The Complete Bible Crash Course: Book of Numbers
00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, director of TORCH, The Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay, good evening everybody. Welcome back to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. We are in middle of our five books in five weeks. Technically, this is the fifth class, but we only started Genesis on the second class, so it's not yet five books in five weeks. Next week our dwelling will complete the rest of the Bible Crash Course with the Book of Deuteronomy. But thus far we talked about the family of Israel in Genesis, the nation of Israel in Exodus, the service of Israel which was through the temple and the offerings and many, many commandments.
00:51
I would even say that the Book of Leviticus is the Book of spirituality of the Jewish people, because even though we have laws like the laws of kosher in Leviticus 11, the laws of kosher really don't only demonstrate the way we eat, but it demonstrates the holiness of the soul. Our sages teach us that if you want to be connected to the Almighty, kosher food is the way to go. Why it says, for example, the halachah says that non-kosher food metamtem es-alayv. It makes the spiritual receptors clogged. It clogs up our ability to connect spiritually. So then we also see that we have the laws of mitzorah, of the affliction for someone who speaks LaShonharah, someone who speaks negatively about another person. We see the laws of inappropriate relationships between a man and many, many. I think there's 24 different relationships that are prohibited. These are all different things.
02:05
You want to stay holy? This is the Book of Leviticus, which teaches us the path to holiness. And now we're coming into the book. And what? Second and at the end of the Book of Leviticus, we have the blessings and the admonitions, where God says if you follow my ordinances, if you go in my way, you will see unbelievable success. For example, we have the laws of the sabbatical year, where if someone has land in the holy land of Israel, they work it for six years and rest on the seventh and God says you'll live a spiritual life. You think everything comes from your toil of the earth. No, just no, it comes from me, because you're going to do your ordinary work in all six years, but on the sixth year you'll have a triple crop to cover for your sixth year, your seventh and your eighth when you get things back on its way, so you can spend the seventh year focusing on your relationship with God. This is also part of the spirituality of the Jewish people.
03:10
But now we come to the fourth book of the Torah, the Book of Numbers, also known as Bamidbar. Bamidbar means in the desert. I don't know why those who gave the English names or the Latin names to the Torah, why they chose the Book of Numbers, obviously it's because the Jewish people are counted numerous times. The Jewish people are counted probably a half dozen or more times in the Book of Numbers. That's a lot to carry to count an entire people. But why would it be called Bamidbar in the desert?
03:52
You see, really there are four books in the Torah. We know there are five books of Moses. So why are you telling me four books? Because the fifth book is a review of everything and that's why it's called Dvarim. Dvarim is a review. It's also known as Mishnah Torah, which is the review of the entire Torah. It's reviewing the entire Torah, all the principles. Many of the laws are reviewed again in the Book of Deuteronomy. The fundamentals of our mission statement, the Shema and the Ten Commandments the Ten Commandments are reviewed again in the Book of Deuteronomy. So the Book of Deuteronomy is, according to many, a review. It's not part of the four books of the Torah.
04:39
If you're saying there are four books of the Torah, where's the fifth? If Deuteronomy is a review, say, just tell us that from the middle of the Book of Numbers is where, in middle of Parashas Bahalozchah, we have a section there where the Jewish people started making all of these terrible decisions. They sent in the spies, as we'll see, and they had Korach and they had the complainers. They had many terrible things that befell the Jewish people and all tragic, all with negative impact on the Jewish people. What happened? The Jewish people learned the hard way and that's why it's a separate book, so to speak. It's like the last Book of the Torah, the issues, the problems that the Jewish people had. Now that's on a technical level, but in a real way we count Deuteronomy as the fifth Book of the Torah. So why is it important to have an entire Book of the Torah talk about what happens to the Jewish people in the desert? They're all in the desert. Ba-mid-bar means in the desert, because that is the real Jewish people, the struggle the desert represents.
06:01
Life is not going to be hunky-dory. Life is not going to always be simple. Life is not always going to be easy and simple. All the nations of the world agree with Israel against Gaza Not going to happen. The entire world is going to condemn Hamas and say release the hostages. Not going to happen. The entire world is not trying to pressure Israel into one thing or another thing. That's not good for its people. Not going to happen.
06:38
This is what we see is the reality of the Jewish people is going to be like you're in a desert. You're always going to have the lions running after you. You'll have the elephants running after you. You don't have the elephants, you'll have the tigers. You'll always have someone running after you. That's the reality of the Jewish people, which is why I believe it's so important. We're supposed to talk about the family of Israel, the nation of Israel, the spirituality of Israel and now the book of numbers, the book of Deuteronomy, the reality of Israel. You're going to have a lot of challenges. You're going to face turmoil, you're going to face trials and tribulations. That's your reality. Now, if you want to take the blue pill and just forget about the world and nothing will ever bother you, that's the nations of the world you can live your peaceful life and nothing's going to happen. No one's going to bother you.
