MATOT PARSHA

  

 

  

Matot  ַּטּוֹת‎                                                     פָּרָשָׁה‎, Parashah

 

The hills of Gilead (current day Jal'ad, Jordan)

Matot, Mattot, Mattoth, or Matos (מַּטּוֹת‎ — Hebrew for "tribes", the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 42nd weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Numbers. It comprises Numbers 30:2–32:42. It discusses laws of vows, the destruction of Midianite towns, and negotiations of the Reubanites and Gadites to settle land outside of Israel.

The parashah is made up of 5,652 Hebrew letters, 1,484 Hebrew words, 112 verses, and 190 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah).[1] Jews generally read it in July or early August.[2] The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In some leap years (for example, 2014), parashah Matot is read separately. In most years (all coming years until 2035 in the Diaspora, until 2022 in Israel), parashah Matot is combined with the next parashah, Masei, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.[3]

 

Contents

• 1Readings

o 1.1First reading — Numbers 30:2–17

o 1.2Second reading — Numbers 31:1–12

o 1.3Third reading — Numbers 31:13–24

o 1.4Fourth reading — Numbers 31:25–41

o 1.5Fifth reading — Numbers 31:42–54

o 1.6Sixth reading — Numbers 32:1–19

o 1.7Seventh reading — Numbers 32:20–42

o 1.8Readings according to the triennial cycle

• 2In early nonrabbinic interpretation

o 2.1Numbers chapter 30

• 3In classical rabbinic interpretation

o 3.1Numbers chapter 30

o 3.2Numbers chapter 31

o 3.3Numbers chapter 32

• 4Commandments

o 4.1According to Maimonides

o 4.2According to Sefer ha-Chinuch

• 5Haftarah

o 5.1Summary

o 5.2Connection to the special Sabbath

Readings[edit]

In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or עליות‎, aliyot.[4]

 

Moses Ordering the Slaughter of the Midianites (1650 painting by Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert)

 

Five Kings of Midian Slain by Israel (illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible)

First reading — Numbers 30:2–17[edit]

In the first reading (עליה‎, aliyah), Moses told the heads of the Israelite tribes God's commands about commitments (נדרים‎, nedarim, commonly translated, or some say mistranslated, as "vows").[5] If a man made a vow to God, he was to carry out all that he promised.[6] If a girl living in her father's household made a vow to God, and her father learned of it and did not object, her vow would stand.[7] But if her father objected on the day that he learned of it, her vow would not stand, and God would forgive her.[8] If she married while her vow was still in force, and her husband learned of it and did not object on the day that he found out, her vow would stand.[9] But if her husband objected on the day that he learned of it, her vow would not stand, and God would forgive her.[10] The vow of a widow or divorced woman was binding.[11] If a married woman made a vow and her husband learned of it and did not object, then her vow would stand.[12] But if her husband objected on the day that he learned of it, her vow would not stand, and God would forgive her.[13] If her husband annulled one of her vows after the day that he learned of it, he would bear her guilt.[14]

Second reading — Numbers 31:1–12[edit]

In the second reading (עליה‎, aliyah), God directed Moses to attack the Midianites, after which he would die.[15] At Moses' direction, a thousand men from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar serving as priest on the campaign with the sacred utensils and trumpets, attacked Midian and slew every man, including five kings of Midian and the prophet Balaam.[16] The Israelites burned the Midianite towns, took the Midianite women and children captive, seized all their beasts and wealth as booty, and brought the captives and spoil to Moses, Eleazar, and the Israelite community at the steppes of Moab.[17]

 

The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews (watercolor by James Tissot)

 

The Oblation Out of the Spoils of the Midianites (illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible)

Third reading — Numbers 31:13–24[edit]

In the third reading (עליה‎, aliyah), Moses became angry with the army's commanders for sparing the women, as they were the ones who, at Balaam's bidding, had induced the Israelites to trespass against God in the sin of Peor.[18] Moses then told the Israelites to kill every boy and every woman who had had sexual relations, but to spare the virgin girls.[19] Moses directed the troops to stay outside the camp for 7 days after that, directed every one of them who had touched a corpse to cleanse himself on the third and seventh days, and directed them to cleanse everything made of cloth, hide, or wood.[20] Eleazar told the troops to take any article that could withstand fire — gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead — and pass them through fire to clean them, and to cleanse everything with the water of lustration.[21] Eleazar directed that on the seventh day they should wash their clothes and be clean, and thereafter be free to enter the camp.[22]

Fourth reading — Numbers 31:25–41[edit]

In the fourth reading (עליה‎, aliyah), God told Moses to work with Eleazar and the family heads to inventory and divide the booty equally between the combatants and the rest of the community.[23] God told them to exact a levy for God of one item in 500 of the warriors' captive persons and animals to be given to Eleazar, and one in every 50 of the other Israelites' captive persons and animals to be given to the Levites.[24] The total booty came to 675,000 sheep, 72,000 head of cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 virgin women, which Moses and Eleazar divided as God had commanded.[25]

Fifth reading — Numbers 31:42–54[edit]

In the fifth reading (עליה‎, aliyah), the Israelites' half of the booty came to 337,500 sheep, 36,000 head of cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 virgin women, which Moses and Eleazar divided as God had commanded:[26]

Division of the Midianite Spoils

Type of Spoils Total Booty Warrior Share Eleazar's Portion Congregation's Share Levites' Portion

Sheep 675,000 337,500 675 337,500 6,750

Cattle 72,000 36,000 72 36,000 720

Donkeys 61,000 30,500 61 30,500 610

Persons 32,000 16,000 32 16,000 320

The commanders of the troops told Moses that they had checked the warriors, and not one was missing, so they brought as an offering to God the gold that they came upon — armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants — to make expiation for their persons before God.[27] Moses and Eleazar accepted from them 16,750 shekels of gold, but the warriors in the ranks kept their booty for themselves.[28]

 

Reuben and Gad Ask for Land (engraving by Arthur Boyd Houghton)

Sixth reading — Numbers 32:1–19[edit]

In the sixth reading (עליה‎, aliyah), the Reubenites and the Gadites, who owned much cattle, noted that the lands of Jazer and Gilead on the east side of the Jordan River suited cattle, and they approached Moses, Eleazar, and the chieftains and asked that those lands be given to them as a holding.[29] Moses asked them if the rest of the Israelites were to go to war while they stayed on the east bank, and would that not undermine the enthusiasm of the rest of the Israelites for crossing into the Promised Land.[30] Moses likened their position to that of the scouts who surveyed the land and then turned the minds of the Israelites against invading, thus incensing God and causing God to swear that none of the adult Israelites (except Caleb and Joshua) would see the land.[31] They replied that they would build their sheepfolds and towns east of the Jordan and leave their children there, but then serve as shock-troops in the vanguard of the Israelites until the land was conquered and not seek a share of the land west of the Jordan.[32]

 

In this satellite image, the Jordan River appears near the center as a vertical line connecting the Sea of Galilee on the north with the Dead Sea on the south.

Seventh reading — Numbers 32:20–42[edit]

In the seventh reading (עליה‎, aliyah), Moses then said that if they would do this, and every shock-fighter among them crossed the Jordan, then they would be clear before God and Israel, and this land would be their holding.[33] But Moses continued, if they did not do as they promised, they would have sinned against God.[34] Moses instructed Eleazar, Joshua, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes to carry out the agreement.[35] So Moses assigned the Gadites, the Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh lands on the east side of the Jordan.[36] The Gadites and Reubenites built cities on the east side of Jordan, and some leaders of Manasseh conquered cities on the east of the Jordan so half the tribe of Manasseh could settle there.[37]

Readings according to the triennial cycle[edit]

Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to a different schedule.[38]

 

A Damascus Document Scroll found at Qumran

In early nonrabbinic interpretation[edit]

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:[39]

Numbers chapter 30[edit]

The Damascus Document of the Qumran community prohited a man from annulling an oath about which he did not know whether or not it should be carried out.[40]

In classical rabbinic interpretation[edit]

The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud:[41]

Numbers chapter 30[edit]

Tractates Nedarim and Shevuot in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of vows and oaths in Exodus 20:7, Leviticus 5:1–10 and 19:12, Numbers 30:2–17, and Deuteronomy 23:24.[42]

 

Rabbi Akiva (illustration from the 1568 Mantua Haggadah)

The Mishnah taught that saying any substitute for the formulas of a vow has the validity of a vow. If one says to another, "I am barred from you by a vow," or, "I am separated from you," or, "I am removed from you, in respect of anything that I might eat of yours or that I might taste of yours," the one vowing is prohibited. Rabbi Akiva was inclined to give a stringent ruling when a person says, "I am banned to you."[43] The Gemara taught that a vow (נֶדֶר‎, neder) makes a thing forbidden to a person, while an oath (שְׁבֻעָה‎, shevuah) binds a person to a relationship to a thing.[44]

Rabbi Akiva taught that vows are a fence for self-restraint.[45] But the Jerusalem Talmud asked whether it was not enough that the Torah had forbidden us things that we should seek to forbid yet other things to ourselves.[46] The Gemara discouraged vows. Rabbi Nathan taught that one who vows is as if he built a high place, and he who fulfils a vow is as if he sacrificed on that high place. And the Gemara deduced from Rabbi Nathan's teaching that it is meritorious to seek absolution from vows.[47] And a Midrash told the tale of King Jannai, who owned two thousand towns, all of which were destroyed because of true oaths. A man would swear to his friend that he would eat such-and-such a food at such-and-such a place and drink such-and-such a drink at such-and-such a place. And they would go and fulfill their oaths and would be destroyed (for swearing to trifles). The Midrash concluded that if this was the fate of people who swore truthfully, how much more would swearing to a falsehood lead to destruction.[48]

Reasoning from Numbers 30:3, “He shall not profane his word,” the Tosefta concluded that one should not treat one’s words as profane and unconsecrated. Even though there were vows that the Rabbis had ruled were not binding, the Tosefta taught that one should not make even such a vow with the plan of annulling it, as Numbers 30:3 says, “He shall not profane his word.” The Tosefta also deduced from Numbers 30:3 that even a sage could not annul his own vow for himself.[49]

The Mishnah taught that the law of the dissolution of vows hovers in the air and has nothing on which to rest in the Biblical text.[50] Rav Judah said that Samuel found the Scriptural basis for the law of the dissolution of vows in the words of Numbers 30:3, "he shall not break his word," which teaches that "he" — the vower — may not break the vow, but others might dissolve it for him.[51] The Rabbis taught in a Baraita that a Sage could annul a vow retroactively.[52]

The Sifre asked why Numbers 6:1–4 set forth the effectiveness of nazirite vows, when the general rule of Numbers 30:3 would suffice to teach that all vows — including nazirite vows — are binding. The Sifre explained that Numbers 6:1–4 warned that a person making a nazirite vow would be bound to at least a 30-day nazirite period.[53]

Rabbah bar bar Hana told of how an Arab merchant took him to see Mount Sinai, where he saw scorpions surround it, and they stood like white donkeys. Rabbah bar bar Hana heard a Heavenly Voice expressing regret about making an oath and asking who would annul the oath. When Rabbah bar bar Hana came before the Rabbis, they told him that he should have annulled the oath. But Rabbah bar bar Hana thought that perhaps it was the oath in connection with the Flood, where in Genesis 8:21, God promised never to destroy the world again with another flood. The Rabbis replied that if that had been the oath, the Heavenly Voice would not have expressed regret.[54]

 

Worshiping the Golden Calf (illustration from a Bible card published 1901 by the Providence Lithograph Company)

Rava employed Numbers 30:3 to interpret Exodus 32:11, which says: "And Moses besought (וַיְחַל‎, va-yechal) the Lord his God" in connection with the incident of the Golden Calf. Rava noted that Exodus 32:11 uses the term "besought" (וַיְחַל‎, va-yechal), while Numbers 30:3 uses the similar term "break" (יַחֵל‎, yacheil) in connection with vows. Transferring the use of Numbers 30:3 to Exodus 32:11, Rava reasoned that Exodus 32:11 meant that Moses stood in prayer before God until Moses annulled for God God's vow to destroy Israel, for a master had taught that while people cannot break their vows, others may annul their vows for them.[55] Similarly, Rabbi Berekiah taught in the name of Rabbi Helbo in the name of Rabbi Isaac that Moses absolved God of God's vow. When the Israelites made the Golden Calf, Moses began to persuade God to forgive them, but God explained to Moses that God had already taken an oath in Exodus 22:19 that "he who sacrifices to the gods ... shall be utterly destroyed," and God could not retract an oath. Moses responded by asking whether God had not granted Moses the power to annul oaths in Numbers 30:3 by saying, "When a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word," implying that while he himself could not break his word, a scholar could absolve his vow. So Moses wrapped himself in his cloak and adopted the posture of a sage, and God stood before Moses as one asking for the annulment of a vow.[56]

Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai taught that just as the texts "He shall not break his word" in Numbers 30:3 and "Defer not to pay it" in Ecclesiastes 5:3 apply to vows, so they also apply to valuations, and thus Moses exhorts the Israelites in Leviticus 27:2: "When a man shall clearly utter a vow of persons to the Lord, according to your valuation . . . ."[57]

 

Nebuchadnezzar II

 

Zedekiah

Rabbi Eleazar interpreted Lamentations 2:10 to teach that one should not treat Numbers 30 lightly, because on account of it were the members of the Great Sanhedrin of Zedekiah slain. When King Jeconiah of Judah was exiled, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Zedekiah King of Judah (as reported in 2 Kings 24:17). Zedekiah stood so high in King Nebuchadnezzar’s favor that he could enter and leave King Nebuchadnezzar’s presence without permission. One day, Zedekiah entered Nebuchadnezzar’s presence and found him tearing the flesh of a hare and eating it while it was still alive. Nebuchadnezzar asked Zedekiah to swear that he would not disclose this, and Zedekiah swore. Subsequently, the five kings over whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Zedekiah were sitting and sneering at Nebuchadnezzar in Zedekiah’s presence, and they told Zedekiah that the kingship did not belong to Nebuchadnezzar but to Zedekiah, as Zedekiah descended from David. So Zedekiah too sneered at Nebuchadnezzar and disclosed that once he saw him tear the flesh of a live hare and eat it. The five kings immediately told Nebuchadnezzar, who forthwith came to Antioch, where the members of the Great Sanhedrin went to meet him. Nebuchadnezzar asked them to expound the Torah to him, and they began to read it chapter by chapter. When they reached Numbers 30:3, “When a man vows a vow . . . he shall not break his word,” Nebuchadnezzar asked them whether a person could retract a vow. They replied that such a person must go to a Sage to absolve the person of the vow. Nebuchadnezzar told them that they must have absolved Zedekiah of the oath that he swore to him, and he immediately ordered them to be placed on the ground, as Lamentations 2:10 reports, “They sit upon the ground, and keep silence, the elders of the daughter of Zion.” To avail them in their peril, they then began to recount the merit of Abraham, who in Genesis 18:27 said, “I am but dust and ashes”; thus Lamentations 2:10 continues, “They have girded themselves with sackcloth.” They began to recount the merit of Jacob, of whom Genesis 37:34 says, “He put sackcloth upon his loins.” But Nebuchadnezzar caused the members of the Great Sanhedrin to have their hair bound to the tails of their horses as the horses were driven from Jerusalem to Lydda, killing the members of the Great Sanhedrin in the process. Thus Lamentations 2:10 continues, “the virgins of Jerusalem [referring to the members of the Great Sanhedrin] hang down their heads to the ground.”[58]

Interpreting the law of vows in Numbers 30:3–6, the Mishnah taught that a young child's vows were not binding. When a girl turned 11 years old and throughout the year thereafter, they examined to determine whether she was aware of the significance of her vows. The vows of a girl 12 years old or older stood without examination. When a boy turned 12 years old and throughout the year thereafter, they examined to determine whether he was aware of the significance of his vows. The vows of a boy 13 years old or older stood without examination. For girls below age 11 or boys below age 12, even if they said that they knew in honor of Whose Name they vowed, their vows and dedications were not valid. After girls turned 12 or boys turned 13, even though they said that they did not know in the honor of Whose Name they vowed, their vows and dedications stood.[59] The Sifri Zutta told that once a youth told Rabbi Akiva that the youth had dedicated a shovel. Rabbi Akiva asked the youth whether perhaps he had sanctified his shovel to the sun or the moon. The youth replied that Rabbi Akiva did not need to worry, as the youth had sanctified it to the One Who had created them. Rabbi Akiva told the youth that his vows were valid.[60]

The Mishnah taught that a father who did not say anything to annul his daughter's vow because he did not know that he had the power to do so could release the vow when he learned that he did have that power. Similarly, the Sages taught that a father who did not know that a statement was a vow could release that vow when he learned that it was a vow (although Rabbi Meir said that he could not).[61]

The Sifri Zutta taught that if a father annulled his daughter's vow without her knowing that he had done so, and she deliberately transgressed the vow, she was nonetheless not liable to penalty, because Numbers 30:6 says, “the Lord will forgive her.”[62]

Reading Numbers 30:9, “But every vow of a widow and of a divorcee . . . shall be binding on her,” the Mishnah taught that if she said, “I will be a nazirite after thirty days,” even if she married within the thirty days, her husband could not annul her vow. And if she vowed on one day, divorced on the same day, and remarried on the same day, the husband could not annul her vow. The Mishnah stated the general rule: Once she had gone into her own domain even for a single hour, her husband could not annul her vows.[63]

The Mishnah taught that a father or husband could annul vows of self-denial (which, in the words of Numbers 30:14, "afflict the soul"), such as bathing and adorning oneself. But Rabbi Jose said that these were not vows of self-denial.[64] Rabbi Jose taught that vows of self-denial that a father or husband could annul include if she said, "konam (that is, prohibited) be the produce of the whole world to me." Rabbi Jose taught that if she said, "konam be the produce of this country to me," he could not annul, as he could bring her to a different country. And if she said, "konam be the fruits of this shopkeeper to me," he could not annul, unless that shopkeeper was his only source of sustenance, in which case he could annul.[65]

The Gemara deduced from the words "between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter" in Numbers 30:17 that in addition to vows of self-denial, a husband could also annul vows that affected the relationship between husband and wife.[66]

A Midrash taught that just as a husband could annul only vows that would cause personal affliction between the spouses, so too, a father could annul only vows that would cause personal affliction between him and his daughter.[67]

The Mishnah taught that in the case of a betrothed young woman, her father and her fiancé could annul her vows, if they both did so. If her father but not her fiancé attempted to annul her vow, or if her fiancé but not her father attempted to annul her vow, it was not annulled. And the Mishnah taught that it went without saying that her vow was not annulled if one of them confirmed it.[68]

The Mishnah taught that one could annul vows on the Sabbath.[69]

Numbers chapter 31[edit]

A Midrash deduced from the proximity of the report in Numbers 31:9 that "the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian . . . and all their cattle" with the report of Numbers 32:1 that "the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle" that God cast the Midianites down before Israel so that the Reubenites and Gadites might grow rich. The Midrash cited this turn of events as proof of the words of Psalm 32:1 that "God is judge; He puts down one, and lifts up another."[70]

Noting that in Joshua 1:5, God told Joshua, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you," the Rabbis asked why Joshua lived only 110 years (as reported in Joshua 24:29 and Judges 2:8) and not 120 years, as Moses did (as reported in Deuteronomy 34:7). The Rabbis explained that when God told Moses in Numbers 31:2 to "avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites; afterward shall you be gathered to your people," Moses did not delay carrying out the order, even though God told Moses that he would die thereafter. Rather, Moses acted promptly, as Numbers 31:6 reports: "And Moses sent them." When God directed Joshua to fight against the 31 kings, however, Joshua thought that if he killed them all at once, he would die immediately thereafter, as Moses had. So Joshua dallied in the wars against the Canaanites, as Joshua 11:18 reports: "Joshua made war a long time with all those kings." In response, God shortened his life by ten years.[71]

The Rabbis differed about the meaning of "the holy vessels" in Numbers 31:6. Rabbi Johanan deduced from the reference of Exodus 29:29 to "the holy garments of Aaron" that Numbers 31:6 refers to the priestly garments containing the Urim and Thummim when it reports that "Moses sent . . . Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy vessels." But the Midrash concluded that Numbers 31:6 refers to the Ark of the Covenant, to which Numbers 7:9 refers when it says, "the service of the holy things."[72]

 

Assyrian Deportations of the Israelites

Numbers chapter 32[edit]

A Midrash deduced from Numbers 32:1 that the Reubenites and Gadites were rich, possessing large amounts of cattle, but they loved their possessions so much that they separated themselves from their fellow Israelites and settled outside the Land of Israel. As a result, they became the first tribes to be taken away into exile, as 1 Chronicles 5:26 reports, "Tillegath-pilneser king of Assyria ... carried ... away ... the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh."[73]

The Tanna Devei Eliyahu taught that if you live by the commandment establishing the Sabbath (in Exodus 20:7 (20:8 in the NJPS) and Deuteronomy 5:11 (5:12 in the NJPS)), then (in the words of Isaiah 62:8) “The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength: ‘Surely I will no more give your corn to be food for your enemies.” If, however, you transgress the commandment, then it will be as in Numbers 32:10–11, when “the Lord’s anger was kindled in that day, and He swore, saying: ‘Surely none of the men . . . shall see the land.’”[74]

Similarly, a Midrash taught that the Reubenites and the Gadites cherished their property more than human life, putting their cattle before their children when they told Moses in Numbers 32:16, "We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones." Moses told them that their priorities were wrong and that they should rather do the more important things first, when Moses told them in Numbers 32:24, "Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep." The Midrash saw in their different priorities application of the words of Ecclesiastes 10:2, "A wise man's understanding is at his right hand" — applying to Moses — and "A fool's understanding at his left" — applying to the Reubenites and the Gadites. God told the Reubenites and the Gadites that as they showed greater love for their cattle than for human souls, there would be no blessing in it for them. The Midrash thus saw in their fate application of the words of Proverbs 20:21, "An estate may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed," and the words of Proverbs 23:4, "Do not weary yourself to be rich; cease from your own wisdom."[75]

In the Mishnah, Rabbi Meir noted that Numbers 32:20 and 29 stated the same condition in both positive and negative formulations. Numbers 32:29 states the condition in the positive: "And Moses said to them, if the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, . . . then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession." And Numbers 32:20 states the same condition in the negative: "But if they will not pass over with you armed, then they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan." Rabbi Meir deduced that every stipulation must be stated in both the negative and positive formulations, like the condition of the children of Gad and the children of Reuben in Numbers 32:20 and 29, or it is not a binding stipulation. Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel II maintained, however, that Moses stated the matter both ways because he needed to do so to be understood; otherwise one might have concluded that the Gadites and Reubenites would receive no inheritance even in the land of Canaan.[76]

 

67–68 CE half-shekel coin

The Mishnah taught that those who removed from the Temple coins collected in the shekel tax could not enter the chamber wearing a bordered cloak or shoes or sandals or tefillin or an amulet, lest if they became rich people might say that they became rich from money in the chamber. The Mishnah thus taught that it is one’s duty to appear to be free of blame before others as before God, as Numbers 32:22 says: “And you shall be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel.”[77]

Similarly, the Tosefta cited Numbers 32:22, “You shall be clear before the Lord, and before Israel,” to support the proposition that while out collecting charity, charity collectors were not permitted to separate their own money from that which they collected for charity by placing their own money in a separate purse, lest it appear that they were stealing for themselves some of the money that they gathered for charity. While collecting for charity, a charity collector could not take for personal use money from a friend who owed the charity collector money, and a charity collector could not take for personal use money that the charity collector found on the road.[78]

The Sages taught in a Baraita that they honored the memory of the family that baked the Temple showbread, for they never allowed fine bread to be found in their children's hands. And the Sages honored the memory of the family that made the Temple incense, for they never allowed a bride of their house to go about perfumed. In both cases, the families did so to fulfill the command of Numbers 32:22 that "you shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel" — meaning that people should act so as to avoid even the appearance of transgression.[79]

 

Moses Maimonides

Commandments[edit]

According to Maimonides[edit]

Maimonides cited a verse in the parashah for one negative commandment:[80]

• Not to transgress in matters that one has forbidden oneself[6]

According to Sefer ha-Chinuch[edit]

According to Sefer ha-Chinuch, there is 1 positive and 1 negative commandment in the parashah.[81]

• The precept of the law of nullifying vows[6]

• That we should not break our word in vows that we make[6]

Rembrandt, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, c. 1630

Haftarah[edit]

The haftarah for parashah Matot is Jeremiah 1:1–2:3. The haftarah is the first of three readings of admonition leading up to Tisha B'Av.

When parashah Matot is combined with parashah Masei (as it will be until 2035), the haftarah is the haftarah for parashah Masei:

• for Ashkenazi Jews: Jeremiah 2:4–28 & 3:4.

• for Sephardi Jews: Jeremiah 2:4–28 & 4:1–2.

 

Jeremiah (fresco by Michelangelo)

Summary[edit]

The haftarah in Jeremiah 1:1–2:3 begins by identifying its words as those of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, a priest in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom God's word came in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah the son of Amon as king of Judah, in the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, and through the eleventh year of the reign of Josiah's son Zedekiah, when Jerusalem was carried away captive.[82]

God's word came to Jeremiah to say that before God formed him in the womb, God knew him, sanctified him, and appointed him a prophet to the nations.[83] Jeremiah protested that he could not speak, for he was a child, but God told him not to fear, for he would go wherever God would send him, say whatever God would command him to say, and God would be with him to deliver him.[84] Then God touched Jeremiah's mouth and said that God had put words in his mouth and set him over the nations to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.[85] God asked Jeremiah what he saw, he replied that he saw the rod of an almond tree, and God said that he had seen well, for God watches over God's word to perform it.[86]

God's word came to Jeremiah a second time to ask what he saw, he replied that he saw a seething pot tipping from the north, and God said that out of the north evil would break forth upon all Israel.[87] For God would call all the kingdoms of the north to come, and they would set their thrones at Jerusalem's gate, against its walls, and against the cities of Judah.[88] God would utter God's judgments against Judah, as its people had forsaken God and worshipped the work of their own hands.[89] God thus directed Jeremiah to gird his loins, arise, and speak to the Judean people all that God commanded, for God had made Jeremiah a fortified city, an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the land of Judah, its rulers, its priests, and its people.[90] They would fight against him, but they would not prevail, for God would be with him to deliver him.[91]

God's word came to Jeremiah to tell him to go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem that God remembered the affection of her youth, her love as a bride, how she followed God in the wilderness.[92] Israel was God's hallowed portion and God's first-fruits, and all that devoured Israel would be held guilty and evil would come upon them.[93]

Connection to the special Sabbath[edit]

The first of three readings of admonition leading up to Tisha B'Av, the haftarah admonishes Judah and Israel in Jeremiah 1:13–19. And then in Jeremiah 2:1–3, the haftarah concludes with consolation. The Gemara taught that Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations,[94] and as Jews read Lamentations on Tisha B'Av, this probably accounts for why a selection from Jeremiah begins the series of haftarot of admonition.[95]

Matot Roundup

Have you ever promised to do something and not kept your promise? In this weeks' Parshah, the Torah tells us to be very careful about making promises so that we don’t accidentally break them. Instead of making a promise, one should say “I hope I can . . .”

Last week, we read how Pinchas killed Zimri and the Midianite woman when they tried to marry against G d’s will. G d now commands the Jewish people to wage war against the Midianites for trying to convince the Jews to act immorally and worship idols. Moshe chooses 1,000 men from each of the twelve tribes to serve as soldiers and appoints Pinchas as one of the leaders of the army. When the Midianites see the Jewish army coming to fight them, they laugh and say, “The Jewish army is so small, we will win over them for sure!” However, with G d’s help, the Jewish army is victorious over the Midianites without losing even one soldier.

After the war is over, two tribes, Reuven and Gad, approach Moshe to make a request. They ask him if they can settle with their families on the east side of the Jordan River instead of crossing the river and entering the Land of Israel.

“Why didn’t they want to join the rest of the Jewish People and enter into land of Israel?” you might wonder. Well, these two tribes owned a lot of cattle. They noticed that the land on the east of the Jordan was very fertile, with rich, green grass for their cattle to graze. Also, they knew that Moshe would not be buried in the Land of Israel and so they wanted to remain near Moshe’s burial place.

At first, Moshe is very angry by their request. “Will you stay here, safe and protected, while your brothers go to war to conquer the Land of Israel?” he asks them. When the tribes clarify their request stating that they will gladly join their brothers in battle, Moshe agrees to let them settle there. When Moshe agrees, half of the tribe of Menashe joins the tribes of Reuven and Gad in settling the land east of the Jordan River.

Parshah Summary

Matot opens with Moses’ instruction to the “heads of the tribes” regarding the laws of vows:

If a man vows a vow to G d, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; according to all that proceeds out of his mouth shall he do.

A vow, however, can be annulled (as long as it does not involve an obligation towards another person). A father has the authority to annul the vows of his daughter, and a husband the vows of his wife or betrothed, within the day of the vow’s declaration. (Another kind of annulment is that effected by a Torah scholar or a panel of three judges.)

The War on Midian

G d instructs Moses to “avenge the vengeance of the children of Israel upon the Midianites, after which you shall be gathered to your people.”

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “Arm from yourselves men for an army, to go against Midian and to take G d’s vengeance on Midian . . .”

There were delivered out of the thousands of Israel a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Pinchas the son of Elazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow, in his hand.

They warred against Midian, as G d commanded Moses, and they slew all the males.

Also killed are the five kings of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Hur and Reva) and the evil prophet Balaam. Not killed but captured were “all the women of Midian, and their little ones.” Also taken is “the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.”

Upon their return,

Moses, Elazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.

And Moses was angry with the officers of the host . . . and said to them: “Have you saved all the women alive?

“Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to betray G d in the matter of Pe’or, and there was a plague among the congregation of G d. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.”

Moses also tells them to undergo the seven-day purification process for one who comes in contact with the dead, while Elazar instructs them on the laws of hagalah (“koshering”—the cleansing of utensils of the non-kosher food absorbed in them), by which to cleanse the “gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead” utensils captured in the war:

Everything that passes through the fire, you shall make it go through the fire . . . and all that does not pass through the fire shall you make to go through water.

The Booty

A tally is made of the spoils taken in the war on Midian, which include: 675,000 sheep; 72,000 heads of cattle; 61,000 donkeys; and 32,000 human captives.

All this was divided into two equal parts: half was given to the soldiers who fought in the war, who in turn gave 1/500 of their share as a “tax” to the high priest; the other half was divided among the people, who gave 1/50 of their share to the Levites. (Thus the high priest received 675 sheep, 72 cattle, 61 donkeys and 32 human captives; the Levites received 6,750 sheep, 720 cattle, 610 donkeys and 320 human captives.)

Everything else (i.e., utensils, jewelry and the like) was decreed to belong to the soldiers, to each what he had captured. However,

The officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, approached Moses.

And they said to Moses: “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our charge, and not one man of us is missing.

“We have therefore brought an offering for G d, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and girdles—to make atonement for our souls before G d.”

The donated gold totaled 16,750 shekels (approx. 837.5 pounds), which Moses placed in the Tent of Meeting as “a remembrance for the children of Israel before G d.”

The Eastern Territories

As related in the Parshah of Chukat (Numbers 21), the people of Israel had conquered the lands of Sichon and Og, which lay east of the Jordan River.

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and they saw the land of Yaazer and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle.

[They] came to Moses, and to Elazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, and they said: “. . . Let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.”

Moses is extremely upset by their request. “Shall your brethren go to war,” he demands, “and you sit here?”

“And why,” continues Moses, “do you dishearten the children of Israel from going over into the land which G d has given them?

“Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

“They went up to the wadi of Eshkol and saw the Land; and they disheartened the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which G d had given them.

“G d’s anger burned at that time, and He swore, saying: ‘Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. . . .’ G d’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of G d, was consumed.

“And, behold, you are risen up in place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of G d towards Israel. For if you turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people!”

But the Reubenites and the Gadites persist. “We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones.” But we have no intention to remain behind while the rest of the people fight for the conquest of the Land; indeed, we promise to march at the fore of the troops and fight in the front lines. “We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.”

Moses agrees, on the condition that they fulfill their promise: “If you will do this thing, if you will go armed before G d to war . . . then afterwards you shall return, and be guiltless before G d and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before G d.”

Half of the tribe of Manasseh joins the tribes of Reuben and Gad in settling the territories east of the Jordan.

From Our Sages

Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying: This is the thing which G d has commanded (Numbers 30:2)

This verse can also be interpreted as follows: Moses spoke to the children of Israel regarding the heads of the tribes, that they must follow their instructions as one follows the word of G d.

(El, “to,” can also mean “about”; li, which in this context translates as “of,” usually means “to”; thus el rashei hamatot livnei yisrael (“to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel”) can also read, “[And Moses spoke] about the heads of the tribes to the children of Israel, [saying: This is the thing that G d has commanded] . . .”)

(Alshich)

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Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes (30:2)

This was the procedure with all the laws that Moses taught: first he would teach them to Aaron and the heads of the tribes, and then he would instruct the people, as described in Exodus 34:31–32.

Why are the tribal heads particularly mentioned by the laws of vows? To teach us that an expert Torah scholar has the ability to annul vows like a tribunal of three laymen.

(Talmud; Rashi)

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A man who shall vow a vow (30:3)

Vows are a means to asceticism.

(Ethics of the Fathers 3:13)

Asceticism leads to purity, purity leads to holiness, holiness leads to humility, humility leads to fear of sin, fear of sin leads to saintliness, saintliness leads to the [possession of] the holy spirit, and the holy spirit leads to eternal life.

(Talmud, Avodah Zarah 20b)

more

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According to all that proceeds out of his mouth shall he do (30:3)

Better that you not vow, than that you should vow and not fulfill.

(Ecclesiastes 5:4)

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Avenge the vengeance of the children of Israel upon the Midianites (31:2)

Why only upon the Midianites, but not the Moabites (who also sent their daughters to cause Israel to sin)? Because the Moabites got involved because they feared Israel (cf. Numbers 22:2–6); but the Midianites entered a fight that was not theirs.

Another explanation: G d said to spare the Moabites because of “two fine creatures which I shall extract from them”—Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite (wife of King Solomon).

(Rashi)

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Avenge the vengeance (31:2)

The double terminology indicates that before the nation of Midian can be defeated, its supernal “minister,” which embodies the spiritual essence of Midian, must be vanquished.

(Keli Chemdah)

The Hebrew word midian means “strife.” Midian is the essence of divisiveness, which is the root of all evil.

Thus our sages speak of “groundless hatred” as the greatest of evils. In truth, all strife is groundless hatred: the so-called “grounds” that people and nations have for hating and destroying each other are but the various façades of the divisive “I” of Midian—the ego that belies the common source and goal of humanity, and views the very existence of others as an encroachment upon the self.

On the cosmic level, G d is the ultimate oneness, and everything G dly in our world bears the stamp of His unity. All evil derives from the distortion of this oneness by the veil of divisiveness in which G d shrouds His creation.

So before the people of Israel could conquer the “seven nations” that inhabited the land of Canaan—which represent the seven negative traits of the heart—they first had to destroy Midian, which is their source and cause. This is also why the destruction of Midian could be achieved only under the leadership of Moses, who embodied the traits of utter self-abnegation, (and thus) harmony and truth.

(Maamar Heichaltzu 5659)

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Moses spoke to the people: “Arm yourselves . . . to take G d’s vengeance on Midian” (31:3)

G d had said to Moses, “Avenge the vengeance of the children of Israel upon the Midianites”; yet Moses said: “To take G d’s vengeance on Midian”!

G d said to Israel: It is you who have an account to settle with them, for they caused Me to harm you. But Moses said: Master of the worlds! If we had been uncircumcised, or idol worshippers, or had denied the mitzvot, the Midianites would not have hated us. They persecute us only on account of the Torah and the precepts which You have given us! Consequently the vengeance is Yours; and so I say: “To take G d’s vengeance on Midian.”

(Midrash Tanchuma)

“To take G d’s vengeance on Midian”—for whoever stands against Israel, stands against G d.

(Rashi)

G d sees the war on Midian as avenging Israel, for G d’s foremost concern is for His people; the people of Israel see the war as avenging G d, for they are concerned only with the honor of G d.

(The Chassidic Masters)

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A thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war (31:5)

Moses wanted to demonstrate to them that it is not the number of troops or their arms that determines victory or defeat, but their worthiness. For Zimri had caused the death of 24,000 without a single sword or armament; while they, numbering only 12,000, would defeat the far more numerous Midianites, “and not a single one of them was lost” (Numbers 31:49), even though in ordinary wars there are casualties also on the victorious side.

(Me’am Loez)

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Moses sent them to the war . . . them and Pinchas the son of Elazar the priest (31:6)

G d charged Moses with the mission, yet he sends others! But since Moses had grown up in the land of Midian, he thought: It is not right that I should punish one who has done good to me. The proverb says: “A well from which you drank, cast not a stone into it.”

(Midrash Rabbah)

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Moses sent . . . Pinchas the son of Elazar the priest (31:6)

Why did he send Pinchas? He said: “The one who began the mitzvah shall finish it.” It was Pinchas who turned away G d’s wrath from Israel and smote the Midianite woman; let him finish the sacred task.

(Midrash Rabbah; Rashi)

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They warred against Midian, as G d commanded Moses (31:7)

When laying siege on a city to conquer it, we do not surround it from all four sides, but only from three sides, leaving a way to escape for anyone who wishes to flee for his life. As it is written: “They warred against Midian, as G d commanded Moses"; it has been handed down by tradition that this is what G d had commanded him.

(Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Their Wars 6:7)

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Also Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword (31:8)

What was Balaam doing in Midian? Rabbi Jonathan said: He went to receive his reward for the twenty-four thousand Israelites whose destruction he had caused [by his advice to entice them with the daughters of Moab and Midian]. . . . This is what people say: “When the camel went to demand horns, they cut off the ears he had.”

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 106a)

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So did your fathers . . . (32:8)

If Moses initially saw their request as the equivalent of the spies’ shunning of the Holy Land, why did he at the end agree to their proposal, and even expand on it, by adding half the tribe of Manasseh to the tribes of Reuben and Gad?

(The fact that they pledged to participate in other tribes’ conquest of the Land answered only the first part of Moses’ complaint to them—“Shall your brethren go to war, and you sit here?”—but not the other, seemingly more grave, accusation—namely, that they are repeating the sin of the spies in spurning the Land, which had caused that entire generation to die out in the desert!)

The explanation is to be found in the first words of the response given by the men of Reuben and Gad to Moses: “We will build sheepfolds here for our sheep, and cities for our young.”

Chassidic teaching explains the sin of the spies as resulting from a reluctance to assume the mission of “settling the Land.” Though they knew that the very purpose of creation is to “make for G d a dwelling in the lowly (i.e., physical) world,” they believed themselves incapable of carrying out this mission. “It is a land that consumes its settlers!” the spies cried upon their return from their survey of the Land. How could they be sure that once they involved themselves with the Land, they would not be overwhelmed by its corporeality? How could they know whether they would indeed exploit its lofty potential and not instead sink into the morass of material life?

When the people of Reuben and Gad came forward with their request, Moses thought that he was again meeting with a refusal by a group of “spiritualists” shunning the divinely ordained mission to develop the Land.

In truth, however, it was not the dread of the material that motivated these two tribes to remain east of the Jordan. On the contrary: they wanted to settle these lands, to build cities and ranches, to raise their sheep and cattle on its pastures. Their plea, “Do not take us across the Jordan,” did not express a reluctance to seek out the potential for holiness contained in the Land, but an attraction to even more remote—and thus even loftier—“sparks of G dliness.”

After all, the land west of the Jordan, though material, was the “Holy Land”—a land where even the most mundane pursuits are touched with a spiritual glow. Outside of the Holy Land, the physical world is more lowly, and thus contains sparks of divinity that derive from an even higher source. The tribes of Reuben and Gad were convinced that their mission in life was to pursue, extract and elevate the “sparks” inherent in this more spiritually distant corner of creation.

When they said to Moses, ”We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our children,” Moses understood that what they were seeking was not an escape from the Land, but the opportunity to “make a home for G d” in an even lowlier domain—in the territories that lie beyond the borders of the most sacred of lands as defined by Israel’s present mandate from G d.

(From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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You shall be guiltless towards G d and towards Israel (32:22)

The sages taught: Always appoint at least two people together as trustees over public funds. Even Moses, who enjoyed the full trust of G d—as it is written, “In all My house he is trusted”—figured the accounts of the Sanctuary together with others, as it says: “By the hand of Itamar the son of Aaron” (Exodus 38:21).

Thus the sages taught: the one who made the appropriation [of the monies donated to the Holy Temple] did not enter the chamber wearing either a hemmed cloak or shoes or sandals or tefillin or an amulet (i.e., nothing in which money can be hidden), lest if he became poor people might say that he became poor because of an iniquity committed in the chamber, or if he became rich people might say that he became rich from the monies in the chamber. For it is a man’s duty to be free of blame before men as before G d, as it is said: “And you shall be guiltless towards G d and towards Israel.”

(Midrash Tanchuma; Mishnah, Shekalim 3:2)

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Moses said to them . . . “Build cities for your young, and sheepfolds for your sheep” (32:20, 24)

They, on the other hand, had said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our sheep, and cities for our young” (v. 16), giving precedence to their cattle over their children. Said Moses to them: Not so! Make the primary thing primary, and the secondary thing secondary.

(Rashi)

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If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan . . . (32:29)

Rabbi Meir said: Every stipulation which is not like that of the children of Gad and the children of Reuben is not legally binding. For it is written: “And Moses said unto them: If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, [. . . you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession],” and it is also written, “But if they will not pass over with you armed, then they shall have possessions among you in the Land of Canaan.” (Thus, both sides of the condition have to be spelled out: if the condition is fulfilled, then so-and-so will be the case, but if the stipulation is not fulfilled, then so-and so will be the case.)

(Talmud, Kiddushin 61a)

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And half the tribe of Manasseh (32:33)

Because Manasseh caused the sons of Jacob to rend their clothes by hiding Joseph’s goblet in Benjamin’s sack (cf. Genesis 44:13), his tribe was rent in two, half receiving its portion in the lands east of the Jordan, and half on the west.

(Midrash Rabbah)

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Moses gave the Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh. . . . And Yair the son of Manasseh went and conquered their villages . . . (32:40–41)

We learned: Yair the son of Manasseh and Machir the son of Manasseh were born in the days of Jacob, and did not die before Israel entered the Land. (But does it not say, “And there was not left a man of [the generation of the desert], save Caleb the son of Yefuneh and Joshua the son of Nun”? Said Rav Acha bar Yaakov: The decree was directed neither against those under twenty years of age, nor against those over sixty years of age.)

(Talmud, Bava Batra 121b)

The Zohar

Teachings from the primary text of Kabbala, "The Book of Shining Light"

From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai

Kabbalah teaches that everything in the revealed world depends on the higher hidden world, its source.

Heat Your Heart Out

The laws of kosher kitchenware teach us about sweetening judgments.

From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation and commentary by Shmuel-Simcha Treister, based on Metok MiDevash

 

Among the laws covered in this week's parasha is one concerning the ritual purification of utensils captured from idolaters. Pans, skewers and other items that were used to cook over a fire had to be purified by putting them again through fire in order to be made pure enough to be used in the holy Israelite camp. This concept that fire purifies, sparks a discussion between Rabbi Aba, Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yitzchak where they liken fasting, prayer and even Torah learning to this purification process.He directs His world with roses…

Rabbi Aba opened his discourse with the verse: "My Beloved is mine, and I am His; he pastures his flocks among the roses." (Songs 2:16) What is it that causes My Beloved to be mine as I am for Him? It is because He directs His world with roses.

One of the delightful things about studying the Zohar is the seemingly bizarre statements like the above that make perfect sense when one understands the metaphors used to explain how G d rules reality. A rose comes in two basic colors, red and white. Modern breeding has added a multitude of colors but the historic fact of two main colors is shown by the English "War of the Roses" between the red rose badges of the Lancastrians and the white rose badges of the Yorkists. The color red in the Zohar represents the sefira of gevura, strict judgment. The color white represents the sefira of chesed, loving-kindness. G d, who is the "beloved" in the quoted verse, directs the world through the sefirot of chesed and gevura. Note also that roses of both colors have a beautiful fragrance. This hints that the positive and negative forces symbolized by these two sefirot have a common, loving source.

Just as a rose has a fragrance and is red in color, if it is passed through fire [by boiling the petals in water], the petals turn white, yet its fragrance never leaves, so does the Holy One blessed be He, conduct the world.

If a person sins he causes judgment to come down on him. If he strives to repent (an inner process likened to fire) and returns to G d, the judgment is sweetened and becomes "white" and mercy enwraps him.

If it were not so, the harsh judgment generated by the sinners would prevent the continued existence of the world. Sin is called "red", as we learn from the verse "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white as wool." (Isaiah 1:18) [And after a person repents] he brings his sacrifice and burns it on the red fire of the altar....the red blood is…sprinkled around the altar causing completely white smoke to billow…

He [through the agency of the Cohen] sprinkles the red blood around the altar. The attribute of din/judgment is red. It [symbolized by the red blood] is poured out and sprinkled around the altar causing completely white smoke to billow. Then the [red] flesh of the sacrifice [is consumed by the fire] and turns into white [ash]. The attribute of din has turned into the attribute of mercy.

So in the actual bringing of a sacrifice in the Temple a person caused red to become white in the physical world, indicating that he was causing judgment to become mercy in the spiritual dimension, which runs in parallel with this world.

And come and see. We don't need the smell of the attribute of judgment, except from the aspect of the flesh. That is explained by what Rabbi Yehuda said [about the prophets of Baal who stove with Elijah]: "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their custom with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them." (Kings I 18:28)

The purpose of their gashing themselves was to cause their red blood to flow, symbolizing that they were calling upon the attribute of judgment to manifest itself in the world.

They knew that they wouldn't grasp the attribute of judgment to do their will other than through manifesting the color red.

Rabbi Yitzchak said that, in addition, the colors red and white were always sacrificed on the altar and the smoke went up between them. Just as the rose [species] is red and white so does the smell of the sacrifice [come from the red flesh and the white fat]. The sacrifice itself is from red and white. Come and see [also] from the perfume of the incense, that was composed of either white or red ingredients. For example the frankincense was white and the musk was red and the [white] smoke that went up was from both red and white. So it is that the Holy One blessed be He administers His world with roses that are red and white, as it is written, "to sacrifice to Me the fat and the blood" (Ezekiel 44:15)

Corresponding to this a person sacrifices his own fat and blood [when he fasts to attain forgiveness for his wrongdoings] and this atones for him. One is red and one is white, and just as a rose which is either red or white can't be poured out as only white other than through the process of fire [to cause the water the petals are steeped in to boil] so the sacrifice can only be poured out purely white by way of [utilizing] fire. Nowadays, a person who sits and fasts, and sacrifices his fat tissue and blood, can only shrivel himself back to white through fire.

This is as Rabbi Yehuda said, that through his fasting a person weakens his limbs and fire strengthens within him. At that very time he should [consciously] sacrifice his fat and blood in that fire which is the equivalent of the atoning altar. And Rabbi Elazar when he was sitting in his fast would pray, saying, "It is revealed and known before you G d, my G d and the G d of my forefathers, that I have sacrificed my blood and fat before You and boiled them in the fire of the weakness of my body. May it be Your will that the smell that rises from my mouth at this time be as the fire of the sacrifice on the altar, and be found pleasing before You." So we find that a person actually sacrifices his fat and blood in a fast, and the smell that rises from his mouth is the atoning altar. This is why they [the Sages] have established prayer in the place of sacrifices on the condition that he intends what he says.The enthusiasm of the prayer is like fire of the altar…

Firstly, the morning prayers are said before eating. Secondly, the enthusiasm of the prayer is like fire of the altar that, by using his own energy, is sacrificing his blood and fat to G d. This is a period of fasts, and the prayer of Rabbi Elazar is good to have in mind for the coming fast of the 9th of Av.

Rabbi Yitzchak said from here and on [even broader than only applying to fasts] relates the verse: "Everything that can stand the fire shall be brought through the fire and purified." (Num. 31:22)

If a person fires himself up physically to learn Torah or perform a mitzvah with enthusiasm, then he is purified in the process from his sins as though he brought a sacrifice in the Temple.

Rabbi Yossi said that when the Temple stood, a person would bring his sacrifice in this secret [of red and white] and it would atone for him. Nowadays a person's prayer atones on his behalf in place of the sacrifice but in the same manner.

Note also that the English word "atone" consists of two syllables "at" and "one". The consciousness of unity is the goal, and by sacrificing his time and putting effort into his relationship with the beloved of his soul, a person can truly achieve atonement, i.e., unity.

Spinning Strictness with Mercy

Kabbalah teaches that maturity is the ability to combine complementary qualities.

  Intermediate

From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation and commentary by Shmuel-Simcha Treister, based on Metok MiDevash

 

"And all of the girls…." (Num. 31:18) Rabbi Yehuda said that from here we learn that the world is only conducted by two "colors" that come from the feminine aspect of the spiritual world. This is the "wisdom of the heart" that governs the word, as is written "All of the women who were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen." (Ex. 35:25)

Now what was the purpose of bringing this particular offering to the dedication of the Tabernacle in the desert? The purpose was to rectify the colors of blue and purple which each include a mixture of white and red. This is also reflected in the verse "She seeks wool, and flax, and works willingly with her hands". (Proverbs 31:13) It is also written that the wise hearted women "spun with their hands". What is this "spinning"? Rabbi Yehuda said that they spun together strictness and mercy.

The color purple signifies the mixture of white and red….

The colors referred too here are a code for the two basic sefirot that define the activity of the Divine in this world, namely chesed and gevura - kindness and strictness. These two sefirot are reflected in the directions right and left and by the colors white and red. The color purple signifies the mixture of white and red in the sefira of "tiferet" - "beauty" - which is in the middle of the tree of the sefirot between chesed and gevura. The color blue represents "malchut", which designates the way the world is conducted in fact.

[It is interesting to note that these colors are in fact used to represent these powers in society as we know it. Thus, the highest judges in the British legal system wear white wigs, representing mercy, and red gowns, appropriate for their activity of judgement. Royalty is referred to as being "blue-blooded".]

White is also connected to light, which is the source of spirituality, referred to in Kabbala as the "Infinite Light". In a similar vein white wool represents chesed and stringy flax, gevura. The woman of valor (malchut) knows how to work both these materials into fabric, the fabric of a life mixing the right balance of kindness and strictness.

Rabbi Yitzchak asked Rabbi Yehuda why the Hebrew word for woman is "isha". He answered that it is because the word includes both strict judgment and mercy. Look at it this way: Rabbi Eliezer said that every woman is called "judgment", until she tastes the taste of mercy. This is as we have learnt, that the fetus receives the white from the male and the red from the woman. When a woman tastes the chesed of the male, then she understands that chesed is preferable to gevura.

In Hebrew the word "ish" means "man" and "isha" means "woman". This indicates that a girl, once she grows to become a married woman, combines the feminine aspect of gevura with the masculine aspect of chesed. The result of the union of these two aspects is a fetus that contains white (such as bones and the whites of the eyes) and red (such as blood and skin).

When The Sun and Moon were in Mourning

Based on Zohar Vayigash 210b

When The Sun and Moon were in Mourning: Based on Zohar Vayigash 210b

“He puts an end to darkness and searches out all perfection."

