Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat MatotRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Matot · מטות · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:05Parashat Matot, this week's parasha, has 112 pesukim.0:11It's usually read with Parashat Masay, unless the year is a leap year,0:16and not all leap years are most leap years; we read it together, Matot and0:19Masay. This parasha is always during the three weeks known as the Bein HaMetzarim,0:25and the week's parasha we divide into three parts.0:27The first part, the Torah tells us about the halachot, the laws of nedarim and shevuot,0:34and these are translated as pledges and vows, as we'll explain in a little bit.0:38The second part of the parasha, which is the main part of0:43the parasha, Torah tells us about the war against Midian,0:47and finally the Torah concludes with the request of Shevet Reuven and0:52Gad. Two mitzvot in this week's parasha, one mitzvat aseh and one0:55mitzvat lo ta'aseh, and they number 406 and 407 in Sefer1:02HaChinuch. Let's get to the parasha in detail.1:05So like we mentioned, the first part of the parasha, Torah deals with the laws of nedarim and shevuot,1:09which are pledges and vows,1:10and the Torah discusses how a person can make a pledge.1:14And if a person makes a pledge and he vows to do something,1:17either he swears to do something or he pledges that he's going to do or not to do something,1:21he must keep his word, the Torah says.1:23And if he doesn't keep his word, then it's considered like he did1:29an issur de'oraita, even though the item is permitted to him just the day beforehand.1:32Now today he said, I pledge,1:35konam. He has to use a specific language, then the item becomes forbidden to him.1:39And the Torah discusses a few different people of how they could pledge1:43and how they could nullify their pledges also.1:46You have in the beginning, it talks about a regular person who can make a1:49pledge, and if he wants to nullify his pledge, he has to go to what we call a1:54mumcheh. A mumcheh is an expert, and we don't have such experts in our days,1:58but today we know it, we nullify it through what we call hatarat nedarim,2:03and that is done by three regular people, and they just have to say specific words.2:07Also, the Torah discusses if a girl in her father's home makes a pledge,2:12and she has to be of a certain age, up to the age of 11,2:16or from the age of 11, really, and if she knows who she's making a pledge to,2:22she can also make a pledge.2:23However, in that case, the father, upon hearing it,2:26has that full day when he hears about the pledge,2:29if he wants to nullify it, he can nullify it.2:31Another scenario that the Torah discusses is an2:35arusah. An arusah is a girl who has been engaged, according to Gemara terms and halacha terms,2:41not in our day engaged terms,2:42and if she's engaged and she's an arusah, she's still living in her father's house.2:46When she makes a pledge, she needs the husband, or the future husband really, and her father2:53to both nullify the pledge in order for it to be nullified.2:56And finally, if a wife makes a pledge, her husband, upon hearing it,3:00can make that pledge nullified.3:03But again, like we said, they all have that day to do it.3:07It doesn't mean 24 hours, but it means that day.3:09If it was done 12 o'clock in the afternoon,3:11then it has to be done before sunset that day3:14in order to nullify that pledge or vow.3:17Next, the second part of this week's parasha, which takes up the main chunk,3:22Torah tells us about the war against Midian.3:24As we learned in the end of parashat Balak,3:27Midian joined up together with Moab in order to get the Jewish people to sin,3:31and 200,000 Jews died as a result.3:34So Hashem tells Moshe,3:35Take out the revenge of Hashem against Bnot Midyan, against the whole nation of3:43Midyan. Why is it the revenge of Hashem?3:44They made the Jews sin,3:45and the answer is, when you make the Jews sin,3:47you're messing also with Hashem.3:49So therefore, Moshe was commanded to prepare an army,3:52but Moshe was told, as soon as you prepare, as soon as this war is over,3:55your time is up, and your time has come to pass away.3:59Moshe didn't hesitate.4:02Even though he knew his life depended on this war,4:04he could have delayed it and said,4:05You know, we'll go, we'll4:07go. Let me just take care of this other thing over here.4:10He didn't.4:11Moshe Rabbeinu went right away.4:13It was a mitzvah.4:13It was a command from Hashem,4:14and he went right away to do it,4:16and he prepared an army.4:18And the pasuk says that he took a thousand from each4:22shevet. And here we have a4:23machloket. Some explain that there's a thousand from each4:26shevet, equaling4:2712,000. However, since the pasuk says it twice,4:30elef l'mateh, elef l'mateh, some explain that there's really4:3424,000. In any case, this is the army that was prepared,4:37and the head of the army was none other than4:39Pinchas. Why4:40Pinchas? Why not Yehoshua, who usually went?4:42The