רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah
Parashat Matot/Massei
Numbers 30:2-36:13
By Rabbi Adam Ruditsky
By Rabbi Adam Ruditsky
This Land is Our Land
Matot/Massei is
a double parshiyot that concludes the book of B’midbar,
or Numbers. Numbers has been a book about human flaws and choice,
and this parsha is no different. In Numbers we have
seen betrayal, broken trust, subversion, murder, attempted political coups,
divisions and so on, human acts that we continue to see in our day. But we have
also met Joshua who would be Israel’s leader in the future as well as the
daughters of Zelophehad who’s peaceful but determined protest yielded positive
results. Now the 40 year journey is about to end, and Israel is
standing just outside of the land of Canaan about to cross the Jordan river. Perhaps providential, or maybe just mere coincidence,
but the social upheavals that Israel encountered on their journey that we have been
reading about have been in backdrop to our own social
issues. As such, last week we encountered a new dynamic where the Israelites now
have to contend with neighbors who are not like them, which we see in the illicit
relationship between the Israelite man and a Midianite woman. In this case it was the Midianite woman who lured the Israelite
man into an idolatrous web that ended with the loss of life.
Regarding the Midianites in general the Zohar teaches “come and see that everything stemmed from Midian,” meaning that the Israelites attacks on the Midianites were just not arbitrary or malicious. After being hired by Balak the King of Midian Balaam’s prophecy failed to curse Israel, only to be followed by the Midianite women capitalizing on the weaknesses of Israel’s men with acts of cultic sex, a plan to destroy Israel’s existence before they entered the land. In the Haftarah we read in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet unto the nations,” the a bigger picture being that Israel was God’s first (not only) born nation who was given the job to be a priest for the entire world (see Ex. 4:22 and 19:6). Even with its human flaws Israel was a nation that sought to bring redemption to the world as opposed to forcing others by coercion to be like them or extermination if the former failed. Just like the Egyptians before them, the Midianites wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the planet so Israel opted for self-preservation. Rashi wrote of “God’s vengeance” on the people of Midian who were like “one who stands against Israel (the Jewish people) is if they are standing against the Holy One, Blessed be God” (see. Rashi Num. 31:3). The Israelites had the right to protect themselves against enemies who wanted to destroy them and that was their reality as they entered Canaan.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks asks, “Can they build a society that is both free and ordered?” How can Israel undo the systemic hate that they continue to encounter in order to be a people who are free to build their lives, have homes, and raise their families? Well in part it had to do with communal unity as opposed to the constant divisions that we have been reading about. In Numbers 32 we read that the tribes of Gad and Rueben make a request of Moses to settle in the plains east of the Jordan instead of crossing into Canaan. In response Moses said, “Shall your brothers go out to battle while you settle here?” (Num. 32:6). Moses wants to know why the rest of the people should put their lives in jeopardy for the new land while the tribes of Gad and Ruben seemingly separate from the greater cause? Rashi writes of the community reaction, “for they (Israel) will be under the impression that you (Gad and Ruben) were afraid to cross because of the war and the strength of the towns and the people.” In the end, Gad and Ruben settled east of the Jordan, but their fighting men (no women fought back then) crossed with the rest and did not return home until Israel settled the land for everyone else. In the teachings of Mussar this is the middah of אחריות, acharayut, or responsibility. This word can be broken down into a verb and an adjective, the verb being achar meaning to “remain behind” to the adjective achayr that means “another,” or standing behind another person. Israel needed unity to settle down and be free from the litany of enemies that wanted to destroy them.
This parsha clearly reminds us that the battles we are facing right now require a joint effort in order to defeat them. For us Jews and the Jewish community here in America just look at the recent murders in a Pittsburgh synagogue, the Kosher market in New Jersey or the synagogue in San Diego as a reminder, never mind the Holocaust. We need to also recall that it was not too long ago that Jews were called termites or that (yet again) we control the banks implying that we therefore control the money. The feelings that were provoked in me are sadness because it still happens, Jews are slandered and killed simply because we are Jewish, as well as abandonment because too often the voices of outrage and protest are short lived or silent. As Jews we have to be like the tribes of Gad and Ruben, going into battle for the sake of others regarding the hate that they encounter. You see since we know of hate and racism personally, morally and ethnically we have to be in unity with those who also fight against racism, which is why black lives have to matter. This is not about an organizational movement but about the dignity of people.
In this parsha the Midianites who wanted to destroy Israel represent the hate and racism that wants to destroy humanity. As Jews our history of being denied human rights, not allowed to own land, vote, go to universities, shunned from society until emancipation should make us both aware and outraged, even more so because we still pay the price of anti-Semitism. But in America we do not suffer the ills of the past, yet we watch the black community that has gone from slavery to segregation to overwhelming incarceration fight for their rights before our own eyes. We can’t deny that those from the same community have become doctors, lawyers, business owners, professors, supreme court judges, and even the President of the United Sates, but we can’t also deny that their emancipation is ongoing. Just like with us Jews it does not stop the systemic hate that is embedded in mankind, but it is about being able to build their lives, have homes, and raise their families in the freedom they deserve. We can't keep watching unnecessary killing or persecution without stepping in.