 

Rabbi Hiya opened his discourse with the verse: "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her, rejoice for joy with her." (Isaiah 66:10) Come and see: When the Temple was destroyed and the Children of Israel were exiled from their land because of their sins, G d's (Presence) departed (from) Above.1

When He descended, He saw that His house was burnt. He looked at His people and behold, they were in exile. He asked for the Matron [the Shechinah] and learned that she was exiled. Then, it is written, "And on that day did G d, the L-rd of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth." (Isaiah 22:12) And regarding her [the Shechinah] – also Her – what is written about Her?

"[The Shechinah] laments like a virgin, girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth [Zeir Anpin]…" (Joel 1:8) because "…he is gone," for he Has left her, and they are separated.

Even heaven and earth themselves mourned, as it is written, "I clothe the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering." (Isaiah 50:3) All the supernal angels mourned for Her, as it is written, "Behold, the mighty ones shall cry outside; the angels of peace weep bitterly." (Isaiah 33:7) The sun and moon were in mourning, their lights darkened, as it is written, "the sun shall be darkened in his going forth." (Isaiah 13:10) All Above and below wept for Her and mourned. Why? Because the Other Side reigned over Her, in that it ruled over the Holy Land.

He [Rabbi Hiya] opened a discourse with the verse: "You son of man, thus says the L-rd G d to the land of Israel: An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land." (Ezekiel 7:2) This verse contains a deep mystery. What does "to the land of Israel: an end" mean? Does it mean an end to the land of Israel [the secret of malchut]? Surely this is true. And we have learned there is an end to the right and an end to the left. An end to the right, as it is written, "at the end of the right" (Daniel 12:13) and an end to the left [malchut of the kelipot], as it is written, "He [G d]puts an end to darkness (i.e. the kelipot), and searches out all perfection." (Job 28:3) This is the "end of all flesh", as discussed.

The end on the right [malchut of holiness] is written of in the verse, "to the land of Israel an end;" "...the end is come" refers to the end on the left. The end on the right is the end through the Good Inclination, and the end on the left is the end through the Evil Inclination, which happened when, due to the overpowering of sin (over good deeds), it was decreed that sovereignty would be granted to the kingship of evil to rule and destroy His house and His dwelling-place, as it is written, "Thus says the L-rd G d! An evil, a singular evil, behold, is come." (Ezekiel 7:5) It is all one [teaching].

Therefore there was mourning Above and below, for sovereignty was given to the end of the Left [Side]. Thus, because the kingdom of holiness, the kingdom of heaven, was subjugated and the kingdom of evil prevailed, it behooves any man to mourn with Her and be abased with Her. Because when the Holy Kingdom arises and the world rejoices, he shall also rejoice with Her, as it is written, "rejoice for joy with it, all you that did mourn for Her." (Isaiah 66:10)

BeRahamim LeHayyim: What does the above mean to you and why is it revealed to you now?

"In its time, I will hasten it" is the prophetic prediction of the end of times. "In its time" means through travail; "I will hasten it" means through lovingkindness sped up by G d.

Will the end come through gevura/severity, or through chesed/lovingkindness? Who knows for sure? It is in our power to pray for a sweet change, for the Mashiach to enter gently—with all of us here full of the knowledge of the Divine. It doesn't help to be caught in the web of fear, like survivalists planning for the Y2K disaster that never happened. Do good — make this Three Week period a personal taste of your Heaven on Earth and you will have taken a significant step towards "the end of the right" mentioned by the above Zohar.

My Cup Runs Over

Based on Zohar Teruma 152b

Translated and annotated by Rahmiel-Hayyim Drizin from the Zohar selection in Hok L'Yisrael

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My Cup Runs Over: Based on Zohar Teruma 152b

If it were not for Israel, G-d would not give sustenance to the world.

Rabbi Yitzhak opened with: "When you have eaten and are replete, then you shall bless the L-rd your G d..." (Deut. 8:10) How fortunate are Israel that G d favors them and brings them close to Him from among all the nations. Because of them, He gives His sustenance and satisfaction to the whole world. If it were not for Israel, G d would not give sustenance to the world. Now that they are in exile, surely they [the nations] receive double-portions [so that Israel can be sustained from their "left-overs"].

As long as Israel were in the Holy Land (and the Temple was standing - Ed.), sustenance would descend to them from a most supernal place, and they would give a portion of the remnants to the idol worshipping peoples. All the nations were sustained only from the remnants. But now that they are in exile, the situation has flipped the other way. [For the divine sustenance now flows to the rest of the nations and only after does a small portion nourish Israel.]

...as long as the children of Israel do the bidding of their Master, they eat at the table of the King...

This is likened to a king who prepares a meal for his household. As long as they do his bidding, they eat together with the king, and they give the dogs a portion of bones to chew. But when the members of his household do not do the bidding of the king, he gives the entire meal to the dogs, and he gives the bones to them. Similarly, as long as the children of Israel do the bidding of their Master, they eat at the table of the King and the entire meal is prepared for them. And they, in their joy, give the bones, which are the remains, to the idol worshippers.

As long as the children of Israel are not doing the bidding of their Master, they go into exile, and the meal (i.e. all spiritual sustenance) is given to the dogs (i.e. the rest of the nations) while they are given the remains. This is as it is written: "Thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread, unclean, among the nations." (Ezekiel 4:13) This is because they eat the remnants of their abhorrence. Woe is to the king's son who sits and waits at the table of the servant, to eat the left-overs of his table.

King David said, "You (G d) prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies: You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over." (Psalms 23:5) "You prepare a table for me" refers to the King's meal (in the above parable); "…in the presence of my enemies" refers to the dogs that sit under the table and wait for the portion of bones, while he (i.e. the children of Israel) sits with the King at His table, delighting in the meal.

Whatever is left over is given afterwards to the dogs...

"You anoint my head with oil": This refers the beginning (or "head") of the meal, for all the oil and fats and the prepared items1 of the meal are brought at the beginning to the king’s beloved. Whatever is left over is given afterwards to the dogs and those who serve at the table (i.e. the ministering angels who serve Israel cause their prayers to ascend and bring about in the arousal of union; they receive holy flow only for the sake of Israel).

"My cup runs over" means that the cup which is before the king’s beloved is always full and he does not have to request (that it be filled). The relationship between the children of Israel and the nations is always based upon the secret (of the above parable).

BeRahamim LeHayyim:

My cup runneth over, as translated by King James in perhaps the most popular line of the most popular Psalm [Google has over 2 million entries for Psalm 23!] Many times, dare say most times, we cannot say this with sincerity. We are caught in the trap of "not enough", when we are not happy with our portion. Therefore, we consider ourselves poor: poor in our physical appearance [not movie star-like], poor in our financial status [Oh, If I were a rich man!] poor in our love life [she/he doesn't fulfill my needs, I really should get a better deal], etc.

But as the Zohar teaches, our bounty really is always flowing over, a cup brimming with delightful wine, a life complete. Much more than the optimist = cup half-full/pessimist = cup half-empty analogy. Our life/cup is great just like it is, it only takes a slightly different focus. When one is full of self, there is no room for G d. It is only when one empties a bit of the "not enough" complex, does G d enter the picture. We are, in the language of the Zohar, "the King's friend" even at those times when we don't know it. During the these 22 days, to know in one's heart that the Divine Presence is with us in this exile is an important step toward dining with the King at all of His meals.

The Holy Ari

Outstanding Kabbalist of the last 1800 years; Leader of the Safed circle of mystics

From the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria; translated and edited by Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky

Vapors and Vows

Kabbalah describes the mystical source of the concept of vows.

  Advanced

From the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria; translated and edited by Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky

 

This portion of the Torah opens with a description of the methods by which certain types of oaths and vows may be annulled.

Know that even though it is stated in the Zohar (II:91b) that oaths occur in Nukva of Zeir Anpin and vows in the supernal Imma, i.e. bina, in principle both occur in Nukva of Zeir Anpin. This is alluded to by the verse "…her husband will confirm it and her husband will annul it" (Num. 30:14) - whether "it" be a vow or an oath.

Her "husband" refers to Zeir Anpin, so the subject must be Nukva of Zeir Anpin. As we have mentioned previously, the feminine aspect of the psyche is the drive within us to actualize G d's purpose in Creation, making reality into His home. However, as we have also mentioned, this drive must be coupled with an equal drive to escape the mundane reality of this world in favor of the abstract reality of spirituality; this is the male drive within us. The coupling is necessary because left to itself, the drive to make separate reality into G d's home would have us penetrate further and further into the darkness of materiality, endangering us to becoming sucked into it as the memory of divine experience fades.

It behooves us all to set boundaries for ourselves….

Therefore, as the Sages say, "vows ensure asceticism" (Avot 3:13), meaning that it behooves us all to set boundaries for ourselves as we prepare to venture into the world of materiality in order to conquer it for G d's purposes. Thus, the Arizal explains this constructive force of vows and oaths with reference to their salutary effect on Nukva, the feminine archetype.

(The technical difference between a vow and an oath is that a vow is a promise a person makes with regard to a specific object, while an oath is a promise he makes with regard to his own behavior.)

The mystical explanation [of vows and oaths] is as follows:

Vapor issues from the mouth of Zeir Anpin and becomes light that encompasses the seven lower sub-sefirot of his Nukva. These are the seven "vanities" mentioned in the [opening of the] book of Ecclesiastes.

The Hebrew word for "vapor", "hevel", also means "vanity", i.e. "something of no substance". The Book of Ecclesiastes opens: "'Vanity of vanities', says Kohelet, 'vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'" The word "vanity" occurs in the singular three times in this verse, and twice in the plural (as the word "vanities"). If we take each plural to mean 2, the minimum plural, then we have seven vanities.

Here, though, the word is taken in its primary meaning of "vapor".

They issue from the mouth of Zeir Anpin. This is the mystical significance of a true oath. It is a positive commandment to make a true oath in the name of G d [when the Torah requires it], as it is written, "…and you will swear by His Name." (Deut. 10:20)

The seven vapors of her enveloping light issue from the mouth of Zeir Anpin….

The Hebrew word for "oath", "shavua", is related to the word for "seven", "sheva", and can be interpreted as the passive form of that word, i.e. as if it meant "seventhed", and "to take an oath" means "to seventh oneself". Mystically, this refers to enveloping the seven lower sefirot of Nukva with the vapor from the mouth of Zeir Anpin.

The seven vapors of her enveloping light issue from the mouth of Zeir Anpin, which is referred to as "truth". Thus, someone who makes a true oath elicits light-vapor from the mouth of Zeir Anpin, which manifests as seven vapors that envelop the seven lower sub-sefirot of Nukva, as a light that envelops her body. Her stature is from the chest of Zeir Anpin downward, as is known.

And therefore the light that issues from his mouth can envelop her completely as it descends.

In her immature stage, Nukva is only as "tall" as the midot of Zeir Anpin. She expresses only what he feels.

Thus, "oaths" occur in Nukva [of Zeir Anpin], but issue to her from her husband, Zeir Anpin. Therefore Scripture states, "her husband will confirm it and her husband will annul it."

[Such an oath] is also termed "a true oath" because it is an enveloping light, and, as is known, all enveloping lights are derived from the name Eh-yeh, and the numerical value of the name Eh-yeh squared is the numerical value of the word for "truth" ["emet"], as is known.

"Eh-yeh" is spelled: alef-hei-yud-hei = 1 + 5 + 10 + 5 = 21.

212 = 441.

"Emet" is spelled: alef-mem-tav = 1 + 40 + 400 = 441.

What is written in the Zohar (Tikunei Zohar 74b) about the verse "And now, let the power of my L-rd be magnified" (Num.14:17), is also known, namely, that malchut is referred to as "the power of my L-rd" [i.e. the power of the name Ado-ni, which means "my L-rd"]. This is because [malchut] is also known as "Beth Sheba" [or "Bat Sheva", "the daughter of seven"], and in each of her seven lower sub-sefirot is manifest a name Havayah. Seven Names Havayah comprise 28 letters. Thus, [all seven collectively] are termed "the power of Havayah," and that is why she is called "Bath Sheba". Understand this.

The forehead of Arich Anpin is seen as one of the places from which the good will of Arich shines downward into the lower partzufim….

Malchut/Nukva is associated with the name Ado-nai, for "kingship" and "sovereignty" (the translation of malchut) is allied in meaning with "lordship". The numerical value of the word for "power" ("koach", spelled kaf-chet = 20 + 8) is 28. The 28 letters in the 7 names Havayah (each possessing 4 letters) thus allude to the "power" of this name. True, the verse refers to "the power of Ado-nai," not "the power of Havayah", but since the name Havayah is pronounced (everywhere outside the Holy Temple) as if it were the name Ado-nai, this substitution is legitimate.

"Bath Sheba" in Hebrew literally means "the daughter of seven", but the Hebrew "son of"/"daughter of" can idiomatically also mean "one who is relevant to" or "master of," as in bar/bat mitzvah meaning "one who is required to do mitzvot". In this context, malchut is called "bat-sheva" since it is the seventh of the midot and its seven sub-sefirot express "the power of Havayah".

Thus, mystically, an oath gives the seven midot of Nukva the enveloping power of the name Eh-yeh and the inner power of the name Havayah. Her emotions can thus remain pure and impervious to pollution by the material world.

[…]

Now, the [mystical] meaning of a vow is different. Know that there are three different types of light that issue from Arich Anpin and reach the intellect of Zeir Anpin.

Arich Anpin is the partzuf of the will. It is instrumental in the construction of the subsequent partzufim for the will is the foundation of all intellectual and emotional development. Without will, the intellect and emotions dry up and wither.

The first is the radiance that issues from the supernal chesed of Atik and extends until the 13th rectification of the beard of Arich Anpin, which is called the "mazal", and from there a radiance is drawn down until the daat situated between Abba and Imma and serves to unite and couple them together.

Then with the power [of this radiance], netzach-hod-yesod of Imma become the intellect in the brain of Zeir Anpin when it matures, as is known.

The second [light that issues from Arich Anpin] is the radiance that issues from the inner dimension of mocha stimaa of Arich Anpin via the hairs of its head and of its beard. These extend until the head of Zeir Anpin, as is known, and shine into the intellect of Zeir Anpin.

"Mocha stimaa" means "the hidden brain," and refers to chochmah of Arich Anpin.

The third [light] is the radiance that issues from the inner light in the forehead of Arich Anpin, i.e. that originates in the brain of Arich Anpin and pierces its forehead and issues from it. It extends until the forehead of Zeir Anpin and shines into the intellect of Zeir Anpin itself - that exists within its forehead. It destroys all aspects of severe judgment present on [Zeir Anpin's] forehead, as is known.

The forehead of Arich Anpin is seen as one of the places from which the good will of Arich shines downward into the lower partzufim. In contrast, the forehead of Zeir Anpin is seen as the expression of his power to make resolutions, for good or for bad. Brazenness, for example, is resoluteness in doing bad, and the prophets chastise Israel for their "brazen foreheads" (Isaiah 48:4). The resoluteness of the forehead of Zeir Anpin therefore needs to be "sweetened" of all its negative potentials. This is accomplished by having the forehead of Arich Anpin - which is pure good will - onto the forehead of Zeir Anpin.

True, legitimate vows and oaths are positive acts, which contribute to the maturation of the soul….

Now we will explain the idea of a vow. Just as Arich Anpin looks out and shines forth from its forehead of goodwill toward the forehead of Zeir Anpin and its intellect, so does Zeir Anpin look out toward the forehead of its Nukva in order to shine his three intelligences to her.

To explain: after the "oath of truth", her body is completed, meaning her seven lower sub-sefirot. Then, after this, her three upper sub-sefirot are completed [by the "vow"]. She is then equal [in stature] to Zeir Anpin and stands face to face with him.

Then, a radiance issues from within his brain - which is situated behind his forehead - and issues forth from his forehead. From there, it "looks at" the forehead of Nukva, and this light then enters through her forehead, and shines into her three [levels of] intellect.

So we see here that true, legitimate vows and oaths are positive acts, which contribute to the maturation of the soul.

A Share of the Spoils

It takes different kinds of strength to distribute recaptured holiness.

  Advanced

From the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria; translated and edited by Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky

 

In the portion of the Torah read this week, G d tells the Jewish people to battle the Midianites in vengeance for their assault chronicled at the end of parashat Balak. The Jews slew all the males in battle, and Moses instructed them further to slay all the male children and the females who had reached sexual maturity. G d then told Moses:

…count the booty that was captured, man and beast, and divide the booty equally between those who took the war upon them and went out to do battle and the rest of the community. You shall then take a levy for G d: from the half-share of the soldiers who engaged in the campaign you shall take one item in five hundred - of persons, oxen, donkeys, and sheep - and give them to Elazar the priest as a contribution to G d. [In addition] from the half-share of the other Israelites you shall take one portion of every fifty persons, cattle, donkeys, and sheep - all the animals - and give them to the Levites, who attend to the duties of G d's Tabernacle. (Num. 31:25-30)

We must answer the following questions on this passage:

1. Since G d said: "divide the booty equally", why did He then say "from the half-share of the soldiers…you shall take…and give them to Eleazar" when it would have been clear enough just to say "from the warriors…you shall take…and give them to Eleazar" without mentioning again that their portion was a half-share?

2. In the first case [i.e. that of the half-share of the soldiers] it is written: "one item in five-hundred", while in the second [i.e. that of the civilians] it is written "one portion of every fifty". Why the difference in expression?

3. Why, in fact, did G d give Eleazar one in five hundred [i.e. two tenths of a percent] and the Levites one in fifty [i.e. two percent]?

4. Why, in describing the half-share of the civilians, is the expression "all the animals" added?

5. Why is the expression "levy" [in Hebrew, "meches"] used 1 only in describing the half-share of the soldiers?

The exoteric answer to these questions is those who counted the half-share of the soldiers were not required to do so precisely.

As we will see, the expression "precisely" here does not mean that an exact count was not taken of the soldiers' portion; it simply means that their contribution was taken from the overall total of their half-share rather than separated out as the counting was being done.

They simply rounded off how many thousands of cattle there were [after the counting had been done] and calculated the levy accordingly. This is why the expression "levy" is used only with regard to the soldiers' half.

The term "levy" [in Hebrew, "meches"] is appropriate for a portion taken from an overall sum. This was done, as we will see, only with the soldiers' half-share, and not with that of the civilians.

This is also why it is written: "from the half-share of the soldiers…": this expression implies that the levy is to be taken from the general sum of the half-share, rounded off.

In the case of the civilians' half-share, however, they had to count every item in detail, i.e. one by one. As they counted, every fiftieth item became the contribution to the Levites. [In other words] this was done similar to the way tithes in general were required to be given the Levites, as it is written, "As to the tithe of the herd or the flock: of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth will be holy unto G d" (Lev. 27:32). This is why the expression "one portion of every fifty" is used.

These two letters hei…are expressions of judgment and severity…

The Hebrew word for "portion", "achuz", literally means "that which is grabbed", evoking the image of the one counting via physically setting aside every fiftieth animal as they were passed in front of him to be counted. Thus, the contributions were taken from the respective half-shares of the soldiers and the civilians in totally different ways: the half-share of the soldiers was counted, the sum was rounded off to the nearest thousand, and then the proper number of girls or animals was separated accordingly. In contrast, every fiftieth girl or animal was separated from the half-share of the civilians as it was being counted.

This difference accounts for the difference of expressions used in the commandments regarding the two half-shares. Still, we have only answered questions 1, 2, and 5 of the five above questions.

The esoteric explanation of the above, however, is the same as the mystical explanation of our Sages' statement that "[walking with] wide steps diminishes a man's eyesight by one five-hundredth" (Berachot 43b; Shabbat 113b). This statement of our Sages can be understood based on what is written in the Zohar (III:203b) regarding how [malchut] extends her step outward. As we have explained on this passage (Shaar Maamarei Rashbi, ad loc) this refers to when Nukva of Zeir Anpin and Zeir Anpin were together in the womb of their mother.

Both Zeir Anpin and its Nukva are "children" of Abba and Imma, and here it is evident that they are in a sense "twins" in that Imma was pregnant with both of them at the same time. This phase in their development is alluded to in the first hei of the name Havayah, which as we know corresponds to the sefira of bina or its partzuf, Imma. The hei may be viewed as composed of a dalet (the top and right "leg") and a small vav (the left, detached "leg"). Since the numerical value of the letter vav is 6, this small vav may be taken as an allusion to the six sefirot from chesed to yesod - i.e. Zeir Anpin - as they exist in utero within Imma. However, the Zohar tells us, at a certain point this vav "grows" a projection at its lower extremity that extends outward. (The hei thus takes on the appearance somewhat of the letter tav, except that the left leg is of course still detached from the top and right leg.) This projection outward is the source of malchut - i.e. Nukva - within the womb of Imma. This projection at the "foot" of the vav is considered an outward "step."

There are, however, two instances of this phenomenon. The first is when [Nukva] is born and emerges out of [the womb of Imma, i.e.] the first hei [of the name Havayah]. The second is when [Nukva] goes out [of the world of Atzilut], i.e. at the lower extremity of the [small] vav within the second hei [of the name Havayah].

The name Havayah depicts, as we have explained previously, the entire array of partzufim in the world of Atzilut. But, as we know, malchut (or its partzuf, Nukva) descends out of the world of Atzilut in order to create and then rectify the lower worlds. This aspect of malchut is represented graphically as the projection out of the left leg (the small vav) of the second hei.

These two letters hei form one yud, inasmuch as they both originate from Abba, the yud [of the name Havayah].

The numerical value of hei is 5, so the hei of bina plus the hei of malchut equals 10, the numerical value of the letter yud. The two letters hei of the name Havayah may thus be seen as lower manifestations of the yud. Bina can be considered to be a by-product of chochma in that the subject matter of understanding is the initial insight of chochma. Malchut is considered a product of chochma in that expression is implicit in the insight. In contrast, the middot (out of which are formed the partzuf of Zeir Anpin, represented by the vav in the name Havayah) are more directly a result of bina rather than a manifestation of chochma; the emotional response is elicited only when the full intellectual development of the idea in bina has occurred.

Since they are both [expressions of] judgment and severity, they are called "the booty that is captured".

As we have explained previously, bina is primarily a process of evaluating, judging, accepting and rejecting. The person's previous way of thinking has to be evaluated in light of the new insight, and those aspects of his previous way of thinking that do not fit in with his new, higher perception of the truth have to be rejected, often painfully and ruthlessly.

Since they are divided into two letters hei, they were commanded to divide the booty in two….

Similarly, malchut is, as we have discussed previously, constructed out of the gevura-aspects of the sefirot that precede it. This is because in order to express an idea through thought, speech, or action, there must be first a large amount of censoring and selecting. This is true in both directions: the infinite idea and its infinite implications, applications, and ramifications cannot all be expressed since expression is finite. In addition, in order to express the idea properly, the proper words or actions (e.g., colors on a canvas or notes in a musical composition) must be carefully selected. The improper choice of words, etc. can vastly distort the meaning. Therefore, the person must be very selective at this point.

Thus, in the context both of bina and malchut, the mental structures and thought-, speech-, and action-patterns chosen are called the "booty" of the war in which all unworthy pretenders to the role of vehicles of intellection or expression are eliminated.

And since they are divided into two letters hei, they were commanded to divide the booty in two: half for the upper [i.e. first] hei and half for the lower [i.e. second] hei.

Now, it is known that the kings of Edom emerged from the upper hei, Imma, which is termed "the land of Edom", as is known. These kings, who are called the "soldiers", died because of the extreme amount of gevura and war in them, as is known.

The Arizal is here referring to the world of Tohu. As we have explained previously, this world collapsed because the sefirot that composed it were immature and could not properly interact; they were effectively at "war" with each other. This realm of Creation is called "Edom", and its sefirot are called "the kings of Edom since Edom is the kingdom of Esau, the perpetually immature, wild twin of the mature and holy Jacob.

Although we usually conceive of the four letters of the name Havayah as signifying the total array of partzufim of the world of Atzilut, in other contexts these letters are conceived of as depicting a much broader span of Creation. As we have mentioned on an earlier occasion, the four ways the name Havayah can be spelled out - yielding the four numerical values of 72, 63, 45 and 52 - may themselves be aligned with the four letters of this name:

letter associated sefira

associated value

of spelling of the

Name Havayah

yud chochma 72

hei bina 63

vav the middot 45

hei malchut 52

In this scheme, each spelling of the name Havayah produces a corresponding stage of Creation. The spelling whose numerical value is 72 produces the level that precedes the world of Tohu; that whose numerical value is 63 produces the world of Tohu; that whose numerical value is 45 produces the masculine aspect of the world of Tikun or Atzilut; and that whose numerical value is 52 produces the feminine aspect of the world of Tikun or Atzilut. It is to this scheme that the Arizal refers when he says here that the kings of Edom issued from the upper hei.

In contrast, the other aspects of judgment and severity, which issue from the lower hei, are called "the community". They inform the lower court, and they are more fragranced and sweetened. It is known that the lower court is called "the community," as it is written, "G d stands in the community of G d". (Psalms 82:1)

The gevura of bina is much more severe than that of malchut. In simple terms, this is because it is much more crucial to be selective and critical at the conceptual stage of the creative process than it is at the expressive stage. An error at the conceptual stage will have severe repercussions all down the chain of development. In contrast, if the conceptual stage was passed properly, a lot more latitude can be given to the final means of expression. Since the conceptual integrity of the process has been so zealously guarded, the strength and intensity of the concept will be able to shine through a much wider range of expression.

Thus, the upper judicial "court" of bina must be much stricter than the lower "court" of malchut.

The verse quoted from Psalms refers to the rabbinical court; we are taught that G d's presence is found, guiding the judgment and giving His approval to the decisions of the judges. The name used for the first "G d" in this verse is "Elo-him", the attribute of divine justice. The "community of G d" refers to the court.

