|
|
|
MATTOS-MASEI
|
|
This week we will be reading 2 Torah portions.
Matot and Masei. The East Coast had been conquered from different nations though warfare, as we read earlier in the Torah. Why then did these people think they would get all that land, that had been fought for by ALL the tribes, and let the rest of the nation fight for more land? When we look at their words we will notice that they said “ the land that Hashem has conquered for us.” Although they had gone to war with an army, it was obvious that their victories had been miraculous. Their argument was that the war in Israel would also be won with Hashem’s help and therefore it wouldn’t make a difference if there were ten or twelve tribes fighting in the army. Moshe didn’t like that argument. He said: “It is nice that you tell ME that you are sure Hashem will help, but how will the other people look at it? They will think you are afraid to enter the Promised Land and that will have the same result as what happened with your parents”. There are several things here that need clarification. They told Moshe that they were sure Hashem
would conquer the land for them. Why did
Moshe compare them (“you are taking the place of your parents”)
to the spies from the
previous generation that had said that Hashem WON’T be able
to conquer the mighty
kings?
To be afraid for a similar reaction by the rest of the nation would
be justified, but They only came to Moshe with an idea on condition that he would agree. Why was this long speech necessary, calling them sinners etc. if he could have just said ‘no’ to the proposal. In that case they would have joined everyone else and wouldn’t there be a possibility of anyone becoming afraid. Many years later when the Jewish people were exiled, the first ones to suffer were the people who lived on the East Coast of the Jordan. After it was agreed upon that they would join the army, Moshe readily agreed that they could eventually settle in Jordan. If it was OK to live there, why did they deserve to be the first ones to suffer? That implies that it was wrong for them to be there. We can try to explain it like this: When Moshe agreed to the deal, he wasn’t happy with their choice to stay behind. When he had been assured that they wouldn’t cause the rest of the people to be afraid, his main concern had been taken away. However, he was still unhappy with the fact that they stayed behind. That was the reason for lecturing them and comparing them to the spies. The spies had come back with a report consisting of two parts. 1) The PEOPLE living in Israel at the time were giants and would be too strong to conquer. 2) The LAND was bad. To prove their point they brought with them some huge fruits that they had found in Israel. The two and a half tribes differed only with the first argument. They were convinced Hashem would win the wars for them. The second argument however, they also used. “This LAND is better for our sheep.” (Note that Moshe makes mention of the fruits in his answer) The two and a half tribes counted about one hundred thousand men between the ages of twenty and sixty. Including women and children that number was much higher. According to the above explanation we must say that Moshe, the faithful leader, agreed that all these people would stay behind in a country where they didn’t belong. Knowing the great love Moshe always showed to ALL his people, this is hard to believe. When we go back a little in history, we will find that all the patriarchs and their children were shepherds, with the exception of Yosef. Yosef was always the one involved with running the household. First by his father Yakov, and later, as a slave by Potifar. Even in prison he was in no time appointed as care taker of the prisoners’ needs. After he was introduced to Pharaoh he was appointed viceroy, giving him full power of the country, Pharaoh only being mightier in name. Despite all this involvement in worldly matters, Yosef remained faithful to G-d. The difference between Yosef and the other
righteous people of that time is explained The classic example goes like this. When a high-ranking minister is seen talking to a homeless beggar, he is probably offering him a job as garbage collector. Although the minister is on a much higher level than the beggar, he deals with him for the little that he is worth. When the mighty king stops on his way through the city and smiles to a little child and asks how he/she is doing, the child is not being spoken to for what he means to the king. As a matter of fact, the child, and really everyone else in the country, are completely nothing compared to the king. Even more, the reason why the king will speak to a child or a homeless rather than to a storekeeper is BECAUSE they are so low. The higher one is the more he is tended to deal with the lowest of the low. Before the king gave attention to the child, it had completely no importance compared to the king. Once the king started talking, the child’s importance is only the