Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello my friends.
[00:00:01] I know it's Friday and it's late and it's late for me to be releasing the Practical Parsha podcast. I apologize, but as they always say, better late than never.
[00:00:13] And this week again, I'm, um, broadcasting to you live from my West Virginia studio. It's hard to find the quiet around here in a girls camp, but thank God I've found a quiet corner for me to gather my thoughts and to share them with you.
[00:00:31] So if you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, just to say hello, introduce yourself, please feel free to send me an email. Rabbi Shlomo Kon k o h nmail uh.com and next week I hope to come to you again from the Practical Parsha podcast studio. I'm looking forward to to getting back to the regular routine.
[00:00:55] This week's Torah portion is Parshas Matos Maase. It's a double portion and it's also Shabbos Chazak, which means we're finishing the fourth book of the Torah. Can you believe it that we've gone all the way around? We're all the way up to the Book of Devarim starting next week, God willing. And this week we finish the Book of Numbers, Book of Amidbar and we say Chazak, Chazak vanish Chazayk. To be strong, have strength. To continue.
[00:01:24] And just to give a quick overview of the Parsha. Parshas Matos deals with different vows and oaths that people take, how they are annulled and how they cannot be annulled, and different situations regarding these types of nidarim. These vows, the Torah also tells us of the battle against the Midianites and from their victory, from the spoils of war, the Jewish people, they conquer the pots and the vessels of the Midianites. The laws of koshering utensils are taught to the Jewish people how to kasher. Parshas Matos continues with the request of Reuven and Gad and half of the tribe of Menashe that now before the Jewish people are about to go into the land of Israel, the tribe of Reuven, the tribe of Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh request to stay on the west side of the Jordan because they have a lot of cattle, a lot of flock.
[00:02:25] And Moshe Rabbeinu tells them, makes a deal with them that they have to fight. They have to come across with the rest of the nation to come and conquer the land of Israel. And only then they could have the west side of the Jordan as an inheritance for Themselves. Parshas Maase tells us the summation of the journey of the B' Nai Yisrael of the Jewish people in the desert.
[00:02:46] And if you count up the stops, there's 42 stops, 42 ma', ASOs, stations that, uh, the Jewish people had throughout their journey in the desert and their encampments before they entered the Land of Israel. The Parsha also tells us the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael of the Land of Israel, as well as the cities of the Levites and the laws of the Cities of Refuge. If someone would kill someone inadvertently bishogeg, they would have to exile themselves to the Cities of Refuge or to the cities of the Levites until the Kohen Gadl, the high Priest, passed away. And then they would be able to go back to their places of living. The first idea I wanted to share with you today is on the story of Bnei Gad, B' Nai Reuven and the half of tribe of Menashe is that mentioned before. The tribe of Reuven and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh possessed a large amount of livestock.
[00:03:40] And they felt that in order for their livestock to dwell properly and to grow, they needed space, they needed pasture. And they asked Moshe Rabbeinu, they asked Moses to stay on the west side of the. On the east side of the Jordan. I apologize. On the east side, they didn't want to cross to the west side of the Jordan into the land of Israel with the rest of the Jewish people. So when they make this request to Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe rebukes them and says, how is it that you could stay here? Everyone else should should have to fight in the army to conquer the land, and you should stay here. So they clarify their request to Moshe Rabbeinu. They say that we will go with the B' Nai Yisrael. We will join them in battle against the nations of Canaan, and we will help overtake the land.
[00:04:26] And only then, after the land is conquered, will we return to our families.
[00:04:30] And in the Psukim, in the verses, we learn something very important and very deep to their actual request of where it was coming from. And a lesson for ourselves. The Psukim um, say that when the B' Nai Gad and B' Nai Reuven, when they approached Moshe, they said as they approached him and said, pens for our flock shall we build here for our livestock and cities for our small children.
[00:04:55] That they said that they're going to build first houses for their livestock and for their children. And then they would cross into the land of Israel with the rest of the Jewish people.
[00:05:04] And when Moshe goes back to them to give them an answer and to make his condition that they have to fight, he says something very interesting. He says, build for yourselves cities for your small children and pens for your flock.
[00:05:17] And what has come from your mouth you shall do, meaning if you fulfill the requirements of our condition that you come and to join us in battle. So then you could stay here.
