Parshas Matos-Masei

What Were You Thinking?

 

“And they [the army officers] said to Moshe. ‘Your servants have taken a census of the soldiers who went out to war and not one of us is missing. We have therefore brought an offering for Hashem….’” (Bamidbar 31:49-50)

The Talmud (Kiddushin 81A) brings a fascinating story.

Rabbi Amram the pious, arranged to redeem Jewish women who had been captured (see Rashi).  The women were brought to Rabbi Amram’s attic. The ladder to the attic was removed to protect the women from men climbing up to them. Ben Yehodaya says that while Rabbi Amram was learning Torah the Satan caused a light to shine from the skylight. The Talmud continues that Rabbi Amram looked up and saw the form of one of the captive women. Rabbi Amram felt a desire for her. Although the ladder to the attic was so heavy that it took 10 men to move, Rabbi Amram, in the heat of passion, grabbed the ladder himself and began climbing. When he was halfway up the ladder, he regained control over his passion and screamed out loud, “There is a fire in the house of Amram.” The sages heard the shouts and came running. By drawing the sages to his house, Rabbi Amram wisely saved himself from the Satan’s entrapment.

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt”l, former Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir was being brought to a doctor’s appointment in Manhattan. He was helped out of the car and put in a wheelchair.  He had Parkinsons disease and movements were difficult. Despite that, he painstakingly lifted his hands to remove his glasses while he was pushed the few blocks to the doctor’s office. Once inside, he put back his glasses. He wanted to protect himself from seeing any inappropriate sights.

Using Bilaam’s very elaborate plan the Moavites and Midianites enticed Bnei Yisroel to sin. As a result, 24,000 Jews died in a plague. Following Hashem’s command, Moshe Rabbeinu sent an army to battle the Midianites to punish them. Rashi (25:18} explains why Moshe was not commanded to also go to war with the Moavites. It was to save a future descendant of Moav. Rus the Moavite, would be the foremother of the dynasty of King David. Only 12,000 Jews actually went to battle. (Others were sent to daven and to be in charge of supplies.) The Jews were victorious. In addition to taking booty, the Jewish soldiers took thousands of Midianites as prisoners of war.  Rabbeinu Bachya says that considering the large number of prisoners taken, one can imagine how many adult Midianite males fought in this war. Even though there were so many more Midianite soldiers than Jewish soldiers, the Jews won the war! Rabbeinu Bachya says that this was a remarkable miracle. In fact, he says that it may be considered one of the greatest miracles amongst all the miracles which were performed for the Jewish people ever.

After the battle, the military officers told Moshe, “Your servants have counted the heads of the warriors entrusted to us and not a single man is missing.”  (Bamidbar 31:49). Thousands and thousands of Midianites were killed. Yet, the Jews did not sustain even one single casualty!

Rashi (31:3) says that the reason why this miracle occurred was that every one of these 12,000 soldiers was a righteous individual. Gur Aryeh adds that these men had Yiras Elokim, fear of Hashem.

The officers brought an offering to Hashem consisting of the booty that they had captured. “Any man who found a gold article; an anklet or a bracelet, a ring, earring or clasp [has dedicated it for Hashem].” (Bamidbar 31:50).

When Moshe heard that not one soldier was killed, he asked the officers why they specifically brought an offering to Hashem. The Talmud (Shabbos 64A) explains that Moshe asked them if the reason that they brought this offering to Hashem was because they sinned with the women of Midian. It was the custom among the gentiles that when they went to war, the women would adorn themselves and would attempt to entice the opposing army. Moshe wondered if these Jewish soldiers succumbed to temptation.  According to the Talmud, the officers answered, “not one of us is missing”. They were saying that that not one of them was guilty of a sin.

So, why did they bring an offering to Hashem? They told Moshe that it was to atone for impure thoughts.  These soldiers were so righteous that they withstood the temptation to sin with the Midianite women. However, their thoughts were not totally pure since they had thought of sinning with these women.  Therefore, they wanted to bring an offering to Hashem as an atonement.

We can learn from this something important about human nature as well as what Hashem expects from us.

The allure of women can be so strong that even a righteous person is not immune from possibly harboring sinful thoughts. No human is above this. This is the reason for the law of yichud, that a man should not be alone in a room with a woman. One must always be very careful not to be in situations where the very strong yetzer hara will try to entice him to sin. Just as important, if not more so, we see that a sin is not limited to actions. We are so holy and pristine that even inappropriate thoughts are also considered sins! In fact, sinful thoughts may even be worse in the sense that when one harbors sinful thoughts, they often don’t do away so quickly. Thus, this sin is magnified as it continues the entire time that one has these thoughts!

There are other thoughts that are also not permitted. Some examples are prideful thoughts, heretical thoughts, jealous thoughts, harboring a grudge, desiring something that someone else has, and not trusting in Hashem. Isn’t it very hard to control our thoughts? Yes, it certainly is! Is it impossible? Certainly not! Hashem never expects something from us that we cannot do! Our job in this world is to take ourselves, imperfect people, and perfect ourselves as much as we can.  The reward for our efforts is immeasurable! We may not always be successful. We may fail at times. Yet, Hashem values our efforts in attempting to do the best that we can. 

 

Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Rotenberg, the first rebbe of Gur, in his commentary, Chidushei haRim, (as quoted in Talelei Oros by Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rubin) points out something very interesting. The Torah does not record the offerings that the officers brought as soon as they returned from their victorious battle. Rather, the Torah records it later, after the soldiers were instructed how to kasher, to purify, the vessels that were taken as spoils of water.  Why did the officers wait until this point to bring their offerings and not immediately after returning from battle?

 

Chidushei HaRim says that initially they did not think that they had to bring an offering to atone just for having sinful thoughts. They only realized it after Moshe commanded them to purify the vessels that had belonged to the Midianites.  The Midianite vessels were clean, and no prohibited food was noticeable. Yet, the vessels had to be purified from the taste which was absorbed inside. Now the officers realized that although they had not actively sinned, their insides also had to remain pure. Since they had sinful thoughts, their insides needed to be purified. That is why they brought their offering to Hashem at this time.

 

The Satan is constantly attacking us to entice us to sin. We can strengthen ourselves, somewhat, when we become aware of some of the Satan’s wiles. One of his tricks is to try to inflame our passions for inappropriate relations with women. If we overcome those difficult challenges, then the Satan tries to get us to visualize each step of the sin. Thinking inappropriate thoughts is also a sin! We have to work very hard to protect ourselves from the Satan. May Hashem give us the wisdom and the strength to do so.

 

 

Parshas Matos-Masei

Your Words Will Soar To The Heavens!

 

“…he may not profane his word. He shall do all that he said.” (Bamidbar 30:3)

 

Even the greatest craftsman who can think of original ideas to beautify a vessel, an object, and who has delicate hands to produce such beauty, requires the right tools to do so. If the craftsman does not have any tools, he cannot produce the desired object. If his tools are defective, although he may be able to make the object, it will clearly be noticeable that it is of inferior quality.

The Chofetz Chaim zt”l (Shmiras Halashon Sha’ar Hazechira perek yud) uses this parable to describe every Jew. Hashem, our venerable king, has granted us the gift of speech to properly serve Him. We serve Hashem through our Torah learning, our prayers, our blessings, our words of thanks and praises to Hashem. Our mouths are our vessels through which we serve Hashem. When we articulate these wonderful words with which we serve Hashem, we literally create heavenly worlds and holy angels who will be our defense attorneys. These angels will actually defend our souls in the Heavenly Court, after our passing. If our mouths are free of speaking lashon hara, falsehoods, and unclean speech, then our words will be beautiful in their holiness. Our words of holiness will reach the heavens. If our vessels, our mouths, are impure because of unholy words that we speak, then the holy words which we do say, may not rise heavenward, unless we repent.