answer is because Pinchas was the one4:45who started out the mitzvah4:47by killing out Kozbi bat Tzur from4:50Midyan. So therefore, Hashem gave him the chance4:52to go and complete the mitzvah.4:54When the Jews go to war,4:56they wipe out4:59Midyan. They kill all the men,5:00all the five kings they5:01kill, even5:03Bilam. Bilam, who was not from5:04Midyan, happened to be there to collect his paycheck5:06for all the Jews that he killed,5:08or because of his idea.5:10And over there,5:11the Midrash explains how Pinchas kills him,5:12and he kills him by the sword.5:14However, they did not kill the women,5:17nor did they kill the children,5:19and they took all the spoils.5:21And they thought that would use5:23these people—these people are5:24harmless—would use them to bring them back to our nation,5:28would sell them as slaves.5:29These are spoils.5:30This is money.5:32When they come back home,5:34when they come back to Bnei5:37Yisrael, Moshe and Elazar Kohen5:39go out to see what these men brought back from war,5:42and they see that they brought back the women.5:43Moshe gets very upset,5:45and the Torah tells us that Moshe got angry.5:48He got upset at5:49them, and he told them,5:49How could you bring these women?5:51These are the same women5:52that made the Jewish people sin.5:53And the Midrash says that5:55they were able to point at each one5:57and say, This one sinned with this person,5:59and this one sinned with that person.6:01How could you bring them back?6:02And therefore Moshe commands, from6:05Hashem, to kill all the women6:07who are the age or who could do the sin,6:11the6:12aveirah. And how did they know?6:13They made all the women walk in front of the6:16aron. Any woman that walked in front of the6:17aron and she6:18paled, that was a sign that she was supposed to be executed,6:21and they executed the6:22woman. The next, the Torah tells us6:25all of a sudden6:26that Elazar Kohen6:27teaches the men who came back from the army6:29the halachot of tevilat6:31kelim. There's a mitzvah from the6:33Torah that if a person who purchases6:35or takes any metal utensil6:38that he's going to use for eating,6:39he has to dip it in a mikveh.6:42Okay?6:42Now, these are simple6:44halachot. Why is Elazar Kohen teaching it?6:45Moshe was a6:46rebbi. Moshe was the teacher of the Jewish people.6:48And6:49the answer is because Moshe got upset6:50and he got angry.6:53He forgot the halacha momentarily,6:54and he wasn't able to teach it,6:56and therefore Elazar had to go6:57and teach the Jewish people,6:59or the men from the army, these7:02halachot. After the halachot are taught,7:04the Torah tells us7:05that all the spoils should be divided.7:08Half of the spoils should be7:09given to the people who went to war,7:11the soldiers,7:12and the other half are to be7:14distributed amongst the Jewish people.7:16However, they should be7:20taxed. Separated from both spoils,7:22the spoils that went to the7:24soldiers and the spoils that went7:25to the rest of the Jews.7:27As far as the soldiers,7:28they have to separate one out of7:32five hundred, and the Jews have to give7:34ten times more than that,7:35and they have to give one out of7:37fifty. They have to separate one out of7:38fifty. The taxes of the Jews7:41were given over to the7:44Leviim, and the taxes that were taken7:45from the7:46soldiers were given over to7:49Elazar HaKohen on behalf of Hashem.7:51Hashem says it should be consecrated to Hashem,7:53and Elazar took it on his behalf.7:56And the Torah gives us numbers,7:58and here we listed the—8:00It spoils into four categories, and here are the numbers and how they were divided. There were four things.8:07There were sheep, cows,8:09donkeys, and girls,8:10meaning to say the girls who were8:13not old enough to do the aveira. The sheep totaled8:17675,000 and was divided to half, which means8:21337,500. The cows totaled8:2472,000 and divided in8:26half, 36,000 each. The donkeys totaled8:3061,000 and they were divided in half, which is 30,500. And finally, the girls numbered8:3632,000 and8:38divided amongst the soldiers and the Jews, they were divided to 16,000 each. The taxes are8:45simple. The Jews had to pay, like we said, one out of 50, and the soldiers only one out of 500.8:52So the taxes from the sheep,8:54from the soldiers,8:55is 675 sheep, while the Jews paid 10 times more, which is9:026,750. The taxes from the soldiers from the cows were 72, and the Jews were 720. From the donkeys, the Jews9:09had to pay 610, and the soldiers paid 61. And finally, the taxes from the girls, the soldiers9:17paid 32, gave 32 girls over, while the Jews paid9:22320.9:24Finally, the Torah tells us regarding this war that the soldiers themselves approached Moshe and they told him, You should know, we were there.9:31We also picked up a lot of gold, and9:34we realized that there is not one casualty.9:37Nobody was hurt, and therefore we want to give all of that gold that we collected,9:42we want to bring it as a korban, as a thank you to Hashem9:45that nobody was hurt. And the Torah tells us that what was