07:35
But if you're part of the chosen people I saw someone recently wrote I didn't choose to be Jewish, I was privileged to be Jewish. Well, it's also ashebohabonoh God chose us and we chose God. It's a choice that we made. Therefore, we're going to have different sets of rules and you are wondering why can't they just accept us for who we are? Look at all the other nations. We can go to the Hague. We can go to any court in the world and say why are you persecuting the Jewish people? We did what everybody else did. In fact, we're even more ethical in our wars than any other nation on earth. Look at what the Americans did in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in we. You name the war, international violations, one after the other. Look at Russian Ukraine, both sides violating international law.
08:31
But Israel, now we're going to take you to Hague and we're going to persecute you. Why? Because this is the reality of being a people who's chosen, who is going to have to elevate ourselves and be above the fray, to be above the nations of the world and elevate ourselves. So yeah, we're on the desert. The desert has many challenges. Our job is to elevate ourselves beyond that. And it's not for us to say, oh, look at us, we're greater than the nations of the world. On the contrary, our job is to say we're more obligated, we're more responsible, we're going to be held more accountable Because perhaps we didn't show a good enough example, perhaps we didn't demonstrate what it means to be a godly people that we will be held accountable for. And if you think the the court international court in Hague is a problem for Israel, the international court of heaven is a lot worse. It's a lot more serious and that's one that we should be concerned for.
09:39
So now there are 10 portions in the book of numbers. We see tremendous amount of divine providence. We see that the Jewish people travel, but part of traveling you need to learn how to live as a Jew. It's not an ordinary time for the Jewish people. Whenever a person travels, there are trials and tribulations that befall them. It's not when you're not in your ordinary space, when you're not in your ordinary schedule, when you don't have your regular routine, things get mixed up. I know I was just in New York for a couple of weeks and your whole schedule is different, your Things that are routine for you in your own home. Even how you make your coffee in the morning is very different, because now you're either guessing someone else's home, you're traveling. They don't have what you're used to. They don't have what you're accustomed to. You don't have a way to get around like you, nor ordinarily do.
10:38
There's a lot of challenge when you travel and the reality of the Jewish people is that wherever we were, we were always visitors in a foreign land. We were always a visitor in a foreign land. Think of it for a second. The Jewish people were in Spain and we were expelled. The people of Israel were in England, united Kingdom. We were in France. We were in Germany, we were in Austria. We were in Hungary. Weren't Poland, poland? We were in Russia. We were in every nation on planet Earth and we were expelled, exterminated, mutilated, murdered, holocaust, you name it. All of it we had. So we're always going to have to learn to re Anchor ourselves in a new land.
11:30
Very interestingly, as a total aside, if you notice, the Jewish people always settled near water. Wherever they live, they were always near water, and that is because they always needed an escape route. If they come after us, they'll take our homes, but at least we'll be on a boat and go on to the next island. We'll go on to the next city, and wherever the Jewish people were were, historically, was next to water. It's not very common that you find Jewish communities in middle of a landmass. Also, till this generation, jews never invested in real estate, and that's because real estate you can't take in your pocket and go away and run away in middle of the night. But Jews were known as jewelers and diamond dealers. Why? Because those are small things. If you're being expelled, you put them in your pocket and you go to the next town. You can't take your buildings with you.
12:34
I think it's a little bit concerning that our generation feels so comfortable in the United States. Where people are investing a tremendous amount in real estate is particularly the Jewish community, and we're forgetting our history. We're forgetting that Many, many nations were very kind to the Jewish people till they weren't. We see this in Egypt in the beginning of the book of Exodus, where the Jewish people were there for a long time and they had great leadership in Joseph. Suddenly there was a new king who didn't know who Joseph was.
13:10
Joseph, what are you talking about? It's like imagine someone who's born in year 2002, who's now 22 years old today, who doesn't even know that there was once a president Reagan. Reagan, I don't know. I don't know what his policies were on Economics, on Peace through strength, or if you go back to many other presidents that preceded Reagan. I have no idea, it's just me or all of my life experience, which is very limited. So imagine Someone who doesn't study history, like Pharaoh didn't, clearly, or he did and decided to ignore it. So this Joseph boy saved our people, saved our nation and massed an enormous wealth for us. I Shallow you other, as you say, if this king doesn't know Joseph, either by choice, he chose not to know Joseph or by ignorance.
