Parsha – Mas’ei

Once again Shabbat is here. All week I look forward to the Sabbath bride and the comfort of being in the peace {Shalom} of the Shabbat. For the Jewish soul was the Sabbath created, so our own creations can flourish in this world.

This week we read the story of Mas’ei, or Numbers 33:1-36:13. This happens to be the last chapter of the Book of Numbers. When we finish a book of Moshe we rise and say “Strength, Strength, may we all be strengthened”.

The Parsha starts with a recollection of the journeys of the Children of Israel through the desert. Each of the 42 encampments is listed in very vivid detail. At some of the camps there were big problems when Hashem got mad at us and rebuked us. Each of these stops is recalled by Moshe as it is written:

32:1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel who left the land of Egypt in their legions, under the charge of Moses and Aaron. 2. Moses recorded their starting points for their journeys according to the word of the Lord, and these were their journeys with their starting points. 3. They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day following the Passover sacrifice, the children of Israel left triumphantly before the eyes of all the Egyptians. 4. And the Egyptians were busy burying because the Lord had struck down their firstborn and had wrought vengeance against their deities. 5. The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth. 6. They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, at the edge of the desert. 7. They journeyed from Etham and camped in Pi hahiroth, which faces Baal zephon. 8. They journeyed from Penei hahiroth and crossed in the midst of the sea to the desert. They walked for three days in the desert of Etham and camped in Marah. 9. They journeyed from Marah and arrived in Elim, and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. 10. They journeyed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.

It is understood that this recollection is representative of the journeys all human souls go through in this world. Personally I can relate to this understanding because I have journeyed quite a bit in my life. The Parsha continues with the rest of the 42 stops.

Chapter 33 begins with Hashem speaking to Moshe about how they will drive out the inhabitants of Canaan who were idol worshiping barbarians. It reads:

50. The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: 51. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52. you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their temples, destroy their molten idols, and demolish their high places. 53. You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to occupy it. 54. You shall give the Land as an inheritance to your families by lot; to the large, you shall give a larger inheritance and to the small you shall give a smaller inheritance; wherever the lot falls shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers, you shall inherit. 55. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you, then those whom you leave over will be as spikes in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land in which you settle. 56. And it will be that what I had intended to do to them, I will do to you.

As we see Hashems word was true. He said that if we did not drive out the inhabitants of the land then those who are left will harass us in the land which we inherited. If only we had done as Hashem had wished and been able to remove them from the land we would not have these bloody terrorists at our backs.

Next the Torah relates the borders of the Biblical Israel:

1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Command the children of Israel and say to them, When you arrive in the land of Canaan, this is the land which shall fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its borders. 3. Your southernmost corner shall be from the desert of Zin along Edom, and the southern border shall be from the edge of the Sea of Salt [the Dead Sea] to the east. 4. The border then turns south of Maaleh Akrabim [elevation of Akrabim], passing toward Zin, and its ends shall be to the south of Kadesh barnea. Then it shall extend to Hazar addar and continue toward Azmon. 5. The border then turns from Azmon to the stream of Egypt, and its ends shall be to the sea. 6. The western border: it shall be for you the Great [Mediterranean] Sea and the border this shall be your western border. 7. This shall be your northern border: From the Great [Mediterranean] Sea turn yourselves toward Mount Hor. 8. From Mount Hor turn to the entrance of Hamath, and the ends of the border shall be toward Zedad. 9. The border shall then extend to Ziphron, and its ends shall be Hazar enan; this shall be your northern border. 10. You shall then turn yourselves toward the eastern border, from Hazar enan to Shepham. 11. The border descends from Shepham toward Riblah, to the east of Ain. Then the border descends and hits the eastern shore of Lake Kinnereth. 12. The border then continues down along the Jordan, and its ends is the Sea of Salt [the Dead Sea]; this shall be your Land according to its borders around

Then the Parsha elaborates on how the land will be divided amongst the tribes and how the Levites are to establish cities of Refuge for people who accidentally kill someone. This is very interesting:

35:6. Among the cities you shall give to the Levites, shall be six cities of refuge, which you shall provide [as places] to which a murderer can flee. In addition to them, you shall provide forty two cities. 7. All the cities you shall give to the Levites shall number forty eight cities, them with their open spaces. 8. And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the children of Israel, you shall take more from a larger [holding] and you shall take less from a smaller one. Each one, according to the inheritance allotted to him, shall give of his cities to the Levites. 9. The Lord spoke to Moses saying: 10. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan, 11. you shall designate cities for yourselves; they shall be cities of refuge for you, and a murderer who killed a person unintentionally shall flee there. 12. These cities shall serve you as a refuge from an avenger, so that the murderer shall not die until he stands in judgment before the congregation. 13. The cities that you provide shall serve as six cities of refuge for you. 14. You shall provide the three cities in trans Jordan and the three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. 15. These six cities shall be a refuge for the children of Israel and for the proselyte and resident among them, so that anyone who unintentionally kills a person can flee there. 16. If he struck him with an iron instrument and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 17. If he struck him with a fist sized stone which is deadly, and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 18. Or with a fist sized wooden instrument which is deadly,and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 19. The blood avenger shall kill the murderer; he may kill him when he meets him.

Then it goes on about how to judge whether he is a murderer or just guilty of manslaughter.

The Parsha concludes with the issue of Zelophehads daughers inheriting their portion of land in Eretz Yisroel.

Shabbat Shalom!

muman613

INTERESTING LINKS

Mas’ei: Zelophehad’s Legacy http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8151
An Ounce of Prevention : http://torah.org/learning/olas-shabbos/5758/matos.html
Chabad Parsha In Depth : http://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/default_cdo/aid/296692/jewish/In-Depth.htm

Parsha – Matot

It has been an interesting week. Once again it is Shabbat and I am looking forward to a wonderful Shabboton with my favorite Rabbi the Head Rabbi at Touro university and a wonderful teacher whom I admire.

Parsha Matot, the book of Numbers 30:2-32:42, starts off with the laws of vows. Since the human power of speech is considered Holy by Judaism it is important to Do what you Say and Say what you Do. Sometimes someone takes a vow to do something with good intentions but the task is too much. In these cases there is a way to annul a vow. As it is written:

2. Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying: This is the thing the Lord has commanded. 3. If a man makes a vow to the Lord or makes an oath to prohibit himself, he shall not violate his word; according to whatever came out of his mouth, he shall do. 4. If a woman makes a vow to the Lord, or imposes a prohibition [upon herself] while in her father’s house, in her youth, 5. if her father heard her vow or her prohibition which she has prohibited upon herself, yet her father remains silent, all her vows shall stand, and any prohibition that she has imposed upon herself shall stand. 6. But if her father hinders her on the day he hears it, all her vows and her prohibitions that she has imposed upon herself shall not stand. The Lord will forgive her because her father hindered her. 7. But if she is [betrothed] to a man, with her vows upon her or by an utterance of her lips which she has imposed upon herself, 8. and her husband hears it but remains silent on the day he hears it, her vows shall stand, and her prohibition which she has imposed upon herself shall stand. 9. But if her husband hinders her on the day he heard it, he has revoked the vow she had taken upon herself and the utterance which she had imposed upon herself, and the Lord will forgive her. 10. As for the vow of a widow or a divorced woman, whatever she prohibited upon herself will remain upon her. 11. But if she vowed in her husband’s house, or imposed a prohibition upon herself with an oath. 12. and her husband heard and remained silent, and did not hinder her, all her vows shall stand, and every prohibition she imposed upon herself shall stand. 13. If her husband revokes them on the day he hears them, anything issuing from her lips regarding her vows or self imposed prohibitions shall not stand; her husband has revoked them and the Lord shall forgive her. 14. Any vow or any binding oath of self affliction, her husband can either uphold it or revoke it. 15. However, if her husband remained silent from day to day, he has upheld all the vows and prohibitions she has assumed; he has upheld them since he remained silent on the day he heard it. 16. If he revokes them after having heard [them], he shall bear her iniquity. 17. These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife, a father and his daughter, in her youth, while in her father’s house.