The Chida zt”l derives a similar idea from the pasuk in this week’s parsha, “…he may not profane his word. He shall do all that he said (Bamidbar 30:3).” If one is careful not to speak “profane” words or lashon hara,… then when he prays and makes requests to Hashem, “He shall do all that he said”, Hashem will answer his prayer! (Talelei Oros by Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rubin)

When our mouths are “pure”, then our Torah-learning and prayers rise heavenward. These holy words create worlds and angels who will defend us in the Heavenly Court. Hashem answers the prayers of one who uses his words to serve Him.

 

Parshas Matos-Masei

I Can Read Your Mind!

“We have therefore brought an offering for Hashem Any man who found a gold article—an anklet or a bracelet, a ring, earring or clasp [has dedicated it for Hashem] to atone for ourselves before Hashem.” (Bamidbar 31:50)

I remember reading the following story: There was excitement in the small village when they heard that the king would be visiting them in a week. In preparation for the king’s visit the town elders decided to fill a giant barrel with wine and present it to the king upon his arrival. Where were they going to get so much wine to fill the giant barrel? They decided that each family of the town would bring one bottle filled with wine and pour it into the giant barrel. This way the barrel would fill with wine. They placed a giant barrel in the center of the town with a ladder reaching to the top. Every day people lined up to pour their bottle of wine into the barrel. The day finally arrived, and the king visited the town. The people were so excited to present the king with this wonderful gift. The king was shown the barrel and was given a kingly goblet. They filled his goblet with wine from the giant barrel. The townspeople were shocked by the look on the king’s face as he drank the wine. The king was obviously very unhappy. When he was asked why he was so unhappy he said that his goblet was filled with water! It turns out that every family in the village had the same thought. Wine was expensive. Each family thought to themselves that if they would pour in water instead of wine then no one would notice. After all, who would notice a difference in taste if there was only one bottle of water in the entire barrel of wine. The problem was that everyone in the town made the same calculation and so no one poured in wine but rather water instead. All the villagers were embarrassed in front of the king.

Balak, king of Moav, hired Bilaam to curse the Jewish People. Hashem did not allow Bilaam to succeed. Bilaam, still wanting to harm the Jews, advised Balak of a very detailed and conniving plan to cause Hashem to punish the Jews. Balak followed the plan and succeeded in enticing many Jews to immorality and idol worship. Sadly, this resulted in the death of 24,000 Jews. Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to avenge the deaths of the Jews by going to war against the Midianites (Bamidbar 31:2). The Ohr HaChaim says (Bamidbar 31:3) that although the Midianite army was large, Moshe only sent 12,000 soldiers to battle. The pasuk (Bamidbar 31:3) says that Moshe chose אֲנָֹשִים, men, to be soldiers. Rashi says that these men were tzadikim, righteous men. The Sifsei Chachamim explains that Rashi learns this from the seemingly extra word, אֲנָֹשִים. Obviously, it was men and not women who went to war. Thus, the word אֲנָֹשִים refers to righteous men. Gur Aryeh says that these men were G-D fearing. Ohr HaChaim says that these men did not harbor sinful thoughts when the Midianite women were first sent to entice the Jewish men. The Ksav Sofer says that Moshe chose tzadikim who had spent their lives working to defeat their yetzer hara. Moshe wanted them to fight totally for the honor of Hashem. Moshe did not want them to think that they were fighting because of a personal agenda to avenge the Jews who were killed. The Jews fought victoriously and killed all the Midianite males as well as their 5 kings. They also took booty. Any item that may have touched a dead body had to be purified. “Every cloth, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every object of wood” (Bamidbar 31:20) had to be purified.

Hashem commanded the Jews to also purify all metal utensils, that they took as booty, (Bamidbar 31:23) via the process called hagalah. Rashi explains that anything non-kosher which had been absorbed in the metal utensils had to be expunged in the same manner as it had been absorbed. Thus, any vessel which had been used for cooking with hot water, was cleansed through hot water. Any vessel which had been used for roasting over a flame, was cleansed by making it white hot in a flame.

The Ramban, Da’as Zekanim, and many commentators wonder why the mitzvah of hagalah was first commanded now, after the battle with Midian. Why wasn’t it taught after the previous battles with Sichon and Og. Different answers are given. The Kotzker Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk,(as quoted in Iturei Torah by Aharon Yaakov Greenberg) says that the wars against Sichon and Og did not defile the minds of the Jews. Mizrachi & Chizkuni (Bamidbar 25:18) say that, on the other hand, the Midianites did contaminate the minds of the Jews by sending their wives and daughters to entice the Jews to sin. Therefore, a new mitzvah of hagalah was commanded now. It sent a message that the Jews should expunge that which had been absorbed by them; they should cleanse the impure thoughts in their minds. This fits in with what Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk says about an earlier pasuk (Bamidbar 31:21). The pasuk says, “וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֶלְעָזָ֤ר הַכֹּהֵן֙ אֶלאַנְשֵׁ֣י הַצָּבָ֔א הַבָּאִ֖ים לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה ”. Elazar the kohain gave a message to the soldiers who had returned from the war with Midian. Yet, the pasuk says, “Elazar the kohain said to the soldiers who came to the war…”. Why does the pasuk say that the soldiers came to the war if they had already returned? Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk answers that Elazar the kohain told the soldiers to expunge the vessels from the impurity that had been absorbed. Similarly, Elazar was telling them that now they were entering into a new war, with their evil inclination. They had to remove any inappropriate thoughts that may have entered their minds from seeing the Midianite women during and after the battle. Similarly, after the battle, the officers of the Jewish army brought offerings to Hashem from the gold that they had captured during the war. Rashi (Bamidbar 31:50) says that the offering of the gold was to atone for the impure thoughts that their hearts had entertained for the daughters of Midian. Chidushei HaRim says (as quoted in Iturei Torah by Aharon Yaakov Greenberg) that when the Jewish officers heard the command to do hagalah, they took it as a lesson for themselves. Even a vessel that was totally clean and that was permitted to be used, still had to be cleansed from the impurities within it. The officers learned a lesson from this, that they, themselves, needed atonement for impure thoughts even though their thoughts did not result in any act of sinning. They understood that the impure thoughts, in and of themselves, were actually sins that required repentance.

We learn two very important lessons. First, each Jew is like a holy vessel. Even our thoughts must be pure and holy. Also, the allure of the yetzer hara is very strong as it attempts to sully our thoughts. The Jewish soldiers were tzadikim, people who had worked on conquering their yetzer hara, and limiting their physical needs and desires. Yet, the yetzer hara was still able to cause them to think unholy thoughts.  Therefore, they had to bring offerings to atone for their impure thoughts.

The yetzer hara is constantly “attacking” us. If he can’t get us to commit sinful acts, he will try to contaminate our thoughts. We must constantly be on our guard and defend ourselves from the yetzer hara. The best defenses are to avoid looking at anything inappropriate and to learn Torah and study mussar, which helps us to improve and refine our character traits.

 

Parshas Matos-Masei

You Can Be the Next Super-Hero!

 

“… He shall dwell in it [a City of Refuge] until the death of the Kohain Gadol….” (Bamidbar 35:25)

We can be like this super-hero! We, too, can save lives!

“Cities of Refuge”, orei miklat, were established, by Hashem’s command, in the Land of Israel and across the Jordan river. They afforded protection to one who had killed another person accidently. While there, the killer was protected from any angry relatives of the deceased. He remained there until the death of the Kohain Gadol. Then, he was permitted to return home in safety.

What connection did the Kohain Gadol have to the accidental murderer? The Talmud (Makos 11A) explains that on some level, the Kohain Gadol was indirectly responsible for the accidental death. The Kohain Gadol should have redoubled the intensity of his prayers, pleading for mercy that there not be any unintentional murders as long as he was the Kohain Gadol . On some level, his prayer was lacking some intensity, thus an unintentional murder had occurred.

The Talmud (Makos 11A) compares the Kohain Gadol’s “guilt” to a story that occurred to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. A man was once killed in a freak occurrence. He was eaten by a lion a few miles from Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s home. The prophet, Eliyahu, had been accustomed to speak to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. Eliyahu did not speak to him for three days, showing his disapproval. Eliyahu felt that Rabbi Yehoshua should have prayed with more intensity that such an occurrence should never happen near his home. We see that there is a degree of responsibility for the Torah leader to pray for his generation.

A “yeshiva” boy was once hit by a car near Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim, on the east side of Manhattan. That was Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l’s yeshiva. Someone ran into the yeshiva to ask Rav Moshe to daven for the boy. Rav Moshe said that it was impossible that this should happen to a Jewish boy, near his yeshiva. Sure enough, it was discovered that the boy was not Jewish. The yarmulka that was found next to him was not his. He had taken it off the head of a Jewish boy.

Rashi (Shmos 21:13) explains what happens based on the following scenario: A man murdered but there were no witnesses. So, he could not be punished by the court. Another man killed unintentionally, but there were no witnesses. So, he did not go to a City of Refuge. Hashem then orchestrated events to bring justice and punish these two murderers. Hashem arranged that they both came to the same inn. The intentional murderer was sitting under a ladder that the unintentional murder was climbing. The unintentional murder fell and killed the murderer. Hashem brought justice and the intentional murderer was killed. Witnesses saw what had happened. Now the unintentional murder was sent to an ir miklat. Hashem arranged that justice be done to both murderers.

The Talmud (Chullin 7B) quotes Rabbi Chanina who says that a person does not injure his finger unless it was decreed in Heaven that it should happen. There is no such a thing as an “accident” since everything that occurs is predetermined and orchestrated by Hashem.

According to this, the Talmud (Makos 11A) is very difficult to understand. How could the Kohain Gadol’s prayer have saved the unintentional murderer from killing? Death had already been decreed on the victim of the accidental killer as well as the man who was eaten by a lion. Hashem even orchestrated events to bring the matter to justice. If so, why was there a grievance against the Kohain Gadol and against Rabbi Yehoshua for not davening as intensely as they could? If the result was already predetermined, even their intense prayers would not have helped!

Rabbi Henach Leibowitz zt”l explains that apparently, a heartfelt prayer can change that which was already predetermined and decreed to occur! It can change Hashem’s decree! The prayers of the Kohain Gadol or Rabbi Yehoshua could have changed what Hashem had already ordained should occur.

Wow, what an amazing power of prayer our great Torah leaders had! This power of prayer is not limited to the Torah leader. When the evil Lavan caught up to Yaakov, after chasing him and his family, Lavan blessed his daughters. The Sforno (Bereishis 32:1) says that this blessing, from the evil Lavan, was effective, because it was said with heartfelt sincerity, with his total being, harnessing the power of his tzelem Elokim, image of Hashem.

Even a rasha has this power of prayer! Certainly, we, too, have this power of prayer! Our supplications can make a difference! Our heartfelt prayers can change the course of history! We can change that which has already been decreed that would happen to us, our loved ones, or to the entire Jewish People!

Let’s harness this super-power! Let’s try to increase our heartfelt and sincere prayers to Hashem,

harnessing our tzelem Elokim! Let’s make a difference in our own lives and in the world!

 

Based on a dvar Torah by Rabbi Henach Leibowitz zt”l as notated in Pinnacle of Creation by Rabbi Aryeh Striks & Rabbi Shimon Zehnwirth, as well as in Chidushei Lev by Rabbi Binyomin Luban