Loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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The Legacy of the Levites

G-d now goes on to detail the legacy of the Levites.

The Levites are eternally responsible to prevent the Israelites from approaching the Ohel Moed and if anyone does approach it (in which case the person would die as a result), the Levites are to bear that person’s sin.

While the Levites don’t have a set inheritance in the land like the other tribes, in exchange for their service regarding guarding the Ohel Moed in this way, G-d gave the Levites the tithes of the Israelites.

After taking the tithes from the Israelites, the Levites are then to set aside a tithe from this tithe and give it to the Kohanim. This initial tithe is referred to as Terumah, ie sacred and forbidden to be partaken of until the Levite separates his own tithe from it.

G-d says that the tithe of the Levites should be considered to them as “grain from the threshing floor* (which is what the gift to the Kohanim is called as well) and produce of the vat**”.

*Side note: So named because the tithe that was gifted to them is forbidden to non Levites and ritually unclean people and anyone who eats it intentionally incurs the death penalty and if unintentionally they must pay another fifth.

**Side note: Alluding to ripening produce which has fully grown.

If a Levite goes ahead of a Kohen during the harvest collection and receives his tithes before the Kohen gets the first terumah, the Levite must first separate his tithe 1/50th for the Kohen’s first terumah. The remaining 1/49th does not have the special holy status of terumah and may be used by the Levites. The Levite is then to separate his regular tithe from this remaining 1/49th of the tithe he was given.

The Levites are allowed to eat their portion anywhere, even in a cemetery as it is their pay for their service for their service in the Ohel Moed. This differs from Terumah which may only be eaten in a pure place/state.

Through so setting aside a tithe from their portions, they protect themselves from sin and death which would result from neglecting to separate these portions.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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Aaron Stops the Plague

G-d tells Moshe to separate himself from the nation as He will destroy them instantaneously, whereupon Moshe and Aaron fell on their faces.

Moshe instructed Aaron to burn incense on the fire pan to serve as an atonement for the nation as G-d’s wrath had emerged and the plague had begun.

During the time that Moshe had ascended to heaven, the Angel of Death had given him the secret of the ability of incense to stop a plague. Thus he was certain that his plan with the incense would work.

So Aaron does as he is told and rushes to the middle of the nation. He sees that the plague had begun. He places the incense down which atoned for the nation.

He confronted the the Angel of Death and forced him to stand still and not continue killing the Israelites.

The angel protested “Let go of me so I can perform my mission.”

Aaron replied that Moshe had commanded him to stop the angel.

The angel retorted that he is a messenger of G-d while Aaron is merely a messenger of Moshe.

Aaron shot back that Moshe never says anything of his own accord, he only speaks G-d’s will. Aaron tells the angel that if he doesn’t believe him, he should come with Aaron to ask G-d at the entrance to the Ohel Moed where G-d and Moshe were at that time.

So the plague stopped.

The Israelites had complained that incense was a deadly poison re it having played a role in the death of Nadav, Avihu as well as the 250 people who recently died while burning it (see earlier in this parsha).

Having the incense stop the plague served to teach the nation that it was sin and not incense that killed.

14,700 people died in this plague. This was aside from those who died together with Korach (see yesterday’s aliya).

Aaron returns to Moshe at the entrance of the Ohel Moed.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

What Happened to Korach and His Followers

G-d tells Moshe and Aaron to separate themselves from the nation and says that he will destroy the nation instantaneously.

Moshe and Aaron prostrate themselves and plead with G-d to not be angry with the entire nation on behalf of one person (i.e. Korach) sinning. They reason that while a king of flesh and blood may not know who is rebelling against him in a rebellion, G-d knows the inner thoughts of everyone so He should only punish whoever sinned. G-d accepts this reasoning and says that He will only punish those who have sinned.

G-d tells Moshe to tell the Israelites to move away from the dwellings of Korach, Dathan and Aviram.

Moshe was still hopeful that he could reason with Dathan and Aviram. He, followed by the elders, approached them, expecting them to rise in his presence. However they did not. So Moshe tells the rest of the nation to go away from the tents of these wicked men, making sure not to touch anything so as not to die on account of their sins.

The nation leaves and Dathan and Aviram leave defiantly together with their entire families*.

*Side note: We will soon see that their families were punished together with them which illustrates how severe their sin were since usually an earthly court does not punish minors (girls under the age of 12 and boys under the age of 13) however in this case, even their baby children were punished/killed.