14:15
He just didn't know who he was and decided to cause Terrible pain and grief for the Jewish people. So here we begin, the book of numbers, and the first three portions are talking about the encampment around the tabernacle. Now it's very important for us to know that when you're traveling with approximately three million people and you're gonna be in the desert for how long 40 years You've got to have order, otherwise you'll have total chaos. And All the all of the tribes had their own identity, which is something which we're gonna focus on a little bit today. Why was it important for each tribe to have their own flag? Every tribe had their own color, they had their, they had their own leadership, their own representatives, the tribe leaders, and they also had their own flag. And the reason is because Every Jew wants to feel unique. Everybody wants to be. You know what they say. They say Jews don't care about how much it's gonna cost, they just want to know they got a deal. Was it on sale? Did I save something? That's, that's the way, right. So the Jewish people, they want to feel unique. Anybody who's offended by that? I'm sorry. So they were Around the Jewish people. There were 12 tribes. Now we know that the tribe of lavi, the Levites, which included the Kohanim, their Kohanik family, were not counted as one of the tribes. Instead, it was menasha and a frame who got the double portion of Joseph. So we have, if we look around, the camping, the encampments of the Jewish people. On the north you had Don Asher and off Tali. On the east, you had Judah is a car and Zavallun. On the south you had Ruvane, shimon and God, and on the West you had Benjamin a frayam and menasha. Inside the inner loop you had Gershon, kahasan, marari, the three sons of lavi, and you had Moshe and Aaron, and they all encamped around there. In the middle was the tabernacle. So, and this is the way they traveled and this is the way they camped, and everybody was part of their Team, part of their crew, and when they traveled, that everyone lifted up their objects, their items and they traveled in an in an orderly fashion. Again, everybody had their flag Ish Lephi Machaneu, ish Lephi Diglow. Everyone according to their camp, everyone according to their flag is how they traveled and they traveled with the Ark. So, when the tabernacle moved, they moved. When the tabernacle rested, they rested. Okay, so the first three portions talk about the encampment Number one. It starts with a census, the tribal leaders. We were identified and there were different tribe camps. Everyone was able to identify with their camp.
17:48
Everyone likes to feel it's just like you have Sports. It's not a good example and I don't want to compare between holy the tribes, the holy tribes and sports. But you see, what happens is they could have just made one big game on every Sunday for football, but no, it's gonna be more fun if Louisiana plays against Texas and Arizona plays against Los Angeles. You know, in each one and in Las Vegas plays against, you know. You know what I'm saying. Each one.
18:16
You creating competition, you're creating identity, which is what it really is, is that most people in Houston, texas, who are rooting for a certain team Don't know the players. So what I mean, we know about them, we can read about them in the news, we can hear the game and how they play and all their Statistics, but do I know who they are? I don't know who they are. I don't know if they're a good father, a bad father, a Good neighbor, a bad neighbor. I don't anything about them unless they're in the news. There's some lawsuit against them. Ied, sean Watson. Right, we don't know.
18:56
But what we do know is that we have a certain affinity because it's my team, it's my city, we root for our team, for the home team, and for some it's from their childhood or from the past. For some people, for example, are big fans of the dolphins right so. And dolphins becomes Bible, right. That's the way it is, because we have a certain affinity when someone was connected with a specific tribe. You're not just part of the Jewish people, you're part of the tribe. You're part of an identity, a holy identity that had specific characteristics. Each tribe, as Jacob laid out at the end of the book of Genesis. He gave you a sense of pride. He gave you a sense of belonging and a sense of connection. I think it's important for us to realize that for our own children we need to do the same. Our own children need to feel a sense of pride that they are part of our family, not that they're just another person, another, every. I was telling this to my daughter just this week.
20:06
Every single human being on planet Earth wants to feel unique. Everybody wants to feel unique. Why, when you walk into an event and someone is wearing the same outfit, particularly for females you'll feel like uncomfortable. Some will say take me home, I'm changing. Why? Because you want to feel unique. You don't want to be another. Oh, you're both wearing it. Who wore it better? No, you want to be unique, you want to be special. Every single human being wants to feel special. As parents, I believe this is one of the most important things that we need to stress with our children. Is their uniqueness. Not you're the greatest child, and you too. No, no, no, no. You're the greatest child in this specific way and you're the greatest child, and each one stands out in their own unique way. No one wants to be another link in the chain of just like yeah, you're just, you're special, you're okay, you know. No, you're unique, you're different.
21:18
The Jewish people this is something we learn here. Each one of the different tribes represented a uniqueness or something special that no one else possessed. This is you. The total count was 603,550, excluding the Levites. And why are we saying that there were 3 million people? If there were 603,550 in the count, that's because those are only the men between the age of 20 and 60. Children beneath the age of 20, adults above the age of 60, weren't part of the census. So if you just do the simple math, you'll have right there 1.2 million males, 2.4, if you multiply it with the women, and then it says that a third of the Jewish people were the on-comers from Egypt. Those who ran away from Egypt said we don't want to be with this crazy pharaoh and we want to go with the Jewish people because we recognize that their God is the God of the creator of heaven and earth. So if you do the math, it's likely in the number of 3 to 3.2 million people altogether, and again, this is excluding the Levites.
