Troops will march forth from Gad, and they will return on their tracks.
Genesis 49:19
The ultimate war is the war that we wage with negativity. Our chief challenge in life is to find the redeemable core in every aspect of creation with which we come in contact – even the lowest and most unsavory – and use it to transform that aspect into something positive.
This process is alluded to in the Torah by the commandment to conquer the Land of Israel from the pagan nations that occupied it before the Jewish people. When we set about this conquest with the proper motives and full confidence, demonstrating clearly that its purpose is to transform the world into G-d’s home, the enemies capitulate voluntarily, and the “war” is won peacefully and pleasantly.
The cumulative effect of repeating this process over and over will be our transformation of exile – the quintessence of negativity – into redemption – the quintessence of positivity.
-- Daily Wisdom Volume 3