Shalom Friends;
Our vort for Parshat HaShavua Beha’alotcha is being sponsored by Simon and Aliza Baum and family of Ramat Beit Shemesh who dedicate this vort Lilui Nishmas in honor of Simon’s Parents: Chaya Miriam Bas Boruch and Simcha ben Yehuda Leib and for the safety of the Chayalim as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Baum family, many thanks for your sponsorship and your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring (or as the case may be, co-sponsoring) a Parshat HaShavua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShavua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
Subscribe to the Israel and the Sin of Expulsion blog, to ask questions or to sponsor a Parsha Vort at: olehchadash@yahoo.com
*****************************************
We begin with an excerpt from Rabbi Shmuel Goldin’s Parsha Summary on Parshat Beha’aloscha in his sefer, “Unlocking the Torah Text” (page 69) :
The final instructions prior to B’nei Yisraels’ departure from Sinai are delivered as Hashem commands Moshe concerning the kindling of the Menorah, the consecration of the Levi’im, the laws of Pesach Sheini, the miraculous role of the Clouds of Glory [Ananei HaKavod] in guiding the nation’s wilderness travels and the construction of the silver trumpets.
Finally, the moment of the nation’s departure from Sinai arrives, as the Cloud of Glory rises from the Mishkan, signaling the movement of the camp.
Torah relates:
“They journeyed from the Mountain of Hashem a three-day distance, and the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem [Aron Br’it Hashem] journeyed before them a three-day distance to search out for them s resting place. The Cloud of Hashem [Anan Hashem] was over them by day when they journeyed from the camp.” [Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 10, posukim 33 – 34 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash]
The Torah now interrupts the narrative with a two-sentence interjection, set off from the rest of the text by two inverted Hebrew letter “Nuns.” :
“When the Ark [Aron] would journey, Moshe said, ‘Arise Hashem, and let your foes be scattered, let those who hate you flee from before you.’ And when it rested, he would say, ‘Reside tranquilly, O, Hashem, among the myriad thousands of Yisrael.'” [Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posukim 35 – 36 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash]
Questions arise as to why the interruption and what brought it about? The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash notes (page 787) :
Rashi indicates that the passage was placed here so that Torah would not record three Jewish sins in succession. [A form of Chazakah].
(a) An act of property acquisition. (b) The Halachic status of permanence that is established when an event repeats itself three times. (c) An entity’s assumptive state based on its nature or personal track record.
Based on the Chabad definition of Chazakah, in the context of three consecutive sins, what was the first sin which necessitated its separation by these posukim from the subsequent sins? The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash notes regarding the first of the sins (ibid, page 787) :
Ramban cites a Midrash that the Jews “fled from the Mountain of Hashem like a child running away from school,” happy to leave that Holy place because they were afraid that Hashem might give them more and more commandments. Thus, although they traveled in compliance with Hashem’s will, their attitude made a sin of a journey that should have been the fulfillment of Hashem’s oath to the Patriarchs.
Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag, in a Young Israel D’var Torah written in 5755 expands on the first sin and provides his explanations for the second and third sins:
The Ramban states that this sin was soo severe that had they not ‘sinned’ in this manner, Hashem would have immediately brought them into Eretz Yisrael without having to travel through the wilderness.
The following explanation was offered in a Mussar discourse delivered in the Chevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem by the Rosh Yeshiva [Mentor and Teacher of Rabbi Ralbag], Rabbi Simcha Zissel Broide, Sh’lita (Founder of the Yeshiva in Hevron in 1924).
The analogy to a child fleeing does not refer specifically to studies. Rather, it refers to the school itself. The child feels constricted by the school, therefore, he can not sympathize with this school that confines him. Running away from school means that no importance is attached to the school.
…It was expected that B’nei Yisrael would feel deeply pained by Hashem’s ordered departure from Har Sinai. Though Har Sinai no longer retained its sanctity, and though they continued to develop in Torah for forty years longer, the Jews should have been profoundly saddened that they were leaving the Mountain where they received and then learned Torah. “Hakarat HaTov” required a deep sense of gratitude to Har Sinai. For this lapse they were severely punished. For it really meant that they attached little importance to the Mountain and all that occurred there.
The second and third sins of the B’nei Yisrael are those of complainers and rabble-rousers.
The complainers despair of the desert and bemoan their terrible fate. They succeed in their intention to anger Hashem, and a fire burns them at the camp’s edge. The rabble-rousers incite B’nei Yisrael to complain about their diet of manna. They not only crave meat, but even have the audacity to declare “Why did we leave Egypt?” Again, the instigators die while eating the meat.
To this author’s understanding, it seems that the nature of the sin, or sins of the complainers and/or the rabble-rousers is not clear. Might it be that the complainers’ despair of the desert, angering Hashem, and the clamor of the rabble-rousers for meat together constitute the second sin, with the sin of the miraglim, which Torah relates in our Pashat Shelach being the third sin?
Rabbi Goldin, in his sefer “Unlocking the Torah Text” (page 99) cites Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel who provides an amplification on the separation (Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posukim 35 – 36) necessitated between the first and second of the three sins:
Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel maintains that these posukim [Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posukim 35 – 36] actually belong in another place in Torah. They are, however, uprooted from their place and inserted here to serve as a buffer between two tragic events: the disastrous manner in which the B’nei Yisrael leave Har Sinai and the tragic rebellion of Taveira [where they angered Hashem who brought a fire on the edge of the camp] that immediately follows their departure [from Har Sinai].
