Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L
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Nullification of Vows. Avenging Midian.
Nullification of Vows
When Moshe would teach different parts of Torah, he would teach the Princes of the tribes first (as well as the very learned people who were like leaders) to honor them and only afterwards the rest of the nation.
At the start of today’s Chumash, Moshe is instructed to teach them the laws regarding the nullification of vows.
A vow is when someone says that they take upon themselves not to eat or do a certain thing. Sometimes the thing they are not eating or doing is called a “konam” which is another word for sacrifice. As if to say that they are abstaining from that thing the way they are abstaining from eating an offering which is indeed forbidden to eat.
A person may vow to abstain from something which is allowed however one may not vow to do or eat something which is forbidden (eg. to eat a neviela (an animal which was not ritually slaughtered).
Ideally vows must be nullified by someone who is an expert however if no expert is around, it can be done by three common people.
When a sage revokes a vow, the language he uses is that the thing which was vowed against is not permitted, however if a husband revokes the vow of his wife, the language used is that the vow is nullified. This language is very particular and if the sage and/or husband reverse what they are supposed to say, the revocation of the vow does not hold.
If a man makes a vow he is bound to it.
If a woman makes a vow, it depends.
If she is a minor, her vows are not binding.
If she is at least 11 years old, her vow is examined and if she realized Whom she was vowing to (i.e. to G-d), then her vow is binding, however if she did not, then it is not.
If she is 12 years old or older, there is no need to investigate her vows in this manner and her vows are binding.
If she is at least 12 years old and has developed certain signs of puberty, she is considered to be under the authority of her father (she doesn’t necessarily need to be living in his house), she is what is called a Na’arah (literally “youth”) and while she is obligated in all the commandments, there are some laws in which she is still considered to be within her father’s domain. Vows are one of these.
A girl becomes an adult (i.e a bogert) 1/2 year after being a n’eara and at that point she is no longer considered to be under her father’s authority.
If she is as such considered to be under her father’s authority, if her father does not hold her back from making her vow, her vow stands, however if he nullifies her vow for her, it is considered nullified.
If a woman is what is called an arusah, meaning that she went through the first stage of marriage (kiddushin or erusin – where the groom gives the bride a ring or some other object of value and she is not allowed to any other man however she does not yet live with the groom but rather in her father’s house) then both her groom and father need to nullify her vows.
If the father was not aware of her vow, it is not able to be nullified.
If the father nullified the vow before the erusin, the husband cannot then change the status of this vow.
If a married woman takes a vow of nezirus, if the husband lets it be then the vow stands however if he nullifies it then it is nullified. If her husband nullifies it but the woman doesn’t realize that he had nullified it and she violates her vow by drinking wine, she requires forgiveness for her intent to break the vow, but G-d forgives her.
A widow or divorcee (from erusin) to a man then returns to being under her father’s authority. However if she is a widow or divorcee from a full marriage (nisuin) she is under her own authority.
A husband may only nullify vows of personal affliction for his wife and he may only nullify it up until nightfall of the day he hears the vow.
If a husband deceives his wife into thinking that he nullifed her vow even though he upheld it, and she violates it, the sin is on him.
Revenge on Midian
G-d tells Moshe to take revenge on the Midianites for Him. Rashi explains here that the revenge is against G-d since anyone who fights Israel it is as if they fought G-d.
There are several possibilities as to why He does not instruct him to take revenge on the Moabites though they were also part of the sin:The Moabites got involved out of fear that the Israelites would steal from them or alternatively because of the two “fine young doves” which came from them, namely Ruth (from Moav) and Na’ama (from Ammon – she married King Shlomo which is why similarly G-d prohibited Israel from provoking the nation of Ammon).
G-d tells Moshe to gather 1000 men per tribe (including Levi) to attack Midian, i.e 12,000 men in total.
Moshe hastens to do this even though G-d did not rush him and even though Moshe knew that he was destined to die following this war.
For this same reason, the tribes had to be forced to go out and fight as they were reluctant to do something which they knew would be followed by Moshe’s death.
So Moshe sends out these 12,000 men as well as Pinchas. The simple reason for sending Pinchas was that he started the commandment regarding attacking them so it would make sense for him to be involved with finishing it. The midrash Tanchuma Chapter 3 presents an alternative reason, namely that he wanted to avenge Yosef whom his mother was decedent from (it is written that Elazar married one of the daughters of “Putiel” who is usually understood to be Yitro but also could be understood to be Yosef as Putiel when broken down spells “pitpet b’kel” meaning that he opposed foreign gods) as the Midianites had sold Yosef into slavery. Alternatively, at this time, there used to be a Kohen who was designated for battle and was anointed like the Kohel Gadol and this designated Kohen’s job was to speak encouragingly to the army before battle.
In addition to these people, Moshe also sent the ark, the Tzitz and trumpets to battle. The Tzitz was the gold plate that the Kohel Gadol wore on his forehead. It had “Holy is Hashem” written on it. Bilam would make the kings of Midian fly with witchcraft however when Pinchas showed them this Tzitz they fell out of the air.
The Israelites attacked Midian and killed every male including the five kings of Midian Evi, Reken, Zur, Chur, Reba, as well as Bilam son of Beor. All five of the kings were equally involved in leading Israel astray so they were all equally punished.
Bilam was there as he had come to collect payment for the 24,000 of Israelites who died through his council. He reasoned that if the Israelites succumbed to sin when they were 600,000 people (and there’s unity in numbers), they most definitely will succumb now with only 12,000 men.
So indeed, the Israelites “paid” him. His craft was the sword and Israel’s craft is the tongue (i.e prayer). Bilam used Israel’s craft by cursing them, so they paid him back with his craft by killing him with a sword.
The took the women and children as captives and the animals and wealth as spoils.
They burned their official buildings (either understood to be buildings with notaries and clergymen or palaces).
They took booty (clothing and ornaments), spoils (all other inanimate movable objects) and plunder* (men and animals).
*Side note: Whenever scripture lists captives and plunder, the captives means men and the plunder means animals.
All of these were brought to Moshe, Elazar the Kohen and to the nation. They were at the plains of Moav which was by the Jordan near Yericho.
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