TORAH- FAX MATOT- MASSEI TORAH

DIALOGUE
MATO74ED
MATOT-MASEI - Numbers 30:2
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'( RA''I ED DA)IS
1. The first portion of today' s reading deals with
vows. Although the text will onentrate on a girl' s
vow uttered while yet in her father' s harge vis! "!vis
later when she is #arri ed$ the strength of the vow is
the sa#e. %or all of us$ we "must do all that &we'
express verbal l y." &()*('. A +ew who utters a vow
#ay have his vow annul led through the offies of a
ra,,i ni al ourt. A non! +ew #ay also #a-e a vow$
,ut his vow is ,indi ng and annot ,e voided$ even
through a .eth Din. Many o##entators write
a,out the unusual opening of today' s sidrah*
"Moshe spoke to the tribal heads of the Israeli tes."
/or#all y it would read* 0ashe# spo-e to Moshe
saying$ 12pea- to the hildren of 3srael.1 The
Tosefet .rahah felt that the hange in ter#i nol ogy
is onsistent with what is expressed through
Ta/a40 and the words of our 2ages* Ta-ing a vow
is not really the will of 5od. 3t is onsidered
aepta,l e when an oath is ta-en in ti #es of
distress or a needed #oti vati on to perfor# a
#i t6vah$ ,ut otherwise$ a person should not ta-e an
oath. 3n the Tal#ud &/edari # 77a'$ it says* 0e who
#a-es a vow$ and even though he fulfills it$ is
onsidered an evil person. Many o,ligati ons o#e
with the #a-i ng of a vow$ and it is so easy not to
fulfill the vow one hundred perent. %or exa#pl e
suppose so#eone ta-es an oath to donate 81$))).
During the ti #e span ,etween #a-i ng the vow and
fulfill i ng it$ the dollar drops 79 on the world #ar-et.
The person now gives his 81$))) ,ut perhaps has
not fulfilled his vow. The divine punish#ent for
failure to fulfill an oath an ,e :ui te harsh.
Eli#inati ng the state#ent that 5od told Moshe
a,out the laws of ta-ing an oath indiates to us that
5od would prefer us to do good deeds and not to
tal- a,out it.
7. After the vitory over Midian$ Ela6ar o##ands
the people a,out a statute regardi ng the proper
leansing or -asheri ng of the utensils ta-en in the
war. The law is stated as a statute$ a law that is
diffiul t to o#prehend. Atuall y$ the law is :uite
easy to o#prehend. One whatever was a,sor,ed
has ,een drawn out ,y fire$ hot water$ et.
&dependi ng on the utensil'$ then surel y there is no
reason to further prohi ,i t its use. %ro# our text$
however$ we see that all laws should ,e o,served as
if they were hu-i #. Even if the reasons are stated
and understood$ they still ,ear no signifiane to
the arryi ng out of the law. The reasons serve only
as a #eans of understandi ng the signifiane of the
preept. 3f we hoose to o,serve a #i t6vah ,ased
on reasons and not ,ased on a strong allegi ane to
the will of 0ashe#$ then we will err as in the ase of
;ing 2olo#on$ who #arri ed #ore wo#en than he
was per#i tted$ thin-i ng that the reasons given did
not apply to hi #. 0ere$ too$ the law of -asheri ng
utensils is to ,e o,served as a statute$ as the will of
5od$ and not ,eause it #a-es sense. &<e, Moshe
%einstei n'.

