Category Archives: Matot

5782, Chidushei HaRim, Matot, Numbers, Parsha

Three Divine Gifts (Matot)

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Three Divine Gifts (Matot)

Take all that is given whether wealth, love or language, nothing comes by mistake and with good digestion all can be turned to health. -George Herbert

In the Torah reading of Matot, we’re informed how the tribes of Gad and Reuben were blessed with a significant wealth of flocks. The leadership of those tribes demanded of Moses to let them stay on the plentiful, lush, grazing lands of the recently conquered eastern side of the Jordan River, and not to force them to get the planned and likely smaller portions in the Promised Land of Canaan.

Moses agrees to their demand on the condition that they contribute soldiers to the conquest of Canaan who will serve in the Israelite army until all of the tribes have gotten their portions of land. Gad and Reuben agree.

Relatedly, the Chidushei HaRim on Numbers 32:1 gives an exposition on divine blessings. He states that there are three types of individuals with three distinct blessings: the wise, the mighty and the wealthy, who respectively possess wisdom, might and wealth. He also makes the distinction between those who “grab” the blessing, which in such cases is not likely to endure, versus those for whom it is truly a divine gift.

He explains that all our attributes and circumstances are designated to us by God. However, the person who “grabs” the blessing is the one who imagines that God had nothing to do with it, but that their wisdom, might, or wealth are the exclusive results of their own efforts. In such cases, those very blessings may not endure. On the other hand, a person who realizes that what they have comes from God, if they are thankful and humble about it, that is indeed a divine gift that will last.

He adds, that of the three gifts, wisdom is the key. Acquiring and retaining wisdom more easily enables a person to develop strength and achieve wealth. Ironically, the tribes of Gad and Reuven, who were so eager to “grab” the land to house their wealth of flocks were also the first of the tribes of Israel to lose their land and all their possessions, suffer exile and so far, remain lost to history.

May we appreciate and understand the source of our divine gifts and put them to good use.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the memory of Kurt Rothschild z”l.

5781, Bechor Shor, Masai, Matot, Numbers, Parsha

Two-Time Sorcerous Loser (Matot-Masai)

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Two-Time Sorcerous Loser (Matot-Masai)

An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains. -Henri Frederic Amiel

A couple of weeks ago, we read in the Torah how the sorcerer Bilaam was hired by the king of Moab to curse the nation of Israel. The Moabites allied themselves with the Midianites to fight Israel. Their hope and expectation were that the curse of the powerful sorcerer Bilaam would allow them to rout the Israelites who were getting uncomfortably close to their borders on their desert journey to the land of Canaan. Though Israel had no intention of bothering either of those nations and had explicit instructions from God not to harm the Moabites, these allies either weren’t aware or didn’t believe in the peaceful intentions of the nomadic tribes of Israel who had spent almost forty years in the desert and had recently started making their way towards Canaan.

As we read then, the efforts of Bilaam were a massive failure. Despite his eagerness and enthusiasm to curse Israel, God forces Bilaam to utter beautiful poetic blessings to Israel in front of the Moabite and Midianite leadership. After three botched efforts, Balak, King of Moab, sends the failed sorcerer home. The question arises as to why we see Bilaam unexpectedly mentioned in this week’s reading, seven chapters after Balak sent Bilaam home in ignominy? In this week’s reading, the Israelite army does ultimately attack the Midianites in retaliation for the mass-seduction of Israelite men by the Moabite and Midianite daughters, which followed the episode with Bilaam. The public licentiousness and accompanying idolatry lead to God’s fury and punishment of Israel by plague. What is Bilaam doing in the middle of this later battle with Midian?

The Bechor Shor on Numbers 31:8 explains that Bilaam had indeed failed in his bid to curse Israel and was sent home in shame. However, the Midianites had understood from Bilaam that the way to harm Israel is to get them to sin and that God is particularly hateful of sexual licentiousness. The Moabites and Midianites follow Bilaam’s hint, sending their daughters to seduce the Israelite men, which leads directly to God killing 24,000 Israelite men by a sudden plague. Finally, seeing the vulnerability of Israel due to their fresh and flagrant sin, the Midianites call Bilaam back to finish the job and curse Israel.

Bilaam does indeed return to try to curse Israel again, which explains his unexpected presence at this later place and time. However, this apparently powerful sorcerer didn’t learn from his first failure against Israel and he succumbs to an ignoble fate, to be caught and killed during Israel’s retaliation against Midian.

May God always protect us from our enemies, on all fronts.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the memory of Joseph Wiesel z”l. May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

5780, Masai, Matot, Meshech Chochma, Numbers, Parsha

Wasted Influence (Matot-Masai)

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Wasted Influence (Matot-Masai)

The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow. -Marian Anderson

Historically, it was extremely common for armies and soldiers to ravage and pillage their enemies. It was seen as their right to claim the spoils of war, whether human, animal, or inanimate valuables.