This is the mystical meaning of the verse "You shall divide the booty equally between those who took the war upon them and went out to do battle and the rest of the community."

The two letters hei of the name Havayah split between them the "booty" they snatch from the yud. The first hei is indicated in this verse by the soldiers and the second by the civilians.

Now, there are always only five states of gevura, i.e. from chesed to hod, as is known. These five states of gevura pour into yesod, which is therefore termed "all" [in Hebrew, "kol"]. Their numerical value is 50, since when they are there below [in yesod] each sub-divides into ten [sub-sub-sefirot].

The sub-sefirot of gevura of the five sefirot of chesed, gevura, tiferet, netzach, and hod descend into yesod and from there are passed to malchut, this being how the partzuf of Nukva is constructed. In the verses "To You, O G d, is the greatness, and the power [gevura], and the beauty [tiferet], and the eternity [netzach], and the glory [hod]. For all [in Hebrew, 'kol'] that is in heaven and on earth [is Yours]. Yours, O G d, is the kingship [in Hebrew, 'mamlacha', from the word ' malchut']…" (Chronicles I, 29:10-12), the word "all" ["kol"] signifies yesod. This is because, as we said, yesod binds the flow of the preceding five sefirot, in our case the sub-sefirot of gevura within them. The numerical value of this word [spelled kuf-lamed] is 50. This alludes to the sub-division of these 5 states of gevura each into a full array of 10 sefirot.

In contrast, when [these states of gevura] are above, in Imma, the upper hei, each sub-divides into one hundred [sub-sub-sub-sefirot], giving 500.

Their consciousness is nonetheless far more expansive than it will be when they are 'born'….

Although while in utero within Imma the partzufim of Zeir Anpin and Nukva are not fully developed, their consciousness is nonetheless far more expansive than it will be when they are "born" and emerge from the womb. This is because Imma is abstract intellect, while Zeir Anpin and Nukva are merely the emotional reactions and expression of this intellect. Thus, the sub-sefirot of the sefirot which will form Zeir Anpin (chesed to yesod) exist in the womb of Imma in a higher level of differentiation and complexity, indicating their superior intensity of intellect there. Each sub-sefira divides into ten sub-sub-sefirot, and then these ten further sub-divided into a hundred sub-sub-sub-sefirot.

This is why the portion taken from the soldiers is one five-hundredth and that taken from the civilians is one-fiftieth.

The soldiers personify the states of gevura within the womb of bina, while the civilians personify the states of gevura within yesod, on their way to malchut. We have now answered question #3 above.

Now, malchut is referred to "the wide step", as we mentioned.

Malchut is the projection at the lower end of the small vav (which indicates Zeir Anpin) of the hei. Since this projection extends outward, it is called the "wide step" outward from the hei.

This wide step "diminishes man's eyesight by one five-hundredth". "Man" refers to Zeir Anpin. He is considered the husband of malchut, for she receives her light and beneficence from the above-mentioned soldiers from him and through him. This occurs when they are both above, within [the womb of] Imma.

As we said, the five states of gevura in the sefirot of Zeir Anpin as it exists in utero within Imma each undergo two tenfold iterations, giving 5x10x10=500 sub-states. Thus, Zeir Anpin at this stage may be said to possess 500 parts of life-force, or "eyesight". Malchut at this stage receives one portion of these 500, and may thus be said to reduce Zeir Anpin's life-force or eyesight by one five-hundredth.

At this stage, malchut is called "Nefesh", based on what we have explained elsewhere, that while she is there she possesses only the name Havayah spelled out with the letter hei, which is called "Nefesh".

The numerical value of the name Havayah spelled out with the letter hei is 52 (yud-vav-dalet hei-hei vav-vav hei-hei, 10+6+4 + 5+5 + 6+6 + 5+5 = 52). As we saw above, this spelling-out corresponds to the sefira of malchut.

Now, the four letters of G d's name Havayah also correspond to the five levels of the soul:

letter associated sefira associated value of spelling of the name Havayah level of the soul

upper tip of the yud keter . Yechida

yud chochma 72 Chaya

hei bina 63 Neshama

vav the middot 45 Ruach

hei malchut 52 Nefesh

Thus, the name Havayah whose numerical value is 52 is associated with the soul-level of Nefesh.

This is why it is written [with regard to the portion taken from the soldiers], "one item in five hundred".

The word used for "item" in this verse is "Nefesh". We have thus answered now question #2 above.

This is also why this portion is given to Eleazar the priest, as it is written, "give them to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to G d". The priest is the personification of chesed, which serves to develop this portion into a full-fledged "contribution to G d" in the sense of something separated. (See Zohar III:77b)

We have explained previously that the Priests express the divine attribute of loving-kindness (chesed) while the Levites express the attribute of severity (gevura). By giving this embryonic version of malchut to chesed, the love Zeir Anpin showers on it causes it to grow and develop until, at birth, it emerges as an independent partzuf and not just an appendage sticking out of the lower extremity of Zeir Anpin. (This process is obviously re-enacted in the way Eve is created out of Adam in the garden of Eden.)

The word used in this verse for "contribution" is "teruma", which literally means "a portion lifted up and out of the mass from which it is taken". Thus, giving the one-five-hundredth to Eleazar signifies the making of malchut into an independent entity of Zeir Anpin.

In contrast, [at the later stage of her development,] when [malchut] is depicted as the "wide step" protruding from the lower hei, she does not take anything from the soldiers [i.e. the states of gevura within the womb of Imma]. She takes only from her husband, Zeir Anpin, who is called "Israel", as in the mystical meaning of the verse: "before there reigned any king over the children of Israel". (Gen. 36:31)

Once malchut has emerged and is developing as partzuf in her own right, her development does not depend on any influx from her in utero origins within Imma. Both she and Zeir Anpin have severed themselves from the world of intellect and are now developing their own personalities as emotions and expression, respectively. At this stage, malchut (in the process of becoming the fully-developed Nukva of Zeir Anpin) is developed out of Zeir Anpin, the emotions.

The verse quoted here refers to the account of the primordial kings of Edom/Tohu. This world existed prior to the maturation stage of partzufim. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is called "Israel".

She therefore takes only one fiftieth, since she receives her influx from yesod [of Zeir Anpin], which is alluded to by the word "all" [in Hebrew, "kol"], whose numerical value is 50.

It is therefore written here "one portion," for she clings to and depends upon at this point the lower extremity of the letter vav, i.e. yesod [of Zeir Anpin]. This is in contrast to the stage [in utero] described above, when malchut is receiving her life-force from the soldiers.

This is the continuation of the mystical answer to question #2. As above, the word for "portion" here ("achuz") literally means "that which is grabbed", evoking the image of malchut hanging on to the yesod of Zeir Anpin in order to receive all the influx necessary for her growth and development.

This is why the portion [taken from the civilians] is given to the Levites. They are the legions of malchut, the supernal choristers, as is known.

While the priests performed their duties in the Temple silently, the Levites composed the orchestra and choir. They thus expressed the emotions that accompanied the sacrificial service. As such, they were obviously instruments of malchut, the sefira of expression.

Let us now complete the explanation of the statement of our Sages regarding how walking with wide steps diminishes a person's eyesight by one five-hundredth. They go on to say that this lacking is restored when he makes Kiddush on Shabbat evening. The mystical explanation of this is as follows: On Friday, Zeir Anpin was producing demons, spirits and succubae, as is known, but when the day was sanctified and it became Shabbat evening, he ceased producing forces of evil and coupled with malchut. It was then that his eyesight returned to him.

We are taught that the forces of evil - the "demons," etc. - were created in the last moments on Friday just before Shabbat. In other words, they were created from the final, lowest and weakest energies of Creation, after G d's creative power had been "spent", so to speak, in creating the holiness of the world. It is for this reason we are instructed to begin Shabbat every week early, for in this way we cut off the source of the power of evil before it has a chance to propagate.

Adam did not copulate on Friday with Eve at all, but with Lilith, a precursor of his true wife….

Adam and Eve were created on Friday. The usual explanation of the primordial sin is that Adam and Eve engaged in sexual relations before they were intended to, that is, they copulated on Friday afternoon instead of waiting for the holy day of Shabbat. By engaging in marital relations outside of the context of holiness, they "profaned" them, i.e. approached them from the perspective of personal gratification, and thus actualized the world's latent potential of egocentricity and evil.

However, in certain sources, it is said that Adam did not copulate on Friday with Eve at all, but with Lilith, a precursor of his true wife. She was the personification of egocentricity, as exemplified by the fact that she insisted on being on top of Adam during their copulation. She thus introduced the element of self-awareness into the sublime experience of marital relations, and the offspring of their union was the various forces of evil that spread throughout Creation. On Shabbat, Adam engaged in marital relations with his true wife, Eve.

Adam is the earthly personification of Zeir Anpin and Eve the personification of the Nukva of Zeir Anpin, so this whole episode reflects the spiritual process of Creation. As we said, on Friday Zeir Anpin will produce forces of evil unless we begin Shabbat earlier than the moment it technically begins in order to cut off these forces. Shabbat itself, especially the holy union of husband and wife (reflecting the union of G d and Israel, Zeir Anpin and Nukva) also serves to cut off the source of life-force of the forces of evil. By coupling with his mate, Nukva, Zeir Anpin is in a sense reuniting with the one-five-hundredth of his life-force she took from him in order to emerge as an independent partzuf from the womb of Imma. Thus, by sanctifying Shabbat, his "eyesight" is restored.

It could also be that the Arizal is here alluding to the statement of our Sages that improper issue of semen (i.e. other than to one's wife, and then only when she is permitted to him) diminishes a person's eyesight. Focusing on women other than one's wife is a misuse of the power of sight, and misusing one's G d-given powers weakens them. By focusing one's love and sexuality intensely on one's spouse, which, as we said, is the essence of Shabbat - the reunion of the Divine and earthly couple - one rectifies his power of eyesight, and its power is restored.

Mystical Classics

An anthology from the Shelah, the Alshich, the Ohr Hachayim, and others

Self-Contemplative Warriors

Kabbalah teaches that victory is guaranteed when one's soldiers are righteous.

  Intermediate

From the Ohr HaChaim commentary by Rabbi Chaim (ben Moshe) ibn Attar

 

"Moses spoke to the people, saying, 'Separate [mobilize] from amongst you men…and they will be against Midian'." (Num. 31:3)

This expedition was based on the attackers' moral superiority over their adversaries, as evidenced by G d's instruction to "avenge". Moses had to mobilize the kind of soldiers whose fantasies had not run wild at the time of the debacle in Shittim. How was he to know which one of the Israelites had indulged in sinful thoughts at the time?

Moses therefore advised each man of military age to examine himself in this matter. This is the meaning of "separate from amongst you", i.e. examine your conscience if you are morally fit to take part in such a punitive expedition of the morally superior against the morally inferior. Only those who knew that they could qualify under this heading would be considered for the contingent of 1,000 per tribe.

The word saying refers to illicit sex….

The word "saying" [in Hebrew, "l'emor"] is a hint that these people should all "speak to their inner selves on this subject" Perhaps the very word "saying" was even an allusion to the sin of illicit sex, as we find in the Talmud "the word 'saying' refers to illicit sex" (Sanhedrin 56).

According to Midrash Tanchuma on our verse, these men were all righteous. Although we have explained elsewhere that one can only derive such a conclusion from the word "men" when this word is superfluous in the text, in our instance there is independent support for the theory that the "men" mentioned here had to be righteous men.

They had been confronted with a powerful temptation and had conquered it….

Seeing this was so, they had no reason to worry, although they would be far outnumbered by the Midianites. Moreover, they were not only righteous but they qualified for the appellation "chassidim" [meaning "pious"] because they had been confronted with a powerful temptation and had conquered it. (Zohar Chadash volume 3 page 195 states that this is the basis for someone being described as pious.) This then explains Moses' considerations as to whom to select and how many to select.

Sanctity is the mystical foundation of spiritual ascent….

The Kabbalists state that sanctity is the mystical foundation of spiritual ascent, whereas the kelipot are the mystical foundation of spiritual descent of a human being. Once a person commits a sin, part of the kelipot attach to him and become part of his nature causing him to become degraded. The words "against [in Hebrew, 'al' - literally 'above'] Midian" then mean that these pious soldiers should be able to be "above Midian", i.e. be spiritually superior. None of the forces of impurity which clings to the Midianites would cling to these soldiers.

[Selected with permission from the five-volume English edition of "Ohr HaChaim: the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar" by Eliyahu Munk.]

Resting in Peace

The soul of the murdered must be appeased.

  Advanced

From Shenei Luchot HaBrit by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz

 

In this portion the Torah discusses matters that help perfect one's body. The body viewed as the sheath of the soul, has also been created in the image of G d (Gen.1:27). This is why if someone kills another creature created in G d's image, he himself will be killed as an appropriate act of retribution. By his deed he has separated a soul from its body (i.e. sheath) hence his own soul will be separated from its sheath.Avenging the murdered person is the only means to restore the harmony that existed…

The act of murder is viewed as if the murderer had also severed the life of the soul in the celestial regions from its "body" in those regions. Although such separation would have occurred sooner or later anyway [by the natural death of the victim, Ed.], the murderer is punished for having brought this about prematurely. Hence his own soul will not find its resting place until the murder has been avenged. This principle explains the strange story related in Kings I, chapter 21 of the judicial murder of Navot through Jezebel and king Ahab. We are told that the "spirit" of the slain Navot volunteered to seduce king Ahab into sinning by listening to his false prophets and that the Heavenly Tribunal concurred in this act of deviousness by the "spirit" of Navot. (Kings I 22:21)

As a result, Ahab was killed in a battle with Aram which served the ostensibly patriotic purpose of recapturing the city of Yavesh Gilead [which the Aramites had wrested from the Jewish state some considerable period earlier].

Clearly, the soul, i.e. Ruach, of Navot had not been able to come to rest due to the premature death of its body, and this may be why the Ruach was permitted to act in its own personal interest. Avenging the murdered person is the only means to restore the harmony that existed between body and soul prior to the murder.

We can now understand why, even if the family of the victim or the court were to agree to it, payment of a ransom would not restore the equilibrium which had been upset previously…As long as the victim of the murder has not been appeased, there can be no question of the deed having been atoned for.

When the death of the victim is due to an unintentional act however, the Torah does not consider him guilty of bloodshed. Clearly, the death of the victim was an act of G d, i.e. the attribute of Justice chose as its instrument someone who had committed some other undetected offense. The killer had unconsciously carried out G d's design in all those cases where he had not planned to kill the victim with a lethal instrument. The killer has to flee to the city of refuge, one of the cities of the Levites. Those cities are regarded as sites of judgment. The Levites themselves represent the sefira of gevura in the pattern chesed-gevura-tiferet, a pattern that corresponds to the respective levels of kohen-levi-israel.A soul that is separated from its body…needs to remain...in…a place where souls hover until the death of the High Priest…

This unintentional killer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest (35:25). This is because when the body of the victim was slain, also his soul was taken from him and had to remain in exile until a time when G d is in a favorable frame of mind.

At the time the High Priest dies, when his soul ascends to the Celestial Regions, the soul of the murder victim is then also allowed to proceed to those regions. We find that such is the case even when the souls in question had not been separated from their bodies through murder. A soul which is "exiled" may be released from such exile as a result of the death of a great person, i.e. a prominent tzadik. The Mekor Chayim on the Zohar finds an allusion to the statement of our sages that "the righteous may be granted children when they have died, though they had no children during their lifetime," in the words "he has to remain in his city of refuge until the death," [This means that as long as the soul of the righteous was held captive by its body it could not become a parent. Ed]

This demonstrates retroactively that all G d's actions are based on truth, and that He shows His mercy to all. A soul that is separated from its body and does not have any "clothing" to accompany it to the higher world [since it did not leave children behind in this world], and therefore lacks a go-el [redeemer] needs to remain for a while in the "city of refuge", i.e. a place where souls hover until the death of the High Priest who is the Torah scholar. He does not require a redeemer.

If the High Priest leaves a widow and no children, the levirate marriage rules do not apply to such a widow [in the sense that she need not enter into a marriage with a brother of her late husband in order to perpetuate his name on this earth]. If she does so nonetheless, it is for the benefit of other souls who are homeless in a region between This World and the World to Come. These souls wait for the time when they can be suitably "dressed", in order to proceed to their ultimate destination. The High Priest widow's late husband's "continuity", i.e. his name, has been maintained even though he did not leave behind physical issue. So far the commentary of the Mekor Chayim.

Passing Through Fire and Water

This immersion was instituted to mark the article's transition from the impurity of gentiles’ food.

Translated and annotated by Rahmiel-Hayyim Drizin from PaRDeS HaBahir

For an explanation of the methodology of this series, see the introduction.

"Whatever is used in fire you shall pass through fire and then it will be clean; it must, however, [also] be cleansed with sprinkling water, and whatever is not used in fire you shall pass through water." (Num. 31:23)

Peshat (basic meaning):

Rashi: "whatever is used in fire"

It is purged in the manner it is used. If it is used in hot water, it must be purged in hot water, and if it is used for roasting, such as a spit or grill, it must be made to glow in fire. (Avoda Zara 75b)

it must, however, [also] be cleansed with sprinkling water

According to its simple meaning, this sprinkling was to cleanse it from contamination by a corpse. He said to them, "The vessels require purging to cleanse them from the [absorption of] forbidden [food], and sprinkling to cleanse them of [spiritual] uncleanness [caused by a corpse]." Our Rabbis expounded from here that even to make them fit for use [after contamination] from forbidden food, ritual immersion was required for metal utensils. They expound "sprinkling water" written here to mean water fit for a menstruant to immerse herself in. How much is that? Forty 'seah.’ (Avoda Zara 75b)

"and whatever is not used in fire"

Anything which is not used in fire such as ewers, cups, and jugs, all of which are used for cold [food] and did not absorb forbidden food. (Avoda Zara 75b)

"shall be passed through water "

He immerses them and that is sufficient. This refers only to metal utensils. (Avoda Zara 75b, Sifrei Matot 50)

Remez (hinted meaning):

Because Moses entered the realm of anger, he entered the realm of error...

Baal HaTurim: "bimay/with the water of"

This word appears 5 times in Tanach: (1) here; (2) "But with the waters of sprinkling it must be purified" (3) at the waters of strife at Kadesh" (4) "in the waters of the Jordan" and (5) "though I would wash myself in the waters of melted snow". This similarity of expression alluded to the Sages' interpretation of the verse "Elazar the Kohen said to the men of the legion" (Num. 31:21) Because Moses entered the realm of anger, he entered the realm of error, for he forgot to inform the soldiers about the laws concerning the purging of cooking vessels that had been used by non-Jews, and that is the allusion of the phrase "at the waters of strife" because Moses entered the realm of strife, he erred about "the water of sprinkling."

But Moses addressed the leaders of thousands teaching them about the passage regarding purification of people, garments, and wooden utensils after contact with a corpse. But he did not teach them about koshering metal utensils because they did not have booty of metal utensils on the hands, only valuable garments. Elazar the Kohen , on the other hand, spoke to the warriors and he saw booty of household utensils in their hands. Therefore he instructed them in the laws regarding koshering utensils. (on 31:21)

Derash (interpretive meaning):

Rambam: The immersion of the dinnerware that is purchased from gentiles to allow it to be used for eating and drinking is not associated with ritual purity and impurity. Instead, it is a Rabbinic decree. (Laws of Prohibited Food, Halacha 5; Eliezer Touger's translation)

[As the Jerusalem Talmud (Avodah Zarah 5:15) states, this immersion was instituted to mark the article's transition from the impurity of the gentiles. However, others note that the Rambam occasionally employs the term he employs here - midivrei sofrim - to refer to obligations and laws that are of Scriptural origin. (Rashba, Vol. III, Responsum 255, 259)]

There is an allusion [to this] "Everything that can be passed through fire, you shall pass through fire and it will become pure." According to the Oral Tradition, we learned that the verse is speaking only about purifying [the utensils] from gentile cooking, not from ritual impurity, for there is no ritual impurity that is dispelled by fire. All those who are impure ascend from their impurity through immersion and the impurity stemming from [contact with] a human corpse is [dispelled] through the sprinkling [of water and the ashes of the red heifer].

There is no concept of fire [employed in this context], rather [it is employed] with regard to purification from gentile cooking. Since the verse states "and it will become pure," our Sages said: "Add to it another dimension of purity after passing it through fire to cause it to be permitted because [of its contact] with gentile cooking."

Ramban: The laws of purging were given here because in the earlier wars with Sichon and Og, the Jewish people had also taken plunder. Nevertheless these wars were part of the conquest of the Land of Israel, and the Talmud states that during the conquest they were allowed to eat non-kosher food from non-kosher vessels. The war with Midian, however, was not part of the conquest of the Land of Israel, so the Jewish people were faced with purging non kosher vessels, which is why the laws were given over here.

...it is inappropriate to ask why a mitzvah was given at a particular time...

Har Tzvi (on Ramban): Ramban does not explain why the requirement to immerse vessels in a mikvah was only given here. In truth, however, it is inappropriate to ask why a mitzvah was given at a particular time, when the Torah deemed it fit to introduce it. The case of purging vessels, though, seems to be an exception, since it is a logical extension of the prohibition against eating non-kosher food that was already in force. That is why Ramban was troubled by this question.

Sod (esoteric, mystical meaning):

Zohar Exodus 20:

Rabbi Yitzhak said: From here and further it is written, "Everything that passes through the fire, you shall make it go through fire, and it shall be clean." (Num. 31:23) Rabbi Yosi said: When the Temple was in existence, a person would offer his sacrifices in this manner. And he is granted atonement. Now, the prayer of a person atones for him in place of the offering in that way.

BeRahamim LeHayyim:

We have no Temple, "down here." But you'd better believe that there is still one "up there." For the sacrifices have never stopped, and G d willing soon in our time the Temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices rededicated "down here."

There is no service "down here" but we are promised that our prayers take the place of the offerings. We have no altar, but we are told that our dining tables grant us atonement in their stead. What an awesome responsibility!

We achieve wonders with our words and the way we comport ourselves at our tables!

At-one-ment is possible in the regular day to day structure of our lives.

If only we could live like this for just a portion of our consciousness!

The Final Mission

Moses could not die peacefully until he had rehabilitated himself by organizing the punitive expedition against Midian.

Translated and annotated by Rahmiel-Hayyim Drizin from PaRDeS HaBahir

 

For an explanation of the methodology of this series, see the introduction.

"Take revenge for the children of Israel against the Midianites; afterwards you will be gathered to your people." Num. 31:2)

Peshat (basic meaning):

Rashi: "against the Midianites"

But not against the Moabites, for the Moabites were involved in the matter out of fear, since they were afraid of being plundered by them, because all it says is, "do not provoke them into battle" (Deut. 2:9) but the Midianites were angered over a dispute which did not concern them. Another interpretation: Because of the two good doves [virtuous proselytes] whom I have [in mind] to bring forth from them, [namely] Ruth the Moabitess and Na'ama the Ammonitess.

Siftei Chachamim: "But not against the Moabites"

Both they and Midian jointly hired Balaam to curse Israel and lead them astray at the Moabites' initiative. We might have expected the Moabites to bear even more responsibility for the sin than the Midianites. Yet Moses is not commanded to take vengeance against them.

Remez (hinted meaning):

Baal HaTurim: "Take vengeance for the children of Israel"

...vows should be made in a time of distress or war.This passage is juxtaposed with the passage concerning the vows, to indicate to you that vows should be made in a time of distress or war. Also, when a man remains silent regarding the vows of his daughter or his wife and does not defer their vows for them, he stands in their stead. If so, the Midianites who caused Israel to sin will certainly be punished.

"Afterward you will be brought in"

Whereas Moses witnessed the incident of the Midianitess and did not act zealously on G d's behalf, his life was made dependent on exacting vengeance from the Midianites.

"Unto your people"

The word "amecha" is spelled with a Yud (= 10) in the plural form to indicate to you that ten different places Scripture mentions the death of Moses.

Derash (interpretive meaning):

Ramban: The commandment was given to Moses for his honor, and Moses showed honor to Pinchas because the latter had begun the meritorious task of punishing Midian by killing Cozbi. It was up to Moses to finish it, so he appointed Pinchas as the anointed priest for war. It was not fitting for Elazar to do so for he was the High Priest after the death of Aaron.

Ohr HaChayim: Moses could not die without rehabilitating his people spiritually. His soul would not be able to enter the World to Come with peace of mind. According to the kabbalists, the place one occupies in his mind in the hereafter while awaiting judgment is called "Amav/his people". G d told Moses that he could not die peacefully until he had rehabilitated himself by organizing the punitive expedition against Midian. Once he did this, he could die without facing an accuser after his death. This was a great kindness that G d did for Moses.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe: According to Chasidic thought, the war against the 7 Canaanite nations alludes to the battle of refining one's overtly undesirable traits which fall into 7 broad categories, stemming from the 7 emotional faculties of the animal soul. In contrast, the war against Midian involved fighting against a subtle type of evil which is found in virtually every personality, even those who dedicate themselves as full time "ministers" of G d. Thus, even the Levites and those among the Jewish people who devote themselves "to stand before G d and serve as His minister" must participate in waging the spiritual war against Midian.

...a lack of unity and camaraderie...arises from a sense of overinflated self-importance...

What is the "subtle evil" that can plague even the most dedicated servant of G d? Chasidic thought says that this is a lack of unity and camaraderie between one man and another, indicating underlying emotions of divisiveness and unjustified hatred. All this arises from a sense of overinflated self-importance, which causes a person to be intolerant of others and eventually view them as enemies. Clearly the war against these attributes is very important indeed!

