The Case of the Anarchic Ant

During our recent Washington state primaries, I learned that five of the state’s nine Supreme Court justice positions are up for election this year. That’s a higher number than usual, and all seats are contested. We have some influence on the judges, and therefore on justice, both spiritually and secularly.

In this month of Elul, leading up to Rosh HaShanah, also known as Yom HaDin, “The Day of Judgment,” our personal introspection and attention to the people in our immediate lives creates hope for a better year ahead. 

And as residents of Washington, our collective discernment through the ballot will shape what justice looks like for anyone facing the courts at local and state levels.  

It feels timely, then, that the opening lines of this week’s parashah, Shoftim, focus on the appointment of judges: 

“Judges and officers you shall place for you within all your gates that Adonai your God is giving you for your tribes, and they shall judge the people with fair judgment” (Devarim 16:18).

One midrash (rabbinic commentary) associates this verse with some lines from the book of Proverbs. Let’s walk through the midrash, with my play-by-play attempt to unpack it:

This is what the verse said: “Idler, go to the ant; see its ways and become wise. Though it does not have a commander, officer, or governor, it prepares its bread in the summer and amasses its food at the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6–8). 

So far, intriguing but not obvious how ants and judges are connected. Ants don’t seem to have any leaders of any kind… (Did people of yore realize there was a “queen”, or call it something different?)

Why did Solomon see fit to teach the idler a lesson from the ant? 

The Rabbis said: An ant has three houses. It does not store [food] in the upper one, to avoid [water] dripping in, nor in the bottom one because of the [moistness of the] mud, but in the middle one. 

I’m not an ant expert, so I’m just taking the midrashic analysis on face value. The ants seem very smart, finding the right environment to store their food. Not too wet from above or below. Ants are industrious, and one lesson I learn here is that moderation, finding the middle room, balance, etc. are effortful and not always obvious. Finding that spot where you’ve gone beyond the superficial (the first house right below the surface), but not getting stuck in the mud of unnecessary depth (the third house) - that takes wisdom and experience!

And it lives only six months. Why? Because anything that does not possess sinews and bones can live only six months. Its diet is only one-and-a-half wheat kernels, but is goes and gathers in the summer everything that it finds – wheat, barley, and lentils.

The ant as an ideal all of a sudden seems tragic. So much hard work, and for what? Idling has become much more attractive, frankly. 

Rabbi Tanḥuma said: All [it requires in] its life is only one-and-a-half wheat kernels, yet it gathers [all] these. Why does it do so? Because it says: ‘Perhaps the Holy Blessed One will decree life upon me, so I will have something prepared to eat.’

Okay, like I said, I’m not an ant expert, but even I am fairly confident ants do not say this to themselves. But I suppose we are entering the realm of fable, where creatures become teachers. 

Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: There was once an incident where they found three hundred kor [of food] in its hole, from what it gathered from summer to winter. 

That is why Solomon said: ‘“Idler, go to the ant; see its ways and become wise.” You, too, prepare for yourself mitzvot in this world for the World to Come.’ 

According to our first opinion (there’s another one coming), amassing wealth beyond your ability to spend it is an act of humble faith. 

Hm.

Let me try again. 

According to the first opinion, doing the right thing by others and by God, what Judaism calls mitzvot, requires the tenacity of ants and the trust that those traditions and good deeds will accrue merit even beyond your lifetime. 

But we have another opinions as well:

What is meant by “see its ways and become wise”? The Rabbis said: See the proper behavior that it exhibits, as it eschews robbery. 

You know how ants have a mysterious ability to get somewhere useful to them even if they don’t travel in a straight line? So too the rabbis. 

Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta said: There was once an incident involving a certain ant that dropped a wheat kernel. All the others came and smelled it, but not one of them would take it. The one to whom it belonged came back and took it. See the wisdom that it has, all this virtue that it has, which it did not learn from any other creature, and it has neither judge nor officer, as it is stated: “It does not have a commander, officer, or governor”.

These ants embody the best of anarchy! Even with the imperative to gather far more than they’ll ever need, they won’t touch something that belongs to another ant. They need no ant Moses telling them the rules, or ant judges or ant police, they simply live in an organic and honorable order. 

The rabbis bring it home at last:

You, for whom I appointed judges and officers, all the more so that you should heed them. That is, “Judges and officers you shall place for you within all your gates.”

Maybe someday we will aspire to the level of the anarchic ant of rabbinic imagination, but for now, what does God and our tradition demand of us? To care deeply about justice, to choose our judges wisely, and to abide by the rule of law. 

Chodesh Tov, may this month leading to the High Holidays be good and a re-orientation to the good, and Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Jay LeVine