BS”D

South Head Youth Parasha Sheet Parashat Matot

Parashat Matot teaches us the importance of our words. One might think that the words we speak are not important. However, this is not so. The teaches us that words are very important. A Jew should be careful with the words he uses, particularly when making a promise. This is because when we make a promise we are responsible to keep it. For this reason, it is actually best to avoid making promises, because when a person breaks his promise he has committed a sin. Therefore, rather than making a promise, it’s a good idea to say the words ‘Bli Neder'. These words translate to mean ‘it’s not a promise’. So when a person says that he is going to do something, and adds in the words ‘Bli Neder’ he is not bound by any promises. Therefore, if he forgets to do what he said he was going to do, the person has not committed a sin.

Of course, there is the off-chance that we might forget to say the words ‘Bli Neder’ and we might actually promise to do something which for some reason we do not end up doing. Therefore the Torah teaches us a few ways of undoing a promise. A person may go to a Beit Din, a Jewish Court or to a great Torah scholar and explain to the Beit Din or the Torah scholar the promise he made. The Beit Din or Torah scholar can then nullify the promise for the person if they find a good reason to cancel it. The Torah also teaches us that a father can nullify a promise made by his twelve to twelve and a half year old daughter by simply saying, ‘your promise is invalid’. However, a father only has until sunset on the day he hears the promise, to nullify the promise. If he waits any later, then he is unable to cancel the promise. Similarly, a man can also nullify some promises made by his wife, but he must do so before sunset on the day that he hears the promise. Otherwise it is too late.

The Gemara relates a story about nullifying a promise. There was once a great Torah sage named Rav Manna. Rav Manna once made a promise that he would never drink his father’s wine. When his father found out about Rav Manna’s promise he became very upset. Rav Manna felt very bad that he had upset his father and immediately regretted making his promise. His father asked him, ‘if you had realized that I would be upset about your promise would you have made it?’ To which Rava Manna responded, ‘no’. Upon hearing this response, Rav Manna’s father declared his son free from his promise. Rav Manna’s father was a great Torah scholar and therefore he was allowed to nullify his son’s promise because he found a good reason for canceling it.

The Torah tells us that if a person under the age of Bat or Bar Mitzvah makes a promise, she/he is not required to go to the Beit Din to cancel it. This is because a child’s promise is not valid. Nevertheless, the sages tell us that it is important to train children from a young age, not to make promises.

There are a few situations in which the sages recommend making a promise. For example, if a person finds himself in danger, he can promise Hashem that he will give Tzeddakah, in the hope that Hashem will save him. An example of a famous person who made a promise while in a dangerous situation is our forefather Yakov. Yakov fled his homeland for his uncle Lavan’s house as his brother Esau wanted to kill him. Yakov knew that his uncle Lavan was also a wicked man who would try to destroy him. On the way to his uncle Lavan’s house, Yakov stopped at Har Hamoriyah, also known as Mount Moriah, to pray. While at Har Hamoriyah, Yakov made a promise to Hashem. He promised Hashem that if He returned him safely to his father’s (Yitzchak’s) home, then he would offer sacrifices to Hashem on Har Hamoriyah upon his return home and he would also set aside one tenth of BS”D whatever he earned for Hashem. Of course, Hashem protected Yakov throughout the twenty years that he worked for his uncle Lavan. Upon his return to , Yakov delayed offering his sacrifices to Hashem. As a consequence, Hashem punished him. One of the punishments was that his daughter Dina was kidnapped by the people of Shechem. When this happened, Yakov immediately realized his mistake and hurried to fulfill his promise.

The Parasha also speaks about the Jewish people’s preparation for war against Midiyan. Hashem tells Moshe to send the Jewish people to fight against Midiyan as a consequence of the women of Midiyan causing the Jewish men to sin in Parashat Balak. He also tells Moshe that following the war, it will be time for Moshe to leave this world. You may recall that there were two nations who sent their women to cause the Jewish men to sin. These were the nation’s of Midiyan and Moab. However, Hashem only commands the Jewish people to fight against Midiyan. One reason for this is because Hashem foresaw that in the future a righteous woman named would be born to the nation of Moab. Ruth would convert to and she would be the great-grandmother of King . It was because of her that Hashem commanded the Jewish people not to harm the Moabites.