Sod (esoteric, mystical meaning):

Zohar Balak 189:

Come and see that everything stemmed from Midian; the thrust of their counsel was about Moses, and with the advice of Midian they hired Balaam. When they realized that Balaam was incapable, they followed another wicked idea, and they freely offered their women and daughters even more than Moab. About the women of Midian, it is written: "Behold, these caused the children of Israel." (Num. 31:16) Everything stemmed from Midian. They took counsel with their chief that he should let loose his daughter, since they were plotting to ensnare Moses in their net. They adorned her with how many spells, so she should successfully catch the heads.

Yet the Holy One, blessed be He "turns wise men back". (Isaiah 44:25) They envisioned that the head would be caught in their net, yet they did not know. They saw, yet saw not. They had a vision that the chief of the people would fall for her, and several thousand others. They thought it would be Moses, so they let her loose, and gave her orders about Moses, so that she should not couple with another but only with him. She asked them, 'How will I be able to tell him apart?' They said to her, The one that you'll notice, that everyone stands up before, you will engage yourself with him and with nobody else. Once Zimri son of Salu came, 24,000 people from the tribe of Shimon stood up in his honor, since he was their chief. She assumed that he was Moses and she united with him. When all those 24,000 saw this, they carried on with whatever they saw fit and that was the cause of everything that happened after that.

David came and washed clean the pot from their filth...

Everything originated in Midian in several ways. Therefore, Midian was punished and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Execute the vengeance of the children of Israel on the Midianites". (Num. 31:2) For you, it is appropriate and becoming. As for Moab, I leave them alone until the two jewels will come out from among them. Here's David son of Yishai who will take revenge on Moab, and will rinse the loaded pot of filth from Pe'or. This is what it says, "Moab is my washpot" (Ps. 60:10) assuredly. As long as these two jewels did not come out of there, they were not punished. As soon as they emerged, David came and washed clean the pot from their filth, and all received their punishment, Midian during the time of Moses and Moab during the time of David.

Come and see that, in spite of all this, the wicked of Midian did not desist from all their evil. Generations later, when they saw that Joshua had died, together with all the elders who were worthy to have miracles caused through them, they figured that the time was now opportune. What did they do? They approached Amalek and told them, It is worth it for you to remember what the children of Israel and their master Moses and his disciple Joshua have brought upon you that will destroy you from the world. Now is the opportune time, for they have no one to shield them. We will go and accompany you, as is written: "Midian and Amalek and the children of the east..." (Judges 6:33) "And because of Midian the children of Israel made for themselves the tunnels..." There was no one in the world who wished to harm the children of Israel like Midian. You might say Amalek; because of jealousy of the covenant, they approached the covenant. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, took everlasting vengeance, which was not to be forgotten.

BeRahamim LeHayyim:

There’s nothing G d dislikes more than public immorality. That is why we were ordered to take vengeance against Midian. And 24,000 died. 24,000 of the 600,000. That‘s 4%. Gone. Much worse than the 3,000 killed by the Levites for worshipping the Golden Calf. (Ex. 32:28)

For us perhaps it is a wake up to some subtle realities about morality and holiness, or should we say the perception of immorality from the "Watchers" in the higher realms.

Chasidic Masters

Inspirational insights from the Baal Shem Tov and Hasidic leaders of succeeding generations

Making the Unification

The Kabbalah of following through on promises.

  Advanced

From the teachings of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, translation and commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore

 

And Moses spoke to the tribal heads of the Israelites, saying, "This is the thing that G d has commanded: If a man makes a vow to G d, or makes an oath to obligate himself, he must not break his word. He must do all that he expressed verbally." (Num. 30:2-3)

With every mitzvah that a person performs, he fixes all the aspects of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama….

"Better not to make a vow, than to make a vow and not complete it." (Ecclesiastes 5:4) The Holy One says to be careful making vows, and do not break them, for all who breaks vows will eventually transgress oath. And one who transgresses oaths is considered to have denied G d. There is no forgiveness for him, as it says, "You shall not take the name of the L-rd your G d in vain; for G d will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain." (Ex. 20:6) And it is written, "If you will return to me, O Israel …and will swear 'As the L-rd lives….'" (Jeremiah 4:1-3) The Holy One said to Israel, "Do not think that it is permissible for you to swear, even in truth. You are not permitted to swear by My Name…." (Yalkut Shimoni, Matot #284)

Taking an oath involves swearing on G d's Name. Thus, transgressing it is a more serious offense than breaking a vow.

Our sages enjoined us to say before each mitzvah: "For the sake of the union of the Holy One and His Shechina…. This is alluded to in the verse: "This is the thing that G d has commanded." The matter is as follows:

King Solomon said, "Better not to make a vow." But what type of individual is he addressing? If it is a person who does not plan on fulfilling his vow, obviously he is forbidden to make it, for he transgresses both a negative commandment and a positive one, as the Talmud says. (Nedarim 3b) And if it is a person who wants to fulfill his vow, why is it better for him not to make it? The Sages said, "How do we know that a person can vow to fulfill a mitzvah? From the verse 'I have sworn and I have fulfilled it, to observe Your righteous ordinances.' (Psalms 119:106) King David also said, "My vows to G d I will fulfill," (ibid. 116:14) and would David transgress this, G d forbid?"

Rather, with every mitzvah that a person performs, he fixes all the aspects of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama, up until the highest point - the tip of the yud, which is hidden and concealed.

Although the Baal Shem Tov explicitly names the three lowest levels of the soul (Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama), he alludes here to still higher levels: the Chaya and Yechida. These five levels are alluded to in the four letters of the name Havayah. The Nefesh corresponds to the final hei, the Ruach to the vav, the Neshama to the first hei, the chaya to the yud, and the Yechida to the small point at the top left of the yud.

If the commandment requires action, making that the lowest level of the commandment, a person must still fix speech and thought. If it involves speech, then that is the lowest aspect of the mitzvah, and he still must fix voice and thought.

The Baal Shem Tov divides each mitzvah into three components. When the mitzvah is performed with speech, such as prayer or Torah study, then that is the lowest level. The two higher levels would then be voice (undifferentiated sound) and thought

For the sake of the union of the Holy One and His Shechina, in fear and in love, in love and in fear….

Now, when a person thinks about performing a mitzvah, he still has no fear of the accusation of the kelipot, for they have no attachment to thought. However, when he verbalizes [his intention] to do a mitzvah, then there are [spiritual] Accusing Forces to hinder the mitzvah, for the kelipot draw sustenance from the place of speech.

Therefore, when a person wants to perform a mitzvah and must speak about doing it, making him concerned about the Accusers, our Sages enjoined him to say: "For the sake of the union of the Holy One and His Shechina, in fear and in love, in love and in fear, to unite the name Yud-Hei and Vav-Hei by means of He who is hidden and concealed in the name of all Israel." Then, he has created the Unification of the mitzvah on [the level of] speech, voice and thought, up until above, to He who is hidden and concealed.

Apparently, by reciting this prayer, one unifies even a physical mitzvah on three upper levels. The actual performance of the mitzvah that follows is almost secondary and can proceed with obstruction.

Then he will not be afraid of the Accusers or obstacles to the mitzvah, nor from any selfish motivations [on his part], since he has uplifted all the vitality of the mitzvah, and lacks only the mitzvah's performance, which is the last level. Consequently, the Accusers will lack all ability to stop him.

This is what the verse says: "When you shall make a vow to the L-rd your G d, you shall not be late in fulfilling it…" (Deut. 23:22) This verse guarantees that when a person makes a Unification before performing a mitzvah - that is "to the L-rd your G d" - he can be absolutely sure that he will not delay in fulfilling it - that is, to also fulfill it in actuality - since he did the Unification completely.

The conjunction of the divine names "L-rd your G d" ("Havayah Elo-hecha") corresponds to the union of G d and the Shechina, described above.

One must be careful to complete the Unification….

This is why the verse says: "This is the thing…", alluding to the Unification. For "this" is yesod, and "the thing" is malchut. "That G d has commanded" - that is, that G d commands each person to do before performing a mitzvah, to say the Unification completely. So that, "If a man makes a vow to G d", to do a mitzvah, he shouldn't just say that he will do it, he should make the complete unification.

This is what the Midrash said: "Better not to make a vow, than to make a vow and not complete it" - that is, not to complete the Unification, but merely to state that one will do the mitzvah. Because then concern exists about the Accuser, and it would be better not to have vowed, not to say anything, only to think about doing the mitzvah, so that there is no worry about the Accusers. However, if a person can complete the Unification perfectly, it is certainly better. He will not have any fear of Accusers, and in fact, will receive help and support to complete the mitzvah.

This is what David said: "My vows to G d I will fulfill." Meaning, the vow will be with a complete Unification. For when the Unification is incomplete, it is called "breaking the vow", which will lead him to transgress an oath, which is the impediment to the mitzvah, which is a rectification of the seven attributes called "oaths". Therefore, one must be careful to complete the Unification. (Devarim Nechmadim, Ginzei Yosef)

Vows and Dwelling Places

We must prepare ourselves for lives of sanctity

  Intermediate

By Binyomin Adilman

 

Parashat Matot

"If a person will make a vow to G d or an oath to obligate himself in some thing, he must not break his word. He must fulfill that which he had vowed or sworn to do." (Num. 30:3)

To "make a vow" (in Hebrew, "yedor neder") means to take upon oneself to do or not to do a certain thing. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk in his book Noam Elimelech says that the Hebrew word for "vow", "neder", is related to the word "dira", meaning a dwelling. To make a vow, to "yedor neder", therefore can be interpreted to mean "to create a dwelling place".

It is written that every Jew has a soul which is descended from the source of all Holiness and is intrinsically G dly. To "yedor neder" means to prepare a dwelling place for this G dly soul in the upper worlds.

How is it done? This is hinted at by the idea of renting a dwelling, which is for 30 days. The Sages taught that when a person makes an agreement to rent a house or property for an unspecified amount of time, it is understood to be a 30 day obligation. When a person wants to prepare a dwelling place for his G dly soul, he must prepare himself with Torah learning and repentance for 30 days.

For this reason, states the Noam Elimelech, there is a custom brought from the Sages to fast on the day before Rosh Chodesh, the new Jewish month (and the advent of the new moon). This is the inauguration of the 30 day period of preparation in which he will rededicate himself to the service of G d. (Note: Not everybody maintains this practice of fasting. It is common however to accept upon oneself a Fast of Speech, or to recite the Book of Psalms. Each person finds his way to prepare.)

Parashat Maasei

"These are the stations of the journeys of the Children of Israel, the ones who went out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded the stations of their journeys along the way according to G d; these are their journeys between the stations." (Num. 33:1-2)

The Torah goes out of its way here to enumerate all of the 42 different stops that the Jewish People made during their 40 year desert trek.At each station the Jewish People had specific spiritual improvements to make…

The holy Ohr HaChayim explains based on the Zohar, that the purpose of these journeys was to weaken the power of those forces in the world which oppose holiness. Furthermore, at each station the Jewish People had specific spiritual improvements to make until they would become refined and prepared to enter into the Land. In each place lost sparks of holiness were gathered up and returned to their source. That is why in some places they camped for a year and in others for only 12 hours. They stayed in each station according to the work to be done.

Each station along the way represented a special quality or aspect of the evil inclination that had to be conquered. As it says, Torah scholars have no rest - not in this world nor in the next world (Berachot 64a) since they are constantly growing, attaining one level after another.

The Sefas Emes writes something remarkable. These 42 stations together with the 8 stations that they backtracked on after the death of Aaron the Priest (Num 26:13 and Rashi's commentary there) make a total of 50 desert stations. This corresponds to the 50 Gates of Bina, which are the opposite of the 50 gates of impurity into which the Children of Israel nearly sunk in Egypt. When they came out of Egypt they went up 49 levels during the 49 days of preparation which preceded the giving of the Torah. Shavuot, the day of the giving of the Torah, was the 50th day. These 50 journeys represent an attainment of perfection similar to that which they attained at Mt. Sinai. At this point the Jewish People could approach the Land of Israel.

Contemporary Kabbalists

Penetrating insights from leading Kabbalists & mystics of our times

Holy Pleasures

It is specifically in the lowest end of Creation that the potential for holiness is the greatest.

From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; adapted by Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky

 

"G d spoke to Moses, saying, 'Take vengeance for the Children of Israel against the Midianites'…." (Num. 31:1-2)

In the battles against Sichon and Og, Moses played an active role. Here, however, he merely prepared the people for war while Pinchas actually led them in battle.

Moses … championed the truth that G dliness can and must pervade all of reality….

This is because G d commanded the Jewish people to take vengeance against Midian because they enticed them into the idolatry of Pe'or (Num. 25:17-18). No Midianite territory was captured or annexed to the land of Israel. As we mentioned previously, the idolatry of Pe'or is essentially hedonism: the indulgence in sensual pleasure as an end in itself rather than for the higher purpose of experiencing divinity or infusing divinity into reality.

This attitude toward life is the antithesis of the lifework of Moses. Hedonism implies that physical pleasures are either too "low" and vulgar to serve divine purposes or are somehow off-limits for the holy life. Moses, the channel through whom G d gave the Torah, championed the truth that G dliness can and must pervade all of reality; it must even dictate our approach to physical pleasures. In fact, if anything, Moses' lifework proclaimed that it is specifically in the lowest end of Creation that the potential for holiness is the greatest.

He used this argument to wrest the Torah from the angels and expose the error of the Spies. Unfortunately, the misconstruction of this appreciation for the lowest rungs of spirituality led to the error of Pe'or. In order to wipe out the source of this error, Moses' inspiration and example was necessary.

Pinchas embodied the ethic and zeal of self-sacrifice….

This theoretical groundwork, which destroys the philosophy of Pe'or's mental stranglehold, is sufficient to prevent a person from falling into the trap in the future. But to "avenge" the evil, i.e. to repair the damage already done and root out any trace of its effect that might surface sometime in the future, more is required than the detached arguments of a philosophical theoretician. The battle itself was therefore led by Pinchas, because Pinchas embodied the ethic and zeal of self-sacrifice. The inspired zeal that makes a person incensed enough to go beyond the letter of the law - and even risk his life - reveals a higher, purer level of motive and consciousness than normal.

Similarly, in our personal confrontation with the deception of Pe'or, we need to emulate both Moses and Pinchas. From Moses we learn to cultivate the proper, Jewish attitude toward materialism and its sensuality, and from Pinchas we learn to attack its effects on us with righteous indignation.

This is why Moses calls the war against Midian "G d's vengeance", even though G d had referred to it (in the previous verse) as "vengeance for the Children of Israel". The evil of strife and contention is in direct opposition to G d's name Havayah, inasmuch as the name Havayah denotes the forces of G d's creative energy. These forces are different and even opposite, but they function harmoniously. The egocentrism that spawns dissention and strife thus undermines the harmonious functioning of the forces G d uses to continuously create the world.

This is an additional reason why this war had to be fought by Moses. The only way for there to be cooperation and peace between people in this world is when they submit to the higher authority of the Torah. Firstly, without this submission, who is to say whose authority is more legitimate? Secondly, the Torah itself fosters peace, as it is said, "Its ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace." Since Moses was both the channel through whom G d gave the Torah and the personification of selflessness, he had to lead the war against Midian.

Vowing for the Right Reasons

Vows can protect us from the over-indulgences of the physical world.

From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; adapted by Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky

"When a man makes a vow to G d…." (Num. 30:3)

By taking a vow, a person forbids himself from some activity that the Torah otherwise permits. It may be explained that there are times and exigencies that dictate going beyond the prescriptions and proscriptions of the Torah. What are these circumstances?

In general, the Torah divides the world into three categories: things we must do, we may do, and we must not do. The things we must do are essential for our fulfillment of our role as bearers of G d's message on earth. The things we may do are not essential but can, if used properly, enhance our spiritual lives and the fulfillment of our purpose. The things we must not do are detrimental to our purposes. Under normal circumstances, these aspects of reality cannot be elevated to divine consciousness by our efforts.

The middle ground is obviously the most fluid. As mentioned, things that fall into this category can become positive forces in life if we use them with the proper intentions. To do so, however, a person has to possess sufficient spiritual fortitude not to be sucked into the sensuality of the material experience and thereby lose his divine orientation.

Sanctify yourself with that which is permitted to you….

On a collective scale, the ability of the Jewish people to elevate certain aspects of this neutral ground has fluctuated throughout history. When the Temple stood, for example, the revelation of the Divine Presence in its precincts imbued even the common folk with a certain amount of holiness that was lacking in subsequent eras. This is the reason behind the various rabbinic decrees and prohibitions that have been added to Jewish observance over time. Most of these originated after the loss of the holy Temple.

Similarly, every individual goes through periods in his life when he is more or less fit to indulge in this or that material pleasure. In general, if a person can indulge in a pleasure that G d has put in this world for our enjoyment without compromising his Divine consciousness, he is encouraged to do so. "In the future, every person will be called to account for the pleasures that he encountered but did not partake of" (Jerusalem Talmud, Kidushin 4:12), the sages said. And of a person who took too many vows, they said: "Is that which the Torah has forbidden not enough for you, that you must seek to prohibit yourself from other things as well?! (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim 9:5)

But when a person sees that a particular indulgence affects him negatively, he should at least temporarily renounce it. If he feels incapable of resisting the urge to overindulge, he can make a formal vow, which forbids the indulgence to him just as if it had been forbidden by the Torah. Thus, the sages say: "vows foster abstinence" (Avot 3:13). If, on the other hand, he feels that he is capable of controlling himself, it is better to abstain from the indulgence without the formality of a vow. Regarding this, the Sages say: "sanctify yourself with that which is permitted to you" (Yevamot 20a; Nachmanides on Leviticus 19:2).

Every individual must be honest with himself about which aspects of life he is ready to elevate….

In either case, every individual must be honest with himself about which aspects of life he is ready to elevate and which he is not, and what lengths he must go to in order to curb his appetites. By guarding himself from things that would be detrimental to his divine consciousness, a person both weakens materialism's power over him and increases the power of holiness within him. This, too, gives him more power to resist evil.

Nonetheless, the Torah states that there are specific individuals that can annul vows that others make. This means, in effect, that such individuals are able to grant someone who, on his own, might not be ready to tackle a certain aspect of reality, the ability to do so. Certainly, this is the preferred approach, inasmuch as it both elevates the spiritual stature of the individual and enables him to elevate the spiritual level of more of his environment.

This further explains why the laws of vows and oaths were taught at this time, as the Jewish people were preparing to enter the land of Israel. The purpose of their entry, we know, was to make the physical world a home for G d. This they were to do by engaging in the physical work of occupying and working the land and, in general, earning a living and sustaining themselves from the earth's raw materials - all for holy purposes and with holy intentions. Thus, although a person's involvement with physicality may on occasion require him to swear off some aspect of it, he must always remember that the purpose of his life is ideally accomplished by annulling such vows and partaking of life's bounties in holiness.

…the purpose of his life is ideally accomplished by annulling such vows and partaking of life's bounties in holiness.

On a deeper level, the dynamic between abstinence and permissiveness is relevant to the mental states a person travels through in his creative life. The force of the initial experience of creative insight, chochma, puts a person into a state of self-transcendence, in which his ego is temporarily suspended. In the subsequent stage of creative development, bina, the new insight is evaluated in terms of and integrated into the existing mental structure. This is an opposite experience, in which the individual is quite aware of himself and is seeking to understand the new insight in terms of what he already knows.

When a person is swept up in the divine transcendence of chochma, he does not need to worry about self-restraint. As long as the self-effacement of this experience lingers, his ego will not seek to derail him into self-indulgence. Once he gets involved - as he must - in the process of bina, analyzing and evaluating the new insight in terms of his established mental perspective on life, he must invoke the protective power of abstinence; he must be wary of his ego's propensity to overemphasize his self-interests.

It is imperative that a person must descend out of his transcendent state of inspiration in order to integrate his new vision into his life. Otherwise, his insight will escape him and disappear. Thus, the process of bina is necessary to growth and development. Nonetheless, in order to keep the development of the idea true to the initial insight that spawned it, the individual must periodically seek to relive something of the experience of chochma. By doing this, he ensures that his bina will not lead him astray. This is akin to the power of the qualified person to annul the vows of one who otherwise requires them, raising him to the level where they are no longer necessary.

Moses, Warrior of Peace

We are commanded to wage war against forces of discord and strife.

  Intermediate

Adapted by Yosef Marcus from a discourse of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

 

"Arm men from among yourselves for the legion. And they shall be against Midian to bring G d's vengeance upon Midian. A thousand from a tribe, a thousand from a tribe…" (Num. 31:3-4)

The spiritual significance of this war against Midian is the suppression of the negative energy of Midian, which is strife and discord. (Zohar 2:68) The war against Midian is the rectification of discord, i.e. peace and unity.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman (Likutei Torah) elaborates that our Sages say that in the First Temple era the Jews had committed idolatry, adultery and murder. During the Second Temple era, the primary sin of the Jews was senseless hatred (Jerusalem Talmud Chagigah 1:5; Yoma 9b) and for this the Second Temple was destroyed. Yet the current exile, which grew out of the second destruction has lasted over 1,700 years, while the first exile, which came because of sins of much greater severity, lasted only seventy years!

The sin of senseless hatred…is subtler and more difficult to correct….

Why such an extended period of exile? When the Israelites entered Canaan they were supposed to rid the land of the seven nations that lived there - the Canaanites, Hittites, etc. (unless they would accept the seven Noahide laws). But the Israelites had left some of them in the land and were influenced by them. (Num. 33:55) These nations had committed gross abominations because they represent the negative counterparts of the seven emotions (Kindness, Strength, etc.) - "waste" of the fallen kings of Tohu. Because, even throughout the time of the First Temple, the Jews were influenced by these forces, the first exile lasted for seventy years - ten years for each of the seven traits.

In the Second Temple era, however, the sins were not related to the seven negative traits but only to senseless hatred. This was the negativity of Midian, which is not one of the seven nations and is a subtler evil.

Thus our Sages say: "The firsts ones, whose sins were revealed - the end of their exile is revealed as well. But the later ones, whose sins were not revealed - the end of their exile is not revealed." (Yoma 9b) In other words, the sins of the First Temple era were clearly evil and were therefore easily recognized and repented of. The sin of senseless hatred, however, is subtler and more difficult to correct, since its practitioner fools himself into thinking that it is not really a sin.

Thus "their end is not revealed" - the second exile lasts much longer because of the length of time necessary to recognize the evil and repent of it. Similarly, it takes longer to remove tiny particles of unwanted substance than it takes to remove large, coarse elements. Another example in the study of Torah law: To rule that a dove is kosher and a raven is not does not require any study. But to rule on subtle cases where it is not clear that it is forbidden requires much time and effort until the student realizes that it is indeed forbidden. Similarly, the rectification of the sin of senseless hatred requires a lengthy period of time because people do not consider it complete evil - they are convinced that their hatred is justified.

It takes longer to remove tiny particles of unwanted substance than...to remove large, coarse elements….

In truth, however, hatred and discord are the opposite of divinity and holiness, which is epitomized by unity - G d is one. Unity is the basis of the whole Torah, as Hillel the Elder said: "What is hateful to you do not do to your fellow." (Shabbat 31a )

Transformation

In fact, this war on Midian achieved more than just the suppression of Midian; the energies that had been previously in the domain of Midian were transferred to the realm of holiness - darkness was turned to light.

This was expressed on the physical plane in the form of the captives and spoils that became the property of the Israelites, even that of the Levites and Priests. (Indeed from the Torah's description of the particulars of the division process on the physical plane we can glean some understanding of their spiritual antecedents.) This transformation is achieved through Torah, whose purpose is to bring peace (see Rambam end of laws of Chanuka), so much so that even in "Torah battles", the "combatants" ultimately become friends. This is true when Torah is studied for its own sake, not in a competitive spirit, where the student wishes only that his opinion should be accepted. Torah study for its own sake breeds friendship even among those on the opposite side of an argument.

The importance of selflessness in Torah study is even more pronounced in regard to final Jewish legal rulings. The Talmud states that the law follows King David's opinion. This was because David studied with extreme humility. King Saul, on the other hand, allowed his own "biases" to interfere. (Sanhedrin 93b)

Now we can understand why Moses was so involved in this war against Midian, since Moses personifies Torah - as in the verse "Remember the Torah of Moses my servant". (Shemot Rabba, 30:4) For it is through Torah that the negativity of Midian is defeated.

Two Pamalyas

The selfless student of Torah brings peace to both of these realms….

In a similar vein our Sages say: Anyone who studies Torah for its own sake brings peace to the Higher "Pamalya" (ancient Aramaic for "host") and the Lower Pamalya. (Sanhedrin 99b) In its literal sense, the Higher Pamalya refers to the supernal worlds, while the Lower Pamalya refers to this lowest world. But in a broader sense, all of reality contains a higher and lower "pamalya", including the human reality. The selfless student of Torah brings peace to both of these realms in all their manifestations.

In the human sense, the two levels are the mind and heart. When peace is made between them, the mind rules the heart. The emotions are guided by the intellect.

An example of a lack of peace between mind and heart - where the heart rules the mind - is that of some early Chassidim who would dance and summersault in the streets. The Alter Rebbe disapproved of these and demanded a more internal worship of G d and discouraged the exhibition of fervor. The Alter Rebbe's philosophy emphasized the supremacy of mind over heart and the former's ability to rule its less-responsible partner.

Among the Jewish people, those who "dwell in the tent of Torah", Issachar, are the higher pamalya, while those who engage in business, Zebulun, are the lower pamalya. There must be peace and partnership between them. As the Code of Jewish Law explains: The two can stipulate that the Torah study of Issachar is for the sake of Zebulun. (Yoreh Deah 246:1)

The Lesson

The war against "Midian" must be fought; we must have peace and love.

