Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShavua, Matos-Masei is being sponsored by Yosef Moshe and Chana Rosenberg of Ramat Beit Shemesh dedicated in honor of Yosef Moshe’s Bar Mitzvah Parshiyot, for the health and well-being of their children and family and dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Rosenberg 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 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
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Our twin Parshiyot Matos – Masei are an interesting connection of contrasting concepts. Parshat Matos opens with Moshe Rabbeinu addressing the heads of the twelve tribes (Roshei Matos) regarding vows (nedarim) and oaths (sh’vu’aht) This becomes the pattern for how Moshe conveys all other Mitzvot, first addressing the heads of the tribes, and then teaching the B’nei Yisrael.
Parshat Masei, conversely, lists the forty-two camping places of Am Yisrael during their forty year sojourning in Bamidbar (desert). Rabbi Hershel Reichman, in his Sefer, “Living the Chassidic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel,” one of the sources which will be cited in this vort, makes an analogy between these forty-two camping places of Am Yisrael and what Zohar and Chassidus indicate, that there are forty-two levels of evil.
But, are Parshiyot Matos – Masei really contrasting concepts, or are they a natural progressions?
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, in his Sefer, “Kol Dodi.” renders to English Sefer Banidbar, Perek 30, posuk 2 and provides commentary (pages 244 -245) :
“And Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the B’nei Yisrael saying: ‘This is the matter which Hashem commanded:'” [Sefer Banidbar, Perek 30, posuk 2]
Eretz Yisrael was given to the Jews as… a heritage. As long as we remain true to His Torah and Mitzvot, Hashem promises that we will continue to dwell on the Land and have it to pass on to our children. The Sages taught that the punishment for reneging on a vow is the death of one’s small children, may Hashem protect us. [Rabbi Feinstein citing Shabbos 32b] Therefore, for Israel to assume eternal occupation of the Land, it was necessary for the people to learn the laws of vows, in order to avoid this punishment and ensure that there would be future generations to occupy the Land.
As we will see [later] in Parshat Masei [Rabbi Feinstein citing Sefer Bamidbar Perek 34, posuk 20], the heads of the tribes [Nasi’im] were given responsibility for allocating and distributing parcels of Land, each to members of his [respective] tribe. We may assume that they were also responsible to ensure that the Land remained in proper hands. In order to do this, they would need to have a thorough knowledge of the laws of vows, to help assure that their followers would have offspring to whom to pass on their land. For this reason, the Nasi’im were singled out to be taught these laws in particular, so that, by knowing how to annul vows whenever possible, they would be able to protect people from violating them.
Rabbi Hershel Reichman, in his Sefer, “Living the Chassidic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel,”adds additional commentary on vows and oaths (pages 615 – 616) :
Rashi… teaches us a special rule. The Torah teaches Jews to keep their promises… If a person takes an oath or a promise and afterwards regrets it, he is not stuck forever with the vow. When the person calms down and wants to escape the vow, he has a way out. He can go to a single expert, a yachid mumcheh and have the vow rescinded. He can also go to a group of three people to revoke the vow. [This is commonly done in our times just before Rosh Hashana by way of revolving groups of three people each in order to rescind any vow or oath that he may have made unknowingly or forgotten about. MB] With expressed regret, the person can ask to be released from the vow. This explains why Moshe delivered a special instruction to the heads of the tribes who were of course Torah scholars. They needed to know this rule that they are able to revoke the vows of individual people.
Following Torah’s pronouncements regarding vows and oaths, Torah relates:
“Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘Take vengeance for the B’nei Yisrael against the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered unto your people.’ Moshe spoke to the people, saying, ‘Arm men from among yourselves for the legion that they may be against Midian to inflict Hashem’s vengeance against Midian.'” (Sefer Bamidbar Perek 31, posukim 1 – 3 rendered to English in The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash cites a Midrash regarding Perek 31, posukim 2 : “Take vengeance for the B’nei Yisrael” (page 903) :
Hashem spoke of avenging the harm that had been done to Israel, but in the next posuk, when Moshe conveyed the commandment to the Jews, he spoke only of avenging the slight to Hashem’s honor.
Rabbi David Feinstein, z”l provides a more explicit commentary on Perek 31, posuk 2 in light of posuk 3 (pages 245 – 246) :
When Moshe passes Hashem’s instructions on to the Jews, he speaks of Hashem’s vengeance against Midian. …Since Moshe used a different expression, the Torah does not say that Moshe was quoting Hashem’s words; it says that “Moshe spoke to the people, saying,” which implies that his words were his own rephrasing of the Divine command. Why did Moshe paraphrase Hashem’s words and what right did he have to do so?
Rashi says that whenever someone stands up against Israel, it is as if he stood against Hashem. Thus Moshe was merely restating Hashem’s words in a way that would be more compelling to the people. If Moshe had ordered the Jews to extract vengeance for the transgressions against them, they might have been willing to forgive any wrongs done them and forgo any vengeance. However, they had no right to forgive offenses against Hashem.. Therefore, once Moshe said that Hashem’s honor was involved, the people had no choice but to follow his orders.
And so, we learn that the B’nei Yisrael go to war against Midian, are victorious, and have taken the women of Midian captive, as well taking the young children and spoils of victory — cattle, flocks and animals. Moshe expresses his displeasure that the victorious B’nei Yisrael let the Midianite women live, as they were the vehicle of Bila’am, who caused men to betray Hashem by way of the avodah zora Ba’al Peor.