Even though the Midiyanites had a very strong army, Hashem instructed Moshe not to send all the Jewish men to war. The reason for this is that Hashem didn’t want any of the men who had been previously associated with the women of Midiyan to go to war. When Moshe asks the Jewish men to prepare for war, they refuse to co-operate. They knew that the Moshe would die immediately after the war and so they didn’t want to bring his death closer! Moshe doesn’t know how to get the men to prepare for war and so Hashem tells him to casts lots. Any soldiers whose name is picked from the lot has no choice but to go to war. Moshe then calls Pinchas, our hero from lasts week’s Parasha, and tells him that he will be the who is anointed for the war. He also tells Pinchas that when he goes out to war he should carry the Aron (Ark) with the broken Luchot (tablets of stone) inside and the Tzitz (the headband worn by the Kohen Gadol). The Kohanim then blow Moshe’s two silver trumpets to signal the start of the battle.

As the Jewish army approached Midiyan they saw Bilam running towards them. Bilam had heard that his wicked advice of having the Midiyanite and Moabite women sin with the Jewish men had caused 24 000 Jewish men to die in a plague. He was therefore on his way to collect his money from King Balak. When he saw the Jewish people coming he tried to discourage them from attacking. But the Jewish people did not listen to him. They captured him and he was sentenced to death by the Jewish Court. The Jewish army won the war against the Midiyanites. This was a very big miracle. Another miracle was that not one Jewish soldier died in the war. This was a very big miracle because the Midiyanites army was much larger than the Jewish army.

The Jewish soldiers brought back a large amount of booty from the Midiyanites, including gold, pots, pans and other dishes. The Jewish people weren’t permitted to use the dishes as the Midiyanites had used them from non-Kosher food. Elazar, one of Aharon’s sons taught the Jewish people how to make the dishes Kosher. He told the Jewish people that some dishes can be Koshered and others cannot. The dishes that can be Koshered are dishes made from all types of metal. On the other hand, all dishes made from earthenware cannot be Koshered and cannot be used by a Jew if they were previously used to cook non-Kosher food. The laws of Koshering dishes can be found here: http://www.chabad.org/library/ article_cdo/aid/82667/jewish/Koshering-Your-Kitchen.htm. BS”D

Parashat Massei

Parashat Massei opens with Hashem telling Moshe to write down all the places the Jewish people traveled through during the past forty years. He also asked Moshe to write down all the events and happenings that occurred during this time, the good and the not so good. Hashem wants the Jewish people to remember the times that they saddened Him, yet He forgave them. He also wants the Jewish people to always remember all the events and all the miracles He performed for them in each of these places. Moshe wrote down all of the names of the places the Jewish people traveled through, beginning with the Egyptian city of Ramses. It was at this town that the Jewish people gathered to begin their journey into the desert. In total, the Jewish people traveled through 42 places, with the final place before entering Israel being the plains of Moab.

Hashem tells Moshe to tell the Jewish people that they are required to observe certain Mitzvot to keep the land of Israel. One of the commandments the Jewish people must observe is to not settle among the seven nations who live in the land of Israel. Rather the Jewish people are commanded to drive these seven nations out of the land of Israel. The reason for this is because these seven nations worshipped idols. Hashem feared that if the Jewish people lived among them they would learn from their ways and they too would begin to worship idols. Moshe tells the Jewish people that if they listen to this commandment they will be able to stay in Israel, however if they do not drive out the seven nations from the land, the inhabitants will cause the Jewish people misfortune.

The Parasha also discusses the Ir Miklat. The Ir Miklat is a city of refuge. The Ir Miklat is a special city for people who accidentally killed another person. Here is an example of how a person might kill someone by mistake. Let’s say that a man named David owns a big and beautiful orchard which grows delicious fruits. The orchard is too large for David to manage on his own and so he hires workers to pick the fruit off of the trees so that he can sell them. David often walks around the orchard to watch his workers work. One day, one of his workers is picking fruit off one of the beautiful trees and notices a dead branch on the tree and so he cuts it off so that it doesn’t affect the rest of the tree. As the worker cuts the branch, David walks passed the tree and the heavy branch falls on his head, killing him. This is what the Torah calls and accidental death. Of course the relatives of the dead person want to avenge the blood of their relative and so the worker is in danger. To protect himself the worker runs to an Ir Miklat. Once inside the Ir Miklat, the relatives of the dead person are not permitted to touch him or harm him.