22:43
Another important thing you see, one of the challenges that we're facing in our world today is that we want everyone to feel good and everyone to feel like they are the winner, and there's no such thing as inequality. Today, you have something which is called DEI Diversity, equity and Inclusion. Very good, what is this? This means that, even though you don't deserve it, we're going to give it to you anyway, for whatever reason. You see, in the Jewish people we have something called a Kohane, we had something called a Levi and we had something called a Yisra'el, and these are from different lineage families. Those who were Kohane were Kohane and their children were Kohane and their grandchildren were Kohane and the Levites the same, and the Yisra'el were anyone who was not part of that family. And you know that. It's very interesting that in every single synagogue around the world, the first aliyah, the first calling to the Torah, is given to a Kohane. Oh, that's not fair. Where's diversity, equity, inclusion? No, guess what? You're not equal, you're different. You're unique in your own way, and I think we're doing a disservice to people by not giving them their own way to be unique.
24:19
You don't get a trophy because you participated. You get a trophy because you won, because you played harder, because you played better, because you practiced harder, because you trained harder. My son went to soccer league and lost the championship and of course it wasn't so cheerful, it was tough, because it was the end of the season and I said, okay, I'm so sorry, we're going to go get some ice cream. We're so proud of your accomplishment this season and next season you're going to come home with that trophy, you're going to work harder, you're going to practice harder. And the coach says no, no, no, no, don't go yet, don't go yet. We're giving out trophies. We're going to give out trophies. They lost. He says, yeah, but they made it to the championship and I'm sorry for participating in this thing. I was the last time any of my children were ever in that league and that is because I don't want my child to be a loser. And when you give a loser a trophy, they stay a loser and if you say no, it's going to hurt. The loss is going to hurt. You know what's going to happen next time. They're going to fight harder and they're going to practice harder. They're going to do it because that feeling is not pleasant to lose and they don't like that feeling and they're going to fight that feeling and it's going to push them and propel them to take it up a notch and to do better. So you don't like what I'm saying here.
25:50
I find that too much of sports has become business because many teams say, even if we lose, we make money. So why change the recipe? It's fine, it's all about money. And the athletes they show up to work. They don't show up to sport to play. They have fun because they're getting their salary one way or another. If it was on the line and they had to fight for that victory, they might play a little bit harder, but they may not drop that ball as easily because everything's on the line. So I mean, I love sports, all sports, except for what's that one? The kick around the ball? No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding, it's only like 17 billion people watch soccer and us Americans we don't even know what that is.
26:47
But either way, when you work hard at something, you know what. But it's sometimes possible, even if you don't win, that you feel good because of how much you've grown and how much you've accomplished. Okay, either way, it's important for every person to feel unique and special. I hope this point is not understated. It's important. Our children make them feel special. Most important is your spouse, your significant other. You're not just all right, you're just okay. No, you are special, you are unique, you are one of a kind and that is very important for every single person we care about to feel unique and feel special.
27:32
And then the formation, like we mentioned previously, those that were in the north, the south, the east, the west and the inner circle, of the encampments around the tabernacle. All of that was designated. The appointments of the Levites, the redeeming of all firsts, the first of the land, the first of the animals, the first of the crops and the first of the baby boys and the total count of the Levites was 22,000 Levites. They were counted separately. The first born are redeemed.
28:05
By the way, how are the Jewish people counted? They were counted by a half shekel. So a half shekel is equivalent to today what would maybe be 10 cents. Everybody has 10 cents. Even if you're poor, you have 10 cents. And that's a small number, a small amount that every single person, no matter how wealthy you were or how poor you were, everybody gave the same 10 cents. And like this they counted. Because we don't count people. Why not? Because everyone is unique. They're not a number. They're not a number. We count the coins, we don't count people, which is why, for a minion, we don't say, oh, we need 10 people and count the. No, we don't count like that. We say a verse that has 10 words in it and you count the people by the words of the verse. You don't count Jews. It's a prohibition in the Torah. You don't count the Jewish people. The first born babies are redeemed and the Kohanites are organized, and then we have a special precaution for the Kohanites not to defile themselves there at a holy state, and they cannot become defiled to things that are unholy.
29:15
Now the second portion in the book of Numbers is the portion of Nusso. Nusso means the transport, or the traveling, or the carrying. We could do. Noseb means to carry. Interestingly, I remember when I was with my grandfather many years ago and I would walk back home with him from Shul in the morning, from synagogue, and he would walk home holding his Tefillin. I would ask him let me hold him. My grandfather was in his late 80s and I said let me hold your Tefillin for you. And he said no, the Tefillin are our own Noseb, it's like the Ark. The Ark would carry those who carried it. You thought you were carrying the Ark, but really the Ark was carrying you. My grandfather said that his Tefillin were like the Ark and the Ark was carrying him. It wasn't him carrying the Ark.
