Parashas Mattos

At the beginning of last week’s parashah, Hashem began to tell Moshe to carry out a war of attrition against Midian, avenging that nation’s having hired Balaam to curse the Jews and their subsequent successful campaign to entice the Jews to sin.
The Torah then digressed to teach the tell of the division of the Land – which would be the result of them vanquishing Midian, and then the korbanos Mussaf (the special additional Festival offerings), which they would bring once they were in Eretz Yisrael (see Ramban).
 
This week’s parashah returns to the war…but it first teaches the rules of nedarim, colloquially referred to as “promises,” where someone prohibits something to himself.

How the laws of nedarim fit in here? 

Ramban (Vayikra 22:18) notes that people often make nedarim as a source of merit when they are in times of distress. According to this, the Torah was giving the soldiers going to war a weapon to garner extra spiritual protection.

It is also possible that the Torah teaches this here to highlight that anything that can be used negatively can – and should – be used positively. 

Balaam sought to use his power of speech to curse the Jews. That speech would have invoked Divine wrath to wreak destruction. Nedarim teach us that Man, through his speech, has the power to sanctify. Man can take an everyday object and, with a few words, create a Torah prohibition against using that object.

Furthermore, although the Torah generally discourages the use of nedarim, it tells us that one should use it as a tool to distance himself from sin – כל הרואה סוטה בקלקולה יזיר עצמו מן היין, one who sees a sotah in her disgrace should [declare himself a nazir to] distance himself from wine.

Thus, the discussion of nedarim addresses the two threats posed by Midian and power every person has to overcome the spiritual challenges represented by that nation, a critical component of the war to be waged against them.

May Hashem grant us the wisdom and the strength to properly use the tools He has us. 

Gut Shabbos.

Parashas Balak

This week’s parashah goes into great detail as it recounts the story of Bilaam’s recruitment by Balak and his trip to curse the Bnei Yisrael.

As we study these pesukim, we are astonished by Bilaam’s apparent delusion, denial and cognitive dissonance.

After all, this fellow’s a prophet, and Hashem told him not to go. Then he negotiates with a donkey. And when he’s confronted by an angry angel holding a sword blocking his way, he asks “would you like me to turn around?” [“No of course not, I always look like this when I want to encourage people.”]

Chazal exposit these details – some of which are cited by Rashi – to give us an even more incredible portrait of the man.

He truly embodied man’s worst attributes.

But forget about Bilaam’s personality, why is the Torah going to such great lengths to tell us all this?

When a “new king who did not know of Yosef” became Pharaoh in Egypt and began to torment the Jews, Chazal debate whether it was truly a new Pharaoh, or if the old king simply took a new approach to things (Shemos 1:8).

Rav Moshe Feinstein suggests that the basis of this disagreement is whether, in fact, it is possible for a person could become as debased as the second opinion suggests – could a man whose kingdom was saved, then enriched and expanded by Yosef then turn around and murder Yosef’s family.

If it is possible, says Rav Moshe, then each one of us has to vigilant to ensure that we don’t fall into a similar trap, on our own level.

Perhaps the Torah is telling us the same thing here: There may be a little bit of Bilaam in each one of us. A touch of that smugness; a tad of the arrogance; a trace of the cognitive dissonance.

The Torah highlights Bilaam’s flaws so that, in their reflection, we may find, and correct, our own.

May Hashem help us that we rid ourselves of the middos of Bilaam, and achieve the middos Chazal present as their counterpoint, the middos of Avrohom Avinu.

Gut Shabbos.

Parashas Chukas

This week’s parashah begins with the laws of Parah Adumah, the red cow used to cleanse those who were t’mei’ei meis.

Why did the Torah choose to teach us this halachah at this point? It would seem that it was actually taught – and the Parah Adumah was brought – earlier, because we find that when the Bnei Yisrael were commanded to bring the Korban Pesach, some of them were impure. The Gemara (Succah 25b) tells us that their “eighth day,” the day on which they would have been able to bring the Korban Pesach – presumably the day after their second sprinkling with the ashes of the Parah Adumah – was a day after the korban was brought.

In last week’s parashah, following Korach’s uprising, we find that Hakadosh Baruch Hu  showed Klal Yisrael that He had in fact selected Moshe and Aharon for theit leadership roles. This responded to Korach’s primary complaint.

But Korach had done more.

He had publically mocked and derided the halachos Moshe had taught, insisting that they made no sense (see Rashi, 16:2).

Hashem therefore placed this parashah here: זֹאת חֻקַּת הַתּוֹרָה אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ד' לֵאמֹר, These are the decrees that Hashem taught,  and as Rashi comments: There are those who will mock you… but this is a decree from me, and you  have no right to doubt it.