Moshe declares that through "this" (which is to come) they will come to know that it was G-d who had told him to delegate Aaron as high priest, his sons as Koahnim and Elizaphan as the prince of the Kohatite family.

He says that if they die a natural death, that would be proof that it was Moshe and not G-d who make this decision. However if G-d causes the ground to open up and swallow them alive, they will know that G-d is angry with all of this.

And then, just as predicted, the ground splits open and the earth swallowed Dathan, Aviram, their families and anyone who was part of Korach's group together with their possessions.

The remaining Israelites flee out of fear of being swallowed up as well.

A fire then comes forth and consumes the 250 men who were offering incense (see yesterday's aliya).

G-d then tells Moshe to tell Elazar the Kohen (son of Aaron) to pick up the fire pans from within the fire and move the fire off of them as these fire pans have become holy and thus it is forbidden to get any personal pleasure from them, as they have now become implements of the Temple service.

These fire pans which had belonged to people who sinned against their souls in arguing with G-d, should be thinned out into sheets to serve as a covering for the Copper Altar. To serve as reminder of those people who had fought about the priesthood and were then burnt up.

So Elazar did as he was commanded.

The following day, the whole nation complained to Moshe and Aaron saying "you have killed the people of G-d!"

And then the cloud of glory covered the Ohel Moed and Moshe and Aaron approached it.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Korach's Rebellion Cont'd

Dathan and Aviram continue berating Moshe, saying that Moshe did not bring them to a "land flowing with milk and honey" even though he promised them that he would. Nor did he give them a heritage of field or vineyard. They declare that even if Moshe were to threaten to send someone to gouge out their eyes, they would not go with him.

This troubled Moshe greatly and he beseeched G-d not to accept the incense offering the rebels would offer the following day. He requested as well that even their portion of the communal offering should not be accepted and not be consumed on the altar.

Moshe declares that when he traveled from Midian to Egypt together with his wife and sons, this was done on behalf of the Israelites. Thus he had the right at that time to be reimbursed for the donkey which they rode, however he was not. He never wronged any of them.

Moshe tells Korach that he and his followers, 250 people men in total, should each bring a fire pan to offer an incense offering the following day.

So that night, Korach went around to all of the tribes persuading them to join him by speaking mockingly and telling them that he was acting on their behalf because he cared for all of them, fighting against how Moshe and Aaron took positions of power for themselves. He spoke to them throughout the night until they were all convinced.

The following day, they all approached the Ohel Moed and the glory of G-d appeared in the form of the pillar of a cloud* before them.

*Side note: The pillar of a cloud indicates G-d's anger (see Rashi Bamidbar 12:5 for more info).

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Korach's Rebellion

Today's Chumash begins with the story of Korach and how he led a rebellion against Moshe and Aaron.

The Chumash calls him Korach the son of Itzhar the son of Kohath the son of Levi.

The recounting of his lineage stops there, without including that Levi was the son of Yaakov even though in Divrei HaYamim (6:22-23) Yaakov is included when listing Korach's descendants. This is because Yaakov prayed to not be included here and thus associated with the divisions Korach caused.

As background, Kohath had four sons, listed by birth order as follows: Amram (the eldest), Itzhar (from whom Korach was descendant), Chebron and Uzziel.

Amram's two sons, Moshe and Aaron assumed the highest level of greatness, with Moshe being considered a king and Aaron the High Priest.

Korach felt that due to his father being second eldest, he should have been granted the next highest position, that of the prince of the tribe of Levi. He was jealous that instead, this honor was given to Elizaphan the son of Uzziel, the youngest of Kohath's children.

So Korach, together with 250 heads of courts, mostly from the tribe of Reuven*, including Elitzur the son of Shdeur (the prince of the tribe of Reuven) and his colleagues**, Dathan, Aviram and On the son of Peleth who were from the tribe of Reuven separated themselves and approached Moshe with intent to challenge his authority.

*Side note: Rashi points out that the tribe of Reuven camped in the south which was next to the sons of Kohath. He explains that this is the reason for their involvement in Korach's dispute. Rashi says that we should learn a lesson from here to be careful about who your neighbors are so as not to be negatively influenced by them.

**Side note: Rashi says that his "colleagues" either means the princes of the other tribes or other important people from the tribe of Reuven.

