Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat MaseiRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Masei · מסעי · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:06Parashat0:06Masei. This week's parasha has 132 pesukim.0:11It's the last parasha in Sefer0:14Bamidbar, and it's usually read together with Parashat Matot0:17unless it's a leap year,0:18and even sometimes, certain leap years,0:21we don't have Parashat Matot-Masei read separately.0:25Always Parashat Matot-Masei is during the three weeks of0:29בין המצרים, as we'll speak about a little bit at the end of the parasha.0:32We divided this week's parasha into four parts.0:35The first part, the Torah tells us the list of all the Jewish travels0:37from the time they came out of0:39Mitzrayim. The second is conquering Eretz Yisrael and its boundaries.0:45The third part of this week's parasha is the division of0:47Eretz Yisrael to all the tribes, all the shevatim.0:50And finally, the last part of the parasha,0:52the Torah tells us about the concern from shevet Menashe,0:56which we'll talk about.0:58Six mitzvot in this week's parasha:1:00two mitzvot aseh and four mitzvot1:03lo ta'aseh, and their numbers in Sefer HaChinuch are number 408 till 413.1:09Let's get to the parasha.1:11Torah begins by listing places where the Jewish people traveled1:16from Mitzrayim until the point that they were standing1:18about to enter1:20Eretz Yisrael, and those places are known as the 42 masaot, mem-bet masaot,1:25the 42 travels of the Jewish people.1:28Although most of that part of parasha talks in just the names,1:35the Torah actually will list a little bit of details in certain places.1:40For example, by Hor Hahar, the Torah tells us1:42that this is where Aharon HaKohen passed away.1:44Now it's interesting because usually this parasha is read around Rosh Chodesh Av,1:48and Aharon HaKohen passed away, and the Torah tells us1:51that his yahrzeit, the time that he passed away,1:53was on Rosh Chodesh Av, the beginning of the fifth month.1:57And these 42 travels... I have a lot of depth to it.2:01All the sefarim speak about how deep this thing is.2:04And there's a book called Seder HaMor, and he says that these 42 travels,2:10when you read it as an aliyah, should not be divided.2:13And the reason for that, because the 42 travels represent the name of Hashem,2:17which has 42 letters, which we know as the Rashei Tevot of2:22Ana Bekoach has over there 42 words and 42 rashei tevot,2:25and it's a very, very holy name and it should not be divided.2:27So there's a lot of depth and a lot of secrets in these 42 travels,2:33and we do what we can. We just read it;2:35at least that's on our level to know the 42 places.2:39Move on now to the second part of this week's parasha.2:42The Torah tells us about conquering Eretz Yisrael,2:44and the Torah specifies the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael.2:47Torah begins by telling us that when you come into Eretz Yisrael,2:50you must kick out the goyim from Eretz Yisrael.2:53Now, Torah tells us very clearly, if you do not kick out these goyim2:56and these specific nations, they'll come back to make you suffer.3:01They'll haunt you, make sure you get them out.3:03And if we read in Sefer Shoftim, which is after Sefer3:07Yehoshua, we find actually that because the Jewish people did not listen to Hashem's word3:12and they kept the goyim, it was at the end these same goyim3:16that brought about so much suffering to the Jewish people.3:19And then the Torah tells us that when you divide3:22the Eretz Yisrael, it should be divided through a3:25goral. And we mentioned this a little bit in the past; we'll repeat it very quickly.3:28Eretz Yisrael was divided to 12 different parts,3:31fitting to each3:33shevet. And it was done through a lottery.3:35They take the location, the area,3:38they write the name of the area,3:39and then the name of the shevet, of the tribe,3:43on another piece of paper,3:44and they throw all these 24 pieces of paper somewhere,3:49and the goral itself, the lottery itself, would speak and say,3:53This part of Eretz Yisrael belongs to this tribe.3:55So this way everybody saw that it was done al3:58pi Hashem. And then the Torah specifies the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael.4:01Now keep in mind, if you're listening to this, or even if you're watching this video,4:04we only have 15 minutes max, and we're already holding by 11 minutes left,4:08and we don't have time really to specify all the details4:12of where the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael are,4:15especially if you're only listening to this and you don't have a video, it's hard to see.4:18So therefore we made a special video where we go through all details4:22of the boundaries that are specified in the Torah of Eretz Yisrael.4:25Over here we'll give you very quickly,4:27and we'll tell