fact that the king GAVE IT importance. Yakov, representative of truth, was obviously on a much higher level than anything negative. That was all in proportion though. He was like the minister compared to the homeless beggar. Although he himself was perfect, there were others that weren’t and had the ability to bother him. Therefore he tried to keep a distance by living as a shepherd. When he was, at one point, confronted with Esav (representative of evil) and his army, he dealt with it in two ways. He prayed to Hashem of course but also did whatever he could physically to try to avoid a war. He sent presents and bowed down to him etc. Although we do find that as a result of Yakov bowing down to Esav his descendants ruled over the Jewish people for many years, we don’t find that Yakov was punished for trying to appease Esav. Yosef on the other hand was punished for asking a fellow prisoner to bring his case to the attention of pharaoh. Since Yosef had a soul from a level where the worlds’ only importance is the fact that Hashem wants it to have importance, it was wrong for him to even consider going through natural ways. All this was a long time ago, before the Torah was given. Once the Torah was given DOWN here in this physical world it became Hashem’s will to deal WITH the physical world. With that came the strength and the ability to be able to do so, similar to the level of Yosef. This is were the spies come in. Their mistake was that they preferred being like Yakov. In the desert they had all the time of the world to study Torah without having to deal with the world. Food and drinks were provided miraculously by Hashem with the ‘Man’ and Miriam’s well and the clouds did the dry cleaning. They were afraid to go into the land were they would have to work in the fields in order to get bread on the table. That however, was exactly the divine purpose as we can see from the fact that many mitzvot are connected with fields and preparing of food. The question we can ask now is: if the divine purpose was to deal with the land how did Moshe allow Reuven, Gad and half of Menashe to eventually return to be shepherds? Even after the Torah was given there have always existed two ways of serving G-d. (See also last week’s article about Moshe and Pinchas) The majority of the people spend their day dealing with the physical world in a Torah way. They make sure to only do, eat, talk, look etc. what’s right and they give charity from the money they earn. Torah study and prayer is limited to their free time. Using physical objects for good purposes connects them and elevates them to a higher spiritual level. We, with our physical bodies, do not feel any spirituality though when polishing our shoes in honor of Shabbat. For that there is a (much smaller) group of people who devote their entire lives to Torah study and prayer. Those people are needed to bring ‘visible’ spirituality into the world as the Torah is compared to a light. At first Moshe thought he was dealing with a new version of the spies. Only after they explained to him that they were not essentially opposed to the idea of dealing with the land, which they would demonstrate by being in the forefront of the army, he allowed them to return to Jordan to be of the “Torah people”. Although being closed of from the world to be totally devoted to Torah study is a form of divine service for certain people, the main purpose remains to live in the world and elevate it to a higher spiritual level. Therefore, although Moshe gave permission for them to be shepherds, they were the first ones to suffer exile as they were not doing the ultimate divine service required in our times, before the coming of Moshiach. Hashem made a promise to give ten nations into our hands. Seven of those had been defeated shortly after the Jewish people left Egypt. Three nations, namely Keini, Knizi and Kadmoni, will be defeated only when Moshiach comes. According to one explanation, the desire to settle on the East Side of the Jordan stemmed from a desire to have the ultimate redemption by Moshiach right then and there. -That land belonged to those three nations. May we merit the coming of Moshiach and the final inheritance of Keini, Knizi and Kadmoni right NOW! |
|
This week's double section describes, in great detail, first the spoils taken after the war with Midian and then the (forty two) journeys the Jews made before they entered Israel. At first glance this seems very strange. The word "Torah" means "teaching". What is the Torah teaching us here by telling us these seemingly meaningless facts? To explain, here is a story. Late one Wednesday night the Baal Shem Tov told one of his younger pupils that the next morning they would travel to the city of Leipzig where they would be spending the Sabbath. The pupil was overjoyed not only to be chosen by the master and not only because he certainly would learn many things on the journey but also because it would be an opportunity to visit his parents who lived there.
