Dvar Torah Parshat Matot-Masei

Bamidbar 30:2 – 36:13

With this double parshat of Matot and Masei, we draw to a close the book of Numbers, Bamidbar. We begin with Matot, Hebrew for “tribes” where Torah discusses the final preparations for entering the Holy Land. It begins with a discussion of the earlier laws regarding vows, quickly covering the rules for men, but a more extensive conversation about the laws governing vows for women. These rules delineate rights for women who make vows. It says when a husband can overrule a woman’s vows. For instance, a husband can disavow an oath by his wife on the day he learns of it, but if he waits until the next day, he bears any guilt incurred if he orders her after then to disavow. If she makes a vow while in the father’s household and he has no objection, it will stand.

In this parsha we have the war against the Midianites. They are encouraged to take revenge for Baal Peor. They are successful and kill every male including the five kings of Midian as well as Balaam of Peor. The women were taken prisoner and Moshe is furious. He orders them to slay every male dependent lest they grow up to take revenge, as well as all women known to sleep with an Israelite man, sparing only women who had not slept with anyone. He orders them to stay outside the camp for seven days for purification, boil all metals, then dip them in waters of lustration, and wash their clothes before re-entering the camp. This writer wonders how Zipporah, Moshe’s wife, and a Midianite, felt about all of this. These after all were her people being put to death. The officers gave generous sums to Adonai, and the troops kept their booty for themselves.

Matot concludes with the tribes of Reuben and Gad seeing the land east of the Jordan River was good for grazing. They ask Moshe if they can remain there. Moshe is furious. But they explain they will go with the other tribes to help conquer the land, fighting alongside the rest of Israel. But if when the land is conquered and divided, they want to return. They will leave their families behind to hold the land as it was good land for grazing cattle, sheep, and goats. Moshe agrees with this arrangement.

Parsha Masei (marches) begins with a retelling of the journey from Egypt to the Plains of Moab in Chapter 33, with 34-36 describes how Israel will function as a nation in its own land. It delineates geographic and social boundaries and Moshe appoints leaders for each tribe to oversee the distribution of each tribal portion. The Levites have no portion of their own, but they will reside within 48 cities. Six cities are set aside as cities of refuge. There, any person who unintentionally kills someone can flee to one of these refuges and be protected against vengeance while their case is being resolved. After all, Moshe himself while in Egypt had to flee after killing a man, so this may have been personal for him. It goes on to define murder, discusses the need for witnesses in capital cases, and outlines other rules related to safety and equity.

We then return to the daughters of Zelophehad. The tribal leaders regarding the other understanding where the law was amended to allow them to keep the land if their father had no sons created another issue. If they married outside the tribe, then that land would come under control of another tribe. Moshe and Hashem agreed, and a stipulation was made that they should marry within the tribe and the land would always belong to the Manasseh tribe. One interesting point here made by Masha Turner in Torah: A Women’s Commentary. She offers that in the two entries in Torah regarding these five daughters, we see that new circumstances require a revisit by humans and Adonai to revise the laws within Torah. As new circumstances come up, laws are amended and redefined. In the telling of the daughters of Zelophehad, we see the underpinnings of the Oral Torah as these words are revisited time and again and updated to fit life in that time and circumstance.

In other words, to use her words, “As a result, this parsha constitutes the philosophical basis for the Oral Torah—that is the ongoing, authoritative interpretations of Scripture. The presupposition is that it’s legal kernel and principles are embedded within the Written Torah, and that through different sorts of exegesis of the Torah (that is, through its explanation and interpretation) the Oral Torah is fleshed out. By way of constant searching, responses revealed to never-ending questions.” I would add, all because five courageous women stepped forward and spoke truth to power.

I could carry on more about the daughters of Zelophehad, but today, I want to focus on the cities of refuge. Let’s look back to the culture in that era. Not unlike some groups in the Mideast even today, blood vengeance and blood feuds were a thing. So, the cities of refuge were essential to protect that person from being killed. In today’s terminology, we are essentially looking at manslaughter rather murder. Of the cities of refuge, we learn in Devarim that three of them are on the east side of the Jordan. After all, two tribes would be residing there. He himself had sought refuge. It is natural for a family to want revenge. But, in the case of an accidental homicide, there is a desire for justice.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory reminds us that the desire for vengeance exists in all societies. Imagine how that might play out. You killed my beloved, so I kill you. Then your family seeks revenge and on and on it goes. It can be divisive in any society. A refuge city allows time for passions to cool, but also for justice to happen. There would be a court of law where the case would be heard and justice served, on behalf of the victim and the society at large.

Life is precious, as is justice. Accidentally hurting or killing another demands a price be paid, but not the taking of their life. In a world where blood vengeance was the way, this was a revolutionary call for justice. I suspect many of us at one time or another have desired vengeance. I recall at the age of 20, my uncle was killed by a drunk driver, and family members scattered in hospitals around the area. We were so very angry. A group of us sitting around late one night entertained the idea of finding this guy and exacting revenge. Not an appropriate thing to do, and we never followed through. But in those moments around that kitchen table, a desire for vengeance was palpable. He went on and was tried and found guilty. Justice was served. We don’t have refuge cities today, but a system of laws to protect against that. Origins of justice are found in this system of laws in early Israel. Baruch Hashem!