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Reuven and Gad’s Land. Journey Recap. Reuven, Gad and 1/2 of Menashe’s Inheritance Moshe told the children of Gad and Reuven that they could go ahead with their proposition to leave their families behind and travel in front of the rest of the nation across the Jordan to fight and conquer the land of IsraelContinue reading “Matos/Masai, 4th Aliya”

The Children of Reuven and Gad The children of Reuven and Gad had a lot of livestock and they recognized that the land of Yaer and Gilad was fit for livestock. They approached Moshe and Elazar and said that this land which G-d had them conquer from Sichon and Og (which included Atarot, Dibon, Yazer,Continue reading “Matos/Masai 3rd Aliya”

War Plunder, Spoils and Tributes Moshe, Elazar and all of the leaders saw the young men of Israel going out of the camp to grab the spoils from the war so they went out to meet them. Moshe was angry with the army commanders. Rashi teaches that we learn from here that the leaders areContinue reading “Matos/Masai 2nd Aliya”

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 isContinue reading “Matot/Masa’ai 1st Aliya”

Sukkos and Shmini Atzeres Today’s Chumash details the holidays of Sukkos and Shmini Atzeres. It follows the same general pattern of the amounts for meal offerings + supplementary sin offering + maintenance of regular daily communal offering as holidays listed in yesterday’s post. See the beginning of that one for reference. Sukkos The 15th dayContinue reading “Pinchas, 7th Aliya”

Passover. Shavuos. Rosh Hashana. Yom Kippur. Today’s Chumash provides instructions for when certain key holidays are to take place as well as which offerings to bring on each day. A few recurring things which come up for all of them: Passover The 14th day of the first month (i.e. Nissan) they are to offer theContinue reading “Pinchas 6th Aliya”

Communal Offerings G-d tells Moshe to command the Israelites regarding public offerings. Rashi says that this comes in response to Moshe’s request from G-d right before this to appoint a leader to take over after Moshe passes away. This is G-d’s way of saying “rather than you command me about my children, command my childrenContinue reading “Pinchas 5th Aliya”

Inheritance. Moshe Is to Ascend. Yehoshua Appointed. Laws of Inheritance for a Man Who Had No Sons G-d tells Moshe that the daughters of Zelophchad spoke correctly* and that they most definitely should be given a portion of land as an inheritance from their father. These daughters were privy to seeing an aspect of thisContinue reading “Pinchas, 4th Aliya”

Land Division. Tzlophchad’s Daughters. Land Division G-d told Moshe that the land should be divided up amongst the families which Moshe and Elazar the Kohen just counted in the census. The census took place by the plains of Moav by the Jordan near Yericho. Even though the land took seven years to conquer and thenContinue reading “Pinchas, 3rd Aliya”

The Census Preliminary note: Rashi notes that all of the families listed in the upcoming census begin with a Hei and end with a Yud, for example the family of Chanuch the son of Reuven is listed as the family of the “החנוכי” (literally “the Chanochite”). Rashi explains that this is because the other nationsContinue reading “Pinchas, 2nd Aliya”