Parsha of the Week
This week’s parsha is a double parsha which is called Parshas Matos and Parshas Masei.These are the last parshas in the book of Bamidbar.
In this week’s Parsha we will discuss the war with the Midyanim and the death of Bilam. For the past several parshas we were learning about the evil ways of Bilam, and finally, this week we will talk about his death. Just as Bilam’s life was interesting and full of events, his death was also very interesting.
At the end, the Jewish people won this war, and the soldiers brought back all the treasure (booty), without keeping even one piece of it. Moshe and Elazar, the High Priest, were impressed by the clear and pure mind of the Jewish soldiers, and rewarded them by distributing the treasure (booty).
This week’s Parsha is Parshas Pinchas. We will discuss the subject of the final counting of Jewish people in the Desert. The Jewish people were counted before this, about one month after they received the Mishkan, which is mentioned in Parshas Bamidbar.
G-d commanded that the Jews should be counted one more time. They were counted in the Desert, during the 40th year in their exile. There were a few reasons for the new census. Let’s discuss some of them
1) During the evil times of Balak and Bilam, which was discussed in last week’s Parsha, many Jewish people sinned. There was a suspicion that the Jewish nation was mixed together with the gentile (Non-Jewish) nation. In order to change people’s mind, Hashem made the Jewish boys look like their Jewish Father. Also, many sinners died during the plague, and they needed to know how many righteous people survived. The righteous people were dear to Hashem, and they were rewarded by Hashem. There is a story, that a herd of sheep was attacked by a wolf. Many sheep were killed by the wolf. When they got rid of the bad wolf, they needed to know how many sheep were left, because they were very dear to the shepherd. In this story, Balak and Bilam are compared to the wolf, and the sheep to Jewish nation.
2) The Jewish people were very close to the border of the Land of Israel. They needed to know exactly how many people will enter the land, because the land was divided between the people.
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This week’s Parsha is Parshas Balak. The question arised, what did Balak do to deserve a whole Parsha to be named after him? In the whole Torah there is no Parsha named after Moshe Rebbeinu, and we all know how much Moshe accomplished for Jewish people.
The reason Balak was given the honor that this week’s Parsha was named after him, was because of the merit of the sacrifices he sincerely brought to G-d, although his intention was to curse the Jews. Another big merit was that important descendents came out of his family, such as Ruth the Moabite and eventually King David. Either or these merits served him well.
Balak realized that one has to fight the Jews spiritually by cursing them and the other nations just fought the Jews with weapons, wars, and force.
Balak saw the fear of his people and their distrust of their kings, and he felt he had to act. So he took advice from the elders of Midian, who had known Moses in his youth. "His power is in his mouth," (meaning spirituality) they informed him. Balak proclaimed: "In that case we must fight fire with fire and find someone spiritual to do battle with him."
Bilaam had become famous in a previous war between Moab and giant King Sichon, in which the "curse of Bilaam" had won the war for Sichon. Upon learning of this, Balak sent Bilaam a message: "I know that whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is cursed. Please curse this nation (the Jews) and get them to leave the Mideast region." (Sound familiar?)
Today we will talk about details and the procedure for making the Parah Adumah, The Red-Heifer.
1) Take a Red Heifer which has not had a calf, the cow has Three Requirements:
A. The cow has to be completely red and the cow cannot even have two or more non-red hairs.
B. The cow can’t have any blemishes that would cause it not to be accepted as a Korban.
C. The animal never did any work which includes having a baby.
2) Lead it Out of Camp – there is not one specific person assigned to do this task, any man can do this.
3) The Cohen Gadol observes, as A Jew Slaughters It – again, any Jew can slaughter it
4) The Cohen Gadol dips his finger in the blood and sprinkles it 7 times
towards the Temple – standing on the East side of Jerusalem.
5) The Cow is Burnt Completely – they don’t take out its guts and
clean its insides as they normally would. On its fire they also burn
with it…
a. Hyssop (a low bush), Cedar (a tall tree) & Silk (from a worm)
b. Thread (dyed) Red
6) The Ashes are Gathered and Brought to the Temple – by any man
7) The One Who Slaughtered It Must Wash His Garments, Take a
Mikvah and Only Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure
when he started out!
8) The Cohen Gadol Must Wash His Garments, Take a Mikvah and Only
Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure when he started
out!
9) The One Who Gathers the Ashes Must Wash His Garments, Take a
Mikvah and Only Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure
when he started out!