Rashi comments on the words “He shall bear her iniquity” on line 16 that this is the basis for the understanding that a person causes his fellow to stumble into sin bears his punishment in his place. It seems that a young girls vows are influenced by her father and he is able to uphold them or annul them.

Parsha – Pinchas

Well Shabbat is right around the corner so it is time to write the weekly Parsha talk. This week we read Parsha Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1).

Last week we ended the Parsha with Pinchas zealously killing two sinners who were fornicating before Moshe with a non-Jew. In this parsha G-d tells Moshe that what Pinchas did was righteous and he should promote Pinchas to the title of Kohen {priest}. According to Midrash 12 miracles were performed in the merit of Pinchas {see links for more information}.

Chapter 25
10. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 11. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen has turned My anger away from the children of Israel by his zealously avenging Me among them, so that I did not destroy the children of Israel because of My zeal. 12. Therefore, say, “I hereby give him My covenant of peace. 13. It shall be for him and for his descendants after him [as] an eternal covenant of kehunah, because he was zealous for his God and atoned for the children of Israel.” 14. The name of the Israelite man who was killed, who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri the son of Salu, the chieftain of the Simeonite paternal house. 15. And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, a national leader of a paternal house in Midian. 16. The Lord spoke to Moses saying: 17. Distress the Midianites, and you shall smite them. 18. For they distress you with their plots which they contrived against you in the incident of Peor and in the incident of Cozbi their sister, the daughter of the Midianite chieftain, who was slain on the day of the plague [that had come] because of Peor.

Hashem now orders Moshe and Elezear to perform another census on the Jewish people. The reason for the census is to know how many men of fighting age are in the Jewish people.

Chapter 26
1. It was after the plague, that the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen, saying: 2. Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upwards, following their fathers’ houses, all that are fit to go out to war in Israel. 3. Moses and Eleazar the kohen spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: 4. “From the age of twenty and upward, as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel who had come out of Egypt.”

After counting all the families the census finds a total of 601,736 men of fighting age. Now Hashem reveals how the land will be divided between the tribes.

Chapter 26
52. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 53. You shall apportion the Land among these as an inheritance, in accordance with the number of names. 54. To the large [tribe] you shall give a larger inheritance and to a smaller tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance, each person shall be given an inheritance according to his number. 55. Only through lot shall the Land be apportioned; they shall inherit it according to the names of their fathers’ tribes. 56. The inheritance shall be apportioned between the numerous and the few, according to lot.

Now the Torah explains the request of the daughters of Zelophehad concerning their inheritance. According to the laws which Moshe recieved it was not clear what should happen to a tribes inheritance when the patriarch died and didnt leave any sons. Women were not normally considered for inheritance but Moshe took the question to Hashem. Hashem tells Moshe to allow the daughters to inherit their fathers property.

Chapter 27
1. The daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came forward, and his daughters’ names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2. They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the kohen and before the chieftains and the entire congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, saying, 3. “Our father died in the desert, but he was not in the assembly that banded together against the Lord in Korah’s assembly, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. 4. Why should our father’s name be eliminated from his family because he had no son? Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers. ” 5. So Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 7. Zelophehad’s daughters speak justly. You shall certainly give them a portion of inheritance along with their father’s brothers, and you shall transfer their father’s inheritance to them. 8. Speak to the children of Israel saying: If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. 9. If he has no daughter, you shall give over his inheritance to his brothers. 10. If he has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11. If his father has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to the kinsman closest to him in his family, who shall inherit it. This shall remain a decreed statute, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Hashem now tells Moshe that his time alive is running out. Moshe will be gathered in like his brother who died a painless and righteous death. Moshes first thought is that the Children of Israel will need a leader in his absence. Hashem tells Moshe that Joshua, his most favorite student, will take Moshes place of leadership.