The laws are not Moshe’s, they are from Hashem. And He, in His Wisdom, issued them.

Even as we explore the taamei hamitzvos and the lessons we can learn from them, we must always remember that, in their essence, they are inscrutable to the human mind.

This parashah is the end of Hashem’s response to Korach, and it should echo to us, as we confront the mockery of Korach’s many contemporary heirs who deride the teaching of the Torah as transmitted by our chachamim.

May we be zocheh to the geulah sheleimah, when  all the Torah’s secrets will be laid before us to understand.

Gut Shabbos.

Parashas Korach

In this week’s parashah, we find that following Korach’s uprising, the Jews attacked Moshe and Aharon, accusing them of complicity in the deaths of Korach and his followers. Hashem responded to this by bringing a plague that wiped out some 14,700 people. (This is itself a fascinating topic for discussion, but not this week.)

Hashem then commands Moshe: Take 12 staffs, one staff from the prince of each Tribe – including a staff from Aharon for the Tribe of Levi – write the name of each Prince on his staff, and place the staffs in the Mishkan overnight. וְהָיָה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר אֶבְחַר בּוֹ מַטֵּהוּ יִפְרָח וַהֲשִׁכֹּתִי מֵעָלַי אֶת תְּלֻנּוֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר הֵם מַלִּינִם עֲלֵיכֶם, And it will be that the man who I will choose, his staff will bloom, and I will remove from Myself the complaints of the Children of Israel that they are complaining about you.

First, if Hashem wanted to offer a definitive sign that He had chosen Aharon to be the Kohen gadol, why would the flowering staff be more effective than Hashem’s having miraculously decimated Korach and the subsequent malcontents?

Furthermore, what is meant by the curious phrase “I will remove from Myself the complaints…”? If they were unhappy that He chose Aharon as Kohen, why would this miracle remove that complaint against Hashem?

And, if Hashem’s purpose in performing this miracle was to impress the nation, why were the staffs not left out in the open, so that everyone could see the great event unfold before their eyes?

Simply, we can understand that the episode of Korach had the potential to be quickly forgotten. Since the staff was placed back into the Mishkan as a permanent physical reminder of Aharon’s having been chosen, it served as an ongoing sign to the Jews of Hashem’s having picked Aharon.

As for the second question, we find that when the Jews complained about Moshe, Hashem considered it as though they rebelled against Him (see Sanhedrin 110a). Thus, Hashem was saying that he wanted to fend off further challenges against the legitimacy of Aharon as Kohen Gadol.

Perhaps there is another way to understand this episode, however:

The nation’s complaint was that Moshe was the Leader and Aharon was the Kohen.

Initially, at the time of Korach’s insurrection, they asserted that these positions were not taken legitimately. Hashem’s Presence and His miracles proved that He had, indeed, appointed them to these roles.

Their complaint now became one against Hashem: Why did you give us nothing?!

Hashem’s response was: That isn’t true.

Everyone person and each Tribe has a role. Aharon’s is in the Mishkan, and yours is where I placed you.

As proof, I’ll have Moshe take the staffs of all the Tribes and place them inside the Mishkan, the Machaneh Kehunah, the camp of the Kohanim. What happens? Only Aharon’s staff blooms. That is the place he has to fulfill his role as part of Klal Yisrael.

But part of the message was that in order to bloom, Aharon’s staff had to be there. Perhaps if the staffs would have been left elsewhere, it would not have been Aharon’s staff that blossomed, but that of the Tribe in whose territory it was left.

The message Hashem was sending was not only that Aharon was chosen as Kohen, but that Aharon was chosen only as Kohen (see Rashi 17:25); everyone else had their own role to play. This being the case, Hashem was removing from Himself the complaints of the Children of Israel that they had been disenfranchised by Hashem’s appointment of Aharon.

May Hashem guide us so that we each understand our proper role, and may He assist us so that we fulfill it appropriately.

Gut Shabbos

Parashas Behaalos'cha

In this week’s parashah, the Torah tells us how a group of people, “the rabble” decided that the mann Hashem was providing was not good enough; they craved a richer menu, like the one they imagined they ate in Egypt during the time they were there (of course, don’t bother confusing them with the fact that they were enslaved and barely being fed).