Korach cloaked them all in cloaks made entirely out of techeilis (i.e turquoise - see the end of last week's parsha for more details on this) and asked if a garment made entirely out of techeiles would still need tzitzis. Moshe replied that it would. They laughed at this and said mockingly how is this possible if clothing made from another cloth had one thread of techielis it would be exempt from tzitzis yet one which is entirely so is not?

The point of this encounter was for Korach and his assembly to expose how illogical the rules were and thus to infer that the appointment of Aaron to the position of High Priest was similarly illogical.

They protested against Moshe and Aaron saying that they took too much prestige for themselves. After all, all of the Israelites heard G-d's voice at Mount Sinai, not just the two of them.

Moshe heard all of this and fell on his face. This was the fourth time already that the Israelites had acted out (the previous three times were the incidents regarding the golden calf, the inappropriate asking for meat and the spies). At this point Moshe had lost his strength to pray on their behalf. Rashi likens this to a king's son who acts despicably towards his father and has a friend who appeases the king on the son's behalf. He does so once, twice and three times. But by the fourth time he asks rhetorically how much longer can I keep bothering the king?

Moshe responded to Korach's protests that in the morning, they will do a ceremony in the Mishkan which will make clear whom G-d chooses to be the Levites as well as the Kohanim.

Moshe made this ceremony take place in the morning for a few reasons:

* They had just eaten the main meal of the day in which they would drink wine. It is halachically forbidden to perform any temple services even after having consumed even a little bit of wine and people don't usually drink wine in the morning.

* Similar to what Aaron did regarding the sin with the Golden Calf (see Shmos 32:5), Moshe wanted to delay the group and give them a chance to possibly back down.

* "Morning" is a metaphor for the idea of boundaries in the world. Moshe was alluding to the idea that just as G-d set up a division between night and morning, so did he set up separations within the Israelites, i.e. with separating the Kohanim from the others.

So Moshe tells Korach and his supporters that the following day they should take the fire pans that are used for raking coals off the altar and put incense in them and put them on the fire.

The incense offering was considered the most precious of all the communal offerings as it was brought entirely out of joy and not to atone from sin. Yet it is also a deadly drug* to anyone who misuses it, as was seen with the story of Nadav and Avihu (see Vayikra 10:1-2).

*Side note: The Maasei Hashem says that the incense included salt of Sodom, which was an actual deadly drug. However the Nachalas Yaakov said that it's deadly potential was not due to any particular ingredient but rather to its great holiness which made it deadly if misused.

Thus it was this ritual that will determine who Hashem wants to be the rightful Kohen Gadol.

Moshe warns them that they were dealing with a grave and serious matter and whoever the incense did not choose would die.

So why did Korach and his supporters go ahead with this? Were they stupid and not know enough to take Moshe's warning seriously?

In fact Korach was very smart and his wisdom and prophetic powers were what led to his downfall. He prophetically knew that many great people would descend from him, including the prophet Shmuel (who is described as being greater than Moshe and Aaron combined) as well as "24 watches" (enumerated in more detail in Divrei Hayamim chapters 25 and 26) who were all sons of Heiman who was the "seer of the king in the words of G-d".

When Moshe said that whoever G-d did not choose would die, Korach thought that his holy lineage would save him.

What he failed to see was that his sons repented and thus survived the incumbent downfall and it was from them that all of these notable descendants came.

At first, Moshe tried to speak gently with Korach however when that didn't work, Moshe got worried that the rest of the tribe of Levi would join in so he addressed the entire tribe, saying what more do you guys want - G-d already set you aside to perform special services and to sing in the Temple and you want to be Kohanim as well?!

In emphasizing that it was G-d who set them aside as Levites, Moshe was clarifying to them that this dispute was not against Moshe and Aaron but rather against G-d Himself who chose them for their proper positions.

Moshe called upon Dathan and Aviram trying to make peace with them however they refused, saying isn't it enough that you brought us back from Israel only to have us die in the desert now you want to have more power over us?

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Unintentional and Intentional Idolatry. The Wood Gatherer. Tzitzis

Unintentional and Intentional Idolatry

If a person sins unintentionally regarding idolatry, they need to offer a female goat* that is younger than one years old. The Kohen shall atone for this person through this offering. This applies to born Israelites as well as converts.