30:15
The distribution of responsibilities, the recounting of the Jewish people, the purification of the camp. The repenting for theft is taught in this week's parasha. The laws of the Sota, the suspected adulterous, the Nazarite, the sudden contamination, priestly blessings, the offering of tribal leaders. Moshe enters the tabernacle and the altar is dedicated. Now let's go into some of the details in this portion. Number one. Number two the purification of the camp. You can't reside among the Jewish people, if you are not in a holy state. The Jewish people are very sensitive to spiritual influences and if someone is in an unholy state they need to be removed from the camp. That doesn't mean they're expelled from the camp, but till they purify themselves they go outside the camp so that other people don't become defiled like them. Here's an example If someone comes into contact with a corpse, with a dead body, they become unholy, like the unholy corpse.
31:34
Now what's this whole idea of holiness and being unholy or in an unpurified state Say? Just teach us that holiness means potential. Holiness means potential. The lack of potential is a defilement. So let's put this together Someone is living. They're holy. Someone is dead unholy, because while you're living, you have a lot of potential, you have a lot of things you can accomplish and do. But once a person is passed on from this world, they can't accomplish anything anymore and therefore they're considered an unholy state. Therefore, anybody who comes into physical contact with that corpse, with that deceased body, is now taking on some of that unholyness. They've been exposed to a lack of holiness and therefore they become defiled in an unpurified state. It's just like a woman who is able to become pregnant is considered very holy, but when she's not in a state where she can become holy during a period, it's considered an unpurified state, because there's no ability, the potential for creation, for doing incredible things is taken away, which is why, again, that's what the mikvah process is the purification that removes that impure state. The same thing with a body of a deceased we cleanse the body through a whole ritual and then the body is buried To the person who became in contact with that dead body. They need to do the same. They need to stay away from the community. They need to cleanse themselves for a period of time of seven days and then they go into the mikvah and then they're back to normal. But the idea is that during this state of impurity they need to be secluded and away from others, so not influence them with their impurity.
33:55
Another thing sota, a woman is suspected by her husband of having an adulterous affair. So the husband warns her with witnesses and she this is actually the famous story of Hannah. We mentioned this in our prayer class where she said to God if you don't give me a child, I'm going to seclude myself with another man, not have relations with him. God forbid. She's married woman, but I'm going to be suspected of having an adulterous affair and then they're going to make me drink those waters and then I'm going to be innocent, and then you promise in your Torah Hashem that if I'm innocent I'm going to have babies. So I'm going to twist your arm, god, give me a baby, or else I'm going to make you give me a baby. That's what Hannah said. So what happens here? It's an unbelievable story that Thomas tells us. This is all written in the prophets.
35:00
A woman is suspected by her husband. Her husband warns her, says don't hang out with that guy, and she goes in seclusion with that individual. So now we don't know what happened. They're behind closed doors. We'll never know what happened, except if she were brought in front of the bed. Din, she brought in front of the court. The court says did you do it? She says no, did you do it? No, they say okay, they take God's name, they erase God's name into water and then she drinks that water. If she defiled herself and was with that other man, then her belly will explode and she'll die, and if she did not, she will have the most incredible children. If she didn't have children, she'll have children. If she had children that were short, they'll be tall. If she had children that were of one complexion that was inferior, they'll get another complexion that's superior, et cetera, et cetera. All of the different things, amazing. Okay.
36:06
The following portion talks about the Nazarite. This is still in Nassau. The Nazarite what's the Nazarite? And why does that immediately follow the teaching of the adulterous woman? The Nazarite what's the Nazarite? The Nazarite is one who gives themselves. They self limit themselves, they put on themselves their own regulations that they will stay away from any form of pleasure, from wine particularly. They're not going to cut their hair, they're not going to look good with a new, fresh haircut. They're going to stay away from all of those pleasures. Our sages ask us why is the portion of Nazir next to the portion of Sota? Our sages teach us and Rashi brings us out right away you have to learn lessons from things that happen to you. Why did this woman that we mentioned, this adulterous woman, why did she get into that issue to begin with? She probably went to a bar and got drunk. You know what the solution to that is Stay away from wine. Stay away from wine.
37:30
And the great Bal Shemtov, the founder of the Hasidic movement, would say that everything that you see is a mirror telling you a message, showing you an image. If you needed to see something, you go in the store and you see somebody yelling at their child. You know what that tells for you. That's the way you look when you yell at your child, like a crazy lunatic. That's you. Why did I need to see it? I could have been three aisles over. Why did I need to see that? Hashem is teaching me something. Hashem is teaching me a lesson Hashem is showing me. When you see something, you need to immediately put it into action. How am I going to change immediately? Not that it just be, oh, it just happens to be a story, it just happens to be that I saw this. No, it's there to teach you something. Put it into action, okay.
