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Parsha – Balak

by muman613 Comments Off on Parsha – Balak
Filed under Uncategorized at July 11th, 2008 - 3:25 pm

Once again it is Friday morning and it is time to write the Parsha discussion. This week is Parsha Balak which is in the Book of Numbers 22:2-25:9.

The last two weeks we have witnessed a great drop in the Children of Israels trust in Hashem. Many of those who left Egypt had died in the desert from a number of decrees. Korach and his wicked band were swallowed by the earth, there were plagues and some were killed. Despite this the core of the people were accepting the Torah and looking forward to moving into the land which Hashem had promised.

Then we read parsha Chukas, which told of Moshes mistake of hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. The people were complaining again and G-d sent snakes to punish them. Moshe was told, by Hashem, to create the image of snake on a staff and the people should gaze on it when bitten to cure them of the bite.

At the end of the story of Chukas we learn of Israels miraculous defeat of the Emorites and Bashan {King Sichon and King Og}. Now starts the story of Balak.

Balak was an evil king who feared Israel. He had a vision that Israel would spread out over the land and conquer all who stand in their way. He realized that the strength of Israel was in its closeness to Hashem. So in order to fight against the Israelites he must employ spirituality against them. Balak finds an evil gentile prophet by the name of Bilaam who is his only hope for destroying Hashems chosen people.

2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was terrified of the people, because they were many; and Moab was overcome with dread because of the children of Israel. 4 And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: ‘Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.’–And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.– 5 And he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying: ‘Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. 6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me; peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.’

(more…)

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Parsha Chukas – Deliberate Mystery

by muman613 Comments Off on Parsha Chukas – Deliberate Mystery
Filed under Uncategorized at July 4th, 2008 - 2:59 pm

This weeks Parsha, Chukat contains some very interesting wisdom. The very concept of wisdom in hebrew is contained in the word “Chochma”. There are mitzvot in the Torah which are called “Chok” which means a mitzvah who’s logic is beyond human comprehension.

This weeks parsha contains the mitzvah of the Red Heifer. This mitzvah has been studied by the sages and the commentators through the centuries. There is a paradox in this mitzvah which has puzzled some of the greatest Torah giants. According to the midrash only Moshe Rebbeinu was privy to the inner workings of this mitzvah.

The basic working of the mitzvah of the Para Adumah is that there is this concept of purity. Things are either pure or contaminated. People become contaminated through contact with dead.

“This is the Torah [the law]: when a person dies in a tent, all who come into the tent, and anything in the tent, shall be impure for seven days.” [19:14]

The Torah tells us that a person who is contaminated must go through this process whereby ashes of a Red Heifer are sprinkled on him. The paradox is that the Kohen who purifies this person takes on the impurity.

Do we really understand how this happens, and why the Kohen must take on the impurity from the person? It is hard to comprehend the meaning of this. In order to accept it one must realize that there are things that humans will just never know until the end of days. Those who think they know it all often are proven wrong.

The Torah continues with the story of Miriams death. The Children of Israel had witnessed a miracle on Miriams behalf, that of the miraculous well which followed the people. Now they started to complain to Moshe. Of course this caused Moshe much consternation and he asked the L-rd for the peoples welfare. Then the unfortunate happened. Moshe was commanded to speak to the rock and it would give forth water. But Moshes emotions got the better of him and his anger towards the unfaithful people reared up and he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Because Hashem wanted to demonstrate to the people his mercy instead of appearing that Moshe just struck it and it produced water, he told Moshe he would not enter the land of Israel.

The people of the land begin to act beligerently toward the Children of Israel in their travels. First Edom {a descendent of Essau} would not allow passage of the people through their land, the most direct route to Eretz Yisroel. Then Ahron dies and the protective cloud which covered the people disappeared. Elazar, his son, takes the Kehuna. Because Ahron was a man of peace the entire people loved him and mourned him for 30 days.

But the stiff necked people once again complain against Moshe and ask “Why have you brought us from Egypt to this desert to die?”. This upsets Hashem so he unleashed fiery serpents on the people. The people realize this is the punishment for their unfaithfulness and come to Moshe asking him to pray to the L-rd. As it is written:


4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient because of the way. 5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: ‘Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.’ 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said: ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.’ 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.
[19:4-9]

After they realized their mistake and repented before Hashem and Moshe, Hashem tells Moshe to make the brass snake which allowed the people to be cured of the snake bite. This was another miracle of the desert.

Then the Children of Israel mount a battle against Sichon, king of the Emorites, and Og the king of Bashan and they are victorious.

Check out some more insights into the Parsha.

Some interesting links:

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Parsha – Mas'ei

by muman613 Comments Off on Parsha – Mas'ei
Filed under Uncategorized at July 1st, 2008 - 12:58 am

Once again Shabbat is here. All week I look forward to the Sabbath bride and the comfort of being in the peace {Shalom} of the Shabbat. For the Jewish soul was the Sabbath created, so our own creations can flourish in this world.

This week we read the story of Mas’ei, or Numbers 33:1-36:13. This happens to be the last chapter of the Book of Numbers. When we finish a book of Moshe we rise and say “Strength, Strength, may we all be strengthened”.