Then he turned to his wagon driver, Alexi, and told him that after they left the city he could let the reigns drop and go to sleep. The entire duration of the trip the Baal Shem did not stop saying words of Torah to himself. The wagon moved swiftly and it seemed they were making good time but strangely after some fifteen hours of travel, as night was falling, they still had not reached their destination. They hitched the wagon to
a tree by the side of the empty road and our After several hours it seemed clear they were going nowhere and they probably would have to spend Shabbos in the wagon as well when suddenly a house appeared in the distance. As they got closer, the Chassid was overjoyed to see a Mezuzah on the door!! At least they would have a place to stay! The wagon stopped before the house, the door opened and an old woman, beaming with joy, appeared, called to her husband and greeted the Besh't with blessings. >From behind her appeared her husband, an old man with a radiant face who ran toward the Besh't and warmly embraced him before escorting him into the house. "Just wait in the wagon, I'll return shortly", the Besh't said to his pupil just before he closed the door behind him. Fifteen minutes later he returned and they were on their way. "I thought we would stay here for Shabbos?" said the Chassid. But the Besh't just told the driver to let the reigns fall as soon as the hut was out of sight. In no time the horses strayed into a field, then into a forest and stopped. The Besh't got out, took a silver cup from his bag, motioned to his bewildered pupil to follow and after several minutes suddenly stopped and said, "Listen! Water!" Sure enough from within a thicket he heard a bubbling brook. They cleared away the vegetation; the Besh't dipped his cup into the water, stood to his full height and made a blessing. but what a blessing! It seemed as though the entire forest reverberated with each word he uttered, the Chassid had never really heard or seen anything like it in his life. The Besh't finished drinking, made an after-blessing with the same deliberate intensity and then motioned for his pupil to return to the wagon. It was beginning to hint of sunset. A cool wind blew across the grasses and the Chassid wondered where they where and where they would spend the Sabbath day. He was lost in his thoughts when suddenly he heard the Besh't say to the wagon driver "Here, turn down this street!" He looked up to see that... they were in Leipzig! In fact if they just continued straight they would be in the Jewish section. They could stay by his parents! What a miracle! But to his amazement the Besh't did not go straight, "Here, Alixi, turn right!" "No, NO! Not here!" The pupil protested. "This is "Shillergass", the street where all the university taverns are. If we turn here it will be the end of us!" But the Besh't paid no attention. They turned and after a few moments he told the driver to stop. "Here is where we are staying! But hurry! It's almost Shabbos." They took their bags, got out before a door that had a big sign hanging over it saying "Shoemaker"and the Besht knocked loudly at the door. A small peep hole opened, they heard locks unlocking and in no time the door opened revealing an elderly Jew dressed for Shabbos with several young men standing in the brightly lit room behind him. "Come in! He whispered with a tone of fear. "Who are you? Are you mad?! Come in quickly!" They entered, the old man closed the door and said as he was closing the locks, "You are really lucky no one was in the street. These people are animals. Real animals. They learn in their universities and they are nothing but bloodthirsty animals. If they didn't need a shoemaker here they would kill me too. Who are you? What are you doing here?" The Besh't promised he would explain but because it was very late he wanted begin to lead the afternoon prayers. The shoemaker had seven sons and together with the Besh't and his pupil they made a 'minyon' (ten Jews) and the Besh't began to pray aloud at the top of his voice. The old shoemaker was astounded; at first he was filled with fear but then he suddenly felt as though he felt his heart was exploding with love for G-d. He had never heard such prayer before. But when the prayers finished the sound of bottles crashing against his door from outside abruptly brought him back to reality. The Besh't simply walked to the door opened it and stepped outside to the bloodthirsty crowd. "Kill him!! Kill the Jew!" Someone yelled and threw a rock but it missed. One fellow ran toward the Besh't with an iron bar screaming "You dirty.. AAAAHHH!' Suddenly he froze, hand paralyzed in midair, screaming with pain. Then another student drew a large knife, with the same alarming results. The two of them just stood there screaming and crying until the crowd dropped their rocks and bottles and began begging the Besh't to take away the spell. The Besh't said something, the paralyzed students fell unconscious to the ground, were carried away by their friends and everyone ran away in fear leaving only their rocks and bottles strewn in the street. The Besh't returned inside leaving the