The Torah then digresses (11:7-9) to describe the properties of the mann: וְהַמָּן כִּזְרַע גַּד הוּא וְעֵינוֹ כְּעֵין הַבְּדֹלַח: שָׁטוּ הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ וְטָחֲנוּ בָרֵחַיִם אוֹ דָכוּ בַּמְּדֹכָה וּבִשְּׁלוּ בַּפָּרוּר וְעָשׂוּ אֹתוֹ עֻגוֹת וְהָיָה טַעְמוֹ כְּטַעַם לְשַׁד הַשָּׁמֶן: וּבְרֶדֶת הַטַּל עַל־הַמַּחֲנֶה לָיְלָה יֵרֵד הַמָּן עָלָיו:, And the mann was like corriander seed, and its appearance was like that of crystal. The nation would go about and gather it, and they ground it in a mill or crushed it with a mortar and they would cook it in a pot and make it into cakes, and it’s taste was like that of dough kneaded with oil. And when the dew would fall on the encampment at night, the mann would descend on it.

Ibn Ezra points out that the Torah is explaining the absurdity of the complaint: The people were being provided with food that was easy to come by (it fell all over and was white), clean (it fell on the dew), convenient to take home (the seeds were small), easy to prepare in a variety of ways and tasty.

The most obvious lesson to us it to appreciate the countless blessings Hashem showers upon us, and to notice and thank Him for the many “hidden details” within those blessings.

There is another important lesson as well: When we do something for another person, we should make sure to do it in a way that it most helpful to that person, anticipating their needs and addressing each aspect of how we can help them most completely.

The Torah tells us that Hashem even went beyond the functional:וְעֵינוֹ כְּעֵין הַבְּדֹלַח, its appearance was like that of crystal, inviting and enticing. We should learn from His example, to do chessed with chessed, to truly live וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ in the fullest way possible.

In this zechus, we will certainly again merit to experience, visibly, Hashem’s boundless love for Klal Yisrael.

Gut Shabbos.

A Quick Thought on Shavuos

Many have remarked on the apparent irony that unlike other yamim tovim, Shavuos, when we celebrate our receiving the Torah, does not have any specific mitzvos.

Even more, the gemara (Pesachim 68b) tells us that some maintain that there is no obligation for a person to enjoy delightful meals on the festivals – with the exceptions of Shavuos and Purim, when all agree that a person must enjoy himself. Why must one enjoy physical delights on Shavuos? The gemara answers that it is because it is the day the Torah was given to Klal Yisrael.

Is that logical? Wouldn’t this be the day that calls for complete spirituality? Shouldn’t it be a day completely devoted to prayer, study and the performance of special mitzvos?

The Torah is telling us that the answer is a resounding No!

We don’t commemorate receiving the Torah through some special act. We relive receiving it through every act. Torah is not just ceremonies and observances. Torah is not limited to eating matzah or lighting the Menorah. Torah is supposed to guide everything we do each day. The objective of the Jew is to live Torah.

So that is how we mark this special occasion: By doing nothing unique to this day. By insisting that we not only daven, sing praises to Hashem, and study, but that we enjoy food and drink. Because Torah is more than ritual, it is meant infuse our every action with sanctity; to make our gustatory delight an act of Divine worship.

May we all merit to a renewed personal kabbalas haTorah this Shavuos, and may we yet merit to meet as we are oleh regel together, this very Yom Tov.

Gut Yom Tov.

Parashas Bamidbar

This week’s parashah with Hashem’s commanding Moshe to count the nation: וַיְדַבֵּר ד' אֶל מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית לְצֵאתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר: שְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת כָּל זָכָר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם, And Hashem spoke with Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year of their leaving Egypt saying: Count the heads of the Children of Israel according to their families, by their father’s houses, with a reckoning of their names, every male according to their heads.

Why did the Torah find it important to tell us that this took place “In the Wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting”? Once we know when the census took place, we can figure out that it was during the period the Jews were in the Wilderness of Sinai? Additionally, although that seems to have usually been the case, we don’t find the Torah telling us each time that Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Tent of Meeting, why tell it to us here? Finally, what is the meaning of the phrase “בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת, with a reckoning of their names,” a phrase that does not appear when Hashem commands the next census, in Parashas Pinchos?

The term used to count the Jews isשְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ , literally: lift the heads. A common explanation for this is that one purpose of the census was for each Jew to realize that he was an important part of the nation.

We know (see, for example, Rashi to Bereishis 32:20), that a “name” indicates a person’s essence and mission.

Perhaps the Torah here is teaching us that wherever we find ourselves – be it in a wilderness, where there is nothing else physically or spiritually, or in the Tent of Meeting, the seat of holiness surrounded by others – we always have a unique “name,” a unique mission and purpose. Each individual is there for a reason, and our goal is to fulfill the role we were meant to fill.

May Hashem give each of us success in “being all the was can be.”

Gut Shabbos.