[00:05:26] But if you look at Moshe's response and the request of the B' Nai Gad and B' Nai Reuven, you see something very interesting. That when Bnei God and B' Nai Reuven made the request from Moshe, what did they say? First they said, pens for our flock we shall build here for our livestock and cities for our small children.
[00:05:45] And what does Moshe say back to them? He says, build for yourselves cities for your small children and pens for your flock. He switches around the order of the request of the B' Nai Gad um and B' Nai Reuven.
[00:06:00] And this, the commentary is explained on this, is that when the B' Nai Gad and Bnei Reuven, when they came to Moshe Rabbeinu for the request to stay on the east side of the Jordan river, you know, they said, it's because of our livestock. We need the space. We want to stay here. This is better for us. But the question is that where was their actual request coming from?
[00:06:20] Was it coming from a good place, or was it coming from a place of worrying about their money and wanting to increase their wealth? And from their wording in the Psukim, it's very clear to us that what their concern was, their main concern was, was their livestock, right? They say, first we're going to build pens for our livestock, and then we're going to build cities for our children, right? That their priority number one was, uh, their livestock, their wealth, their 401k, the money in their bank account.
[00:06:52] And only when Moshe Rabbeinu makes the response, he tells them, says, no cities for your children and pens for your livestock you shall make.
[00:07:02] And it just really, this is a very big insight, actually. The Talmud and the sages criticized the tribes of Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven. And in fact, the Medrash tells us that the conquering of Israel, it didn't just take one day. It took 14 years.
[00:07:18] And these warriors, you know, the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven, they had great warriors that came from them.
[00:07:24] They came for the entire duration of the 14 years. They didn't go back to their families for 14 years.
[00:07:30] And then when they return, the midrash tells us that they didn't recognize their own children, that they were away for so long. They saw these children with long hair. They didn't know who they were.
[00:07:39] And the travesty in that is that many times, you know, we could think about these people at the B' Naigad B' n' eruvay and, like, how foolish were they? They gave up their children, you know, for money.
[00:07:52] But the truth is that this phenomenon existed then and exists.
[00:07:57] You know, many times you hear sports players saying, you know, or people, uh, who are very successful, they say, I'm retiring now. I need to spend more time with my family. You know, obviously there's such a thing. It's never too late. But at the same time, you know, where were you for the past 30 years? The point is that we have a very limited amount of time.
[00:08:19] Raising children is not something which is forever, and it's something which is more limited.
[00:08:24] And the point is that when God gives us the opportunity, we have to take advantage to be there to prioritize the people in our lives before the money that's in our bank account. You know, and this is something that. It's not so foreign for us. We all relate to this in some way or the other. Obviously, we have to make. We have to make a living for our family.
[00:08:42] But there always is that fine line of making a living and, you know, giving away our lives to what we do. And the point is that we have to always remember the response of Moshe Rabbeinu to the B' Nai Gad and B' Nai Reuven, that we can't base our decisions primarily off of money. That the first priority in our lives is our children, is our family, is our close ones, our loved ones. And only after that should be the money, should be how we obviously have to make a living. But that shouldn't be the top priority in our lives. And because of this, the sages sanction those tribes. And ultimately it didn't turn out so well. And this is the lesson that we can take for ourselves to keep that focus and to remember what's true, priority number one when it comes to our decisions, when it comes to everything we do, to remember that our family comes first.
[00:09:35] The second thought I wanted to share with you today is in Parshas Maase and as I mentioned before, Parshas Maseh, besides for telling the stops of the Jewish people in the desert. It also gives us the mitzvah, uh, of setting up a.
[00:09:49] Which is a city of refuge for people who had inadvertently killed someone else. And the Torah tells us that if someone kills someone bishogi, which is by mistake, the family of the killed has the ability to redeem the blood of their lost relative. And the way that the person who killed by accident can protect himself from the family members who want to get revenge on him is by running to a city of refuge where he's protected, he cannot be killed.
[00:10:20] And the Torah tells us that he stays in the city of refuge until the death of the kohen gadl, till the death of the high priest. And the question is, why is the death of the high priest the cause that lets him go out of the city of refuge to be free again, to live amongst the people, to go back to his family?
[00:10:42] Why is it that that's the action or the event that occurs that lets him go free? And the Rambam explains in Moru Nevuchem that the reason why the death of the kohen gadol allows him to be atoned, I guess, helps him atone for his m. Misdeed and allows him to go out is because when the kohen gadol dies, the high priest passes.
[00:11:08] The family of the deceased, of the one who got killed by accident.