door wide open behind him and, after washing his hands, began the evening prayer greeting the Holy Shabbos. Again the room was magically transformed to a holy Temple. But after a few minutes a tall thin man, wrapped in a black cloak, suddenly appeared at the open door. He looked silently around the room, walked to a corner and just stood there, staring at the Besh't. After the prayers they sat down to eat the Shabbos meal amidst song and wondrous words of Torah. The entire time the stranger stood and stared and the Besh't paid him no attention at all. Only when they finished the meal did the man approach the shoemaker, ask him if when they would be praying in the morning and left as soon as he got the answer. "That man" Said the shoemaker to the Besht's pupil, "is none other than Professor Shlanger one of the most anti-Semitic intellects in Germany, I have no idea what he was up to here. The next morning, the professor returned and repeated the same performance and then left after the meal not to return again. Shabbos ended and the next morning the Besh't and his pupil bade their host farewell, boarded their wagon and in less than five hours were back at home. "See, I told you that
you wouldn't have time to visit your parents." The Besh't
said with a smile. The young man however was burning with "Who was the old man whose house we stopped at on the way? Why did you wander into the forest to drink a cup of water and what did we accomplish by spending Shabbos at the shoemaker's house?" he asked. The Besh't hesitated for a few seconds and answered. "The man I spoke to is one of the hidden Tzadikim upon whom the world depends, he will be the first to know when Moshiach is supposed to arrive and that is what we spoke about. The reason we wandered into the forest is because I saw that since the beginning of creation no one had ever made a blessing on the water in that stream and in another few moments it would have been too late. And what we accomplished in the shoemaker's house you will know one day." Twenty year's later, long after the Besh't had left this world, our Chassid happened to be in the city of Minsk when a distinguished looking Jew stopped him in the street and asked him if he had been a pupil of the Baal Shem Tov and if he had ever visited Leipzig. When our Chassid answered in the affirmative the Jew hugged him and gave him a kiss. "I was the professor that visited you that Shabbos. It just so happened that at that time I was at a turning point in life and when I heard of how your teacher paralyzed those students I knew I had to see him for myself. "Well, it made such a profound effect on me that after a few months I disappeared from the University moved to another country and actually converted to Judaism. I don't know how your master could possibly have known that a Jew-hater like me had the potential to become a Rabbi.. but he did. This explains our two sections. According to Chassidic philosophy G-d created the world in such a way that nature opposes and conceals G-dliness, (explaining why some of the biggest atheists are scientists) and it is man's job to change this. But the only way to do it is by searching for the "enemy", conquering him and taking the "spoils of war"; namely to transform nature to "above-nature" just as the Besh't did in our story. This is why the Torah tells us all the details of the spoil taken after the war with Midian and of the 42 journeys in the desert. (In fact, since Abraham, the first Jew, our people have been wandering the world, making journeys and fighting "battles" in order to take the "spoils of war".) It is telling us to view EVERY detail of our lives as a holy journey and every difficulty as a challenge to be won in order to 'take spoils' and emphasize the good in the world. Until finally, through our
actions the entire world will be transformed to good by.... Rabbi Tuvia Bolton Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
This week we read a double
portion; the first begins with some of the laws We can understand the connection between them by first telling a story. Shraga Farber was a wealthy businessman and a bit of a Torah Scholar to boot but he scoffed at the Chassidim. Nevertheless although he made fun of every Baal Shem Tov story he heard, something inside him told him that he must travel to Mezibuz, where the Baal Shem lived, and see for himself. It was a two-day trip, but
when he finally arrived, secured a private A few days later he arrived
back home, put the letter on some shelf and Twenty years passed. The Baal
Shem had passed away, Mr. Forbes had aged a bit and his luck had
taken a change for the worse. One of the explanations is
that everyone’s soul has to go through the 42 The great Tzadik Rabbi Menachem
Mendel of Vitebsk related that once the Maggid of Mezeritch (the
main pupil, and successor of the Besht) told each of his disciples
allegorical stories explaining each of their pasts and It is no wonder, therefore,
that ‘The Tanya’ is the only book ever written The Tanya explains that life,
like our first Torah portion, begins with an Every soul is made to swear before entering this world, “Be a Tzadik and not a Rasha”; namely to be completely devoted only to G-d and not even consider transgressing His will. This oath attaches the inner