God, at the end of the Book of Numbers, commands Israel to battle the Midianite army. The Midianites had allied with the Moabites when they tried to curse the nation of Israel through the sorcerer Bilaam. When the cursing scheme proved unsuccessful, the Midianite and Moabite women conspired to seduce the men of Israel into illegal romantic activity, and succeeded. This was followed by heinous idol worship, which raised God’s ire and led to a sudden plague and the death of 24,000 men of Israel.

God commands the army of Israel to avenge the Midianite involvement and to take the fight to them.

The army of Israel is victorious and completely vanquishes the Midianite army. As a bonus, the Torah reports that the Israelites didn’t have even one casualty from their battle. On their return from battle, the army commanders offer sacrifices to God and donate from the gold and jewelry they captured in battle.

The Meshech Chochma on Numbers 31:49 deciphers the language the army commanders use before they offered their sacrifices. The army commanders were given charge of their soldiers. They reported that they didn’t lose one soldier. The deeper significance that the Meshech Chochma uncovers is that no soldier even touched an enemy woman, though it might have been quite natural in those days for them to do so in the heat of battle and victory.

Upon witnessing the upstanding behavior of their charges, the army commanders realized a previous mistake they had made. Seeing how the soldiers followed their commanders’ orders not to touch any of the enemy women, the commanders belatedly understood that they could have, likewise, influenced the men who had previously given in to the temptations of the Midianite and Moabite women. Had the commanders made clear their expectations of the behavior of an Israelite man, they surmised that the illegal romantic dalliances may have been averted. The commanders were guilty of not using their influence where and when it was required in that case, and as such, they felt it necessary to bring a sacrifice to atone for their lack of judgment and involvement.

May we realize the influence we have on those around us and always use it positively.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the memory of our Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yehuda Amital z”tl, on his tenth yahrtzeit. His influence was significant and undeniable.

5779, Berdichever, Matot, Numbers, Parsha, The Times of Israel

Directing God (Matot)

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Directing God (Matot)

The best time for you to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust. –Josh Billings

The beginning of the Torah reading of Matot introduces us to the laws of vows. In Jewish law, the words we use have importance. We must keep our word. We can’t say one thing and then do another, or not keep our word. Our word is truly our bond. The implications become even more severe when we phrase our statements as vows.

The Berdichever focuses on the language of the verse and specifically the key verb, “Yachel.” The verse can be read as follows:

“When a man vows a vow unto God or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not “Yachel” his word; he shall do according to all that came out of his mouth.” -Numbers 30:3

The classic translators interpret Yachel as “break”, meaning he shall not break his word, and that works well with the overall meaning of the verse. The Berdichever interprets according to the deeper origin of the verb, “Chulin”, meaning secular or profane. That would give us a sharper reading of “he shall not profane his word.” Don’t violate, defile, degrade, disrespect the words that come out of your mouth.

The Berdichever continues that whoever doesn’t want to profane his words is careful to adjust and correct every word that comes out of his mouth, to make sure that it is proper and that he can stand by it. He calls this “guarding of the covenant of the tongue.”

According to the Berdichever, guarding of the covenant of the tongue, namely watching what we say and keeping our word, bestows an incredible power upon its practitioner and is hinted to by the name of this Torah reading, Matot. Matot in the normal context means “tribes.” The verse is directed to the heads of the tribes of Israel. However, “Matot” also alludes to the concept of “leaning,” “turning,” or “directing” (“lehatot”).

The power alluded to in Matot, is that a guardian of the covenant of the tongue is bequeathed with the ability to somehow influence and direct God. A person of their word, a person who is careful with what they say can affect God’s decrees. They have the wherewithal to turn, to direct God’s stern decrees of justice to merciful results.

May we watch what we say, may we be people of our word and may we see strict justice converted into mercy.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To my nephew Sasson Kahen, on his Bar-Mitzvah. Mazal Tov!

5778, Masai, Matot, Numbers, Parsha, Rabbeinu Bechaye, The Times of Israel

Your money or your family (Matot-Masai)

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Your money or your family (Matot-Masai)

If money is all that a man makes, then he will be poor. Poor in happiness and poor in all that makes life worth living. -Herbert N. Casson

The nation of Israel had just vanquished two major kingdoms on the eastern side of the Jordan River, across from the land promised to them. After the battles, and with all the pasture around them, two tribes approached Moses. The tribes of Ruben and Gad came up to Moses and declared that they were laden with vast amounts of animals and the current land they were in was perfect for them. They wanted to stay, to settle outside the Promised Land, with their flocks.