All of the Chabad masters had a few discourses that they would repeat from time to time in order to cleanse the atmosphere of the world. This discourse, known as Heichaltzu, was originally said by Rabbi Schneur Zalman in the year 1768, when he was traveling home from visiting his master, Rabbi Dovber of Mezrich and was one of those that he would repeat at times.

Since then, the masters repeated the discourse on this subject on specific occasions in order to quell sentiments of discord. In 1898, Rabbi Shalom Dovber, the fifth Chabad master, delivered the most famous version of this discourse on Simchat Torah and then again on parshat Noach at a family gathering.

May it be G d's will that there be peace in the Lower Pamalya and the Higher Pamalya, including peace between the soul as it exists on high - where it is referred to as "the soul that you have placed in me [which] is pure" - and the soul as it descends below - where it is referred to as "You created, formed and blew it into me" - and finally may we have the ultimate peace, which will take place in the Future Era.

Ascent Lights

Contemporary illuminations from Ascent-of-Safed's director, Rabbi Shaul Leiter, staff & guest teachers

By Shaul Yosef Leiter

Oaths: Safeguards of Holiness

The higher one's spiritual level, the less the need for additional restrictions.

  Intermediate

By Shaul Yosef Leiter

 

The Lubavitcher Rebbe discusses the section of parashat Matot on oaths and how they are nullified. Traditionally, an oath would be a vow to not partake of some physical object or activity; for example, a person would vow not to drink wine for an allotted amount of time. According to Judaism, an oath is a means to come closer to G d, something positive. But here's the question: isn't it enough what G d, in His wisdom, has forbidden us to do? Why do we have to add more?

The purpose of the Torah is to sanctify our lives….

Let us look a bit deeper. The purpose of the Torah is to sanctify our lives. When a person benefits from something in the world (like eating) for the sake of Heaven, that object is transformed from mundane to holy. This is the purpose of the Creation: "To make a dwelling place for Him (G d) in the lower worlds" (Tanchuma, Naso 16). From this perspective, how can we deny ourselves anything that the Torah permits? If we are permitted to use something for the purpose of elevating it to holiness, why would someone take a vow and flee from this goal?

We find the answer in the question. When a person is on the proper spiritual level, making oaths is not for him. His job is to elevate the physical; he has the ability, and it is inappropriate for him to run away from this G d given purpose. For this reason we have found in Jewish tradition great righteous people who possessed material luxuries because they knew exactly how to elevate them to holiness and rescue them for divine service.

If you find that one TV show leads to ten more, try none….

On the other hand, a person who was seduced from the straight path, who is not certain that each and every action will be for the sake of Heaven, knows that he is not always capable of elevating the physical to it spiritual source. Even worse, there is a distinct risk that those very actions will lower him deeper into the malaise of the world. Not only is it permissible, it is recommended to use oaths as a weapon to protect his spiritual level. If you find that one TV show leads to ten more, try none.

This principle also explains the prohibitions and fences that the Rabbis placed on the Jewish people through out all of the generations. While the Temple stood and broadcast its light of spiritual power, such additional fences were not required. With this elevated consciousness, the Jewish people were able to overcome all obstacles between them and the Almighty and to imbue the physical with holiness. However, with the destruction of the Temple, the darkness of exile shadowed the world. No more did the Jews have an extra boost to protect their high spiritual status. The Rabbis of that time stepped in with additional prohibitions and fences.

From all of this, we see that use of oaths suggests that the person is on a lower than required spiritual level. If such were not the case, he or she would not need this extra protection. This is the reason that only one who is on a higher level than the person who took the oath (like a parent in certain cases, or a qualified rabbi) has the power to nullify the oath. Additionally, they are even able to assist this person on a lower level to no longer need the oath. This will help that individual to live in the world without the crutch of vows and elevate physicality to holiness.

Tribes and Travels

Both the soul and the body must constantly strive to new spiritual levels.

By Shaul Yosef Leiter

Why is this week's Torah portion called "Matot", meaning "tribes", a relatively uncommon term when compared to the more conventional word "shvatim"? "Matot" also means staffs of wood, which are hard and strong, and are separated from the tree, their source. On the other hand, the word "shevatim" refers to soft and supple branches which are still attached to the tree.

The Torah reminds us that we need boundaries….

The Tzemach Tzedek explains this with the fact that much of the portion speaks about oaths. A person could swear to refrain from something physical in order to set up extra boundaries between himself and the world. This was not done lightly, rather only when required in order to sanctify and separate the person even from things that are generally permissible. The Torah reminds us that we need boundaries. We live in a time when not just boundaries between countries are falling down, but also boundaries between people, and even the boundaries between good and bad. For this aspect of divine service, a special strength and adamant total focus is required. Parashat Matot allows us to draw on this special dimension in our relation to the world.

We must continuously be moving upward spiritually from one level to the next….

This week's second portion called "Masai", meaning "journeys"? The Lubavitcher Rebbe writes that every Jewish person must know that he or she is constantly required to be on a journey. We must continuously be moving upward spiritually from one level to the next, higher level. The name is in the plural, "journeys" to remind us that there is not just the soul but the body also, and that both must make the journey.

In fact, this is the challenge. The soul must convince the body that it is in the body's best interests to stay on the proper track. Sound impossible? It is told that Rebbe Shalom Dov Ber of Lubavitch was once asked to specify the Torah source for a certain practice he did. The Rebbe answered that at that moment he did not remember the source, but he was certain that there was a source because he had long educated his body to accomplish its needs only according to what is allowed in the code of Jewish law. It is not easy, but if we make the effort we will succeed.

* * * * * *

We arrive at the level where we join both advantages together….

This week is not only Shabbat Mevorchim, in which we bless the upcoming new Hebrew month (called "Av"), it is also Shabbat Chazak, on which we finish the 4th book of the Torah, Numbers. In a certain sense, we will celebrate finishing the entire Torah this week because the 5th book, Deuteronomy, is known as "Mishneh Torah", the reverberation of the Torah; this is because it is primarily a review of parts of the previous books (Megilla 32b). In synagogue on Shabbat morning, upon concluding Matot and Massai, we will together proclaim, "chazak chazak v'nitchazek!" - word "chazak", meaning "strength", three times, to remind ourselves that there is something more than the unbending strength of Matot, and the visionary power of Massai: we arrive at the level where we join both advantages together. This is the message of the entire Torah: to be resolute, in relation to the world, and yet to always continue the journey.

Hard Traveling

Our life journeys demand that we be steadfast in our beliefs.

By Shaul Yosef Leiter

This coming week is Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av. "Rosh Chodesh" means the "head of the month". Just as the head controls the body, the head of the month controls the month. Use the day wisely! This Rosh Chodesh is also the first of the Nine Days, the most stringent mourning period of the Jewish year. If you are not familiar with the laws and customs of the Nine Days but wish to be, contact your local rabbi for details.

This week we read two Torah portions; their names express their broad content. The word "Mattot" actually means "staff", but in this case refers to the tribes, connoting stability and constancy. This is similar to a staff, that after being cut from a tree becomes hard and strong. The name of the second portion, "Massai", means "journeys", symbolizing a person who leaves his home and goes on the road. By combining the two, we learn that even when on a journey, we still have to remain strong like a staff and be strict in all Torah observances, just as when we are in the comfort of our own homes. This is particularly relevant now, in the summer, when we do much of our pleasure-traveling. We can also understand that it is specifically the strength (Mattot) we show by not being embarrassed to openly express our Judaism that makes our journeys (Massai) successful.The journeys are a hint to the descent of the soul from the higher spiritual worlds…

The first of the two portions, Mattot, begins with Moses speaking to the heads of the tribes about making "nedarim", oaths to refrain from certain activities. This concept is hard to understand. "Aren't the prohibitions contained in the Torah enough?" asks the Jerusalem Talmud (Nedarim 289). There, it states of a person who although involved with the physical world manages not to be overcome by it, that he doesn't need any extra protection of the oath to keep from sinking into materiality.

On the other hand, it says in Pirkei Avot (3:13), "Oaths assist 'separation', denoting some degree of restraint and aloofness from the physical aspects of the world. The Mishna, unlike the Jerusalem Talmud, is speaking about a person who suspects that his involvement with the world will lead to his losing self-control. Such a person needs some added restraint. Even though, after the destruction of the Holy Temple, we are discouraged to make oaths, still this reminds us that sometimes in each of our lives the technique of restraint is tantamount. Regarding the above, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe used to say: the world says, "What is permissible is permissible, what is forbidden we have to look for a leniency" - Chasidim say, "what is forbidden is forbidden. What is permissible (but not required), who needs it!"

The second portion, Massai, begins with a list of places the Jewish people stopped on their journey from Egypt to the Holy Land of Israel. Chasidut explains that the journeys are a hint to the descent of the soul from the higher spiritual worlds to this last and lowest world. Rashi reminds us that this descent is for a purpose. G d our King did send us on a long journey, but the purpose of this journey is the elevation that will follow, including the end of the exile and the rebuilding of the Third Temple.Each Jewish person makes 42 subtle changes or transformations in his lifetime…

The Baal Shem Tov taught that just as there are 42 different journeys from Egypt to the Holy Land described in parashat Massai, and from exile to redemption, so too each Jewish person makes 42 subtle changes or transformations in his lifetime, from birth to his final resting place. One could argue that some of the journeys were occasions where the Jewish people sinned, like Kevarot Hataavah, and why impute such negativity on each Jew as he travels his life's journey?

The answer is very simple. Each journey of the Jews in the desert had great positive potential. Through bad judgment and negative actions the Jewish people in the desert turned certain of those events to bad. Do not think that we are justified in doing wrong by what happened to our ancestors in the desert. Whether in previous generations or in our own lives, the journeys that already occurred are a part of the past. Each of us knows which were utilized for good and which were not. Our goal lies in the journeys that we still have to experience, and it is in our power to use them advantageously for good.

This week concludes the reading of the book of Numbers. Each time we finish one of the books of the Torah we say "Chazak, Chazak, V'Nitzchazek" - "Be strong, be strong, and we will be strong". This demonstrates the growing strength of the Jewish people that live in the Torah's way. This week is different from the three previous times we completed books of the Torah, because there is a distinction between the last and next book, Deuteronomy, and the previous four books. It is also called the "Mishna Torah" - "repeated Torah" - because it mostly reviews and concludes all that came before. Therefore, when we complete Numbers, from a certain perspective we have virtually completed the Torah.

It is important to mention that the 5th of Av (Thursday night and Friday of next week), is the anniversary of the death of the renowned kabbalist of Safed, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria - the "Arizal". One of his greatest innovations is the concept that every physical thing has a spark of G dliness in it. When we use an object properly, we redeem the spark and allow it to return to its source. Misuse of something conceals the spark even deeper into physicality. This is to teach us that every event, how even seemingly insignificant, has a redeeming value.

Mystic Stories

Wonders and Inspiration from Kabbalists, Chasidic Rebbes, remarkable Jews

  Beginner

By Yerachmiel Tilles

The Witnessing Tree

Wisdom from the Ohr HaChayim

  Beginner

By Yerachmiel Tilles

 

The wheel of fortune had taken a downward turn for a once-wealthy Jew who lived in the Moroccan city of Rabat. He was forced to leave home and wander from town to town in search of an appropriate business opportunity that would enable him to support the large extended family that had come to depend on him. His faith in the One who provides all was strong, but still, the forging of a receptacle for the Almighty’s blessing was proving to be difficult....he gave his money pouch to his host for safekeeping...

Finally, after several failed attempts, he succeeded in amassing a significant amount of money. He was finally able to return home.

On the way, he passed through the town of Sale, which is not far from Rabat. As it was already fairly late on Friday, he figured he had better remain in Sale for Shabbat. A good friend from his youth whom he had not seen in many years lived there, and he knew he would find a warm welcome at his house.

Indeed, as soon as his friend saw him, he insisted that his surprise guest remain for Shabbat. The weary traveler accepted the invitation happily. Before candle-lighting he gave his money pouch to his host for safekeeping, so that he wouldn’t have to worry about it during the Day of Rest.

By Saturday night, the traveler was anxious to reach home. Immediately after havdalah, he requested his money pouch back from his friend.

“What are you talking about?” said his host. “You never left any money with me.”

The stunned guest could not believe his ears. He almost fainted. When he recovered his senses, he begged his (former) friend to return to him the money for which he had labored so long and hard, and that it was critical for his family’s survival.

The host blew up. “You have some nerve!” he yelled. “Aren’t you embarrassed? You slept in my house, you ate at my table, and now you dare hurl at me these false accusations!”Just before Shabbat we sat under a tree...

Seeing the “righteous” indignation on his host’s face, the man realized there was no chance that this conniver would admit what he had done and give back the money willingly. He decided he had better go right away to make a claim at beit din (rabbinical court).

The rabbi of Sale at the time was the famous Ohr HaChaim, Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar. The two men went to his house. Rabbi Chaim listened carefully to both sides. He then addressed the host: “This Jew claims the money that he says he deposited with you on Shabbat eve. What do you say?”

“It never happened,” the man answered glibly. “He is making it up and slandering me.”

Rabbi Chaim turned to the hapless guest. “Perhaps there was a witness at the time you say you handed your money to him?”

The dejected man now felt even worse. “No, there was no witness there. Just before Shabbat we sat under a tree. That is when I took my pouch out of my pocket and gave it to him to hold for me until Saturday night.”

“Under a tree? Very good!” cried out the Ohr HaChaim excitedly. “Go back and summon that tree to be a witness on your behalf!”Without saying another word, he promptly returned the money...

The traveler was shocked when it sunk in what the rabbi wanted him to do. But, being well aware of the Ohr HaChaim’s reputation as a miracle worker, he stood up and left the house without questioning the great rabbi’s instructions.

After just a few minutes, the Ohr HaChaim remarked casually that for sure the man has already reached the tree.

“What do you mean, Rabbi?” responded the other man spontaneously. “That tree is quite far from here.”

With a hard stare right at the man’s eyes, the Ohr HaChaim declared: “Give that poor innocent Jew his money back, right now!” Seeing the surprise on the man’s face, the rabbi stroked his beard and added: “If you didn’t receive the money from him under that tree, how is it that you know where the tree is!”

The man turned pale. Without saying another word, he promptly returned the money that had been entrusted to him.

After he finally reached home, the merchant applied most of his hard-earned savings to wise investments, and, with G d’s help, became wealthy again, as he had been once before.

Matot Haftorah in a Nutshell

Jeremiah 1:1-2:3.

This week's haftorah is the first of a series of three "haftorot of affliction." These three haftarot are read during the Three Weeks of mourning for Jerusalem, between the fasts of 17 Tammuz and 9 Av.

Jeremiah recounts how G d appointed him as prophet — despite his initial reluctance to accept the task — and tells of the encouragement G d gave him to fulfill his crucial mission.

He then describes two prophetic visions he was shown. The first featured an almond tree branch. G d explained to Jeremiah that just like an almond tree is very quick to blossom, so too G d will carry out his plan — to punish the Jews for their sins — in due haste.

The second vision was that of a boiling pot whose foam was directed northward. G d explained that this was an allusion to the afflictions the Jewish people would suffer at the hands of the people from the north of the Holy Land, namely Babylon. G d will cause the kingdoms of the north to lay siege on Jerusalem and Judea and He will pass judgment on the Jewish people due to their abandonment of G d's ways and their idol worship.

G d then encouraged Jeremiah to deliver the prophecy and not to fear the Jewish populace who would certainly not take kindly to such harsh words.

The haftorah ends with a reassuring prophecy to the people: "Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: so said G d: 'I remember to you the loving-kindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me in the desert, in a land not sown. Israel is holy to G d, the first of His grain; all who eat him shall be guilty, evil shall befall them, says G d.'"

This is a synopsis of the Haftorah that is read in Chabad synagogues. Other communities could possibly read more, less, or a different section of the Prophets altogether. Additionally, specific calendrical conditions can cause another Haftorah to be read instead of this one.

Matot-Masai

Matot-Masei – Tribes / Journeys

– To: The Twelve Tribes in the Diaspora: Shalom!

– Listen! Heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, Gather Yourselves Together and Assemble Yourselves so that Most High will make one nation in the Land.

– Lets bring burnt offering to the House of Most High and fulfill your Vows

 

The name of the forty-second reading from the Torah is Mattot (????), which means “tribes.” The name is derived from the words of Numbers 30:1, which says, “Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel.” , And it describes about the discusses the laws of vows and oaths. In the next chapter of Numbers tells the story of Israel’s war with Midian, And followed by relates the story of how the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Mannaseh came to inherit the land east of the Jordan River. The last reading from the book of Numbers is called Massei (????), a word that means “journeys.” It comes from the first verse of the reading, which begins with the words “These are the journeys of the sons of Israel” -Numbers 33:1.

Last week, in Parasha Pinchas, we read that G-d gave Pinchas (Phinehas) a pact of peace and everlasting priesthood in response to his zeal for the Lord.In this week’s Parasha, Moses speaks to the heads of the tribes (matot) about the laws governing vows (neder) and oaths (shevua).

Moshe teaches the rules and restrictions regarding the role of a father or a husband in the upholding or nullification of their wives or daughters vows.

“Moses said to the heads of the tribes ( matot ) of Israel: ‘This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes ( nadar ) a vow ( neder ) to the Lord or takes an oath ( shevua ) to obligate ( asar ) himself by apledge [issar], he must not break his word but must do everything he said.’” -Numbers 30:1–2

The three main sections of the first parasha of Matot are:

Laws regarding vows – Specifically, we learn about who is responsible for the vows or oaths of a woman, depending on her personal status (living in her father’s house, married, divorced, widowed. A vow or oath is a powerful use of words, made binding by the use of G-d’s name.

G-d asks one last thing of Moses before his death – to go to war against the Midianites. Balaam reappears here as the mastermind behind that mass-seduction. Moses is unhappy when the Israelite armies only kill the men and not the women. So he sends them back to slay all male children and all women who have known men carnally.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad claim the land on the East side of the Jordan -As their inheritance and want to settle it because it is good cattle country. A compromise is reached in which the Reubenite and Gadite men will serve as “shock-troops” and will conquer the land before returning to their lands on the East side of the river.

Torah States about VOW:

Then Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Isra’el. He said, “Here is what Adonai has ordered: when a man makes a vow to Adonai or formally obligates himself by swearing an oath, he is not to break his word but is to do everything he said he would do. – Numbers 30:2-3

To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that Adonai your G-d will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. “When you make a vow to Adonai your G-d, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, for Adonai your G-d will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin. If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for you; – Deuteronomy 23:21-23

A vow is a means by which a person creates a personal obligation or restriction. One reason a person makes a vow is to obligate oneself to offer a sacrifice. This person would verbalize a commitment to bring an Olah sacrifice. Once this commitment is verbalized as a vow, the person is obligated to bring the offering. Failure to bring the offering is a violation of a binding Torah obligation.

A neder, then, dedicates something or someone to HaShem, such as a donation pledge, sacrificial offering or the dedication of a child as in the case of Hannah and Samuel.

Then she took a vow; she said, “Adonai-Tzva’ot, if you will notice how humiliated your servant is, if you will remember me and not forget your servant but will give your servant a male child, then I will give him toAdonai for as long as he lives; and no razor will ever come on his head.” -1 Samuel 1:11

That dedicated object or person then becomes holy: Throughout the time of his being a nazir he is holy for Adonai. – Numbers 6:8

Jacob (Yaacov) made this kind of vow in exchange for G-d’s provision and protection on his journey when he promised to give back to God a tenth (tithe)of everything G-d gave to him.

Ya‘akov took this vow: “If G-d will be with me and will guard me on this road that I am traveling, giving me bread to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then Adonai will be my G-d; and this stone, which I have set up as a standing-stone, will be G-d’s house; and of everything you give me, I will faithfully return one-tenth to you.” -Genesis 28:20–22

We see an example of such an obligation in Genesis 47:31, when Jacob asked Joseph to make a shevua that he would bury him in Canaan.

He said, “Swear it to me,” and he swore to him. Then Isra’el bowed down at the head of his bed. -Genesis 47:31

Then Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Isra’el. He said, “Here is what Adonai has ordered: when a man makes a vow to Adonai or formally obligates himself by swearing an oath, he is not to break his word but is to do everything he said he would do. – Numbers 30:2-3

A man who shall vow a vow , Vows are a means to asceticism.-Ethics of the Fathers 3:13

Asceticism leads to purity, purity leads to holiness, holiness leads to humility, humility leads to fear of sin, fear of sin leads to saintliness, saintliness leads to the [possession of] the holy spirit, and the holy spirit leads to eternal life. -Talmud, Avodah Zarah 20b

According to all that proceeds out of his mouth shall he do – Numbers 30:3

Better that you not vow, than that you should vow and not fulfill. –Ecclesiastes 5:4

Making a vow is a serious matter as Yeshua Taught:

Again, you have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not break your oath,’ and ‘Keep your vows to Adonai.’ But I tell you not to swear at all — not ‘by heaven,’ because it is God’s throne; not ‘by the earth,’ because it is his footstool;and not ‘by Yerushalayim,’ because it is the city of the Great King. And don’t swear by your head, because you can’t make a single hair white or black. Just let your ‘Yes’ be a simple ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ a simple ‘No’; anything more than this has its origin in evil. -Matthew 5:33-37

Moreover, I tell you this: on the Day of Judgement people will have to give account for every careless word they have spoken; for by your own words you will be acquitted, and by your own words you will be condemned.” -Matthew 12:36-37

Ecclesiastes advises: “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God…. When you make [nadar] a vow [neder]to G-d, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.” -Ecclesiastes 5:2-5

It is a snare to dedicate a gift to G-d rashly and reflect on the vows only afterwards. -Proverbs 20:25

We see an example of an issar in the life of the Apostle Rabbi Shaul , when he joined four men in taking a Nazarite vow to prove to the Jewish People that he maintained an observant Jewish lifestyle and faithfully kept the Torah

So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep theTorah. – Acts 21:23-24

Your vows are binding upon me, O G-d; I will render thank offerings to You.– Psalm 56:12

Torah

——–

Numbers 30:2–36:13

Deuteronomy 23:21-23

Genesis 28:20–22

Genesis 47 : 31

Numbers 6 : 8

Haftarah Portion

————————

Jeremiah 2:4–28, 3:4, 4:1–2

1 Samuel 1:11

Ecclesiastes 5:2–5

Ha-Berit ha-Hadashah

——————————–

Matthew 23:1–25:46

Matthew 24:1–25:46

Matthew 5:33-37

Acts 21:23-24

Notes:

The portion is named ma-tot, because it begins with a command passed on to the heads of the tribes (matot) of Israel. In this week’s portion, the Israelites are taught the laws relevant when women make vows: the right of the father or husband to cancel them and how the process must be done. Following the giving of these laws, Moses is commanded to lead the Israelites in a war against the Mideanites before his death, as revenge for their behavior when trying to seduce the Israelites into idolatry. The Israelites go to war and are victorious, and are taught the rules of purifying their booty in order to be allowed to use it.

Parshat Masei, opens by summarizing the entire route travelled by the Jewish people over their forty years in the desert, beginning with their exodus from Egypt and concluding with their arrival at the banks of the Jordan River. After commanding the people to drive out all of the Holy Land’s inhabitants, the Torah delineates the exact boundaries of the land of Israel. Since the Levites would not be receiving a regular portion, special cities were to be set aside for them, some of which would also serve as cities of refuge for accidental murderers. In some cases, somebody who unintentionally killed another person would flee to one of these cities of refuge to seek sanctuary and avoid retribution from a close relative of the victim, and he would be required to remain there until the death of the present Kohen Gadol (High Priest). After setting the guidelines for the various categories of murder, the book of Numbers concludes with further information regarding the daughters of Tzlaphchad and the laws of inheritance.

At the end of the portion, the Reubenites and the Gadites, who were shepherds, request that their lot be given to them on the recently conquered fruitful east bank of the Jordan River. Their wish is granted under the condition that the men of the tribes shall participate in the fighting when the Israelites conquer the land of Canaan, and shall not return to their homes until the mission is completed. As we near the end of the Book of Numbers, we receive some additional laws, Moses receives his last task from G-d, and we begin to focus on the settlement of the Promised Land.

Listen! Heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel- Prepare for Gathering together ourselves about the redemption and conquering the holy land of Israel:

Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning hooks into spears;

Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man. ……..The LORD roars from Zion,And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel. – Joel 3 : 10, 16

Scriptures Information about gathering together ourselves:

AND HE SAID: GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER (HE’ASEFU)… ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES, AND HEAR (XLIX, 1 f.). GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER from the land of Egypt, and ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES into Raameses; GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER from [the exile of] the ten tribes, and ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He thus commanded them to show honour to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.1 R. Aha interpreted [the word HE’ASEFU], ‘Purify yourselves,’ as in the verse, And they gathered themselves together… and they purified themselves (Neh. XII, 28 ff.).2 The Rabbis say: He warned them against dissension, bidding them, Be ye all one assembly. Thus it says, And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it: For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions (Ezek. XXXVII, 16). ‘ His companion ‘ is written: when the children of Israel unite in one band, then they may prepare themselves for redemption. For what follows this? And I will make them one nation in the land, etc. (ib. 22).(Gen. Rabbah XCVIII:2)

The Midrash Rabbah here is making a drash on the two phrases GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER and ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES, applying this as a type of their future reunion and redemption (as seen in Ezekiel 37) The Midrash Rabbah also teaches that the Gentile nations will be blessed by the last days restoration of the Ten Tribes by virtue of their having been scattered among them:

As it is written: Then Ya‘akov called for his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the LAST DAYS – Gen 49:1

And not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of Most High – John 11 : 52 – 53

I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. -Jeremiah 23:3

So now Most High says —he formed me in the womb to be his servant,to bring Ya‘akov back to him,to have Isra’el gathered to him,so that I will be honored in the sight of Most High, my Elohim having become my strength — he has said, “It is not enough that you are merely my servant to raise up the tribes of Ya‘akov and restore the offspring of Isra’el. I will also make you a light to the nations,so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth. -Isaiah 49 : 5-6

In that day the Most High will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. —Isaiah 11:11

This amazing promise refers to the Children of Abraham being banished to Africa, Asia, and the islands of the sea—the Bible calls them the Outcasts of Israel.The tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and Manasseh make up what is now referred to as “The Lost Tribes of Israel.”