I know there will be people out there who will not like what I am about to say, yet it would also be a mistake to think that this reflects a lack of support for the cause, but black lives matter only because all lives matter or in the end no lives can matter. At the end of the day, hate, discrimination, and murder are equal opportunity sicknesses, meaning that we all have acharayut, or responsibility to be like Gad and Ruben by standing up for each other and/or to fight for another’s freedom, which is the Jewish way! You and I fight the way we must for human rights, properly but with persistence, or we rob each other of our God given right to be fully human. This is not simply my land or your land, but this land is supposed to be our land.
Shabbat Shalom!
Regarding the Midianites in general the Zohar teaches “come and see that everything stemmed from Midian,” meaning that the Israelites attacks on the Midianites were just not arbitrary or malicious. After being hired by Balak the King of Midian Balaam’s prophecy failed to curse Israel, only to be followed by the Midianite women capitalizing on the weaknesses of Israel’s men with acts of cultic sex, a plan to destroy Israel’s existence before they entered the land. In the Haftarah we read in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet unto the nations,” the a bigger picture being that Israel was God’s first (not only) born nation who was given the job to be a priest for the entire world (see Ex. 4:22 and 19:6). Even with its human flaws Israel was a nation that sought to bring redemption to the world as opposed to forcing others by coercion to be like them or extermination if the former failed. Just like the Egyptians before them, the Midianites wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the planet so Israel opted for self-preservation. Rashi wrote of “God’s vengeance” on the people of Midian who were like “one who stands against Israel (the Jewish people) is if they are standing against the Holy One, Blessed be God” (see. Rashi Num. 31:3). The Israelites had the right to protect themselves against enemies who wanted to destroy them and that was their reality as they entered Canaan.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks asks, “Can they build a society that is both free and ordered?” How can Israel undo the systemic hate that they continue to encounter in order to be a people who are free to build their lives, have homes, and raise their families? Well in part it had to do with communal unity as opposed to the constant divisions that we have been reading about. In Numbers 32 we read that the tribes of Gad and Rueben make a request of Moses to settle in the plains east of the Jordan instead of crossing into Canaan. In response Moses said, “Shall your brothers go out to battle while you settle here?” (Num. 32:6). Moses wants to know why the rest of the people should put their lives in jeopardy for the new land while the tribes of Gad and Ruben seemingly separate from the greater cause? Rashi writes of the community reaction, “for they (Israel) will be under the impression that you (Gad and Ruben) were afraid to cross because of the war and the strength of the towns and the people.” In the end, Gad and Ruben settled east of the Jordan, but their fighting men (no women fought back then) crossed with the rest and did not return home until Israel settled the land for everyone else. In the teachings of Mussar this is the middah of אחריות, acharayut, or responsibility. This word can be broken down into a verb and an adjective, the verb being achar meaning to “remain behind” to the adjective achayr that means “another,” or standing behind another person. Israel needed unity to settle down and be free from the litany of enemies that wanted to destroy them.
This parsha clearly reminds us that the battles we are facing right now require a joint effort in order to defeat them. For us Jews and the Jewish community here in America just look at the recent murders in a Pittsburgh synagogue, the Kosher market in New Jersey or the synagogue in San Diego as a reminder, never mind the Holocaust. We need to also recall that it was not too long ago that Jews were called termites or that (yet again) we control the banks implying that we therefore control the money. The feelings that were provoked in me are sadness because it still happens, Jews are slandered and killed simply because we are Jewish, as well as abandonment because too often the voices of outrage and protest are short lived or silent. As Jews we have to be like the tribes of Gad and Ruben, going into battle for the sake of others regarding the hate that they encounter. You see since we know of hate and racism personally, morally and ethnically we have to be in unity with those who also fight against racism, which is why black lives have to matter. This is not about an organizational movement but about the dignity of people.
In this parsha the Midianites who wanted to destroy Israel represent the hate and racism that wants to destroy humanity. As Jews our history of being denied human rights, not allowed to own land, vote, go to universities, shunned from society until emancipation should make us both aware and outraged, even more so because we still pay the price of anti-Semitism. But in America we do not suffer the ills of the past, yet we watch the black community that has gone from slavery to segregation to overwhelming incarceration fight for their rights before our own eyes. We can’t deny that those from the same community have become doctors, lawyers, business owners, professors, supreme court judges, and even the President of the United Sates, but we can’t also deny that their emancipation is ongoing. Just like with us Jews it does not stop the systemic hate that is embedded in mankind, but it is about being able to build their lives, have homes, and raise their families in the freedom they deserve. We can't keep watching unnecessary killing or persecution without stepping in.
I know there will be people out there who will not like what I am about to say, yet it would also be a mistake to think that this reflects a lack of support for the cause, but black lives matter only because all lives matter or in the end no lives can matter. At the end of the day, hate, discrimination, and murder are equal opportunity sicknesses, meaning that we all have acharayut, or responsibility to be like Gad and Ruben by standing up for each other and/or to fight for another’s freedom, which is the Jewish way! You and I fight the way we must for human rights, properly but with persistence, or we rob each other of our God given right to be fully human. This is not simply my land or your land, but this land is supposed to be our land.
Shabbat Shalom!
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