Moses gets angry, there ensues a discussion, and the tribes of Ruben and Gad declare that they will leave their flocks and their families in the east and go battle with the rest of Israel in the west, until the land is fully conquered. After the expected conquest, they will return to the land, to their flocks and family.

What is most telling is the order which these two tribes phrase their request. They place the flock before their family. Many of the commentators highlight the priorities these two tribes are exhibiting as well as Moses’ response to them. Moses flips the order, basically saying, take care of your family before you take care of your flock.

Rabbeinu Bechaye on Numbers 32:2 (Matot-Masai) takes the criticism even further. He claims that because the tribes of Ruben and Gad put their financial gains and greed before their families’ wellbeing, all their financial gains were cursed.

By being more concerned with their material wealth, their livestock, with animals, rather than with human beings and their own flesh and blood, they doomed themselves, and eventually were left with neither. Indeed, the tribes to the east of the Jordan would be the first to be exiled and seemingly lost to Jewish history.

Rabbeinu Bechaye ends his criticism with the famous dictum from Pirkei Avot (Chapters of our Fathers) which asks rhetorically, “Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot.”

May we be thankful for all the blessings in our life and especially for the one of family.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the summer, and more opportunities for the family to spend time together.

5777, Hirsch, Masai, Matot, Numbers, Parsha, The Times of Israel

On Capital Punishment

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On Capital Punishment

 Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness; it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest. -W. H. Auden

God is very clear on where He stands on the topic of capital punishment. Even though God commands Do Not Murder (as opposed to Do Not Kill) in the Ten Commandments, there is a long list of sins (murder among them) that God prescribes the death penalty for. Already to Noah and his sons God warns: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made He man.”(Genesis 9:6)

The Rabbis however explained that in most of those cases, it is actually quite rare for the death penalty to be carried out. The guilty party needs to have been given an explicit and detailed warning before committing the sin; there needs to have been two valid witnesses to the sin and a variety of other judicial requirements. No video or circumstantial evidence suffice.

The more bloodthirsty among us may feel that this practical suspension of justice is unfair. How is it that all these sinners and murderers can roam around free and unpunished? The Talmud tells us not to worry. God has his way of inflicting the right punishment on each deserving individual, at the right time and in the right form, if the human court is unable to carry out its duty.

The more merciful among us may feel that punishment for crimes, even one as odious as murder, is unwarranted, and that the death penalty especially has no place in modern civilization.

Rabbi Hirsch on Numbers 35:33 explains part of the rationale for the death penalty:

“A human society that does not regard the blood of each of its members as sacred, one that does not take up the cudgel for innocent human blood that has been spilled negates the very purpose for which the forces of earth operate.”

“The hypocrisy can be purged from the land only if the innocent blood that has been spilled, and the human being who has lost his life as a result, finds an advocate in the society that survives him and the murderer is made to atone for his deed by dying at the hands of that advocate, thus losing his own life, which he has forfeited by his crime. For since he has spilled the blood of his fellow man, his own blood no longer has a right to life; he has forfeited his own right to existence. And to tolerate the continued existence of one who knowingly and deliberately murdered a fellow man would be a travesty on the dignity of man, who was made in the image of God.”

May all murderers be brought to justice, whether earthly or divine, and may we see justice reign in the land.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

On the confluence of the Babylonian Talmud’s Tractate Sanhedrin that we have started this week in the Daf Yomi cycle, with Maimonides’ Laws of Sanhedrin that we are in the midst of in the Rambam Yomi cycle – both of which deal with the subject of capital punishment.

5776, Matot, Numbers, Parsha, Sfat Emet, The Times of Israel

Powerful Holy Words

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Powerful Holy Words 

Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.  -Pearl Strachan Hurd

PowerofWordsThe Torah takes the spoken word seriously. Very seriously. It dedicates a whole chapter to the laws of vows and if and when they might be annulled. There is an entire tractate of the Talmud that deals with this single issue.

The Sfat Emet in 5634 (1874) explains that the power of our speech is a particular strength of the Jewish people. Our words can turn ideas into reality. Specifically, by just uttering words of Torah, one has the capacity to connect directly with God. That is the reason for the biblical command to recite the “Shma Yisrael” prayer twice a day, as well as all the other prayers and blessings that the sages commanded. This power converts our wishes and requests into real blessings and bounty.

However, there is a caveat. It all depends on the words we choose. When we use holy words, when we use words of blessing, of peace, of faith, of Torah, then the transformation to reality can occur. However, when we waste our words on mundane matters, frivolous matters, lowly matters, inappropriate matters, we are squandering that divine gift.

The Sfat Emet concludes that in accordance with how we watch and protect our speech, so too is the measure of power that we have to see our hopes and dreams come to fruition.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Ana Duchits. She has that power.