Rabbi Goldin further notes (ibid., pages 101 – 102) :
While the Torah does not testify outright to the nature of the B’nei Yisraels’ departure from Sinai, the text tells us what occurs immediately thereafter. Three days out from the site of Revelation, the nation descends into rebellion for no apparent reason. [Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posukim 1 – 3] This revolt launches a cascading series of tragic uprisings which culminate in the devastating sin of the miraglim [spies], the event that seals the fate of this generation. [Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posuk 4 – Perek 14:45] These self-inflicted tragedies are proof enough to the Rabbis of the mindset that must have marked the B’nei Yisraels’ departure from Sinai. Only a people determined to “leave Sinai behind” could sin soo grievously, so soon after experiencing the power of Revelation. Hashem wants us to understand that the B’nei Yisraels’ “flight” from the scene of Revelation is not just another tragedy. It is, instead, the root cause of all tragedies that follow. Had our ancestors truly understood the significance of Revelation, had they carried the imperative of Sinai with them upon their departure, they would not have descended into the immediately subsequent rebellion. The generation of the Yetziyot Mitzrayim would have marched directly and triumphantly into Eretz Yisrael rather than perishing in the wilderness.
Rabbi Zev Leff adds further clarity and lessons for today in his sefer “Outlooks and Insights on the Weekly Torah Portion” regarding the three sins of Am Yisrael in Bamidbar and the separation between the first and second of the sins by Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posukim 35 – 36 (pages 172 – 174) :
Since a threefold repetition constitutes a pattern in Halacha, the Torah did not record these three events in succession, without a break in between. Still to be explained, however, is why the division falls between the first two episodes and not between the second and the third.
To answer this… question, we must understand the importance of consistency in our service to Hashem. When Yosef revealed himself to his brothers with the words, “I am Yosef; is my father still alive?” the brothers were so overwhelmed that they could not answer him. The Midrash comments, “Woe to us from the Day of Judgement and the day of reproof, for if the brothers could not answer the rebuke of Yosef, …how much more so will we be overwhelmed by Hashem’s reproof when He, in the future, rebukes each one according to his deeds.”
Beit HaLevi explains that the essence of Yosef’s rebuke was pointing out the inconsistency of [the brothers’] actions. Until the moment when Yosef revealed himself, Yehudah was pleading with Yosef to take into account the suffering of their aged father and therefore free Binyamin. To this Yosef replied, “I am Yosef, Where was your concern for our father’s pain and suffering when you sold me and convinced him that I was dead? Is he still alive after that? When it is convenient, you are concerned with our father’s welfare, and when it serves your purposes, you are oblivious.”
The Midrash in Tana D’vei Eliyahu records a similar instance of rebuke. Eliyahu HaNavi found himself mocked by an ignorant boor, who didn’t even know the alef-bet. Eliyahu asked the man if he did not fear the day the Heavenly Court would ask him why he didn’t learn Torah. The man replied that he was not afraid because he was not given the intelligence to learn and therefore could not be blamed. Eliyahu then asked him to describe how he made his living. The man commenced an animated description of how he made fishing nets and set them out in the most efficient possible fashion. Eliyahu told him, “For fishing you have wisdom, and for Torah, which is even more crucial to life, you do not?” Immediately, the man burst into tears at the realization that he had refuted [Verb — used with an object: to prove to be false or erroneous] himself.
We can now understand why the Torah separated between the eager departure of B’nei Yisrael from Sinai and their complaints about the swift pace at which they were moving. When B’nei Yisrael ran to avoid a proliferation [Noun: A rapid and often excessive spread or increase] of additional Mitzvot, Hashem observed, “My children, if you have the energy to run from Har Sinai, let us harness the energy and direct your running to your final destination, Eretz Yisrael.” Immediately B’nei Yisrael complained that they lacked the strength and stamina to run. That was the ultimate self-condemnation — inconsistency. To run from Torah, you have the stamina, and yet to run to Eretz Yisrael you lack that same capacity. To minimize the inconsistency…, the Torah distinguished between these two episodes [with a separation].
The two posukim [Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 11, posukim 35 – 36] set off by the inverted Nuns — [Opposite of Nun which represents Ne’emawnoot — indicating faithfulness and consistency] represent inconsistency and self-contradiction.
Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch comments that this Parsha marks the end of one epoch of Judaism’s history and the beginning of another, leading to the sin of the miraglim [spies] and culminating in the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and exile. The root of all of this misfortune was the inability to be consistent in our service to Hashem./blockquote>
May it be that our leadership, both governing and IDF high command echelons, as well as kol Am Yisrael come to achieve a faithfulness and consistency in our avodah — both V’Ahavtah L’Arecha Kamocha, as One, and Service of Hashem, B’Ezrat Hashem!
May our government and military bring about the total and complete, Final and Decisive victory over Hamas, their 7 October so-called “civilians(sic)” collaborators, Iran and the entire terror cabal, B’Yad Hashem, and become Totally self-sufficient as to manufacture of military equipment and aircraft, weaponry, munitions — heavy munitions, as well as showing independence of actions responding to any threat, regardless of so-called “super powers.”
May we see, from here on, that border guard personnel at all points of possible danger are listened to and treated with respect and dignity. May we see, with Operation Roaring Lions — the joint action by our Chayalim and the United States against the Mullahs of what has been the Islamic Caliphate dictatorship controlling Iran, that Islam and its barbarous terrorist tentacles of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, as well as Qatar, Turkey, the Houthies of Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, Afganistan, possibly Egypt, and all who seek war against the Jews be totally eradicated, both in Israel’s neighborhood, as well as internationally, B’Ezrat Hashem. May we see a government of Israel secure in it’s foremost service of, and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B’Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael. May these words come to fruition B’Ezrat Hashem.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his sixth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, the recent recovery of the remains of Tzvi Feldman as well as the recoveries of the remains of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
———————————————————
Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.Moshe is available for editing of English language documents, articles, manuscripts and more. Please be in contact with him at olehchadash@yahoo.com for your English language needs.
*********************************************************