This week’s Sedra begins with a discussion of nedarim – vows & oaths. While the world holds that an oral contract is "only as good as the paper it’s written on," Judaism & the Torah place great emphasis on the power of speech.
We complain about the conditions of the desert; the lack of water; the shortage of meat; the taste of the miraculous Mahn. Even Miriam & Ahron get into the act when they complain to Moshe about his neglecting his wife Tzipora. We find fault with everyone & everything.
The Sedra of Matot maps the route of Am Yisrael from Egypt to the threshold of Israel. There are 42 encampments along the way. I suggest that, like every other word in the Torah, they have cosmic, eternal significance.
The name of this week’s protagonist, Pinchas, is quite fascinating, for it contains within it another well-known name: Noach. What is the connection between the two?
If you look at this Parsha in a Sefer Torah, you will immediately notice that Bilaam’s narrative is written in “block form” without the usual open spaces (parsha “breaks”) that are found in most Parshiyot.
As long as Ahron was alive, the Clouds of Glory protected us like an invisible shield. But with his death, the clouds dissipated & we were vulnerable to attack. There is a timely lesson being presented to us here.
In Parshat Shlach, the majority of the greatest spiritual leaders in the nation conclude that the time was not yet right to enter Eretz Yisrael. In Korach also goes against the Establishment. So how do we decide when to go against the grain, & when to respect the existing status quo?