*Side note: This is in contrast to other sin offerings which can be either a female goat or sheep.

If a person purposefully commits idolatry, this is a vilification of G-d's name. and He is cut off from the nation (kares).

The Wood Gatherer

The Chumash now relates how when the Israelites first began traveling in the desert, on the second Sabbath that they kept, some of them saw a man gathering wood on the Sabbath. When he did not cease in gathering wood after he was warned, those who witnessed him brought the wood gatherer to Moshe and Aaron and to the entire nation. They placed him in custody, unsure of what form of death he should suffer (though they knew that someone who breaks the Sabbath is liable for the death penalty).

G-d tells Moshe that this man must be put to death and the entire nation pelted him with stones until he died outside and far away from the court.

Tzitzis

G-d then tells Moshe to instruct the Israelites regarding the construction of Tzitzis.

Rashi gives two reasons for the name Tzitzis: 1- Tzitzis literally means "fringe" because it has strings hanging from it.Or alternatively2- The word tzitzis is etymologically related to the word "to peek", hinting at the idea of looking at the tzitzis.

They are to place a turquoise* thread (colored with the dye of the chilazon - a sea creature which was the color of the sea) on each corner** of the tzitzis.

*Side note: The tzitzis strings are to be this color in memory of the Egyptians grieving over their first born sons who were killed in the plague of the first born sons. The word turquoise in Hebrew is תכלת, which is similar to the Aramaic word תכלא which means "bereavement". Also, the plague of the firstborn sons happened at night, and when the sky starts to become dark at night it resembles a kind of turquoisy color.

**Side note: The fact that the Chumash specifies "corners" indicates that this mitzvah only applies to four cornered garments.

They shall gaze at the tzitzis and it will serve to remind them of Hashem's commandments and to not let their eyes see things which will make the heart desire things that will lead to sin. This is hinted at in the fact that the numerical value of the word ציצית is 600 and then if you add 8 strings* of the tzitzis which are tied into 5 knots, this equals 613 (i.e the number of the Torah's commandments).

*Side note: The eight strings correspond to the eight days that Israel waited from when they were given permission to leave Egypt (i.e a day before they left - this was the 14th of Nissan) until they sang the song at the sea (see Shmos 14:5)

The parsha concludes with G-d stating that He is Hashem (the Name which is associated with G-d's attribute of Mercy ) your Elokim (the name of G-d associated with Judgement), meaning that He will dutifully exact reward as well as punishment.

He took the Israelites out of Egypt on condition that they keep His commands.

Egypt is also mentioned here to illustrate the idea that just as G-d discerned between small drops of semen which determined whether a boy was firstborn or not during the plague of the firstborn, so too does He discern between who wears tzitzis with authentic turquoise from the chilazon in it.

Rashi brings down an explanation from Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan's treatise as to why the Chumash put the story about the wood gatherer right after speaking about idolatry. He says this is to teach that breaking Shabbos is akin to idolatry. For just like idolatry, Shabbos is akin to all of the commandments combined.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Hafrashas Challah and Accidental Idolatry

Hafrashas Challah

G-d tells Moshe to instruct the Israelites regarding the commandment of Hafrashas Challah, i.e. "taking of the bread". Once they are have taken possession of and settled in the Land of Israel, whenever they make bread, assuming they are using the amount of dough they "usually" knead (calculated to be one omer, or the volume of 43 1/5 eggs), before they eat the bread, they must take a small portion of this dough and set it aside for G-d. No minimum amount is stated in the text however it must be something of significance. The sages instituted the following amounts: For a common householder, 1/24th of the bread and for a baker, 1/48th. The baker usually bakes larger amounts of bread thus a smaller fraction of his dough is considered significant.

Accidental Idolatry

G-d now instructs Moshe regarding if the Israelites commit the sin of idolatry (which is like all of the other commandments combined*) by accident**.

*Side note: Anyone who believes in idolatry, it is as if they deny the entire Torah and its prophets.

**Side note: Rashi elaborates based on the text that this is referring to a situation where the Israelites sin with regards to idolatry due to an erroneous ruling by the Sanhedrin - for example if the Sanhedrin rules that a certain mode of worship is not considered idolatry.

In such a situation, the entire community must bring one young bull as an Olah offering together with its meal offering and libation as well as a he goat as a sin offering.

