Summary Mattot-Massei

This Shabbat we take out two Sifrei Torah; from the first we read Mattot-Massei and from the second, we have a special reading for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh.

The Nine Days
Note that this Shabbat is the beginning of the 'nine days'. The first nine days of Av are a time of mourning for the destruction of both Temples, and other tragedies. We avoid most forms of celebration, and we don't eat meat or drink wine (except on Shabbat). Nor do we wear new clothes or bathe for pleasure. These days culminate in the fast of Tisha B'Av, which commences before the end of Shabbat 28 July, ending at 9.45pm on Sunday.

Mattot-Masei is the longest double sedrah in the Torah, comprising 244 verses or nine columns in the Sefer Torah. The average length is about 120 verses, or five columns!

Mattot can be divided into three parts: laws concerning vows and oaths, the war with Midian and the request of the tribes of Reuben and Gad to settle the land east of the Jordan.

Masei means 'journeys of', and the first part of the sedra recalls the travels of the Israelites from Egypt to the borders of Israel during the previous forty years.

The rest of the sedra deals with one over-arching theme: the obligation to settle in the land of Israel, with some practical applications and implications.

First there is the obligation in principle to settle the land and displace its inhabitants. The Torah warns that if we do not, they will be like 'pin in our eyes and thorns in our side'. In fact they did not displace all the inhabitants - and received much aggravation from them over the years, both spiritual and physical.

The borders of the country are then set out. Interestingly, they are quite different to Israel's present borders. The southern border did not extend down to Eilat; it barely went past Be'er Sheva, although it did include Gaza, plus a narrow strip in NE Sinai. The northern part of the country included the whole of present-day Lebanon, plus part of SW Syria, although not the Golan. Perhaps most significantly, it did not include the east bank of the River Jordan. More about that below.

The Torah then lists the 42 Levite cities. The Levites were not to receive any plots of land, as their work was to be in the Temple, and to serve the nation as teachers. These cities were in addition to the six cities of refuge, to which a person who had committed an accidental murder could flee. If a person committed any kind of murder, it would be judged by a court whether or not a person had fled to a city of refuge. There were essentially, three categories of accidental murder: accidental tending towards negligence; accidental tending towards unpreventable and in-between these two extremes. The latter was the one who went/stayed in a city of refuge.

Finally, the Torah reverts to last week's story about the daughter's of Zelophchad. We recall that the Land was divided according to the families within the tribal divisions, and passed on through the male line. The five daughters of Zelophchad had asked what would happen to their family inheritance, as there were no sons? They were told that in such a case, the land would be passed on through the daughters.

Now the elders from their tribe of Menashe pointed out to Moses that if these ladies married men from another tribe, the land would be lost to the tribe of Menashe. They were therefore asked to marry men from their tribe of Menashe, which is what they did.

The Haftarah for this Shabbat is Massei, even though it is Rosh Chodesh. It is the second Haftarah of grim forebodings, which we read prior to Tisha B'Av. Jeremiah chastises the people for abandoning Hashem Who had led them through the desert to the Promised Land, a rich and fertile country, where they did very well. He bemoans the fact that they went after empty values and became empty themselves. Not happy reading, but worth reading!

Points to Ponder - Mattot-Massei
Below are several questions on Chapter 32, which you will need to read in order to answer these questions. I would very much like to hear your thoughts!

1. Normally the Torah launches straight into a story without any preamble. Thus, one would expect this passage to begin with the words in the second verse: "and the children of Gad and Reuven came...". Why then does the Torah inform us in verse 1 that they had a lot of cattle and that the land was suitable for grazing, when such information soon becomes apparent?

2. Is there any significance to the fact that verse 1 begins and ends with the word mikneh = flocks?

3. Why was Moses so angry at their suggestion? Note the borders of Israel as delineated above!

4. The families of Gad and Reuven made three proposals following Moses' reaction. Each was clearly in response to Moses' response each time. It seems that Moses was trying to make several different points. What were they?

Please let me have your answers by e-mail!

Shabbat Shalom