Rabbi Shaul (Acts 26:6) protests to Agrippa that he is accused “for the hope of the promise made unto our fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving Most High, hope to come,” while James addresses his epistle to “the twelve tribes which are scattered about” (1:1). The only opposing voice to this otherwise universal view is found in the Mishnah. R. Eliezer expresses his view that they will eventually return and “after darkness is fallen upon the ten tribes light shall thereafter dwell upon them,” The Messiah was referring to Isaiah 27:13; “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Most High in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”

The term “great trumpet” is mentioned: Isaiah 27:13 and Matthew 24:30-31 and both speak of the re-gathering of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Most High on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

This is what the Messiah was speaking of in Matthew 24:30-31 where he said; “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he [Most High Ancient one — see Isaiah 27:12-13] shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Israelite’s go to war with the Midianites:

B’nei Yisrael wages war against Midian, kill Bilam, the five Midianite kings and all the men. Moshe is upset that the women were taken captive since they were catalysts for the immoral behavior of the Jewish people. Moshe therefore rebukes the officers. The spoils of war are counted and apportioned. The commanding officers report to Moshe that there was not one casualty among B’nei Yisrael. They bring an offering that is taken by Moshe and Elazar and placed in the Ohel Mo’ed (Tent of Meeting).

The Tribes of Gad and Reuven, who own large quantities of livestock, petition Moshe to allow them to remain east of the Jordan and not receive a portion of land west of the Jordan River. They explain that the land east of the Jordan is quite suitable grazing land for their livestock. Moshe’s initial response is that this request will discourage the rest of B’nei Yisrael, and that it is akin to the sin of the spies. They assure Moshe that they will first help conquer Israel, and only then will they go back to their families and homes on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Moshe grants their request on condition that they uphold their part of the deal to fight with all of Israel until it is conquered.

G-d demands that the Israelites go to war with the Midianites on account of Baal Pe’or. God spoke to Moses, saying: “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin” (Numbers 30:31). This is to be Moses’ last battle, a war of vengeance. The war is a success. No Israelite soldiers dies. The Israelite soldiers capture a bounty of spoils – cattle, herds of sheep and goats, human captives and their possessions – yet Moses is not satisfied:

Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign. Moses said to them, “You have spared every female! Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against G-d in the matter of Pe’or, so that G-d’s community was struck by the plague. Now, therefore, slay every male among the dependents, and slay also every woman who has known a man carnally; but spare every female dependent who has not had carnal relations with a man. -Numbers 31:13-18

Avenge the vengeance of the children of Israel upon the Midianites – Numbers 31:2

The Hebrew word midian means “strife.” Midian is the essence of divisiveness, which is the root of all evil. Thus our sages speak of “groundless hatred” as the greatest of evils. In truth, all strife is groundless hatred: the so-called “grounds” that people and nations have for hating and destroying each other.

Why only upon the Midianites, but not the Moabites (who also sent their daughters to cause Israel to sin)? Because the Moabites got involved because they feared Israel (cf. Numbers 22:2–6); but the Midianites entered a fight that was not theirs.

Another explanation: G-d said to spare the Moabites because of “two fine creatures which I shall extract from them”—Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite (wife of King Solomon). –Rashi

So before the people of Israel could conquer the “seven nations” that inhabited the land of Canaan—which represent the seven negative traits of the heart—they first had to destroy Midian, which is their source and cause. This is also why the destruction of Midian could be achieved only under the leadership of Moses, who embodied the traits of utter self-abnegation,harmony and truth. –Maamar Heichaltzu 5659

Moses spoke to the people: “Arm yourselves . . . to take G-d’s vengeance on Midian” – Numbers 31:3

G-d had said to Moses, “Avenge the vengeance of the children of Israel upon the Midianites”; yet Moses said: “To take G-d’s vengeance on Midian”!

G-d said to Israel: It is you who have an account to settle with them, for they caused Me to harm you. But Moses said: Master of the worlds! If we had been uncircumcised, or idol worshippers, or had denied the mitzvot, the Midianites would not have hated us. They persecute us only on account of the Torah and the precepts which You have given us! Consequently the vengeance is Yours; and so I say: “To take G-d’s vengeance on Midian.” –Midrash Tanchuma

“To take G-d’s vengeance on Midian”—for whoever stands against Israel, stands against G-d. –Rashi

G-d sees the war on Midian as avenging Israel, for G-d’s foremost concern is for His people; the people of Israel see the war as avenging G-d, for they are concerned only with the honor of G-d. –The Chassidic Masters

A thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war -Numbers 31:5

Moses wanted to demonstrate to them that it is not the number of troops or their arms that determines victory or defeat, but their worthiness. For Zimri had caused the death of 24,000 without a single sword or armament; while they, numbering only 12,000, would defeat the far more numerous Midianites, “and not a single one of them was lost” -Numbers 31:49.

Moses sent them to the war . . . them and Pinchas the son of Elazar the priest – Numbers 31:6

G-d charged Moses with the mission, yet he sends others! But since Moses had grown up in the land of Midian, he thought: It is not right that I should punish one who has done good to me. The proverb says: “A well from which you drank, cast not a stone into it.” –Midrash Rabbah

Moses sent . . . Pinchas the son of Elazar the priest – Numbers 31:6

Why did he send Pinchas? He said: “The one who began the mitzvah shall finish it.” It was Pinchas who turned away G-d’s wrath from Israel and smote the Midianite woman; let him finish the sacred task. –Midrash Rabbah; Rashi

They warred against Midian, as G-d commanded Moses – Numbers 31:7

When laying siege on a city to conquer it, we do not surround it from all four sides, but only from three sides, leaving a way to escape for anyone who wishes to flee for his life. As it is written: “They warred against Midian, as G-d commanded Moses”; it has been handed down by tradition that this is what G-d had commanded him.(Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Their Wars 6:7)

Also Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword – Numbers 31:8

What was Balaam doing in Midian? Rabbi Jonathan said: He went to receive his reward for the twenty-four thousand Israelites whose destruction he had caused [by his advice to entice them with the daughters of Moab and Midian]. . . . This is what people say: “When the camel went to demand horns, they cut off the ears he had.” –Talmud, Sanhedrin 106a

If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan . . . – Numbers 32:29

Rabbi Meir said: Every stipulation which is not like that of the children of Gad and the children of Reuben is not legally binding. For it is written: “And Moses said unto them: If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, [. . . you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession],” and it is also written, “But if they will not pass over with you armed, then they shall have possessions among you in the Land of Canaan.” (Thus, both sides of the condition have to be spelled out: if the condition is fulfilled, then so-and-so will be the case, but if the stipulation is not fulfilled, then so-and so will be the case.) –(Talmud, Kiddushin 61a)

And half the tribe of Manasseh – Numbers 32:33

Because Manasseh caused the sons of Jacob to rend their clothes by hiding Joseph’s goblet in Benjamin’s sack (Genesis 44:13), his tribe was rent in two, half receiving its portion in the lands east of the Jordan, and half on the west.(Midrash Rabbah)

Moses gave the Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh. . . . And Yair the son of Manasseh went and conquered their villages . . . – Numbers 32:40–41

We learned: Yair the son of Manasseh and Machir the son of Manasseh were born in the days of Jacob, and did not die before Israel entered the Land. (But does it not say, “And there was not left a man of [the generation of the desert], save Caleb the son of Yefuneh and Joshua the son of Nun”? Said Rav Acha bar Yaakov: The decree was directed neither against those under twenty years of age, nor against those over sixty years of age.) –Talmud, Bava Batra 121b

When Israel arrived by the Jordan at Jericho, their wanderings had come to an end, so G-d gave Moses, regarding their imminent entry into the Promised Land.

The very first command was to “drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you.… Take possession of the land and settle it, for I have given you that land to possess.” -Numbers 33:52–53

“No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation (Yeshuah) and your gates Praise.” -Isaiah 60:18

 

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MATOS – By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: MATOS: Numbers 30:2-32:42

This Shabbos we complete our annual study of the book of BAMIDBAR (Numbers) by reading its two lengthy closing parshiyos, MATOS and MAS’EY, together. In Israel this year (which is a leap year) each of these two parshiyos is read on its own Shabbos, but in the Diaspora the two parshiyos are being read on one Shabbos (as happens in most years) in order to ensure that we begin reading the book of DEVARIM (Deuteronomy), with its central theme of TESHUVAH — coming home to G-d — on the last Shabbos prior to the fast of 9th Av commemorating the destruction of the Holy Temple.

As discussed in earlier commentaries, Genesis is the “head” of the Torah, Exodus the “arms” (the “outstretched arm” of redemption), Leviticus the “heart”, Numbers the “legs” (journeying through the wilderness to reach the Land) and Deuteronomy the “mouth”, trumpeting forth: “Hear O Israel!” Coming at the end of the book of Numbers, these two parshiyos show us the Children of Israel at the end of their journeying in the wilderness, assembled in the plains of Moab, facing Jericho, poised to enter the Land. It was here that Moses delivered his final discourses, which make up the book of Deuteronomy. The various Messianic themes and allusions in this week’s double parshah make them appropriate reading for the central Shabbos of the Three Week period of mourning for the lost Temples, which is a preparation for the Restoration quickly in our days. [KINOT, “lamentations” = TIKUN, “rectification.]

PARSHAS MATOS

The uniqueness of the prophecy of Moses is seen in the opening words of parshas MATOS introducing the laws of vows. “And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the Children of Israel saying, THIS is the word that G-d has commanded.” (Numbers 30:2). There are various levels of prophecy, which may come through “a clear glass” or through a “dim glass”. The latter is the case in countless verses in the prophetic literature where the prophet says “KO — So said HaShem”, indicating that the words of the prophecy are LIKE — resemble — the actual Truth, yet they are merely similar, an evocation of something that in itself is actually much higher. Moses himself also prophesied using the comparative expression KO, as in Exodus 11:4. However, as Rashi points out (in his comment on Numbers 30:2), unique among all the prophets, Moses also used the expression ZEH HADAVAR — “THIS is the word”, the actual word of G-d. For Moses revealed the very P’NIMIUT, the “inner essence” of G-d, like no other prophet.

WORDS AND COMMITMENTS

An important theme in Parshas MATOS is the care with which we must use words and language because of their very great power — language is the “glass” that may either reflect or obscure the truth. “When a man wants to make a vow to HaShem or to swear an oath placing a prohibition upon himself, he must not profane his word. He must do according to all that comes forth from his mouth.” (Numbers 30:3).

We live in an age when streams of verbiage flow forth at us in such quantities from all directions — billboards, papers, magazines, TV, radio, Internet and on and on — that we can easily become almost completely desensitized to words, their meaning and importance. We take it for granted that politicians make promises and undertakings which they have no intention of keeping; that “experts” shoot forth with torrents of instant comment which are as enduring as rotten fruit; that commercial advertising has turned the destruction of language into an art-form; that the media are filled with every kind of irreverence and unholiness.

As a medicine against this desensitization, the Torah asks us to think hard about the words we bring forth from our own mouths, and particularly the personal commitments we make. While we often focus on language as the means of communication with each other, with ourselves and with G-d, the concept of the vow is one where we use our G-d-given gift of speech to elevate ourselves spiritually. One might take a vow to dedicate something of worth to the Temple or charity, or to erect a personal boundary and abstain from some undesirable behavior that has proved a pitfall for oneself and others. The father of the vow was Jacob, when he came to Mount Moriah and had his dream of the ladder. In the morning, he set up a stone, the prototype Temple Altar, and vowed that if G-d would protect him and provide his needs, he would make this the House of G-d and tithe all he received (Genesis 28:20). [David the Messiah also swore and vowed he would not rest until he found a place and a dwelling-place for G-d, the Holy Temple — Psalms 132:1-5.]

Because of the extreme seriousness of an oath or vow to G-d, the Torah Codes advise us not to take actual oaths or vows unless we are thoroughly conversant with the intricacies of their laws. Much of the discussion in the relevant Talmudic tractates of Nedarim, Nazir and Shavuos is bound up with careful analyses of the meanings and implications of different kinds of phraseology. The larger part of the section on vows in our parshah is taken up with special laws that apply to vows made by an unmarried, betrothed or married woman, which may be nullified by her father and/or husband. This is because vows she may make even with the best intentions could cause complications in her domestic life that might affect others (e.g. if she were to vow to abstain from certain foods or not to use cosmetics, etc.). Her freedom is circumscribed by her responsibilities to others, and the Torah gives her father and/or husband the last word on whether to uphold her vows. Indeed we should not make vows or commitments that can affect others detrimentally. The point is not to deter us from making commitments, but rather to impress upon us the care with which we should go about making them and the seriousness with which we must uphold them.

THE WAR AGAINST MIDIAN

It is significant that the final war fought by the Children of Israel prior to their entry into the land was the war for sexual morality — to rectify the degradation of the sin of BAAL PE’OR as described at the end of parshas BALAK. The crafty Bilaam knew that sexual sin is the undoing of the holiness of Israel and the Midianites took his advice to entice the Israelites to take the short road from immorality to idolatry. The true holiness of the Land of Israel can be revealed only when the Land is cleansed of sexual immorality and degradation. [Similarly, Jacob went back to Beit El only after vengeance for the rape of Dinah and cleansing his house of idolatry, Genesis ch. 34-5.] It was to bring moral cleansing that 1000 warriors from each of the Twelve Tribes went out against the Midianites, together with Pinchas, who was weighed against all of them. Pinchas was the hero of moral cleansing ever since he killed the Prince of the Tribe of Shimon and his Midianite woman.

The warriors return from this war with war booty, which is documented in detail in our Parshah. When we overcome the war against immorality, we can reclaim the lost booty — the energy that was degraded to the level of the animal, and which can now be elevated and used in pursuit of the holy. However, what Israel takes from the nations must be purified. It was necessary to kill the Midianite males — the concept of the active MASHPIAH (source of influence) — for the active immoral influence had to be destroyed. However, those women who had not “known” a male could be saved: that which is receptive to the Israelite influence can be reclaimed. The material wealth taken from the Midianites also had to be purified. A percentage had to be dedicated to the Temple, and even that which could be released for personal use had to be purified.

Our parshah is thus an important source for the laws of purification of vessels of metal, wood or other materials that had previously been in the possession of and used by non-Israelites (Numbers 31:21-4). “Every thing (literally, word) that can come into fire you must pass through the fire and it will be pure, but it must be purified with the waters of NIDAH, whileall that cannot come into fire you must pass through the water.” From this are derived the laws of kashering utensils that have absorbed forbidden substances, and the laws of immersing vessels in a kosher mikveh. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (Likutey Moharan I:4) points to the esoteric meaning of these laws, which teach how to repent for our sins. If we sinfully took our holy powers and energies and burned them up in the fires of animal lust, we must take “what came into fire” and “pass it through the fire”. We must repent by confessing our sins with words of fire, burning them up with holy intensity, the fire of our passion to now rectify and elevate our energies. And so too, the pure waters of the Torah, the mikveh, purify the vessel, the body.

THE SONS OF REUVEN AND GAD’S CONDITION

Following the war with Midian, the account of the request of the tribes of Reuven and Gad to take their share of the Land in the conquered territories EAST of the River Jordan and Moses’ response is written Torah proof of the Children of Israel’s possession of these territories in the true “final settlement”.

Were the Sons of Reuven and Gad really more interested in pasture-lands for their cattle than having a share in the Promised Land? The Aramaic Targum of Onkelos reveals what is concealed beneath the Torah verse detailing the locations east of the Jordan upon which the Sons of Reuven and Gad had set their eyes. These include MOUNT NEVO, which the Targum informs us is the burial-place of Moses (Numbers 32:3). That was what the sons of Reuven and Gad had set their eyes on. They already knew what Breslovers know about the grave of Rabbi Nachman, what Lubavitchers have learned about the Ohel of the Rebbe, what those who frequent Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s gravesite in Meiron or the resting place of the Avot (Patriarchs) in the holy city of Hevron know. The greatest true wealth is our connection with the Tzaddikim who are the true Foundations of the Universe. The graves of the true Tzaddikim are points where the physical interconnects with the spiritual, and where we can make a connection with G-d’s truth.

Even so, Moses scolded the Sons of Reuven and Gad for wanting to stay out of the Land, suggesting that they were like the Spies whose perverted use of language led the hearts of the Israelites astray. Coming after the laws of purified language — vows and oaths — at the beginning of our parshah, Moses’ binding of the Sons of Reuven and Gad with a detailed set of conditions is another lesson in the precision with which we must use language. We have to make commitments, and we have to keep them. We must take care with the way we formulate our commitments, and care to carry them out.

The Sons of Reuven and Gad were committed to supporting their brother Israelites in conquering the Land. This should serve as a model for those who reside outside the Land, whose share in the Land is strengthened by giving support to those who live in it and fight the war there every day.

Parshas MATOS concludes with a detailed account of the territories given by Moses to the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half of Menasheh east of the River Jordan. These include all of the mountain and valley areas from north of the River Arnon, which flows into Yam HaMelach (the “Dead” Sea) up to Chavot Yair, which are the lands south east of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).

TORAH: MAS’EI -By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: MAS’EI: Numbers 33:1-36:13.

Already in MATOS when Moses castigated the Sons of Reuven and Gad with being like the Ten Spies, the theme of Moses’ reproof enters the Torah, and it continues in MAS’EY and in the book of Deuteronomy. After the events of the forty years wandering, which we have studied in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, the time has come to begin to review the lessons and reduce them to their essentials.

MAS’EY begins with a review of the forty years wandering. On the surface, the list of encampments and journeyings seems prosaic. However, the second Targum on the Torah, that of Rabbi Yonasan ben Uziel, disciple of Hillel, fills in much of the moral significance of the different staging posts in those difficult years, showing that the list itself is a form of reproof. It teaches us that there are times when we must look back, review and draw conclusions and lessons from the past. This is particularly necessary when we stand on the brink of new challenges, as in the case of the Children of Israel, who stood poised to conquer the Land.

Included in the account of the wanderings is a reference to the death of Aaron the High Priest, specifying the date of his ascent to the mountain to die — the first day of the fifth month, which is the month of Av. This is a reminder to us that the present year is beginning to draw to a close, with only two months to go before the Day of Judgment, Rosh HaShanah, the New Year. As we proceed in the period of Repentance (the Three Weeks, followed by Elul and Tishri) we should take time to review our lives and reflect on where we are trying to go. This way we will be prepared for the challenges of the coming year — the Conquest of the Land.

THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND AND ITS CONQUEST

Parshas MAS’EY provides the detailed topography of the boundaries of the Land of Israel, prefixed by G-d’s commandment to the Children of Israel to destroy all the evil influences in the Land to make it a place fit for the exalted mission instituted by the Fathers of the World, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For Israel, with Jerusalem at its center and its eternal capital, is to be the source of Torah and Light for all the nations. “For the Torah will go forth from Zion and the Word of HaShem from Yerushalayim”. The Torah warns clearly that unless all the evil influences are removed from the Land, they will be “like pins in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will persecute you over the land in which you are dwelling” (Numbers 33:55).

The Boundaries of the Land are given as a COMMANDMENT (Numbers 34:2). While nobody doubts that the true Land of Israel includes all the territories west of the River Jordan, few are aware of where the southern and northern borders of the biblical Promised Land actually are.

The final settlement of Israel as prophesied in Ezekiel 47:13-21. Any “settlement” that does not take this into account is doomed to ultimate failure, for “the G-d’s counsel is what will stand” (Proverbs 19:21).

Of course the Land will only become Israel’s without contest when Israel will fulfill its part of the Conditions of G-d’s Covenant to give them the Land. (The section in MATOS about the Conditions with which Moses bound the Sons of Reuven and Gad is also a lesson about Conditions, to which Moses returns again and again in his discourses in Deuteronomy: “If you will do this. and if you will not.”)

THE LEVITICAL CITIES AND THE CITIES OF REFUGE

Since the Levites did not have a share in the Land, they were given forty-two cities of their own up and down the Land together with all the necessary surrounding areas. The Levitical Cities indicate the distinctive nature of the Land of Israel in contrast to all other lands. It’s social geography is centered upon a network of cities where people are free from the immediate requirement to make a living (the Levites received tithes) in order to devote themselves to the study and teaching of G-d’s Law. Thus everyone in the Land is always near a center of study and near to someone they can ask for guidance.

The Torah’s abhorrence for killing and murder is expressed in the portion that gives the laws of unintentional manslaughter and deliberate murder (Numbers 35:9ff). Not only has our world become desensitized to language, as discussed above. It has also been desensitized to the evil of killing and murder, which are openly celebrated be terrorists as “religious acts”, while the TV and movies provide an endless diet of violence to the population.

The spilling of blood is a crime against the Land, and the holiness of the Land of Israel will only shine again when we can cleanse ourselves of this terrible scourge and re-establish the Law of the Torah, which outshines and transcends all manmade laws. The Torah not only teaches the evil of killing and murder but has no compunction about imposing all necessary sanctions in order to eliminate them, including the death penalty. Even one who had committed an unintentional manslaughter had to hide himself away from the rest of society in a city of refuge, unlike today, where killers with blood on their hands are released from jail and celebrated as heroes.

“And you shall not pollute the Land in which you dwell that I dwell in its midst, for I am HaSheM dwelling among the Children of Israel” (Numbers 35:34). Speedily in our days. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom!!! -Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

 

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Haftarot Matot-Masei – Jeremiah 1:1-2:28; 4:1-2

This week’s haftarot are from Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet sent to declare the faithfulness of HaShem . Jeremiah urged the people to listen to his message: “Hear the word of the Lord (devar HaShem), O House of Jacob, every clan of the House of Israel.”

Jeremiah begins this week’s Haftorah by telling Israel that they have abandoned Hashem. The prophet asks on behalf of Hashem “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they have abandoned me?” The Jewish people didn’t say “Where is Hashem who took us out of the land of Egypt, and brought us safely through the desert, into a country with farmland that produced all the food and wealth we needed?” The Kohanim didn’t say, “Where is your G-d?” The Prophets prophesied via Ba’al (a Cananite Pagan deity) false information. Hashem is asking, “What is going on here? Did everyone forget our agreement?” Hashem then continues and says “Go look around, has any nation ever exchanged a living G-d for a false G-d?” Jeremiah warns the Israelites that they have committed two great sins against Hashem. First they have abandoned Hashem and second they are worshipping idols. Jeremiah Warns the Jews that they will be severely punished. (2:14-19) He says that it is their own fault that they are being punished. Instead of relying on Hashem, you are relying on the Egyptians and the Assyrians for help. You will be in for a big surprise when they don’t come and help you when you need them. You Will Be Punished For Your Sins of Unfaithfulness. (2:19-28) Israel, you told me that you would be faithful, but you’re not. You worship in the Valley of Hinnom the G-d of Molech doing child sacrifices. Hashem says, “Stop looking around for allies to save you. Jeremiah warns the house of Israel, their kings, nobles, priests and prophets, that they will be ashamed like a thief that is caught. They talk to the wooden idols as is if they can hear them and they relate to stone as if they gave birth to them, while they turned their backs to me. Yet in their hour of disaster they come to me and say “Save us.” Judah’s Insincere Repentance (3:1-4) now where are your G-ds you made for yourself? Let them now come and save you in a time of disaster. As always the Haftorah ends on a happy note. Hashem’s Response (4:1) Hashem says “If you Israel, return to me and remove your abominations from before me, and you do not waver, if you swear “as Hashem lives in truth, justice and righteousness” the nations of the world will bless themselves by you and praise themselves through you.

“[When] you will return, O Israel,” says HaShem, “Return to Me; and [when] you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, ‘HaShem lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.”

-Jeremiah 4:1-2

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Most Ancient Holy One of Israel, declares a One Nation Solution -“THE GREATER ISRAEL” . Let us not forget -With Ephraim/Multitude of Nations – Israel, Do Teshuva and through the process of heart circumcision (renewed covenant) under the Divine Mandate of Mashiach there can be Redemption for the house of Israel!

The purpose of our work in in gathering the exiles is to set up people of Truth can take part in redemption and will promote the unification of house of Israel and house of Judah in the gates of Jerusalem under one prince, that is under son of David so that the Shechina will return to the holy land of Israel and the lost tribes shall never be driven out of their land.

Blessed art Thou, HaShem, Who brings forth the Manifestation of Salvation. ( Baruch Atah HaShem, matzmiach keren Yeshuah )

We will see that the children of Israel return to Most High and Torah of Mashiach, And will hug in the Holy Land, and by obeying and listening the “VOICE of Most Ancient Holy One of Israel”, will bring offerings in a righteous way on the holy mountain and also bring the Ark of the covenant with pure heart in the right place ( i.e In Har HaBayit, on the foundation Stone) .

We will Welcome the son of David on Mount Zion, Jerusalem.

Matot-Masei –Number 42

42 Letters

The first 42 letters in Torah is understood by the Kabbalists as the 42 letters of God:

English Number of letters Hebrew Gematria

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen 1:1)

28 בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ 2701

Now the earth was unformed and void…(Gen 1:2)

14 וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹ 1141

  42 3842

 

The first verse conceals the secret of Mashiach who is called the “power” of God and “wisdom” of God (1 Cor 1:24). This is because “power” כֹחַ in gematria is 28, alluding to the 28 letters of the verse, and “wisdom” חָכְמָה in gematria is 73, and the triangle number of 73 is 2701, exactly the gematria of the 28 letters:

Power כֹחַ 28

Wisdom חָכְמָה 73

  101

 

The name of God in creation is Elohim אֱלֹהִים, the gematria is 86, the process of creation can be understood as the triangle number of 86, i.e. the sum of all integers from 1 to 86, as follows:

∆86 = 1 + 2 + 3 + … + 84 + 85 + 86 = 3741

Adding the “wisdom” and “power” of God by which the world was created:

3741 + 101 = 3842

This is exactly the gematria of the first 42 letters of Torah, the secret of creation.

