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 – 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