The Parsha starts with a recollection of the journeys of the Children of Israel through the desert. Each of the 42 encampments is listed in very vivid detail. At some of the camps there were big problems when Hashem got mad at us and rebuked us. Each of these stops is recalled by Moshe as it is written:

32:1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel who left the land of Egypt in their legions, under the charge of Moses and Aaron. 2. Moses recorded their starting points for their journeys according to the word of the Lord, and these were their journeys with their starting points. 3. They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day following the Passover sacrifice, the children of Israel left triumphantly before the eyes of all the Egyptians. 4. And the Egyptians were busy burying because the Lord had struck down their firstborn and had wrought vengeance against their deities. 5. The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth. 6. They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, at the edge of the desert. 7. They journeyed from Etham and camped in Pi hahiroth, which faces Baal zephon. 8. They journeyed from Penei hahiroth and crossed in the midst of the sea to the desert. They walked for three days in the desert of Etham and camped in Marah. 9. They journeyed from Marah and arrived in Elim, and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. 10. They journeyed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.

It is understood that this recollection is representative of the journeys all human souls go through in this world. Personally I can relate to this understanding because I have journeyed quite a bit in my life. The Parsha continues with the rest of the 42 stops.

Chapter 33 begins with Hashem speaking to Moshe about how they will drive out the inhabitants of Canaan who were idol worshiping barbarians. It reads:

50. The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: 51. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52. you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their temples, destroy their molten idols, and demolish their high places. 53. You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to occupy it. 54. You shall give the Land as an inheritance to your families by lot; to the large, you shall give a larger inheritance and to the small you shall give a smaller inheritance; wherever the lot falls shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers, you shall inherit. 55. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you, then those whom you leave over will be as spikes in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land in which you settle. 56. And it will be that what I had intended to do to them, I will do to you.

As we see Hashems word was true. He said that if we did not drive out the inhabitants of the land then those who are left will harass us in the land which we inherited. If only we had done as Hashem had wished and been able to remove them from the land we would not have these bloody terrorists at our backs.

Next the Torah relates the borders of the Biblical Israel:

1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Command the children of Israel and say to them, When you arrive in the land of Canaan, this is the land which shall fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its borders. 3. Your southernmost corner shall be from the desert of Zin along Edom, and the southern border shall be from the edge of the Sea of Salt [the Dead Sea] to the east. 4. The border then turns south of Maaleh Akrabim [elevation of Akrabim], passing toward Zin, and its ends shall be to the south of Kadesh barnea. Then it shall extend to Hazar addar and continue toward Azmon. 5. The border then turns from Azmon to the stream of Egypt, and its ends shall be to the sea. 6. The western border: it shall be for you the Great [Mediterranean] Sea and the border this shall be your western border. 7. This shall be your northern border: From the Great [Mediterranean] Sea turn yourselves toward Mount Hor. 8. From Mount Hor turn to the entrance of Hamath, and the ends of the border shall be toward Zedad. 9. The border shall then extend to Ziphron, and its ends shall be Hazar enan; this shall be your northern border. 10. You shall then turn yourselves toward the eastern border, from Hazar enan to Shepham. 11. The border descends from Shepham toward Riblah, to the east of Ain. Then the border descends and hits the eastern shore of Lake Kinnereth. 12. The border then continues down along the Jordan, and its ends is the Sea of Salt [the Dead Sea]; this shall be your Land according to its borders around

Then the Parsha elaborates on how the land will be divided amongst the tribes and how the Levites are to establish cities of Refuge for people who accidentally kill someone. This is very interesting:

35:6. Among the cities you shall give to the Levites, shall be six cities of refuge, which you shall provide [as places] to which a murderer can flee. In addition to them, you shall provide forty two cities. 7. All the cities you shall give to the Levites shall number forty eight cities, them with their open spaces. 8. And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the children of Israel, you shall take more from a larger [holding] and you shall take less from a smaller one. Each one, according to the inheritance allotted to him, shall give of his cities to the Levites. 9. The Lord spoke to Moses saying: 10. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan, 11. you shall designate cities for yourselves; they shall be cities of refuge for you, and a murderer who killed a person unintentionally shall flee there. 12. These cities shall serve you as a refuge from an avenger, so that the murderer shall not die until he stands in judgment before the congregation. 13. The cities that you provide shall serve as six cities of refuge for you. 14. You shall provide the three cities in trans Jordan and the three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. 15. These six cities shall be a refuge for the children of Israel and for the proselyte and resident among them, so that anyone who unintentionally kills a person can flee there. 16. If he struck him with an iron instrument and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 17. If he struck him with a fist sized stone which is deadly, and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 18. Or with a fist sized wooden instrument which is deadly,and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 19. The blood avenger shall kill the murderer; he may kill him when he meets him.

Then it goes on about how to judge whether he is a murderer or just guilty of manslaughter.

The Parsha concludes with the issue of Zelophehads daughers inheriting their portion of land in Eretz Yisroel.

Shabbat Shalom!

muman613

INTERESTING LINKS

Mas’ei: Zelophehad’s Legacy http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8151
An Ounce of Prevention : http://torah.org/learning/olas-shabbos/5758/matos.html
Chabad Parsha In Depth : http://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/default_cdo/aid/296692/jewish/In-Depth.htm

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