(Tell the story of Dama Ben Nesina, who merited having a parah
adumah born in his flock because he didn’t wake his father up.)
Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!
This week’s Parsha is Parshas Korach. It talks about the argument between Korach’s company of 250 people and Moshe. The disagreement caused Korach & Korach’s company to get swallowed up by a pit, including their homes and their possessions. Immediately after that the pit closed to a point were not one can recognize were the pit was.
Moshe sent out one spy from tribe, there was a total of twelve spy's altogether who went to the land of Kanaan. The Spies were supposed to find out if there was a good land and sufficient water sources, if the cities were walled, and if the people were strong enough and worthy to remain in the land. When the spies returned, they brought back with them giant fruits, including one huge cluster of grapes and said, that the land is full of strong and big people, just like their fruits. The land swallows up its people, they are always dying, and they are giants. After people heard these reports, they wanted to return to Mitzrayim, because they thought it was safer than Kanaan, and they tried to stone Yehoshua and Kaleb. This sad event happened on the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av. We consider it a terrible day, because the Jewish people became hesitant and fearful. The Jewish people doubted Hashem's strength as the Almighty and lost their basic Faith in Hashem. It was because of this loss of faith that the Jewish people had suffered many more tragedies later on in history. Moshe changed Yehoshua's name by adding the Hebrew letter "Yud". His original name was Hoshea, and by adding the "Yud" it became Yehoshua. "Yud" is Hashem's name, and this represents that Hashem should protect Yehoshua and save Yehoshua from the other spies's ideas. Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!
This week’s parsha is parshas Beha'alotcha, which is about the Mishkon, the Jews traveling, and Loshon Hara. Aharon is the person who dedicated the Mishkon. Since Aharon dedicated the Mishkon he got the honor of lighting the menorah every day for generations which means even his descendents lighted the menorah. The tribe of Levi worked in the Mishkon; they started to learn how to do the work in the Mishkon at the age of 25 years old. At the age of 30 years old they began to “work”. At the age of 50 years old they “stopped” and helped others by guard and sing.
When the Jews were traveling by day there was a cloud and by night there was a pillar of fire, when the fire or cloud moved near the tribe of Yehuda that indicated that it was time to continue to travel. Also the clouds of honor helped the Jews on their journey, one cloud was above them to protect them from the hot desert sun ,one cloud below them, one, one on front of them that makes the ground leveled while destroying snakes, scorpions and other animals to make a path and to protect them from their enemies.
Miriam said that Moshe left his wife since he was getting prophecy this was Loshon Hara and since Miraim said Loshon Hara Hashem made her get Leprosy (So she was outside the camps for seven days). Aharon asked Moshe to (pray) daven for Miraim.
Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!
This week's Parsha is Parsha Naso, which talks about a man who thinks his wife is doing adultery with another man (Sotah). The husband must bring an offering (Korban) to a Kohen, which consists of barley (not wheat as usually), flour (not finely sifted as usually), water, and it must be plain, without oil and spices. The accused wife must drink part of the offering. Afterwards the Kohen writes Hashem's name and places it in a cup of water, which the wife must drinks. If she refuses to drink the water with Hashem's name, then she is as if guilty. If she drinks the water mixed with Hashem's name in it, and she is guilty of and committing an adultery, then, when she leaves, she and her wrong partner would "explode" and die. But, if she did not commit adultery, if she is not guilty, then she will be rewarded, and she will have a baby more easily.
This week’s parsha is parshas Bamidbar. In this Parsha we learn about Hashem counting the Jewish people and we learn about the Mishkon. Why is it so important to Hashem to count the Jews? It is important to Hashem to count the Jews because Hashem holds the Jews so dear, they are his “chosen people”, and one counts things they find valuable over and over again. The Tribe Yehuda was the largest Tribe with 74,600 people and the smallest Tribe Menashe with 32,000 people. The Tribe Levi was not counted since they did not participate in the golden calf (When people were making and worshiping a golden calf which they had made of Jewelry).How did Hashem count the Jews? Hashem counted the Jews with a special method; each man from the age of twenty (which meant he was ready to join the army) donated ½ shekel which is Israeli currency. The coins were counted by Moshe Rebbeinu, Aharon, and the 12 heads of the tribes.
Originally the firstborns were supposed to do the holy or special work in the Mishkon since they were saved and not killed in the plague of the firstborns. The firstborns bowed down to the golden calf and lost their privilege to do the work. So instead of the firstborns doing the work the tribe Levi which once again did not participate in the golden calf got the privilege to do the holy work.