When a person arrived in the Ir Miklat, he would come before the Jewish court who would determine whether the person had killed on purpose or by accident. If the Jewish court ruled that the person killed another person on purpose then the Jewish court sentenced the man to death. The Jewish court would only rule a death as done on purpose if the murderer had been warned before performing the act and if the act was witnessed by two witnesses. If however, the Jewish court rules that the murder happened by accident then the person is permitted to remain in the Ir Miklat. In the Ir Miklat the murderer is safe from the Goel Hadam. The Goel Hadam, translated as ‘the blood redeemer’, is the victim’s closest relative. He has the right to avenge his relative’s blood and harm his relative’s murderer in any place except in an Ir Miklat.

The Torah allows the Goel Hadam to slay the murderer for a very specific reason. According to the Torah the most serious sin a man can commit is murder. This is because most sins that a person might do toward his fellow man can be corrected. For example, if you steal from a person you can return the goods, if you embarrass a person you can apologize and if you insulted a person you are able to apologise. However, if a person takes away another BS”D person’s life, he can never give it back, Furthermore, if the person wasn’t yet married or had not yet had children it means that the murderer has prevented generation from being born. So it is as if the murderer has killed all of these people because he has prevented them from coming into this world. A Biblical example of this is when Kayin murdered Abel. G-d said to Kayin, ‘your brother’s blood and the blood of all children that could have been born from him cried out to me from the ground’. Similarly, when a person kills another person, the victim’s blood cried out to Hashem and demands that Hashem punish the murderer. This is the reason why the Torah allows the Goel Hadam to slay the murderer.

Even if a person accidentally kills another person, the victims blood still cries out to Hashem asking Hashem to punish the murderer. The sages say that if the murderer had been a righteous man then he would never have killed the victim, not even accidentally. It is for this reason that the Goel Hadam has the right to punish him. However, since the murder occurred without any evil intent, the murderer is able to escape to the Ir Miklat to be safe from the Goel Hadam. The murderer’s punishment is that he must leave his home and live in a new place. He is required to live in the Ir Miklat until the serving Kohen Gadol passes away. This punishment atones for the murderer’s sin. The reason the Kohen Gadol is involved is because it is the Kohen Gadol’s responsibility to pray to Hashem that no misfortune befall the Jewish people. If a death occurs it therefore shows that the Kohen Gadol is somehow responsible and only his death can atone for the murder that was committed. It is for this reason that the murderers in the Ir Miklat would eagerly await the death of the Kohen Gadol in order that they could return home to their families and not worry about anyone harming them. Of course, the mother of the serving Kohen Gadol would be concerned that all the murderers would pray for her son’s death and so she would provide food and drinks to the murderers. She wanted to make them feel comfortable and enjoy their stay in the Ir Miklat so that they would not pray for her son’s death. It is interesting to note that if an unintentional murderer dies while living in the Ir Miklat, he is buried there and it is only after the Kohen Gadol passes away that his bones may be transferred to his family’s cemetery.

The Parasha also speaks about the forty-eight cities in Israel that were given to the Levites. As the Levites were the Torah teachers of the Jewish people they were not given a portion of land in Israel. Instead, they were given forty-eight cities spread out all over Israel. Since there were cities of Levites throughout Israel, each neighborhood had its own Torah scholars. Hashem commanded that the cities of the levites must be surround by two thousand feet of open land. This land served to beautify the city and it was forbidden to plant on this land. When people would come to the cities of the Levites to learn Torah, they would see the beautiful landscape and this helped them honor their Torah scholars.

The list of places that Moshe recorded of the Jewish people’s travels in the desert serves as encouragement for the Jewish people today. Following the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash the Jewish people became wanderers. There are thousands of places through which Jewish people have traveled in which they have been oppressed. We might think that Hashem has forgotten about how much the Jewish people are suffering, but this is not so. Just as Hashem told Moshe to write down each of the places in the desert, each stop of our exile is being recorded before Hashem in heaven. We are still not at the end of our journey. Hashem is purifying us in exile to prepare us for the coming of Moshiach, when Hashem Himself will redeem the Jewish people.

Mission of the week: Pray for the safety of our soldiers and our brothers and sisters in Israel!

It was great seeing you in Shule! We hope you enjoy reading this Parasha Sheet and quizzing your family! Shabbat Shalom from Roli & Tzemach