Chapter 27
12. The Lord said to Moses, “Go up to this mount Abarim and look at the land that I have given to the children of Israel. 13. And when you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother was gathered. 14. Because you disobeyed My command in the desert of Zin when the congregation quarreled, [when you were] to sanctify Me through the water before their eyes; these were the waters of dispute at Kadesh, in the desert of Zin. 15. Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: 16. “Let the Lord, the God of spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, 17. who will go forth before them and come before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” 18. The Lord said to Moses, “Take for yourself Joshua the son of Nun, a man of spirit, and you shall lay your hand upon him. 19. And you shall present him before Eleazar the kohen and before the entire congregation, and you shall command him in their presence.

So Hashem tells Moshe how to pass on his leadership role in the Jewish people. Moshe took Joshua to the Kohen before the entire congregation and laid his hands on Joshuas head. Moshe bestowed some of his majesty on Joshua. As the Midrash relates, Moshe glowed like the sun and Joshua glowed like the moon.

The rest of the Parsha lists the sacred days, the yom tovim, and their associated offerings. This list includes the Shabbat and Passover. This has been a very exciting Parsha. The story of Pinchas, Zelophehad daughters, and the passing of the leadership from Moshe to Joshua.

LINKS

Pinchas: A Man For All Eras And All Places : http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5768/pinchas.html

Zealotry is like Radiation : http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5764/pinchas.html

Parsha – Balak

Once again it is Friday morning and it is time to write the Parsha discussion. This week is Parsha Balak which is in the Book of Numbers 22:2-25:9.

The last two weeks we have witnessed a great drop in the Children of Israels trust in Hashem. Many of those who left Egypt had died in the desert from a number of decrees. Korach and his wicked band were swallowed by the earth, there were plagues and some were killed. Despite this the core of the people were accepting the Torah and looking forward to moving into the land which Hashem had promised.

Then we read parsha Chukas, which told of Moshes mistake of hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. The people were complaining again and G-d sent snakes to punish them. Moshe was told, by Hashem, to create the image of snake on a staff and the people should gaze on it when bitten to cure them of the bite.

At the end of the story of Chukas we learn of Israels miraculous defeat of the Emorites and Bashan {King Sichon and King Og}. Now starts the story of Balak.

Balak was an evil king who feared Israel. He had a vision that Israel would spread out over the land and conquer all who stand in their way. He realized that the strength of Israel was in its closeness to Hashem. So in order to fight against the Israelites he must employ spirituality against them. Balak finds an evil gentile prophet by the name of Bilaam who is his only hope for destroying Hashems chosen people.

2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was terrified of the people, because they were many; and Moab was overcome with dread because of the children of Israel. 4 And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: ‘Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.’–And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.– 5 And he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying: ‘Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. 6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me; peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.’

Parsha Chukas – Deliberate Mystery

This weeks Parsha, Chukat contains some very interesting wisdom. The very concept of wisdom in hebrew is contained in the word “Chochma”. There are mitzvot in the Torah which are called “Chok” which means a mitzvah who’s logic is beyond human comprehension.

This weeks parsha contains the mitzvah of the Red Heifer. This mitzvah has been studied by the sages and the commentators through the centuries. There is a paradox in this mitzvah which has puzzled some of the greatest Torah giants. According to the midrash only Moshe Rebbeinu was privy to the inner workings of this mitzvah.

The basic working of the mitzvah of the Para Adumah is that there is this concept of purity. Things are either pure or contaminated. People become contaminated through contact with dead.

“This is the Torah [the law]: when a person dies in a tent, all who come into the tent, and anything in the tent, shall be impure for seven days.” [19:14]

The Torah tells us that a person who is contaminated must go through this process whereby ashes of a Red Heifer are sprinkled on him. The paradox is that the Kohen who purifies this person takes on the impurity.