38:35
The next portion is Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh talks about the menorah, the consecration of the Levites, passover in the desert, the offerings, the trumpets, the order of breakdown of the camp, how they would disassemble the camp and how they would reassemble the camp, and we review the story of Yisro and that he was invited to join the Jewish people. The journey begins. The ark travels, the complainers. Here we go. Now we have the complainers. This is from here to the end. According to those, midrash is a new book of the Torah. Once we have the traveling of the ark, it's a new book of the Torah. We have the complainers. They're dissatisfaction with the menorah.
39:20
Imagine this. Imagine, just think about this for a second. Imagine you're eating godly food. You're eating food that every single morning shows up at your doorstep. You open up your front door, you go to walk your dog in the morning and you come back and you're like hey, here's my breakfast, lunch and dinner came all pre-packaged. Must be a fluke. Maybe they tried to send it someplace else to someone else's address. They by mistake delivered it here. You go to your neighbor's house and you're like what they have? This, they also got it. And then the next day, maybe it's just a promotion from Walmart, maybe they're just trying to get people interested in these pre-packaged dinners Then the next day, the same thing happens.
40:07
And the next thing, the next day, same thing happens. And then you tell your wife you know, I'm in a mood of green eggs and ham, I'm just kidding, you're just in. It's not kosher, but you're in a mood of having steak for dinner. And you behold, you eat this food and it tastes like steak. And next day you're interested in chocolate chip cookies and it tastes like chocolate chip cookies. This was the mona, imagine.
40:31
And they're complaining about it. How can you complain about this? What is wrong with you? Shem says you know what? Even when you're in a miracle, sometimes you forget that you're in a miracle. Every day that we live our lives, we know we're in a miracle and yet we forget about it. So Moses is in total despair. What is he gonna do? Look at these complainers. Hashem says you know what? I'm gonna send them meat. I'm gonna send them poultry, I'm gonna give them other food so that they stop complaining.
41:07
The Sanhedrinas form their new prophets that are designated. Moshe was not the only prophet. We know that there were many, many, many hundreds, if not thousands upon thousands of prophets and prophetesses. Moses is the most humble of all men. Why are sages? Teach us, because Moses, anybody knows, because he was closest to God. He was the closest to God. The closer you are to God, the more you know how small you are compared to God. Someone who's very distant can be very arrogant. It's very easy, because you don't even realize how small you are. Miriam is afflicted with leprosy, or an affliction, and sent out of the camp for seven full days because she speaks ill about her brother Moses. And, as we learn, the punishment for every person is according to their status. And Miriam, for her greatness, her punishment was according to her status.
42:08
Next portion is parashah shlach. And this is when the Jewish people reject the land. Exploring the land. Moses says we're going to send 12 spies to the land of Israel, the promised land. Moses prays for Joshua, the negative report of the land. They reject the land, and then there's a national hysteria that people go crazy. What in the world are we going to do? I'm just going to stop here for a second. Did you get the notes online? We did, okay, great, great. So for those of you listening, those of you who are here on YouTube with us or Facebook, youtube, twitter, twitch, rumble and all the other linked in, you can get, if you go to our podcast description, the description of this podcast. You will be able to click on the link to our Google Drive where we have all of these notes outlining each portion of the Torah.
43:08
So Moshe sends 12 spies, one representing each of the tribes. Moshe prays for Joshua not to be affected by his negative report of the neighbors and the negative report is distributed to the Jewish people and they reject the land. Why are we here? Let's go back to Egypt. Why do we need to die in the desert? Why do we need to go to this horrible land? And there's this national hysteria Moses please, and Hashem forgives. And then Hashem says well, if this is the way you're treating my gift to you, I'm going to punish you by giving you 40 years of wandering in the desert, aimlessly wandering in the desert, and the Jews learn the atonement offerings for sin. If one sins, you know what you do. You ask for forgiveness and you bring an atonement offering to Hashem and then we learn several mitzvahs, the laws of tzitzis and other mitzvahs at the end of the portion of shalach. So that's problem number two.
44:12
Problem number one was the complainers. Problem number two was Miriam. Problem number three is the negative report of the land of Israel. Let's go to problem number four, the rebellion of Korach. We're in a portion of Korach where you have a rebellion, a rebellion against the leadership, the priesthood, where Korach says who do you think you are to lead the people? The people don't need a leader. Look, everyone is good in the eyes of Hashem. Everyone is doing the right thing. Why should you be elevated, which is a little bit of a communist type of perspective. We're all equal. That's not either true. We're not all equal, and he was jealousy motivated.
44:59
God punishes them and he gives gifts to the. We give gifts to the kohanim to recognize their status and we give tithes to the Levites recognizing their status. For some reason, the Yisrael, the Israelites, don't get gifts. We give the gifts. So if you want to get a lot of meat in the temple, marry a kohin. Marry a kohin and then you get. Otherwise, there's no chance. David, me and you were staying hungry, all right, we're not getting the meat. But the women women can marry a kohin and then they get full status of the kohanic family.