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash provides commentary (page 905) :
“With the commanders of the army.” It was their responsibility to order that appropriate actions be taken, it was to the officers that Moshe directed his anger. This teaches that when leaders of the generation have the power to reproach [verb – used with an object: to find fault with (a person, group, etc.); blame; censure], they are responsible for the failures of the nation. (The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Rashi)
To Moshe… it was clear that there was no excuse for permitting known harlots to survive. He also ordered that the surviving young males be put to death as part of the national vengeance.
Following the war, Torah relates:
“Elazar, the Kohen said to the soldiers returning from the campaign: ‘As far as the gold, silver, iron, tin and lead are concerned, whatever has been used over fire must be brought under fire and purged, and [then] purified with sprinkling water. However, that which was not used over fire need only be immersed in a mikvah. You yourselves must also immerse [your bodies and] your garments on the seventh day, and you will then be clean so that you can enter the camp.'” [Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 31, posukim 21 – 24 rendered to English in “The Living Torah” Chumash, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan]
Parsha Masei teaches us that “Hashem spoke to Moshe… by the Jordan, at Yericho” telling him to speak to the B’nei Yisrael and tell them (Artscroll Stone Chumash, Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 33, p’sukim 51-56, pages 922-923);
“When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all of the inhabitants of the Land before you; and you shall destroy all their prostration stones; all of their molten images…. You shall possess the Land as an inheritance by lot to your families…. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land before you, those of them whom you leave shall be pins in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you upon the Land in which you dwell. And it shall be that what I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you.” (Rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 33, p’sukim 51-56, pages 922-923)
Rabbi Artscroll (Artscroll Stone Chumash, page 923) then cites the Rashbam and follows with it’s own commentary;
… If they fail to do so, they will suffer the fate Hashem had intended to impose upon the Canaanites, and be driven out.
Only in the perspective of Hashem’s wisdom can this passage be understood. No human ruler has the right to decree that an entire population is to be… exiled, but Hashem revealed that the Canaanite presence was incompatible with both the Land’s holiness and Israel’s mission on earth. History is the most conclusive proof of this, for the fact was that the Jews could not bring themselves to eliminate all of the Canaanites, with the result that the Jews were drawn to idolatry, debauchery, and were in turn periodically oppressed and finally exiled.
As noted above, Parshat Masei, discusses the forty-two camping places of Am Yisrael during their forty year sojourning in Bamidbar. Rabbi Hershel Reichman, in his Sefer, “Living the Chassidic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel,” discusses the significance of these forty-two camping places (pages 623 – 624) :
…Chassidus follows the lead of the Zohar and sees deep spiritual significance in these forty-two stops in the desert.
These sources say that evil has forty-two levels. Hashem made the world in triplicate form: nefesh, makom, and z’man — people, place and time. Various energies come into the world in triplicate. An example is holiness. In place, the deepest holiness is found in the Kodesh HaKadoshim… of the Beit HaMikdash. In the realm of time, the deepest holiness is Yom Kippur, which is called “Shabbos Shabboson, the Shabbos of Shabbosos.” Among people, the deepest holiness can be found in the Kohen Gadol.
The desert represents desolation. It is an abandoned wilderness, a frightening place with howling winds, jackals and other animals. The desert represents evil. There are forty-two levels of this evil. Durinng their forty years in the desert, the Jews moved from place to place. According to Kabalah and Chassidus, they did this in order to confront and conquer these forty-two levels of evil.
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein renders to English Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 33, posuk 1 and presents another picture of Am Yisrael’s forty year journeys in Bamidbar in his Sefer, “Kol Dodi” (page 248) :
“These are journeys of the B’nei Yisraael who went out from Egypt.” [Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 33, posuk 1 ]
It is noteworthy that the Torah does not speak of these journeys as the route to Eretz Yisrael; rather, it associates them with the road away from Egypt. This suggests that Torah views Yetziyot Mitzrayim as more than a process of physical or geographical relocating, Leaving Egypt was a spiritual process, which involved weaning the people from the Egyptisn manner of thought and instilling them with a commitment to Torah so that they would never desire to return to Egypt.
…All of the journeys through the Wilderness… represented stages in the spiritual journey from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael. In a sense, this spiritual journey did not reach its true goal until the building of the Beit HaMikdash…. This also explains why the Prophet [Rabbi Feinstein citing Melachim I, Perek 6, posuk 1] connects the two events by saying that the beit HaMikdash was completed 480 years after the Yetziyot Mitzrayim. This suggests that the spiritual process of eradicating Egyptian thought took a full 480 years.
Keeping in mind the laws concerning vows and oaths taught in Parshat Matos, as well as the purification of the bodies of the soldiers, as well as the objects obtained from war, it would seem that Parshat Masei and the Am Yisrael’s forty-two stops in Bamidbar represent a continuing progression of purifying the hearts and minds of the various levels of evil associated with these forty-two encampments.
But throughout our history, through to the building of both Bati HaMikdashim, the eventual destructions of each, successive evil kings, our exiles from Eretz Yisrael and persecutions, inquisitions, pogroms by the nations in which we sojourned and Sho’a, through to our times, it seems to this author that we still have much more work to do in this continuous progression in purification of heart and mind to instill a commitment to Torah in the people, as well as governmental leaders, politicians and military command echelons.
May it be that our leadership — governing, judicial and IDF high command echelons, as well as kol Am Yisrael come to achieve a faithfulness, consistency and unity — both collectively as One, and individually in our avodah — both V’Ahavtah L’Arecha Kamocha, and in our 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. 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!
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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.
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