This applies to converts to Judaism as well.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Sacrificial Instructions Cont'd

When offering a young bull, the meal offering should consist of 3/10ths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with 1/2 hin of oil and 1/2 hin of wine for the libation.

These listed amounts (see yesterday's post for the rest of the info) should be included with each animal brought.

These rules apply to converts to Judaism as equally as to a born Israelite.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

The Spies' Consequences and Sacrificial Instructions

The Spies' Consequences Cont'd

G-d asks Moshe and Aaron rhetorically, in reference to the spies*, "How long for this evil congregation that provokes the Israelites to complain against Me?"

*Side note: Rashi notes that this is where we learn that a "congregation" means a group consisting of at least ten people.

G-d tells Moshe and Aaron to tell the spies that He is giving an oath that He will fulfill what they had asked, "if only we would die in the desert". Thus anyone who is usually counted as part of a tally (eg. for an army or for shekalim) will indeed die in the wilderness. This included anyone over the age of twenty, to the exclusion of anyone fro the tribe of Levi, since they were not counted the way the others were.

G-d also excludes Caleb the son of Yefuneh and Yehoshua the son of Nun from this decree.

G-d goes on to say that the children (who will remain alive) will wander in the desert for forty years, corresponding to the forty days the spies spent spying out the land.

Thus none of those who were decreed to die here died before entering their sixtieth year (i.e. before the age of 59), thus forty years would have had to pass for this to be true for the youngest who were included (i.e. twenty year olds) to reach this age.

This forty years began in their first year, since that is when the sin of the Golden Calf happened, and the thought of this decree entered G-d's mind, yet He only waited until this point, when their sins has accumulated, to fulfill it.

Since they "removed their hearts" from following G-d, they will now know what it means to depart from Him.

The actual spies (aside from Yehoshua and Caleb) died in a plague. The plague attacked them in a "measure for measure" manner. Since the spies sinned with their tongues (by speaking slanderously about the land), they were afflicted with having their tongues stretched out to their navels and having worms emerge from their tongues and enter their navels.

The gemara in Sotah 35a elaborates that the Land of Israel is the center, i.e. "navel" of the world. And the Be'er BaSadeh (based on Mechilta, Beshalach 2) points out that worms attack and destroy plants with their mouths just as the spies attacked with their mouths.

Yehoshua and Caleb took the other spies' portion of the Land of Israel as their own.

So Moshe related all of these things to the Israelites and the nation mourned profusely.

The Israelites woke up early in the morning and began traveling up towards the Land of Israel, declaring that they acknowledged that they had sinned and that they are ready to enter the Land of which "G-d had spoken". The Be'er BaShadeh notes that in calling it "the Land of which G-d had spoken" rather than the "Land which G-d told us to enter", they neglected to voice that in entering the land it would be a fulfillment of G-d's command.

Moshe tried to stop them, saying, "Why are you going against the word of G-d? It won't work. Don't enter the land for G-d is not with you and don't be killed by your enemies." He warns that the Amalekite and Canaanites are before them and that the Israelites will be die by their hand. Since they turned away from G-d, G-d will turn away from them.

Yet they were unstoppable in ascending towards the land, while the Ark remained behind in the camp. And the Amalekites and Canaanites who were dwelling in the land came down and attacked them until they were annihilated*.

*Side note: The Hebrew word for annihilation is חרם, and thus the text has a dual reading of "until annihilation" or "until a place called חרם (which was so called due to what happened there).

G-d then tells Moshe to relate some instructions to the Israelites regarding offerings they will bring when they "enter into the land* of your dwelling place".

*Side note: One interpretation of this is that this instruction was regarding when they would eventually enter into the Land, however another reading suggests that they were meant to bring these offerings in the desert as well. Either way, the reason for commencing with when they enter the Land, was in order to reassure them that in spite of everything which had occurred, they would still eventually make it into the Land of Israel.

Sacrificial Instructions

The instruction is that for any offering they bring from their cattle or flock, whether it be an olah or peace offering, brought as a vow or from free will, or on a holiday, they must offer libations and a meal offering for each animal.

Unlike in the case of a meal offering which is brought on its own (in which case it is partially eaten by the Kohanim), the meal offering which is brought as an accessory to an animal offering is to be burnt in its entirety, together with its oil. The wine from the libations however is to be returned to "bowls" (these were pipes located in the southwest corner of the Altar). The Kohen who was officiating would pour the wine of libation into them and then the pipes would empty onto the upper surface of the Altar.