[00:11:13] Experiences a certain level of consolation by knowing that the most esteemed person in the nation, the Cohen Godl. He was the spiritual father of the Jewish people. With his passing, uh, they sort of share in the grief of the nation. Knowing that they're not the only one that's suffering a tragedy. And therefore, once they have that consolation, the relatives of the deceased no longer feel that passion for revenge. And the person who killed by accident can go out. Can go out of the city and go back to his family.
[00:11:47] And this really leads us to a very important idea.
[00:11:51] You know, everybody has different challenges in life.
[00:11:54] Some people experience challenges which are more extreme, more challenging, harder.
[00:12:00] You know, and we've talked. Talked about how Hashem gives us challenges that we can handle only for us. It's for us.
[00:12:06] But it's many times when we're going through something. And I could say this for myself, for the different challenges that I've gone through in my life.
[00:12:14] That we feel as if we're the only ones going through this bad experience, quote, unquote. There's nobody else that's feeling the same pain as, uh, usual.
[00:12:26] Nobody else in the world. We feel isolated. And that feeling of isolation makes the pain feel even harder and the challenge be even bigger.
[00:12:37] We have to remember that no matter what our problem is in this world, no matter what our challenges, there are many people also suffering.
[00:12:48] There's people suffering less than us, and there's people suffering more than us.
[00:12:54] And we're not alone.
[00:12:56] When we have this awareness that unfortunately there's many people in the world that are suffering some more, some less, it makes the challenge that we have to experience a little bit less, a little bit easier to overcome. Now doesn't mean that we're happy when somebody, God forbid, when someone has a challenge.
[00:13:17] But the fact of knowing that there's other people that challenge that, that share the same challenge as us is sort of support for ourselves. Sholom Amelech tells us in Chadavar Chadish Takaz Hashemesh. There's nothing new under the sun, that the problems that have plagued humanity have been plaguing humanity and will continue. It's part of the plan that G D has for us.
[00:13:38] And we just have to remember when we're facing a challenge to number one, know that we're not the only ones. And today, nowadays, in the small world that we live in, with the technology, the Internet, there's so many support groups and people that are out there that want to support each other, that have similar experiences, that are able to give you support. And I'm thinking for myself, even, you know, when I had certain experiences, I felt that people who share those experiences with me I was able to relate to the most. And I felt a certain sense of support and a sense of consolation to the challenge I was facing. And on two levels, we should learn from this idea, um, from the death of the Cohen Gadl, that to internally, within ourselves remember that we're not the only ones. And that should give us a little bit of strength to know, to make the challenge easier. And number two is that we should seek out support of those who have shared the same challenges as us to take advantage of people who have gone through the same experiences. You know, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. You know, the problems that we've had have happened to other people and will happen to others.
[00:14:46] So take advantage of the resources that are out there, people that can help you with your issue, with your challenge. And I want to take it one step further, that if, God willing, if you're going through something and you. You're experiencing something right now, or you've had gone through a certain challenge to make up in your mind to use that experience to help someone else, because You've been there already. You've gone through it to use that ability. And maybe, just maybe, that's the reason why Hashem put you through that. We don't know. But maybe that is so you can give over to someone else, to give someone else strength, who's struggling, who might not make it if not for you.
[00:15:25] And I remember myself that when I was going through something a little challenging, I made up in my mind that I'm, you know, I may be experiencing this right now, but I'm going to, God willing, use it for the future to help someone else out. And this should be our outlook when we face challenge and we face adversary. And, uh, just one word of caution. You know, we should never this. You know, we're amongst friends, but we should never say this to someone else. We could only say it to ourselves. You have to be careful how you tell others. Oh, uh, other people have your challenge. You never want to belittle someone's experience.
[00:16:00] Never want to do that, because the pain is still pain. It still hurts.
[00:16:03] But just to remember for ourselves that, you know, to be aware and to, God willing, use the experiences we have to help others, to be helped by others, and by that, we'll hopefully be able to overcome our challenges and, uh, to be the best we can be. So that's going to finish for today's podcast. Probably by the end of this podcast, you can hear in the background this camp's theme song. You might even learned it by now. So I. I apologize. I hope you enjoyed, and next week, I'm looking forward to coming to you from the Practical Parsha Podcast Studio. And as always, before I sign off, if you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out just to say hello, I'd love to hear from you. My email is Rabbi Shlomo kon k o h nmail.com have a great day and a great Shabbos.