45:45
There are multiple reasons for this terrible punishment that the Jewish people experienced of being in the desert for 40 years. But here's another thing is that it's true that they were there for an extended period of time because of the golden calf, but they got forgiveness for that. Moshe prayed for that forgiveness, which is actually in this week's Torah portion, parashat Kisisa. We talked about it this morning. And there is another level of 40 years where they're going to be homeless. They're going to be living in their camps, in their tents. But there's something beyond that and that is that those who were in that generation would not merit to enter into the land. They would all die, sadly, in the desert, and that was the end of that generation would not end up going into the land of Israel, except for Joshua, the leader, and a select few others.
46:46
So now we go into the portion of Chukkas. Chukkas, balak, pinchas and Matos. These four out of the last five portions are dealing with different wars that the Jewish people experienced In Chukkas. We have the first generation and the second generation. Who will enter the land? We have the laws of the Red Heifer. Miriam dies, there's no water. The people protest another issue with the Jewish people complaining. You see that Moshe hits the rock. Moshe is punished not to enter into the land of Israel, amalic attacks the Jewish people, aaron dies and they have new challenges that they will face. And there are more battles. There are more struggles.
47:30
The next portion, Parashas, balak, is the wicked. Balam and Bilak. Bilam and Balak, the wicked Bilam and Balak. Now, bilam is a very, very powerful prophet. He's more powerful than Moses. And what happens? God gives him an ambiguous permission of whether or not he can go curse the Jewish people First. God says no. And God says well, do as you wish. God does not say go ahead and do it, basically testing his values. Are you going to give in to your evil inclination? Interestingly, we mentioned this previously multiple times. I think it's important for us to note this in our complete Bible crash course, and that is.
48:21
This story is a total surprise to Moses. You see everything else that, just about everything else that Moses writes about on the Torah. He was there, he saw it, except for the story of Bilam. Moses is writing down the story and he says he writes what God dictates. God says. And there was a nation, the nation of Bilam, king Bilam, who hired Balak oh sorry Balak who hired Prophet Bilam to curse the Jewish people. Moses is like what? I never heard that. And they were standing on top of a mountain overlooking the Jewish people and he says you see those people down there, I want you to curse them. Moses was like I didn't know they were there.
49:02
Why is it important for this story to even be told? Do you know how many hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories of Hashem protecting us we may not know of. Why is it important for this story to suddenly show up here? Say, just tell us. Because it's important for us to know that Hashem is always looking out for us. Sometimes we'll get a little glimpse to the miracles and we'll be able to see wow, hashem was looking out for me. Even when I didn't notice it, even when I didn't recognize that he was there, he was there. Sometimes you'll see it, sometimes you won't, but we have to know that Hashem is always looking out for us and that's why this story is here.
49:45
God blocks Billam's path. The donkey speaks. I mean, how crazy does that get? Imagine what the headlines in the New York Times would be for a donkey who starts talking to the most powerful prophet on earth. And then Billam can't give a curse to the Jewish people, so he gives a blessing instead. Balak is angered and he gives a second blessing and Balak is angered again. He gives a third blessing and then Billam gives his last prophecy. And Billam's plot infiltrate Jews changes that instead of killing them, we're going to find the Midianite girls to intermarry with our Jewish boys. I'm going to bring them in and they're going to seduce the Jewish men for marriage. And Pinchas doesn't like what he sees.
50:38
And that begins the eighth portion in the book of Numbers, where Pinchas is rewarded for his zealously Zealotry Whichever Zealotry when Pinchas takes a spear and puts it through the two individuals who are performing an immoral act in public, in front of Moses, in front of Aaron, already passed away, but in front of the people and Moses orders a counter attack on Midian wipe them out. And then there's a new census. Remember, the census from the beginning of the book of Numbers was 603, 550. Now the total count is 601, 730. Now it's not so many years that have gone by yet.
51:26
But the daughters of Tzlafchad want their inheritance of the land. They're like okay, everyone's getting a portion of the land of Israel. Moses is divvying it up. What's our portion of the land? We don't have a father. Our father passed away. So now you're gonna tell us we don't inherit the land.
51:42
Moshe says we are going to learn the laws of inheritance from God. God shows Moses the land, moshe asks for a successor and then we learn about the festive offerings. What does it mean that Moshe asks for a successor? It's important for a leader to not leave his organization failing. When they leave, when they depart, some people, some leaders think that a sign of success for me is if I leave it and it all falls apart. You see, I kept it together. I was so great, but the truth is that's not success. Success of leaders that it can continue beyond their leadership, and that's what Moshe is. Moshe is a true leader of the Jewish people where he is not only concerned for his own legacy. He wasn't concerned at all for that. He was concerned for the success of the Jewish people and therefore he says Hashem, I want you to bring a new leader to follow my leadership after I die.
