This Shabbat we study the Parshah Matot, meaning “Tribes” (Numbers 30:2) and Masei, meaning “Journeys’ (Numbers 33:1) Moses conveys the laws governing the annulment of vows to the heads of the tribes of Israel. War is waged against Midian and the Torah gives a detailed account of how the war spoils are allocated. The tribes of Reuben and Gad (later joined by half of the tribe of Manasseh) ask for the lands east of the Jordan as their portion in the Promised Land. Moses is initially angered by the request, but subsequently agrees on the condition that they first join, and lead, in Israel’s conquest of the lands west of the Jordan. The 42 journeys and encampments of Israel are listed. The boundaries of the Promised Land are given, and cities of refuge are designated as havens and places of exile for inadvertent murderers. The daughters of Tzelafchad marry within their own tribe of Manasseh, so that the estate which they inherit from their father should not pass to the province of another tribe.

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Chabad.org

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“Journeys,” the name of the last Torah reading in the Book of Numbers, could well be the title of our people’s history. Wandering through wilderness or civilizations, voluntarily or by expulsion, is part of the biography of virtually every Jew alive today, or of his parents or grandparents. From where do a people derive the stamina of spirit to survive these endless, often tragic, wanderings?

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When Israel left Egypt, their forty years in the desert were not spent in aimless wanderings. Their every move was “by the word of G-d,” the Torah tells us. Torah teaches the doctrine of individual providence, of G-d’s interest and concern with every individual. Torah rejects the thought of G-d’s abandoning anyone to the caprice of an indifferent fate or the hazards of “nature.” 

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Whether we are aware of it or not, we go not by our decision but by G-d’s will. We do not go; we are sent—and He who sends us accompanies us. The Jew never felt alone, though he was surrounded by enemies. The Jew who kept his soul alive was never dependent on other people’s approval of his religious life, whether those others were coreligionists or non-Jews. His strength came not from men but from G-d, and He was always there. Certainly, many succumbed, lacked the strength to live as individuals, independent and free. But they were lost to our people; their descendants are not numbered among Jews.

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This was always and is today the beauty of Judaism—that life is purposeful, that it has meaning and coherence. It may not always meet with our immediate approval, the vicissitudes of life may be beyond our comprehension, but the assurance is given us that the tragedies are not in vain and the joys are not fortuitous. Israel may travel a long and sometimes difficult road, but always we go “by the word of G-d” until the wanderings of Israel are ended eternally.

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Rabbi Zalman Posner

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When a human being doesn’t allow the spiritual light of his soul to shine, he too becomes a physical object. So he says, “You are taking up my space.” How large is the space of a human being? As much as he can grab and more. We’re all reproductions of Adam, and there was only one of him occupying the entire world.

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But when a human being rises a little higher, a little more spiritual, a little more sensitive to a world beyond him, then he says, “Let’s share this space. There’s room here for all of us.”

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From an article by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

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The gold and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin and the lead... must be purified with mey nidah (the waters of sprinkling)... you shall pass [it] through water.” -Matot 31:22-23

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This passage, proclaimed as the Jewish people were ready to enter the Land of Israel, presents a basic law relating to the fundamental principle of kashrut, the dietary laws: how to make vessels kosher, fit for use by Jews. According to some authorities, this passage is also the source for the fundamental law relating to Family Purity, that a menstruant woman must immerse in a mikveh for self-purification. In these last days of the galut we must be particularly vigilant with these two commandments. Besides their intrinsic significance as basic and perpetual principles of Judaism, they are also a special preparation and catalyst for our anticipated entry into the Land of Israel with the coming of Moshiach.

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Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet

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The veteran American spiritual leader, Rabbi David Hollander, once told me the story of a fellow who somehow managed to get himself locked in inside a big department store after they closed up for the day. To compound the problem, it was over a holiday weekend. When all his attempts to get out proved futile, he decided to give vent to his frustrations by taking revenge on the store management. He spent the time of his incarceration swapping price tags on the merchandise. The result? A mink coat was now priced at $29.99, a necktie at $999.00. Furniture was going for the price of peanuts, the latest hi-fi for a song, and a set of underwear was absolutely unaffordable! Imagine the chaos when the store reopened.

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The question is, are our own price tags correctly marked? Do we value the things in our own lives correctly? Are our priorities in order? Or do we too put the cattle and the sheep — the car and the office — ahead of our children? How many workaholic husbands have told their wives, "Honey, I'm doing it all for you and the kids." But the businesses we are busy building for them actually take us away from them in the most important and formative years of their lives. Rightly has it been said, "the best thing you can spend on your kids is not money but time."

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I've seen many people become "successes" over the years. They achieve professional success, career success, business success, growing their fame and fortunes. Too many in the process have become family failures. At the end of the day, our deepest satisfaction in life comes not from our professional achievements but from our family — the growth, stability and togetherness that we have nurtured over the years — what our Jewish parents and grandparents simply called nachas.

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To paraphrase the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, "Jewish wealth is not measured in property portfolios or stocks and bonds; true Jewish wealth is being blessed with children who walk in the ways of G-d." For that, we need to be there for them and with them. A congregant of mine once walked up to me and proclaimed, "Rabbi, I am a millionaire!" I knew the man to be of modest financial means but he immediately explained, "I'm a millionaire in nachas!"

Amen. I wish it upon all of us.

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From an article by Rabbi Yossy Goldman

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