presented as a korban was given to9:50Ohel Moed, not that it was burnt, but was given to the treasury of the Beit HaMikdash, and it totaled the weight of9:5716,750 shekel. And10:00with that, we finish the part of the parashah which speaks about the war with10:05Midyan. Finally, we go to the last part and the third part of this week's parashah, the request of Reuven and Gad.10:11The Torah begins by introducing that Reuven and Gad had a lot of flock, and at the time right now, the Jewish people were10:18standing right now on the outside of Eretz Yisrael to the east, in the land of Sichon and Og,10:23which was called Eretz HaBashan, and this land was very, very rich. And so Reuven and Gad came to Moshe and they told him,10:30Listen, we have a lot of flock, we have a lot of animals, and this land is made10:36to be a place in order to raise the animals very well. Could we have this part?10:43Moshe understood from their request that they didn't want to go into Eretz10:46Yisrael. Maybe they were scared not to go in. They knew that there's going to be war.10:49They got scared from the wars of Sichon and Og. And so Moshe rebukes them, and he tells them,10:53What are you thinking? You don't want to go in? Don't you know10:57this is exactly what the spies did10:59just forty years ago and caused the whole nation to be killed?11:03If you don't go in, you're going to scare everybody, and nobody's going to go in. And Moshe gives it to them. Once Moshe finishes,11:09the leaders of Reuven and Gad explain themselves, and they say, No, no, no, no.11:13We're ready to walk in. We will walk in11:17in front of the Jewish people. We'll be in the army of the Jewish people in the front line, and we'll fight for them. And11:22then after we help them fight, we'll come back and we'll inherit. We just want to take this part.11:27So Moshe likes the idea, and he says, Okay,11:30I'll give you this part on this condition that you go and fight. And he makes a double condition, as11:36the Gemara in Kiddushin explains, and he tells them, You must go in first and fight11:41with the Jewish people, and only once you fight with the Jewish people to help them settle and conquer the11:47land, then you could go back and settle over there and take the land outside. And11:52Moshe brings Elazar and Yehoshua, who is going to be the future leader and Kohen Gadol,11:56and he tells them in front of them, and they make the condition in front of them, also in front of the leaders of the Jewish people.12:03That shevet Reuven and Gad12:04agreed to fight with the Jewish people, and only after they fight, they'll go back and inherit the land outside of12:11Eretz Yisrael to the east. And12:14finally, the Torah tells us that the land was given to shevet Reuven and Gad and12:19half of12:22shevet Menashe. Shevet Menashe, Moshe divided into half, and he placed one half with12:28Reuven and Gad on the east of the Jordan, while the second half was left in12:35Eretz Yisrael with the rest of the Jewish people. And there are many explanations why Moshe did that, and the simple explanation is12:41that Moshe felt that as long as there's one tribe that has part of his tribe in Eretz Yisrael, there's still going to be a connection12:48from the people on the east of the Jordan to the people on the west of the Jordan in Eretz Yisrael proper.12:54Now we move on to the last part of this class, and that is the lesson of this week's13:02parashah. If you notice, in the beginning of this week's parashah, the Torah spoke about13:07nedarim shevuot, vows and pledges. A person has to be careful that whatever he says,13:11there's a mitzvah to keep what he says. And at the end of the13:15parashah, again the same subject is brought up. While shevet Reuven and Gad came to Moshe,13:20Moshe agrees to their idea as long as they make the condition13:25and they keep their word that they're going to go and fight on the front lines with the Jewish people.13:30So you see that the beginning and the end of this week's parashah discusses the importance of a person's mouth and13:35how careful one has to be with his words.13:38Not only should a person be saying the emet, he has to be sticking to his word.13:43He has to keep his word.13:44Whatever he says, he has to keep his word. And this teaches us the importance of a person's mouth.13:49And like we mentioned, parashat Matot is always in the three weeks, and Chazal tell us that13:54the reason why the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed was sinat chinam and lashon hara. And the14:00sefer Chafetz Chaim always speaks about this sin, how people didn't use their mouths properly.14:04We have to learn from this week's14:07parashah how important a person's mouth and how important are his words. The beginning and the end, the whole parashah is basically14:13speaking about this, the importance of a person's words, and we should learn, we should be14:18zoche, and we should use our words properly, and with that we will see the rebuilding of the14:23Beit HaMikdash, bimhera b'yameinu, amen, Shabbat shalom.