong man, and a master of his passions is better than a conqueror of a city." Anger is a manifestation of a lack of self-control and self-discipline. It is consuming and means that you are susceptible to external forces.
By not taking account of who we are, what our character traits are, and where we can improve, we are not free. As creatures of free will, we have the potential to learn and grow. Doing personal accounting is not only for the Omer period, but a year-round endeavor. By keeping account of who we are and where we need to improve, we are able to fight and win the greatest battle of all: mastery over ourselves.
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