B"H

Wednesday, Tammuz 28, 5776 / August 3, 2016 - Hakhel year

As mentioned yesterday, Parshat Masei will be read this Shabbat in Israel and in the Diaspora Parshat Matot & Masei will be read. With the reading of Parshat Masei we will conclude the fourth Book of the Torah, the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar). We will finally make the adjustment between the Torah readings in Israel and the Diaspora.

In Masei the Jewish people are already on the border of Canaan (Israel) and are about to enter into the Promised Land. The Torah describes the exact borders of Israel and that the land will be divided amongst nine and a half tribes.

Q.There were twelve tribes of Israel, why was the land divided amongst nine and a half tribes?

A.Two and a half tribes (Reuben, Gad, & half of Menashe) wanted their share on the eastern side of the Jordan River, while the other nine and a half tribes inherited in Israel proper on the western side of the Jordan.

Q.Why did the two and a half tribes take their share on the eastern side of the Jordan River?

A.The Torah tells us that they had many cattle and found the land east of the Jordan River very beneficial for their cattle. Moshe agreed to their request, but on the condition that they will go and help their brethren fight and conquer the Promised Land. Only after can they inherit the portion of land they desired.

Moshe said to them, “Your brothers will go to war and you will sit here?”

They replied, “We will go up armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place.. We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel will inherit every man his inheritance.” With that promise, Moshe agreed to give them the land on the eastern side of the Jordan.

Q. All the men who were between twenty and sixty at the time when the spies came back with their negative report didn’t go into Israel. This was a punishment for their refusal to go into the land. They died during the forty years which the Jewish people spent in the desert.  What about the women?

A.The Torah relates that the five daughters of Tzelafchad came to Moshe and asked for a share in the Promised Land, as their father had no sons. G-d told Moshe that they should inherit their father’s portion in the land.

The sages comment that while the men refused to go to Israel thirty eight years earlier and were punished to die in the desert, the women loved Israel and asked for their share of it. All the women (except for Miriam) merited going into the Promised Land - Israel.   

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY