Parshas Matot-Masei: Tribes and Journeys

The Torah presents a double portion this week, Matot-Masei, Bamidbar (Numbers) 30:2-36:13. Matot opens with a lesson on laws regarding vows and oaths made to God that will help maintain personal and relational holiness while living in the Land of Israel. Vows to abstain from activity that the Torah permits in order to avoid the temptation of overindulgence, and promises made in God's name to behave beyond a common expectation are taken very seriously by tribal leaders, who have just witnessed dramatic repercussions after merrymaking runs amok among the military as well as in parts of the civilian population. Vows remain binding unless annulled in specific circumstances and the penalty for reneging on them is serious. Vows involving obligations to other people cannot be annulled. 

Pinchas leads the army into battle against the Midianites to avenge their attack on God through promoting depravity and idolatry among the Jews. Midianites loathe Torah based Jewish society. They reject peace and holiness and harmony among people and nations. They have a reputation for stirring up trouble in the neighborhood. To ensure spiritual safety and demographic security in Israel, they need to be eradicated. During battle preparations, the tribal leaders of Reuven and Gad request exemption from settling in the Holy Land, preferring the pasturelands east of the Jordan River. Moses grants them their request provided they participate in the war and promise to promote holiness in the villages and towns they will control.

The Torah portion Masei opens by listing the 42 stops during the 40 year trek through the desert. Each stop in the itinerary teaches a lesson that expands belief in Divine omnipresence, as well as faith in God's direction and the need to recognize and resist evil. The Baal Shem Tov, a revolutionary spiritual leader in Judaism, correlates each stop with human life events that develop and advance a God consciousness. Among his mystical ideas is that the baby in the womb learns the entire Torah, a phenomenon, though lost at birth, can be recovered later in life to guide a person back to moral living.

The Torah learning and activity of a fetus in its mother’s womb

https://shulchanaruchharav.com/halacha/the-torah-learning-and-activity-of-a-fetus-in-its-mothers-womb/

To learn more about the Baal Shem Tov, we recommend Dr. Henry Abramson's entertaining and informative lecture.

Who Was The Ba'al Shem Tov? Founder of Hasidism Jewish History Lecture Dr. Henry Abramson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwJFC4wYPg

This Torah portion includes warnings from the Almighty to safeguard Jewish culture by dispossessing the tribes currently inhabiting the land and destroying their idols and shrines.

The Seven Nations of Canaan This is a comprehensive treatise on the biblical writings of this commandment.

https://seforimblog.com/2015/07/the-seven-nations-of-canaan/

Masei also introduces the concept of the sanctuary city, where suspected murderers who are at risk from being killed by family members of the slain stay while awaiting trial. Regulations about land inheritance and marriage within tribes living in Israel close the portion and the book of Numbers.

In biblical times, oaths and vows are verbal declarations that reflect a genuine love of God and a sincere desire to approach life's pleasures in holy ways. While Moses lives, he imbues the people with Divine consciousness that encourages them to dedicate their lives to moral pursuits. This proves very effective in maintaining social order and spiritual health between and within Jewish tribal societies. This changes after Moses dies and the Jews populate the land of Israel. Intentions to eject idolatrous tribes from the land fall short, leaving their pagan practices to influence Jewish choices in personal lifestyle, religious practice and national policy. This precipitates serious social and national security problems throughout the Tanakh. Vows become problematic when Jews are forced to make vows of faithfulness to other religions. The advent of rabbinic Judaism allowed rabbis creative authority to annul these forced promises and the ritual of annulling sinful and wrongheaded vows was eventually incorporated into Yom Kippur services as the Kol Nidre prayer.

Our Haftarah this week, Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 2:4–28; 4:1–2, expands the theme of the Torah portion as the prophet reprimands every level of Jewish society for abandoning holiness and morality. He holds the leadership especially culpable for disloyalty to God and the suffering this will cause the Jewish people from their enemies and their fair weather friends. 

Jeremiah's warnings can be applied to current existential threats faced by Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. Jewish culture today can be viewed as a leaky boat, whose oarsmen paddle vigorously to counter military and political currents that seek to overturn the vessel. At the same time a leak in the boat caused by abortion as acceptable birth control and rejection of God's moral guidelines for living in so many other areas drains the nation of demographic and spiritual strength. No matter how much effort goes into the rowing, the boat will sink eventually if the leak remains unacknowledged and unplugged, and until God is once again viewed as our source of strength and victory.

In 2005, I got the idea to provide a Jewish pro-life voice in the public square after listening to an NPR segment about the review of the Supreme Court's ban on partial birth abortion in which a Jewish woman declared her religious and civil right to commit infanticide. A Jewish pro-life message was absent that day. Subsequent investigation revealed the need for one, as well as for a Torah based pro-life educational and healing resource for Jews across all denominations. After a year of mulling over the idea to start the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation, I made an audible vow to actually do it, with a conditional add-on that my computer incompetency and my poor communication skills together with a complete lack of non-profit knowhow would be problematic and that HaShem would have to be in charge!

Despite numerous mistakes and missteps along the way, the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation now offers that Jewish pro-life voice in the public square to counter the ungodly messages broadcasted by the media and establishment Jewish groups who have fallen under the spell of secular humanism and social justice that dehumanizes babies in the womb and puts a target on every Jew outside of the womb. We're calling attention to the leak in the Jewish nation's boat and offering a way to fix it. We're reaching Jewish women and men here and in Israel with our Torah based pro-life defense of human innocent life in the womb and helping our pro-life friends from other faiths to understand and argue for holiness in politics and law from a Jewish perspective. Our message of hope in God's forgiveness for misguided oaths made to support baby killing is a healing balm to those who suffer from despair and guilt after realizing complicity in ending His amazing gift of life. As our work continues, the leaky boat will be repaired and attacks from our enemies and fair weather friends will cease.

Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.