Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah….
Why do I say Torah 4 times? Because with this week’s double portion, we finished book 4 of the 5 books of Torah our man Moshe (Moses) wrote. So, how do we finish the book called Numbers in English and Bamidbar, which means wilderness or speaking, in Hebrew? The first of the two parshas (portions) is called Matot in Hebrew, which means staffs or tribes. It starts off by talking about oaths and vows. We then have Moshe doing his final bit of leading: sending 12,000 men to wipe out the Midianites. We then see how the spoils of war get divided (yes we were successful – Midian is destroyed), and the first parsha ends with the tribes of Reuban and Gad requesting to stay in the just conquered lands for these lands are good grazing lands and they have lots of livestock.
Parsha II is called Mas’ay which means journeys and this portion summarizes the 40 year trek the tribes of Israel is just finishing. HaShem (god) then tells Moshe the boundaries of the land, and then we get the names of the leaders of each tribe. The Torah then talks about the cities for the tribe of Levi who have no land because their inheritance is haShem and not the land. Nevertheless, they do need a place to live. This leads into the laws of revenge for murder and ends with the five daughters we encountered last week being restricted to marriage within their tribe to keep the lands they inherit within the tribe of their birth and not having the land go to the tribe they marry into.
One shabbat, a few years ago, I enjoyed dinner at R. Asi Spiegel’s house and he pointed out that when we read two portions together in one week, even though they are two, we have to treat them as one. Hence, the name of the parsha is Matot-Mas’ay. R. Spiegel went on, translating the word Matot as staffs and saying that they symbolize unchange-ness. A staff is a part of a tree that is no longer alive and hence no longer changing. This is in contrast to journeys which are all about change. So, he put the two together saying this week’s parsha is about not losing your essence as you grow and change. I might touch again on this theme at the end, but for now I want to focus on Matot.
Why does Matot start talking about oaths and vows and then go into war and end with Reuban and Gad not wanting to go into the promised land? To me, oaths and vows are what Matot is all about. First we define the power of oaths and vows. When you restrict yourself with an oath or a vow, it has the same status as if haShem has told Moshe that this is the way the world is. Why is that? Well, first, it is one way that we are in haShem’s image and co-create reality. Deeper, I think it is trying to teach how important one’s words are in creating reality, and for them to have that power, one is bound to their words, no matter what. This is the staff of permanence that is the name of the parsha.
The rest of Matot deals with times we might be tempted to go against our word, against creation if you will. When are those times? When one is about to lose one’s life, be it their job (Moshe as leader) or their actual life (as Moshe was about to). Moshe could have drawn out the war with Midian and kept himself alive and in charge, but he didn’t. Why? Because once upon a time he had made an oath to serve haShem and if that meant passing on the baton of power and dying, then so be it.
A second place where one is tempted on going against one’s word is in battle. It might be full blown war as we have here with Midian, or it might be with a loved one or with oneself. During these heated times, it is easy to forget promises. Here we are being told not to for they are just like the word of the creator, for we are co-creators. This also goes for the spoils of war. Think of how many times in history victorious armies have raped and pillaged, basically going against the very laws and customs of their community/state/country/government/individual ideals.
And lastly, we end with two of the tribes not wanting to cross into the promised land. What is special here? Well, they are asked to make an oath saying they will not abandon the other tribes if they stay on the land east of the Jordan river. This teaches us that the sacredness and power of an oath is not just for oaths made in the past, but also those made today and tomorrow.
I don’t want to make this too long, so I will just make a brief comment in regards to the end of the parsha: we have the five women who will inherit their father’s portion of land. The leaders of their tribe ask for a way to prevent the tribe from losing the land and haShem’s solution is to say these women are not allowed to marry outside their tribe.
At first it might seem not fair to restrict who daughters that inherit their father’s land can marry. The complaint that leads to this decision, however, comes from within their own family (tribe) and it does come to show us the tension between individual rights/freedoms and the needs of community: an issue that each one of us continues to struggle with today. Another example of Matot-Mas’ay: the land staying within the tribe is the staff (matot) and the freedom of who the women can marry (mas’ay).
I hope that we all take our words seriously and I wish everybody the best in learning what their essence is and what needs to change in order to grow and come closer to divinity.
Have a good week/Shavauh tov.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.