When offering an olah or peace offering of a sheep (only sheep which are less than 1 year old may be brought - this is in contrast to rams - see below), the corresponding meal offering should consist of 1/10th ephah of fine flour mixed with 1/4 hin of oil and the libation should consist of 1/4 hin of wine.

When offering a ram (including a species called a "palgas", which is a form of the Greek pallax, which is a male sheep aged 13 months or older), the corresponding meal offering should be made up of 2/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with 1/3 of a hin of oil and 1/3 of a hin of wine for the libation.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

The Spies' Consequence

Yehoshua and Caleb continued speaking to the nation, saying that if G-d wants them, He will bring them to the land and give it to them.

They caution the nation not to rebel and not to fear the people in the land, as they will "eat them like bread", as the decent ones from among them have died, thus they no longer have the protection they used to due to their merits (an alternate reading is that the "shade of G-d" has departed from them).

However the entire nation said that Yehoshua and Caleb should be pelted with stones and then the Cloud of Glory appeared to the Israelites in front of the Tent of Meeting.

G-d asked Moshe "To what extent would the Israelites anger Me and for how long will they not have faith in Me? Due to all of the miracles I did on their behalf, they should have faith that I will fulfill my promise (to bring them into the Land)."

G-d continues speaking to Moshe, saying that He will hit them with a plague and eradicate them. He will then make Moshe into an even greater nation.

Moshe responds, saying that if G-d does this, the Egyptians will hear about it and rather than saying that G-d killed the Israelites because they sinned, they will say that while G-d had enough strength to rise up against the Egyptians, He was not strong enough to fight the inhabitants of the land of Canaan.

Moshe continues along this line, saying that if G-d kills the nation suddenly, the Egyptians will interpret this as being because the inhabitants of Canaan are strong and mightly, and that while G-d was able to fight Pharaoh, Pharaoh does not compare to the 31 kings of Canaan. And in being unable to bring the Israelites into the land, G-d killed them in the desert.

Moshe pleads with G-d, invoking his 13 attributes of mercy (see Bamidbar 14:18 for full list). Beginning with His trait of being "Slow to Anger" and absolving anyone who repents, bringing to light a conversation Moshe had with G-d when Moshe ascended Mount Sinai. At that time, Moshe saw G-d sitting and writing "Hashem is slow to anger" and Moshe interjected, "For the righteous" to which G-d retorted, "for the wicked as well. Moshe then said, "Let the wicked be eradicated." To which G-d said that He swears by Moshe's life that he will need G-d's trait of being slow to anger for even the wicked. And indeed after the sin of the Golden Calf as well as here with the spies, Moshe invoked G-d's trait of being "Slow to Anger", to which G-d responded, "But didn't you say I should only be slow to anger for the righteous?" To which Moshe replied, "But had you not said it would be for the wicked as well?"

G-d replies that He forgives the Israelites in accordance with Moshe reasoning. However, He Swears (saying "as I Live"), that those amongst them who tested G-d ten times* will be killed off slowly over the next 40 years.

*Side note: The gemara in Archin 15a-b lists these 10 times as follows:

2x at sea - first when they complained saying "are there no graves in Egypt that you took us here.." and second when they emerged from the sea they said that just as they came out of the sea, the Egyptians came out on the other side.

2x with the manna - first when some people left some manna over in the morning when though they were commanded not to and second when some people when out to gather manna on shabbos even though they were commanded not to.

2x with the pheasants (ie the two times they asked for meat in an ungrateful way - in Shmos 16:3 and Bamidbar 11:4)

2x when they complained about lacking water (Shmos 15:23 and 17:2)

And the last two were the sin of the Golden Calf and the sin with the spies.

G-d says that he will save Caleb since he did not follow along with the rest of the spies. Caleb had told the spies that he was going along with them though in his heart he was not. The fact that he pretended to be going along with the spies is what made them open to listening to him as they thought that he would continue with the negative rhetoric of the other spies.

He says that He will bring Caleb into the land and his offspring will drive out the Giants inhabiting the land.

G-d then concludes saying that the Amelikites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley and if they are to go towards them now, the Israelites will be killed by them as G-d will not be with the Israelites. Thus instead, they are to pivot and tomorrow they are to redirect their journey in the direction of the Sea of of Reeds.