(‘G-dly’) soul of each Jew, to the outer Just as when a person takes an oath to, for instance, stop smoking, the oath gives him power and drive to ignore all distractions and focus only on his goal, similarly the oath taken before birth gives each of us to the urge and the power to focus on moving ever nearer to G-d and His Torah. Therefore this oath is also the secret of the 42 journeys. The mystical books explain
that the number 42 is derived from one of the In this deeply personal sense,
the 42 journeys beginning with the Exodus ‘Leaving Egypt’
(Mitzraim) means constantly leaving all boundaries ‘Yarden’ because
it says of him “He will rule (Yared) from sea to sea ‘Yereacho’ because he will Judge by his sense of smell (Reach Vadiin). In other words the purpose
of our lives is to bring Moshiach who will be a This week’s combined
portions are reminding us that it all depends on our Tuvia Bolton-Yeshaiva
Ohr Tmimim This week's double portion
always falls out in the "Three weeks of The Baal Shem Tov taught that from EVERYTHING we see or hear (especially if it's in the Torah) we can learn about how to "serve" G-d. What lesson is to be learned
from fact that "Tribes" (Matot) "Journeys" I want to explain with a story
that I heard from an old Russian Chassid Usually a very quiet man,
he was so pleased one year when I helped him "I was born into a religious
family, but like many young people in those It wasn't long before I received
a summons to the "Peoples" Court, and After a ten-minute trial,
I was sentenced to fifteen years of I was led completely bewildered
from the courtroom, directly to prison, But then came unexpected "better" news. The Government needed volunteers for an icebreaker ship that was going to forge its way into some obscure sub-zero territory in Siberia to build an army camp. The food was supposed to be
much better (a full loaf of bread every day), Their plans were bold, well
thought out, and optimistic. We really I don’t know how, but
miraculously I was one of the lucky survivors, and I should have been grateful...but
something was bothering me; I couldn’t I really should have just
forgotten the whole thing, but I couldn’t take It got to the point where
I couldn't have a conversation without telling "Then late one Thursday night I was walking down some lonely street, when I heard singing. It was coming from a Shul (Synagogue) and I entered. A group of ten or so Chassidim of various ages were sitting together, a bottle of Vodka on the table, singing rapturously with eyes closed. Then they stopped, raised their small vodka glasses saying L'chiam, took a sip, and one of them began speaking:" "Once there was an old,
wealthy Polish Baron that had an eccentric idea. He found a man that he trusted,
a Jewish dealer in precious stones, and This Jew, being a Chassid
of the Holy Rebbe Yisroel of Ruzin, first A month later he arrived in
India, bought the stone, had it loaded on the Then one night in the middle
of the journey, he was asleep in his cabin He didn’t see anyone
on board, nor did he see any lifeboats. He reasoned After a day or two he spotted
an island in the distance. He rowed there He spent three years on that
island. Luckily for him he grabbed his A month later he was back
in Poland, but he was in for a strange There was no money, no marble, no statue, no Baron, no trace of anything. As though it was all a figment of his imagination! So he went again to his Rebbe to ask for an explanation; "There were sparks of
holiness on that island that you had to raise up" "I never heard such an
explanation before," said Rab Nehemiah; "but I They told me to first sit
down with them, take a small glass of vodka and "Then they took out a
thick book called "Lekuti Torah" filled with The reason that the Jews had
to suffer 210 years in Egypt and make 42 This process is called "Bee/rur"
(clarification) and was begun by the Something like a jigsaw puzzle;
each piece on its own is just a Similarly, everything in the
world; the money we earn, the clothes we But when they are used according
to Torah and their "sparks" (or real That is why there are different
types of Jews (Tribes), they are spread "I had the explanation
I was looking for", concluded Rav Nehemiah, "I was in
Siberia raising "sparks"! I didn’t really understand
it, but I decided And that is how Rav Nechemia became a Chabad Chassid. But this is also the explanation we are looking for. One of the ways to classify all the creation is in three categories: World (Physical) [O’lom, Sh’ana,
N’efesh hinted it the sentence "Har Sinai "OshN"
–Shmot Here, in our Section, we have
all three; "Journeys" – because the sparks Of course, the one that will
bring everything, the entire world, the Only he will make sense from
all the horrors, confusion and frustrating And the Lubavitcher Rebbe
assured us many times that "The Moshiach is Moshiach NOW! Rabbi Tuvia Bolton |
PARSHA
MOSHIACH
IN THE PARSHA
WEEKLY
MESSAGE
TALES
FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE [Home] [Leben mit Mashiach] [Living with the Time]