you that there are obviously four boundaries of where Eretz Yisrael is.4:32We can see over here just very quickly the map of Eretz Yisrael.4:35Keep in mind that the boundaries are not—it's not a box, right?4:40It runs sometimes, it curves and it sticks out,4:43but we'll try to say as much as we can.4:45Let's begin with the southern border, which runs from east to west,4:50east being where the Jordan is, and running all the way to the west.4:52And the Torah tells us it starts by the edge of Yam4:56HaMelach, and it goes all the way to the west4:59to an edge off by the sea where Nachal Mitzrayim is.5:02That's the southern border.5:04Then you have the western border, which is right here on the side.5:09That's the western border, is where the Mediterranean Sea is,5:14and runs from the south to the north,5:16from the south where Nachal Mitzrayim is,5:18goes all the way up north till Hor Hahar.5:22Now the northern border, according to some opinions,5:25it goes straight in a straight line from west to east.5:28According to some, it goes from west to east,5:30but it curves down from north to south as well.5:34So the northern border runs from the west of Hor Hahar,5:38and it goes till Tzedad,5:40but extends a little bit out to Sefron and5:44Hatzar Enan. And then the northern border starts from5:46Hatzar Enan, from the north—excuse me, the eastern border5:49starts from the north, from the Hatzar Enan in the north,5:52and runs all the way down to the5:56Kineret. Okay, the Kinneret is still up there in the north,5:59but the Kinneret leads into the Jordan River, the Yarden,6:03and from the Jordan River comes down to Yam6:06HaMelach, and the end of Yam6:08HaMelach, that is the whole eastern border of Eretz Yisrael that's specified.6:12Okay, then the Torah says that you should divide this land6:16that I specified for you,6:17you should divide it amongst all the shevatim.6:20And how did they divide it?6:21The Torah says that the way that they6:23divided is that you take the6:24nesiim. The Torah lists the twelve nesiim of the tribes,6:27and they come as representatives of their tribes,6:31and they inherit the land.6:33And automatically, when these nesiim, these leaders,6:36inherit the land,6:37it becomes the ownership of that6:41shevet, of their respective tribe.6:43However, there's one shevet that did not inherit,6:45and that is the shevet of Levi.6:47This includes Leviim and Kohanim.6:48All of shevet Levi did not have any inheritance,6:51which means they didn't have any specific part of Eretz Yisrael.6:55They did have land. They did live.6:56It's not that they rented.6:57They did live. They did own cities.7:00However, these cities were to be given to them7:02from the Jewish people,7:04and total cities that were given to them were 48.7:08Six of them were specified to be arei miklat,7:11three were in Eretz Yisrael proper,7:14and another three were on the east of the Jordan River,7:17where shevet Reuven, Gad, and half of shevet Menashe lived.7:20More than that, the Torah says that 42 other7:23cities should be given from the Jewish people to the Leviim.7:26Now, the cities of the Leviim,7:28the Torah specifies exactly how they were supposed to be.7:32It wasn't just a regular city.7:33The Torah says that you have to give them specific area for them,7:38and Torah gives us the measurements.7:40There's a7:40machloket, really, exactly how to understand this part of the Torah.7:42We're going to go with the simplest explanation of Rashi,7:45and he explains it like this.7:46The Torah says that the cities of the Leviim should have... Three parts,7:53and let's draw three boxes to understand it.7:56One box, and then another box on the outside, and a third.8:00Box all the way on the outside,8:03okay? These three boxes over here, the middle box inside is the place where the Leviim lived,8:08okay? How big is it? It's a thousand by a thousand amot, which equals one million square amot.8:17Outside of it, a thousand amah on each side, that means a thousand amah north, east, west, and south.8:22That area is to be given to the Leviim, and that area is to be given to the Leviim for an open area,8:28okay? And then outside of that second box, another thousand amot from each side is to be given to the Leviim,8:37and that is to be given to the Leviim for their vineyards, for their fields, if they want to plant anything.8:42That's the structure of the cities of the Leviim. It wasn't just random cities.8:46These cities had to be given with specific measurements.8:49And the Gemara points out in Masechet Makot that really all 48 cities worked as arei miklat.8:53What is arei miklat? Arei miklat is a city where a person who kills by accident,9:00and there's specific halachot. It's not just any accident that we decide is an accident.9:04There's a whole Gemara, Masechet Makot, perek sheini, that talks about what is called beshogeg, what is an