 

5775, Baal Haturim, Book of Judges, Matot, Numbers, Parsha, The Times of Israel

A Leader’s Vow

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First posted on The Times of Israel at: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/matot-a-leaders-vow/

Baal Haturim Numbers: Matot

A Leader’s Vow

 Vows are made in storms and forgotten in calm weather. -Thomas Fuller

yiftahs daughter

One of the more disturbing stories in the Bible is that of the Israelite leader, Yiftah, in the Book of Judges. He was an outcast, but apparently with some leadership qualities. He attracted and led a band of ruffians. When the people of Israel are threatened, the elders turn to Yiftah for military assistance.

Before battle Yiftah takes an oath, that if God gives him victory over his enemies, in thanksgiving, Yiftah will sacrifice to God the first thing to greet him upon his successful return home. Perhaps Yiftah imagined a lamb would run to him, or some other livestock would cross his path. However, upon Yiftah’s successful victory and subsequent return, none other than his beloved daughter, his only child, runs out to greet her victorious father. Yiftah tears his clothing in anguish, and the simplest reading of the verses indicate that he does kill his daughter as a human sacrifice to God.

The Baal Haturim on Numbers 30:2 explains that it is the nature of Israelite leaders to make vows and call for divine intervention when their people are in trouble. However, all the Rabbis are in agreement that Yiftah erred grievously, first, in making such a poorly worded vow, and second, in fulfilling such a dastardly act that is abhorrent to God. There is a procedure in Jewish law for rescinding poorly made vows that Yiftah should have availed himself of.

May we avoid vows. But if we make them, we should make them wisely and fulfill them honorably.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Miriam Cohen of Melbourne. May any and all vows be filled with blessings.

 

 

5774, Matot, Netziv, Numbers, Parsha, The Times of Israel

After the Foxhole

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First posted on The Times of Israel at: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/matot-after-the-foxhole/

Netziv Numbers: Matot

After the Foxhole

“Vows are made in storms and forgotten in calm weather.” -Thomas Fuller

We understand the concept of there being no atheists in a foxhole, of the rediscovery of God in the midst of danger. However, what is curious is our attitudes once the threat or need has passed. There is an example of a man late for an important meeting, urgently seeking a parking spot. He prays to God: “God, please help me find a spot and I promise I’ll give a thousand dollars to charity.” He keeps looking and prays even more fervently. “God! Help me with a spot and I’ll give two thousand dollars to charity!” Suddenly, a spot opens up. The man parks and then calls out to God: “God, don’t worry about it. I found a spot on my own!”

The instinctive search for God in times of distress seems to be counterbalanced by the just as natural tendency to forget about God once things are on an even keel. The Netziv on 30:2 warns about this phenomena when the Torah discusses the theme of vows. He explains that it is normal to make vows when distressed and just as normal for those earnest, heartfelt vows to slip our minds just moments later.

But God remembers the vow. According to Jewish law, the promises we make are binding. It has the weight and strength of a contract. We are morally obliged to fulfill our word even if it was uttered in a time of crisis. We must beware of oath-breaking.

May we feel free to call out to God in need, be careful with what we say, and have the perception, memory and will to deliver on our promises.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the victims of the AMIA terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires, twenty years ago, this week. And to the continued safety and protection of all those under threat in Israel.

5773, Ibn Ezra, Matot, Numbers, Parsha, The Times of Israel

Jealous and Vengeful God

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[First posted on The Times of Israel at: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/matot-jealous-and-vengeful-god/]

Ibn Ezra Numbers: Matot

Jealous and Vengeful God

“I had rather be a toad, and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others uses.”-William Shakespeare

There is a dark and dangerous side to our God and beware all who may unleash it. We believe in His mercy, but also in His justice. There is a divine fairness in His eternal plans that no human will ever fathom. However, we also witness His wrath, His anger, the death and destruction he lets loose upon the earth.

In the Bible we see two general victims of His wrath. Perhaps ironically, He is most angry at the people of Israel. Every infraction, every betrayal of the ancient covenant brings hardship, poverty, famine, conquerors, exile, persecution and even death. But there is also the element of mercy. He punishes Israel but does not obliterate Israel. The second types of victim of God’s castigation are those who hurt Israel. There God has shown less restraint.

During our desert wanderings, the Midianite nation had participated in the enticement of the men of Israel. Israel turned to the worship of other gods, and God was swift with his response, the death by plague of 24,000 of Israel. But for the Midianites, God almost wipes them off the map. Every single male Midianite was killed and almost all of the females as well. Ibn Ezra on Numbers 31:3 explains that God commanded vengeance upon both His honor as well as Israel’s. God saw it as one and the same. Like a jealous husband, God takes deep affront at both the seduction and injury of his people. If we think of all the empires, regimes and peoples that sought to harm the nation of Israel and wonder how many are still around, history will provide a very short list.

May the list get shorter.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To hateful regimes of the world. You will be just a memory.