(. =hen the two tri,es of <euven and 5ad re:uest
to settle east of the +ordan <iver$ they #a-e two
errors* One was onerni ng the#sel ves with the
welfare of their large nu#,er of ani #als #ore than
the onern they express for their wives and
hildren. 3n the first verse of hapter (7$ where the
peti tion of <euven and 5ad is introdued$ note that
the first verse ,egins and ends with the word !
livesto-$ whih was their pri #ary interest. &Dr.
/eha#a >ei,owi t6'. 2eondl y$ <euven and 5ad
treat the su,?et as a pratial agree#ent ,etween
the tri,es. They do not perei ve their ations as
re:uiri ng the approval of 0ashe#. Moshe su,tl y
points out ,oth these things when he reiterates
their re:uest. =hen the two tri,es agree to Moshe's
version$ we see that they aept Moshe's orretion.
To #e$ though$ it see#s :ui te odd that no o,?etion
is #ade of their re:uest not to settle in the
@ro#ised >and. 3f Eret6 Aisrael is so i#portant$ so
santified$ and is to ,e our per#anent national
ho#el and given to us ,y 5od$ how ould suh a
re:uest ,e onsideredB =hy is no o,?eti on #ade
to <euven and 5ad's re?etion of the @ro#ised
>andB
4. The ,egi nni ng of today' s seond sidrah
desri,es all the travels of the 3sraelites in the
wilderness. One #ay ?ustifi a,l y as-* =hy list all
these plaesB 2o#e of the plaes are very #inorC
nothi ng of any i#portane ourred there. An
interesti ng answer that is halahiall y offered
invol ved the .i,lial prohi,i ti on of a +ew settli ng in
Egypt. This prohi ,i ti on is #enti oned three ti #es in
the Torah. Aet we -now there has ,een a vi,rant
+ewish o##uni t y in Egypt. 5reat Torah giants li-e
the <a#,a# and <ad,a6 lived in Egypt. One
answer offered is that the Torah prohi ,i ti on is not
that livi ng in Egypt is not allowed. 5oing to live in
Egypt fro# 3srael in the sa#e #anner that the +ews
left Egypt is what is prohi,i ted. 5oing to live in
Egypt fro# so#e other plae in the Diaspora is
per#i t ted. Therefore the Torah lists all the plaes
the +ews traveled ,etween Egypt and 3srael$ to
infor# us of the exat prohi,i ti on of retrai ng these
steps fro# 3srael to Egypt.
D. The Torah goes to great lengths to #enti on eah
plae that .nei Aisrael a#ped during their long
tre- through the desert. Their long tre- an ,e
o#pared to the long exile that .nei Aisrael
urrentl y find the#sel ves in$ and we an list all the
plaes the +ewish people have Ea#ped. F Many
#irales have ourred duri ng the odyssey$ and
#ost of these #irales are not revealed to us. Most
of the plaes in whih the +ews have resided in this
exile have tested our resol ve to ,e dediated +ews.
@erseution and anti! 2e#itis# have onti nued to
dot the #ap of the +ewish ?ourney to the @ro#ised
>and. =e have suffered nu#eri al losses to
pogro#s$ 0oloausts$ and to assi#il ati on and inter!
#arriage. The non! +ewish worl d has hated us to
death and has loved us to death. The A#erian
+ewish exile has pri #ari l y ,een a Elovi ng us to
deathF experiene as we have lost signifiant
nu#,er to assi#il ati on. +ust as we loo- upon the
Egypti an exile as a refining proess$ ena,li ng the
,est dediated +ews to survi ve$ so too should we
loo- at the A#erian +ewish exile as a refining
proess to prove the value of the +ewish survi vor of
this exile ,efore the <ede#pti on and ulti #ate
return to the @ro#ised >and.
HAFTORAH
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-EREMIAH
+ere#iah spea-s to a people who deserve the
wrath of 5od. The people ,etrayed 0ashe#.
+ere#iah also points out that the leaders of the
people failed #isera,l y in exeuti ng their proper
harge. "The Kohani m did not ask: Where is God?"
3t shoul d enter our #inds with every word that we
utter and every at that we do whether 5od woul d
,e pleased or angered ,y what we do. "They ho
study Torah do not kno Me." %re:uentl y$ and in
our ti #e as well$ those who delve into Torah study
,eo#e totall y su,#erged in the details of the
letter of the >aw and its appliati on that they lose
sight of the spiri t of the >aw. =hen this happens$
their -nowl edge is a dead thing$ and they annot
open the #inds and the hearts of the people to 5od.
The national leaders$ the pae! setters of soiety to
who# people loo- up$ exert great influene over the
people$ and they are the worst offenders against
Torah. And in those days$ the prophets$ who are
gifted indi vi duals$ hose to spea- of false idols. 3t
was no wonder that the level of true +udais# was
low in +ere#iah' s ti#eC and we an see ,y the verse
&v.G' how it applies to us A#erian +ews as well.
SHA''AT HALA.HAH

THE SHA''AT MEALS
"!nd Moshe said: "at it today# for today is
$habbat before %ashem# today you ill not find it in
the field." &2h#ot 1H*7D'. This passage fro# the
Torah relates the gift of the dou,le portion of the
#anna. The triple #enti on of the word 1today1 is
the ,asis for the <a,,ini deree to eat three #eals
on 2ha,,at. The goal of this deree was to insure
the en?oy#ent of 2ha,,at. Our sages delared that
one who stritl y adheres to this #i t6vah will ,e
spared three ala#i ti es* The tri,ulati ons preedi ng
the advent of Mashiah$ the ?udg#ent of 5ehino#$
and the war of 5og and Magog. All #en$ wo#en$
and hildren old enough to ,e trained in #i t6vot are
re:uired to eat three #eals on 2ha,,at.