accident.9:10A person who kills by accident runs over there, and he stays there until further judgment is given to him.9:18But in general, it's there to protect him from the goel hadam, the person who's close to the person who died,9:25who should not kill him. And the Torah goes into detail and specifies all the halachot of arei miklat.9:30The Gemara points out that although all 48 cities are considered arei miklat,9:34these six that the Torah specified could save the person who killed by accident9:38even without realizing that he's in that city.9:41The other 42, he needs to have kavanah that he's running away to those places to escape the punishment.9:48And then we move on to the last part of this week's parasha, the fourth part and final part of the9:54parasha, and of Sefer Bamidbar, the concern of shevet Menashe.9:57If you remember in Parashat Pinchas, we mentioned10:00Bnot Tzelofchad. Bnot Tzelofchad. One of the girls of Tzelofchad from Shevet Menashe,10:07who complained that because their father didn't have any sons, he wouldn't have any portion10:14in Eretz Yisrael. So therefore Hashem said, You're right. Give Bnot Tzelofchad a portion10:18in Eretz Yisrael. This time around, the rest of the tribe of Shevet Menashe came to Moshe and they asked,10:23they said, You know, what would happen if Bnot Tzelofchad, the girls, would marry someone from a different tribe?10:29What would happen? What's going to happen is that their children will belong to the other tribe.10:34Lemashal, let us say that Bnot Tzelofchad married people from Shevet Yehuda.10:40Their children will become descendants of Shevet Yehuda, and they will inherit the land that belonged to10:48the tribe of Menashe. And what could happen now is that we would lose from our share.10:51Shevet Menashe would be diminished; we'll have less land10:56because the boys of Bnot Tzelofchad took the land to their shevet, to Shevet Yehuda.11:03So Hashem tells them, you know, they said correct,11:06and therefore Hashem tells Moshe to command that let Bnot Tzelofchad marry whoever they want.11:12However, they should try to marry within the tribe, this way to keep the inheritance in their land.11:18And most mefarshim explain that this was a mitzvah, but only for that generation.11:23And it wasn't only Bnot Tzelofchad; for all the tribes that had a similar situation,11:28in order that the land should not be taken away from each tribe,11:32therefore they should try to marry within the11:35shevet. The Gemara in Ta'anit explains that eventually the Jews did marry within each other;11:41all the tribes did marry within each other when there was no fear of the land being taken away.11:45And the Torah concludes with three points.11:49Number one, the Torah tells us that Bnot Tzelofchad ended up marrying, and they married within Shevet Menashe.11:53And then the second part, the Torah tells us that this way, by the girls marrying into Shevet Menashe,12:00it secured that the land should remain to the tribe of Menashe.12:05And finally, the Torah concludes with the words,12:10Eleh ha-mitzvot veha-chukim veha-mishpatim. These are the laws that the Jewish people were given, the command by Moshe from Hashem,12:16al yadin Yericho, on the edge of12:18Yericho. And with that, we could come to this week's lesson.12:21The lesson of this week's parashah is the end of the parashah.12:25Three things the Torah ended with.12:27Number one is the wedding, the marriage of12:31Bnot Tzelofchad. Number two is that the land of Shevet Menashe was secured to Shevet Menashe.12:36And finally, the mitzvot that the Jewish people were commanded in the Sefer Torah.12:44We're living right now in the three weeks.12:47We read parashat Mas'ei, like we mentioned, always during the three weeks.12:50And when we look at it, when we look how the parashah ends,12:54we see that these three things were missing.12:57Number one, we don't have weddings in the three weeks.13:00We are noheg, we have the custom like the13:03Rama, that we don't make weddings during the three weeks.13:06Number two, our land, our portion, Eretz Yisrael, is not secured.13:10The goyim threaten us every day.13:13We don't have the inheritance from HaKadosh Baruch Hu to13:17Eretz Yisrael. We always have to fight and to defend our position in13:22Eretz Yisrael. And why, we ask ourselves, how come this is so?13:25And it seems like the Torah is telling us because13:29Eleh ha-mitzvot. These mitzvot, it's because these mitzvot are not kept.13:33Because these mitzvot are not kept like the way Hashem commanded Moshe,13:38therefore we don't have the semachot and we don't have the security in13:43Eretz Yisrael. We should be zocheh to take lesson from this,13:46that by keeping the mitzvot, we will have many13:50semachot, and we will be zocheh to the13:52geulah shleimah and to have our place secure in13:55Eretz Yisrael, bimherah b'yameinu, amen.