 

42 Journeys

Parashat Masei is technically the last portion of Torah (as Deuteronomy is the repetition of Torah) and concludes with the 42 places in the wilderness, connecting back to the 42 letters in the beginning of Torah:

אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם—לְצִבְאֹתָם These are the stages of the children of Israel, by which they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts… (Num 33:1)

 

Astonishingly, the gematria of above 37 letters (9 words) is also 2701, which is exactly the gematria of the first verse of Torah, as above, that is, the end is wedged in the beginning.

The fact that there are 37 letters in above verse means the average number of each letter is 2701 / 37 = 73, which is the mirror image of 37.

37 is the gematria of Yechidah יְחִידָה, which is the secret of Mashiach, as discussed at length before.

Focusing on the first four words:

אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל These are the stages of the children of Israel… (Num 33:1)

 

The gematria is 819, which is the same gematria of “Times of Mashiach” יְמוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ, thus connecting the dimension of space (42 places) with the dimension of time (times of Mashiach).

Abraham was born in Year 1948 from Adam and King David was born in Year 2854 from Adam according to rabbinical reckoning, the duration in time is 906 years.

906 years from the birth of King David is Hebrew year 3760 which is year 1 CE, the year when Mashiach was born according to tradition.

Year 1948 906 Years Interval Year 2854 906 Years Interval Year 3760

Birth of Abraham Birth of King David Birth of Mashiach

 

906 is the gematria of “YHVH has established Zion” יְהוָה יִסַּד צִיּוֹן (Isaiah 14:32) when the final Nun is elevated to 700 in gematria instead of 50.

YHVH establishes Zion by the coming of Mashiach, “establish” יִסַּד is the same root as Yesod יְסוֹד, and Zion צִיּוֹן are Joseph יוֹסֵף are the same in gematria (156), the secret of the 6th Sefirah, corresponding to the 42nd day of counting the Omer, when “Malchut within Yesod” מַלְכוּת שֶׁבִּיסוֹד is recited, meaning: the union of Bride within the Bridegroom, the gematria is 828, which is exactly the gematria of Mashiach spelled out, as follows:

Mashiach מָשִׁיחַ  

Mashiach spelled out מם שין יוד חית 878

 

 

42 Generations

There are exactly 42 generations from Abraham to Mashiach, according to Mat 1:17, corresponding to the 42nd day of counting the Omer.

So all the generations from Abraham unto David are fourteen generations; and from David unto the carrying away (exile) to Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away (exile) to Babylon unto the Mashiach are fourteen generations (Mat 1:17)

 

The formula is 3 x 14 = 42, and 14 is the gematria of Yad יָּד, hand, i.e. the three hands of God that redeemed the children of Israel from the bondage in Egypt, as follows:

Great hand וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת-הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם And Israel saw the great hand which the LORD did upon the Egyptians (Ex 14:31)

Mighty hand וְהַיָּד הַחֲזָקָה וְהַזְּרֹעַ   הַנְּטוּיָה, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִאֲךָ, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee

out…(Deu 7:19)

High hand וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, יֹצְאִים בְּיָד רָמָה for the children of Israel went out with a high hand. (Ex 14:8)

 

The “great hand” is the right hand, which is Loving Kindness; the “mighty hand” is the left hand, which is Judgment, and the “high hand” is Beauty, which the third hand, which is the torso that balances the right hand with the left hand.

The extension of the torso is the site of circumcision, the Sefirah of Yesod.

It is now clear that from Abraham to David is the ascent to Loving Kindness (Chesed); and from David to the exile of Babylon is the descent to Judgment (Gevurah); and finally, from the exile of Babylon to the Mashiach is the unification of the dichotomy in Beauty (Tiferet), manifested as Foundation (Yesod), i.e. Mashaich ben Yosef.

In the hand of YHVH בְּיַד-יְהוָה in gematria is 42, and the hand manifests as the great hand, mighty hand, and high hand, corresponding to the 3 x 14 generations, as follows:

Great hand יָּד הַגְּדֹלָה 61 Abraham אַבְרָהָם 248

Mighty hand יָּד הַחֲזָקָה 139 David דָּוִד 14

High hand יָד רָמָה 259 Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ 358

  459 620

 

459 + 620 = 1079, which is exactly the gematria of the four key names in the genealogy:

Abraham אַבְרָהָם 248

David דָּוִד 14

Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah יְכָנְיָהוּ בֶן-יְהוֹיָקִים מֶלֶךְ-יְהוּדָה 454

The Mashiach הַמָּשִׁיחַ 363

  1079

 

Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah is the King at the time of exile to Babylon (Jeremiah 24:1), which is the 28th (14 x 2) generation from Abraham according to Mat 1:17.

1079 is exactly the gematria of the Hebrew phrase “forty-two” אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁתַּיִם, i.e. the forty-two generations of the Mashiach.

Astonishingly, the first three key names for the 28 generations in gematria is 363, which is exactly the gematria of The Mashiach הַמָּשִׁיחַ, i.e. juxtaposing the Mashiach that is to come:

Abraham אַבְרָהָם 248

David דָּוִד 14

Jeconiah יְכָנְיָהוּ 101

  363

 

If we remove the prefix Hey from Mashiach from the four key names of the genealogy, the gematria of 1079 is reduced to 1074, which is 3 x 358, the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ.

The 42 places in the wilderness are each prefixed with a Mem (from) and Beit (to), the gematria of מ”ב is 42, when this model is applied to the 42 generations of Mashiach:

Chesed 14 From Abraham To David מֵאַבְרָהָם בַדּוּד 304

Gevurah 14 From David To the Exile of Babylon מִדָּוִד בַּגָּלוּת בָּבֶל 529

Tiferet 14 From the Exile of Babylon To Mashiach מְגָּלוּת בָּבֶל בִּמְשִׁיחַ 873

  42 1706

 

1706 = 853 x 2, where 853 is the mirror image of 358, which is the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ.

The 42 generations is the also the secret of spelling out the name of YHVH, as follows:

  Number of letters Hebrew letters

The name YHVH 4 יהוה

First spelling out 10 יוד הי ויו הי

Second spelling out 28 יוד ויו דלת הי יוד ויו יוד ויו הי יוד

  42

 

Astonishingly, this model is exactly how the genealogy of Yeshua was arranged, in that there are 14 generations from Abraham to David, and 28 generations from David to Mashiach.

The initial letter of the three names spell the name Adam אָדָם, for Mashiach is called the last Adam.

Abraham אַבְרָהָם 248

David דָּוִד 14

Mashiach מָשִׁיחַ 358

  620

 

Now Abraham is the 20th generation from Adam, it follows that Mashiach is the 62nd generation from Adam, with 620 being 10 times 62, and 62 being the mirror image of 26, the gematria of YHVH, fittingly.

 

Space, Time and Soul

The soul of a Hebrew letter is its vowel.

According to the Kabbalists, there are 5 primary vowel groups and their written forms in gematria add up to exactly 42, as follows:

Name Vowel Written Form Gematria

Cholam “o” אוֹ 7

Chataf and Kamatz “a” אָה 6

Tzeire and Segol “e” אֵי 11

Chirik “i” אִי 11

Shuruk “u” אוּ 7

  42

 

The secret of the vowels is that of descending and ascending. Cholam in written form has the “dot” at the top, and Chirik in written form has the “dot” at the bottom, and the intermediate Shuruk in written form has the “dot” descending and ascending on the vertical Vav, i.e. the ladder.

The redemption is that of the ascending, and the birth of Mashiach is that of descending, all in accordance with the number 42.

The 42 places in the wilderness is the start of the first redemption in the dimension of space, and the 42 months in the wilderness (Rev 11:2, 12:6, 13:5) is the completion of the final redemption in the dimension of time, the intermediate is Mashiach descending through the 42 generations in the dimension of the soul:

42 journeys אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁנַיִם מַסָּעוֹת 1305

42 generations אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁנַיִם דּׂרוֹת 1339

42 months אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁנַיִם חֳדָשִׁים 1091

  3735

 

The average number is: 3735 / 3 = 1245, which is exactly the gematria of: “these are the genealogy of the Mashiach” אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ.

Jacob and Esau are the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

 

Jacob and Esau are the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Israel is the Tree of Life. Both Jacob and Esau have the potential to become Israel…

 

 

The Sibling Rivalry

 

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents struggle between Good and Evil, and it goes without saying that Evil must be subdued by Good, it follows that Esau represents the direction of Evil and Jacob represents the direction of Good, for the elder shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23), meaning the elder (Evil) shall be subdued by the younger (Good).

 

Esau represents the seed of the snake and Jacob represents the seed of the woman, and the judgement is that the seed of the snake shall bruise the head of the seed of the woman, and the seed of the woman shall bruise the heel of the seed of the snake.

 

Surprisingly at the birth, Esau was the first born, with Jacob grasping the heel of Esau, meaning Esau was bruising the head of Jacob, and Jacob was bruising the heel of Esau, the order was reversed.

 

Therefore, it may be deduced that the birth order was the opposite of what’s been intended, that Jacob should have been the first-born.

 

This theory can be confirmed by the birth of the twins from Tamar, which essentially was the rectification of the twins from Rebekah. The first-born put out his hand to be bound with the red thread, symbolizing Esau the red hand, who then voluntarily drew back to the womb in order for Pharez to break forth as the first-born.

 

 

 

Leah to Esau and Rachel to Jacob

 

The original plan was for Leah to be married to Esau and Rachel to Jacob, until the human free will got the upper hand through trickery.

 

The original plan was intended to rectify the sin of Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as can be illustrated by the following gematria:

 

Jacob, Rachel

Bilhah

Esau, Leah

Zilpah יַעֲקֹב רָחֵל

בִּלְהָה

עֵשָׂו לֵאָה

זִלְפָּה 996

Adam, Eve

Tree of Knowledge

Of Good and Evil אָדָם חַוָּה

עֵץ הַדַּעַת

טוֹב וָרָע 996

 

 

Rachel’s Struggle, Jacob’s Struggle

 

Both Rachel and Jacob have struggled with Elohim and human being, and both have prevailed.

 

With respect to Rachel, it is written:

 

נַפְתּוּלֵי אֱלֹהִים נִפְתַּלְתִּי עִם-אֲחֹתִי גַּם-יָכֹלְתִּי With Elohim I have wrestled, and I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed (Gen 30:8)

 

Similarly, it is written concerning Jacob:

 

כִּי-שָׂרִיתָ עִם-אֱלֹהִים וְעִם-אֲנָשִׁים, וַתּוּכָל for thou hast striven with Elohim and with men, and hast prevailed. (Gen 32:29)

 

 

When Rachel prevailed, the new-born was named Naphtali; when Jacob prevailed, he was like a new-born worthy of being called Israel.

 

Rachel wrestled with Leah, and Jacob wrestled with Esau, as it were.

 

The verb used for Rachel’s victory is יָכֹלְתִּי, and the verb used for Jacob’s victory is וַתּוּכָל，the sum is 932, exactly the gematria of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:

 

I have prevailed יָכֹלְתִּי 470

And you have prevailed וַתּוּכָל 462

  932

 

Meaning, the struggle of Rachel and Jacob has rectified the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but how?

 

 

Rachel Loved Leah, and Jacob Loved Esau

 

The rectification is by love, unconditional love, love your neighbor as yourself.

 

It is well established by the Rabbis that Rachel loved Leah and through her merit she was buried at the roadside in order for God to bring back the exile.

 

But where can we see Jacob loved Esau?

 

In this week’s Parashah, it is evident that Jacob initiated the rectification by sending angels to Esau, for Jacob’s entry to the Land of Canaan was through Ford Jabbok, which is on the east side, and Esau dwelled in Edom which is to the south, and it is not possible for Jacob to chance upon Esau unless, of course, when he sent the angels to Esau as a sort of invitation to meet.

 

Why did Jacob do this?

 

There are three events of crying that connect the Esau and Jacob story. When Jacob supplanted Esau’s blessing, Esau cried, וַיִּצְעַק (Gen 27:34), because of this crying, Esau hated Jacob and wanted to kill him and Jacob had to flee to Laban, where he met Rachel for the first time, and he cried, וַיֵּבְךְּ (Gen 29:11), this is the tear of exile, as it were, due to Esau’s hatred.

 

When the twins met again after the exile, both cried, וַיִּבְכּוּ (Gen 33:4).

 

The gematria of the tree instances of crying is astonishingly:

 

Esau’s Crying וַיִּצְעַק 276

Jacob’s Crying וַיֵּבְךְּ 38

The Twins’ Crying וַיִּבְכּוּ 44

  358

 

358 is the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ, meaning the reconciliation of the two brothers ushers in the coming of Mashiach, at the end of the exile.

 

 

Who is the Angel

 

According to Rashi, the angel that wrestled with Jacob is Esau’s guardian angel, known as Samael, also known as Satan.

 

Why do they have to wrestle in the night? I would propose that night symbolizes the womb where the cosmic twin had wrestled in the first place.

 

In the same way that Jacob held onto the heel of Esau at the birth, so did the angel touch the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, at the breaking of dawn, symbolizing the time of the birth.

 

Heel and hollow of thigh are the two ends of the leg, and astonishingly, the gematria of both is 502, which is exactly the spelling out of Esau, and also the sum of Edom and Ishmael:

 

Heel, Hollow of the thigh עֲקֵב כַּף-יֶרֶךְ 502

Esau עֵשָׂוspelled out עין שין וו 502

Edom, Ishmael אֱדוֹם יִשְׁמָעֵאל 502

 

This comes to teach us that the attack from the angel represents the attack from Esau prior to the final redemption, which can also be intensified as the attack of Edom and Ishmael.

 

Even more astonishingly, the gematria of Jacob and Satan face to face is 932, which is exactly the gematria of Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:

 

Jacob Satan Face to Face יַעֲקֹב שָׂטָן פָּנִים אֶל פָּנִים 932

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע 932

 

 

But surprisingly, the union of Jacob and Edom is the Tree of Life:

 

Jacob, Edom יַעֲקֹב אֱדוֹם 233

Tree of Life עֵץ הַחַיִּים 233

 

 

Why?

 

While the struggle between Jacob and Satan face to face represents the struggle of man to choose the Good from the Evil of the Tree of Knowledge, by Jacob conquering Satan, i.e. evil inclination, in order to be reconciled with his estranged brother Edom, the result is the Tree of Life.

 

Should Leah be married to Esau, the union may have rectified the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but it did not happen, and the task was left for Jacob and Rachel to finish, both have wrestled and both have prevailed, and two names emerged as a result, Naphtali and Israel.

 

The gematria below is most astonishingly:

 

Leah Esau

Tree of Knowledge

 of Good and Evil לֵאָה עֵשָׂו

עֵץ הַדַּעַת

טוֹב וָרָע 1344

Naphtali

Israel

Tree of Life נַפְתָּלִי

יִשְׂרָאֵל

עֵץ הַחַיִּים 1344

 

 

Where do we see both Esau and Jacob have the potential to become Israel?

 

The two would-be happy families plus the gematria of God is 1082:

 

Jacob

Rachel

Bilhah יַעֲקֹב

רָחֵל

בִּלְהָה 462

Esau

Leah

Zilpah עֵשָׂו

לֵאָה

זִלְפָּה 534

God אֱלֹהִים 86

  1082

 

 

And the average number of two would-be happy families is 1082 / 2 = 541, which is the gematria of Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל.

 

Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל is also called Jeshurunיְשֻׁרוּן. The first three letters are the same for both names, i.e. ישׁר, meaning upright, the suffix for Israel is -el אֵל, and the suffix for Jeshurun is -unוּן, both suffixes are used for naming angels.

 

Jacob means crooked and Israel means upright, as it is written:

 

וְהָיָה הֶעָקֹב לְמִישׁוֹר And the crooked shall be made upright…(Isa 40:4)

 

 

When YHVH is added to Isaac and Rebekah, the result is Israel, meaning a partnership between God and men produces Israel:

 

YHVH

Isaac

Rebekah יְהוָה

יִצְחָק

רִבְקָה 541

Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל 541

 

 

Esau is also called Edom, and the three names produce Jeshurun, meaning, even Edom has the potential for elevation to the level of Jeshurun:

 

Isaac

Rebekah

Edom יִצְחָק

רִבְקָה

אֱדוֹם 566

Jshurun יְשֻׁרוּן 566

 

 

And of course, the rectified one family lives happily ever after, producing both Israel and Jeshurun:

 

Isaac

Rebekah

Israel

Edom יִצְחָק

רִבְקָה

יִשְׂרָאֵל

אֱדוֹם 1107

Israel

Jeshurun יִשְׂרָאֵל

יְשֻׁרוּן 1107

Parashat Matot-Masei – The 42 Journeys

by Xus Casal

WITH NO FEAR OF GOD

This is no doubt a difficult season. In this week we have a “double-Portion” reading, consisting of the last chapters in the book of Numbers –the two portions are: ‘Tribes’ (Matot) and ‘Journeys’ (Masei) – being technically the end of the exodus, since Deuteronomy is basically a repetition of the whole story. Within these two readings and the first reading of Deuteronomy we have three weeks that cover the 17th of Tamuz to the 9th of Av in the Jewish calendar. A time in which we bring to our memory the sin of the Golden-Calf and the destruction of the two Temples. These days enclose a period called: ‘bein haMetzarim’ (between the hardships, or: between the days of distress). This is from the verse:

 

“Judah has gone into exile because of suffering and harsh labor. She dwelled among the nations but found no rest; all her pursuers overtook her in the midst of distress [bein hametzarim]” (Lam 1:3).

“In the midst of distress” can also read: “between [the days of] distress” (cf. Rashi).

In total, this is a period of 21 days and 21 nights = 42.

The portion called ‘Masei’ records 42 journeys in the desert, from Egypt to Yericho.

“These are the journeys of the sons of Israel who went forth from the Land of Egypt”(Nm 33:1).

“eleh Masei Bnei-Israel asher yatzu meEterz Mitzraim”

If we read the text hyper-literally, the text says: “these are the journeys of the sons of Israel who are going forth from the land of restrictions/oppression” (Nm 33:1).

In this interpretation the text says that every son of Israel is in a spiritual confinement (Mitzraim) and from there to their liberation they must pass 42 journeys.  Thus our sages taught: “In each and every generation a man must regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Mitzraim” (Pesakhim 10:5).

We can learn several spiritual lessons from the name and numerical value of each one of the 42 journeys, but that would take too long and is not the matter at hand.

I want to bring into consideration that the sons of Israel (especially those who were seduced by the ‘Erev Rav’ – the mixed multitude –, by the ten spies and by Midian) messed it up big time many times during their wandering (a wandering that became by consequence 40 years longer than originally expected).

Yes, Israel left Egypt physically, and Israel experienced God’s liberation in their first journey. But their spiritual oppression continued for 41 journeys more.

These 42 Journeys tell the story of every Jew and every convert who is oppressed in the slavery system of this world, and is rescued from it, both physically and mentally, step by step (because one can be born a Jew and raised in a religious family and still be bounded and spiritually oppressed to the physical material things (the forbidden fruit) of this world, or passing through a spiritual desolation – ie. in the desert).

Think of the first Temple era.

Everyone contributed to the construction of Solomon’s Temple. The best Craftsman of Tyre (2Chr 2:13), with cedar trees from Lebanon (2Chr 2:16), bronze worked on Yarden (2Chr 4:17). The first Temple was more sublime than any other Temple on Earth, since the divine Presence of God could be literally seen from the distance dwelling on it.

Yet, it didn’t take too long to realize that the sons of Israel were yet slaves; Slaves to Immorality, and Idolatry. Bloodshed didn’t take long to spring up (cf. Yoma 9b), and of course abandoning the Torah was the logical next step (cf. Nedarim 81a).

As a consequence of all the above, God could not “dwell” in there anymore and allowed the Babylonians to invade Jerusalem and destroy the Temple: a tragic event that cost the lives of 1 million civilians and sent Jews back to captivity.

Sometimes we have to think retrospectively to remember that sins have consequences, and that one sin leads to another. Without ‘Fear of God’ a nation does not have guarantee of perpetuity; not even Israel, as it’s written that without any weapon the Midianites were able to cause 24,000 Israelites to die (Nm 25:9).

But after the war with the Midianites, when the Fear of HaShem was restored, it’s recorded: “no one of us is missing” (Nm 31:49), even though in ordinary wars there are casualties in both sides (cf. Meam Loez).

The Zohar thus teaches us an important lesson, based on the verse: “the princes take counsel together, against God and against his anointed” (Psal 2:1,2). As long as the sons of Israel are in tune with the Creator, nothing will defeat them. Even if they raise the Third Temple and the rest of the world opposes to it, as long as it was in tune with God, they will prevail. In the words of the Zohar:

“In the future seventy generals of armies of all the nations shall gather from every side at that time with the hosts of the entire world to wage war against Jerusalem, the Holy City, and to plot against God, saying: Let us take vengeance against the Patron first, and then against His people and His sanctuary. Then God will laugh at them, as is written: He who sits in the heavens laughs: God mocks them” (Psal 2:4) (Zohar Beshalakh 58a).

With Fear of HaShem Israel is able to conquer even the great fortified city of Yericho. But what happens without Fear of HaShem? Even a small city like Ai is cause of trouble and destruction for Israel, who has no choice but to flee from it (Jos 7:1, 3-5).

THE SECRET OF 42

Chapter 33 of Numbers uses repeatedly two letters to determine the end of a journey and the beginning of the next. For example we read: “They departed from Sukkot and camped in Etham” (Nm 33:6). Or for example: “They departed from the mounts of Arabim and camped in the plains of Moab by Yarden” (Nm 33:48).

In all cases, what is translated as “from” is the letter Mem מ, and what is translated as “in” is the letter Beit ב. The two together form the Gematria, and are used to represent in Hebrew the number 42 (מב).

 

The Zohar teaches us that:

“The world was graven with forty-two letters, all of which are the ornamentation of the Holy Name” (Zohar Bereshit 30a). “God brought [the Jews] out of Egypt [in 42 Journeys] by the mystery of the 42 letter Name, with which he created Heaven and Earth” (Zohar hadash Maamar).

The Hebrew title for God: “Eloka” equals 42. 42 = 2 times ‘Ehyeh’ (‘I will be’ = 21); the name used by God when introduced Himself to Moses with the famous phrase in which: “Ehyeh” is repeated twice (Ex 3:14).

This teaches us that 42 is very connected to God and conceals the source and reason for His Creation.

So, when a soul descends and becomes a human being, it must pass 42 stages of ascension; 42 stages in which the “beast” – that is: our ‘evil inclination’ and ‘the forces of the Other side’, rule the wilderness (cf. Zohar Terumah 157a). In this sense, each one of the 42 Journeys is an opportunity to sin, fail and die, falling in a deeper slavery. Interestingly, in Japanese culture, the 42 is perceived as a “Bad luck number”.

On the other hand, the 42 journeys are also an opportunity to scale and progress, leaving behind the past, the slavery, and bringing a bit more of holiness into the world.

As it’s written: “And it came to pass, that when the Ark traveled on, Moses said: Rise up, HaShem, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you” (Nm 10:35). Our Hassidic Masters teach that the enemies of God are the forces of spiritual darkness and evil, which are weakened more and more as we go through the 42 journeys.

This is not only a “personal journey” but also a collective Journey that affects everyone. This is taught by our sages in the ‘Dream of Pharaoh’, who saw 7 years of abundance and seven years of famine = 14 (Gn 41:26). Our sages say: Pharaoh dreamed, and then retold the dreams to Yosef, and Yosef repeated them. These 3 sets of 14 make a total of 42 (cf. Bereshit Rabbah 89:9).

Israel had been dwelling in Rameses (Nm 33:3) [the first name in the list]. Rameses is made of two words: Rah and Masas (רע מסס) – “Evil” and “Melting” (cf. Likkutei Dibburim, vol. 4, p. 767), as it’s written: “and they despoiled the Egyptians, and the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Sukkot” (Ex 12:36-37). It’s also written: “as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God” (Psal 68:2). So Rameses is where our exodus in this spiritual trek began, Rameses is the physical rejection and spiritual melting of the dominant power that has been oppressing our soul – as the Gematria of Rameses equals: Nefesh (soul). Only after this we reach the next stage: Sukkot (Booths; when we realize that all these steps in our life are temporary dwellings, and we have a bigger goal to attain).

רעמסס = נפש = 430

The last stage, the number 42, is Yericho (Nm 33:48). Yericho derives from ‘Reiakh’ – smell. What is so important about the smell, ריח? The smell is a sign of Messiah, for it’s written: “[vaha’Rikho] and his smell will be in the fear of HaShem” (Is 11:3). Our sages say of Messiah that he will smell someone and be able to Judge him [moirakh veDain] (Sanh 93b).

The 42 stages are a means to attain the Messianic consciousness, and the end of all our journeys: the coming of Messiah. This last journey takes two steps: (a) Yehoshua fighting the battles of HaShem and paving the way, and (b) King David finishing the Job for God’s permanent dwelling among us. These are the aspects known as Messiah ben Yosef (who prepares the way), and Messiah ben David – the Ultimate King Messiah, and the process is known as the footsteps of Messiah.

There’s no other goal in the story of Israel, and there’s no other goal in the Torah than bringing the Messianic era. Messiah is the goal of the Torah. And since each one of us has a spark of Messiah’s soul within, we can experience the Messianic era within, as we pass through the 42 Journeys and purify ourselves today for that beautiful day, in which the whole world will be purged and purified, may it be speedily in our days.

Amen.