Do we really understand how this happens, and why the Kohen must take on the impurity from the person? It is hard to comprehend the meaning of this. In order to accept it one must realize that there are things that humans will just never know until the end of days. Those who think they know it all often are proven wrong.

The Torah continues with the story of Miriams death. The Children of Israel had witnessed a miracle on Miriams behalf, that of the miraculous well which followed the people. Now they started to complain to Moshe. Of course this caused Moshe much consternation and he asked the L-rd for the peoples welfare. Then the unfortunate happened. Moshe was commanded to speak to the rock and it would give forth water. But Moshes emotions got the better of him and his anger towards the unfaithful people reared up and he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Because Hashem wanted to demonstrate to the people his mercy instead of appearing that Moshe just struck it and it produced water, he told Moshe he would not enter the land of Israel.

The people of the land begin to act beligerently toward the Children of Israel in their travels. First Edom {a descendent of Essau} would not allow passage of the people through their land, the most direct route to Eretz Yisroel. Then Ahron dies and the protective cloud which covered the people disappeared. Elazar, his son, takes the Kehuna. Because Ahron was a man of peace the entire people loved him and mourned him for 30 days.

But the stiff necked people once again complain against Moshe and ask “Why have you brought us from Egypt to this desert to die?”. This upsets Hashem so he unleashed fiery serpents on the people. The people realize this is the punishment for their unfaithfulness and come to Moshe asking him to pray to the L-rd. As it is written:

4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient because of the way. 5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: ‘Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.’ 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said: ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.’ 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.
[19:4-9]

After they realized their mistake and repented before Hashem and Moshe, Hashem tells Moshe to make the brass snake which allowed the people to be cured of the snake bite. This was another miracle of the desert.

Then the Children of Israel mount a battle against Sichon, king of the Emorites, and Og the king of Bashan and they are victorious.

Check out some more insights into the Parsha.

Some interesting links:

• Actual Torah Reading : http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0419.htm
• Video Shuir (Rabbi Schachter) : (Chukas)
• Rabbi Kalatsky on Chukas @ torah.org : (Our Relevance to the Infinite)
• Rabbi Winston on Chukas @ torah.org : (The “Chok’s” On You)
• Rabbi Lapin on Chukas @ iawaken.org : (The Artful Juggle: Ego – “Now you See it now you don’t”)

Parsha Korach – Conspiracy Theory

Today is Erev Shabbat once again and it is time for my weekly interpretation of our parsha. Last week, parsha Shelach, we saw the Jewish nation appearing to lose faith in Hashems promise. The slanderous report of the meraglim{spies} caused all the Israelites to weep inside.

Of course Hashem was very upset and he demonstrated this anger by promising that all the adults {over 20} would perish in the midbar{desert}. Moshe was very adept in his prayers and prevented the entire people from being instantly wiped out. This was the second time Moshe davened {prayed} for B’nai Yisroel’s wellbeing, the first being after the incident of the Chet HaEigel{sin of the golden calf} at Mount Sinai.

But even this was not enough for the Jewish people, the special nation which the Torah constantly portrays as an unfaithful wife, as another great leader of the people, a cousin of Moshe even, rose up to challenge Moshe and his stature in the Jewish nation.

The parsha begins:

1. Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi took [himself to one side] along with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben. 2. They confronted Moses together with two hundred and fifty men from the children of Israel, chieftains of the congregation, representatives of the assembly, men of repute. 3. They assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst. So why do raise yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

Well, that pretty much lays it out on the table there. Korach was a grandson of Levi, the same tribe as Moshe, and he assembled several serial complainers against Moshe {Dathan and Abiram}, and various up-standing men of the entire congregation who numbered 250. This entire MOB came to Moshe and accused him of being so arrogant as to raise himself above the entire Jewish people. Their claim “You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the L-rd is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the L-rds assembly?”. The basic premise is that every Jew is holy therefore why do they need to listen to Moshe? Isn’t this always the calling of anarchy and disarray? “We are all grownups here, who will tell me what to do?”.