52:46
In Parshas Matos, which is the ninth portion, and here we're all talking about the inheritance of the land. In Parshas Pinchas, we talk about the daughters of Tzlafchad, but now we're going to talk about vows and oaths, the battle against Midyan, the laws of cussing utensils are all taught. Because when the Jewish people beat the Midianites, what happened? They got all their pots and pans. What's going to happen with all those pots and pans? The Jewish people want to now take that and use it for their own chicken soup for Shabbos, but you can't, because the Midianites use those pots and pans for non-coaster food. So Moshe teaches the Jewish people the laws of cussing, how you are able to change something from being uncoastered to putting it into a neutral state, where now, for example, we do this before Pesach. If you have something which is non-coaster for Passover, you can make it kosher for Passover. I'm not talking about food. I'm talking about dishes, pots and pans, primarily, where you put them into boiling boiling water and then it neutralizes its state. So anything that was non-coaster for Passover 11 items that came in contact with this pot or pan is now completely neutralized and now it's essentially kosher for Passover use. The division of spoils are discussed.
54:11
Ruvane and God ask for special inheritance in the land of Jordan and half of the tribe of Menasha. They join later on, and Moses is objecting to this vehemently, but Hashem later tells him it's okay, if that's what they want, that's what they get, and then the request is worked out. And finally, the last portion in the book of Numbers is the portion of Masai, and this is the summary of the journey of the Jewish people. They are going to be occupying the land of Israel. We learn about the boundaries of the land.
54:51
We talk about the leadership, the cities of the Levites, the cities of refuge and the tribal intermarriage that is later permitted. At this time the tribes all had to marry within each tribe. So someone from the tribe of Yisachar had to marry someone from the tribe of Yisachar. Someone from the tribe of Don would have to marry someone from the tribe of Don. Later on they was able to be intermarriage between the tribes, not between Jews and non-Jews, god forbid, but between different tribes. They were able to marry one another into one another.
55:27
Now, the cities of refuge is very interesting. We know that if someone commits a crime in Judaism, they can repent. There are certain crimes, though, that it's not so simple to repent, like the crime or the sin of murder. What happens if someone, by mistake not intentionally, by mistake they fall off a ladder, fall on the person beneath them and they crush them to death? It's a mistake. What do you do?
56:02
So there were six cities of refuge, three in the land of Israel and three in the transjordan. We are a Ruvane God and half of the tribe of Manasha resided. There were three cities of refuge and where the other nine and a half tribes resided, there was three cities of refuge. I question to you for two and a half tribes? Something doesn't make sense here. Was it ten and a half tribes. It doesn't make sense that they have three and they have three Say just tell us that this is the power of the land of Israel, the land of Israel protects its people, that for all of Israel they only needed three cities of refuge.
56:51
But outside of the land of Israel they didn't have that same protection. Even though it's annexed to the land of Israel, it's still not part of the holy land of Israel and therefore they didn't have the same type of protection. Additionally, our sages tell us they needed more cities of refuge in the transjordan, because what was the condition, if you remember, for the tribe of Ruvane and the tribe of God and half the tribe of Manasha to be in the transjordan? What was the condition Is that all of the men had to come and fight the wars with the Jewish people and only after they had complete victory over the land of Israel Then the men can go join their wives and children who are back in the Jordan.
57:36
You mean to tell me that for all those years, these poor children grew up without a father. They grew up without husbands. Well, that has an impact, and when children grow up without fathers, chaos ensues, and this is why there was more accidental murder outside of the land of Israel, because they didn't have their dads. This is something that we need to really take to heart and see the value that we put to being together, united as one. A Jewish people that traveled, faced many, many challenges, but we always need to stay united as one, to not only be Jews but to live as Jews, to grow as Jews, to overcome as Jews, to do business as Jews and to never let that value and that representation, what we represent, to fall aside and to be neglected. Hashem should bless us all that we should be just like the people of the desert who recognized the challenges and were able to overcome it eventually.
58:56
We're all facing challenges, every single one of us. We're facing challenges, each one in their own life, each one with their own situation. Welcome to the club. That's what it means to be a living Jew. You're gonna have challenges, but we never let go of our dreams and in next week, in the Book of Deuteronomy, we're gonna see how it all comes together where the Jewish people, even though we don't actually enter the land of Israel in the book, in the book of the Torah, in the entire Torah, we still don't end up attaining the land of Israel. But what we do have is we have a path, we have a direction, we have a commitment, and that's what we hope and pray for every day that, as Jewish people, we feel that sense of commitment to the Torah that Hashem has gifted us with. What we are privileged to have as Jewish people is our connection to Hashem's Torah. My dear friends, thank you so much for coming tonight. Thank you so much for listening and drive safely.
01:00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
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