Taking (and Breaking) Vows, A Leining Lesson, & Living in the Land

Matot-Mas’ei & Shabbat Mevorchim

There are seven pairs of sedras that are combined in some years and separated in other years. The frequencies of combined and separate vary among the seven pairs, with Matot-Mas’ei being by far the most often combined sedras. They are combined almost 90% of years in Chutz LaAretz, and almost 80% of years in Eretz Yisrael. This year, Matot-Mas’ei (M&M) are combined all over the world.

I found an interesting numeric hint for M&M being the most-often combined double sedra. The gematria of the whole first pasuk of Matot – “Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying: ‘This is the thing Hashem has commanded’” – is 3,324. And the whole first pasuk of Mas’ei – “These are the journeys of the children of Israel who left the land of Egypt in their legions, under the charge of Moshe and Aharon” – is also 3,324. This links them in a numeric way. No other sedra’s opening pasuk matches that of any other.

An observation: Of the 54 sedras, there are five whose names have had the Hei at the beginning of word truncated. This week’s Matot occurs in the beginning of the sedra as “HaMatot.” As you are reading this, try to come up with the other four before you get to the next sentence. And make a riddle for your Shabbat table challenging the people to find the five (letter Hei, gematria 5) sedra names missing the Hei Hay’di’a (the Hei that means the).

The five sedras are: (Ha)Mishpatim, (Ha)Sh’mini, (Ha)M’tzora, (Ha)Matot, and (Ha)D’varim. Fun Torah-trivia to share with your children, grandchildren, and guests, more than once a year.

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Our double sedra M&M shares a name, of course, with the popular candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hand. Those M&Ms have some interesting trivia I’d like to share. Not exactly Torah by the Numbers, but...

Forrest Mars, son of Frank Mars, the founder of Mars, Inc. collaborated with Bruce Murrie, son of a former president of Hershey’s – there’s the M and M – to make the candy which originally used Hershey’s chocolate, even though they were rival companies. That changed later, and Hershey’s came out with a competing product. Don’t feel sorry for Mars – M&Ms were basically a copy of Smarties, first made by the Swiss company Nestlé.

And anyway, because this Shabbat we bentch Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av, our initialism for this Shabbat is really MMM or 3M, which used to be called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company and produces more than 60,000 products. But that’s another story.

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Now back to the subject at hand.

Matot and Mas’ei combine to form the longest Torah reading of 244 p’sukim (112 from Matot and 132 from Mas’ei).

Matot has two mitzvot of the 613 (both related to the topic of nedarim, vows) and Mas’ei has six mitzvot. We’ll get there later.

When two sedras are combined, we might think that their 14 aliyot would be neatly divided two-by-two to give us the seven aliyot of the double sedra. But it ain’t so. Here’s how they are actually divided (each number signifies how many aliyot are combined as the leining goes along to arrive at a total of seven for the double sedra):

The fourth aliya of a double sedra is always the bridge aliyah between the two sedras. MM’s fourth aliyah is the longest of all aliyot in the Torah, by far – 72 p’sukim! There are seven sedras in the Torah that each have fewer p’sukim.

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The first 16 p’sukim of Matot deal with two issues related to vows. But there is a third, as we’ll soon see.

In a single pasuk, we find, simply put, the command that if a person makes an oath or vow, he shall not profane his word (counted here as a mitzvat lo taasei – a prohibition), followed by the command that everything that leaves one’s mouth, he shall do (counted as a positive commandment elsewhere). Seems simple enough: You say you’ll do something – you do it. You say you won’t do something – you don’t do it.

Then come 14 p’sukim that present a topic that is counted from here in Matot as a mitzvah: Hafarat Nedarim (notice that I wrote Hafarat, not Hatarat – yet.)

The summary of the issue is this: A father of a na’ara (defined as a girl between the ages of 12 and 12-and-a-half) has the authority to cancel a vow that she makes – but only on the day he hears about it. Similarly (with differences), a husband can nullify his wife’s vows – also only on the day he hears of them. Further details aside, that’s it for the topic of Nedarim: Keep them, unless a father or husband correctly is meifir them.

But there is one more very important issue relating to vows that is not mentioned in the Written Word. It is only presented in the Oral Law, but that does not make it any less significant than what is in Torah She-B’chtav, the Written Word.

I am talking about Hatarat Nedarim, the nullification of a vow by a beit din (which can even be composed of three laymen) or a single rav who is an expert in the laws of vows.

Example: A person decides that he will stand for Torah reading. And he does, week in and week out. Years later, prolonged standing is no longer easy for him. What should he do?

Based on the obligation to keep one’s vows – and repeatedly doing something can constitute a vow – this guy must stand even when it is difficult.

However, he can convene a panel of three and announce to them that had he realized back then that he would develop difficulty in standing some time later, he would not have let his habit become a vow (by saying: “b’li neder”). This statement constitutes an opening that will permit the beit din to unbind him from his vow.

But wait. Where does it say in the Torah that one can have a commitment undone (except for the limited situations of Hafarat Nedarim, discussed above)? The answer is that it doesn’t say it in the Written Word, but it is spelled out clearly by the Oral Law and Tradition.

And that can overturn an expressed rule in the Torah? Yes, it can. Hatarat Nedarim, done properly, is as powerful in unbinding a person from a vow as is the Torah requirement not to profane one’s word.

What goes along with the above statements is a complete belief and confidence in and commitment to the inseparable nature of the Torah’s two parts – the Written Word and the Oral Law. Not everyone accepts this idea, but it is essential to Torah Judaism.

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Before we leave the first part of Matot, let’s take a look at a nightmare scenario facing the BK (baal korei or baal k’riya, the Torah reader).

The letter Hei at the end of a word comes in two forms – without a dot in it (called a mapik) and with a dot. Without a dot in the final Hei and no vowel under it, the Hei is totally silent. With a dot – a Mapik Hei – the Hei is aspirated, i.e., sounded.

When I transliterate Hebrew words into English, I usually leave off an H if it is silent. I write mitzva rather than, as some people do, mitzvah. (Torah and Menorah are exceptions for me; I will often use the H at the end of the word because people are used to seeing it. So, I am not totally consistent.)

The first section, which deals with a daughter or wife making a vow (14 p’sukim altogether), has 35 Mapik Heis. They should all be aspirated, but failing to do so does not change the meaning of most of the words. Most, but not all.

For example: Isha is a woman. Ishah means “her husband.” One must be careful to say Ishahhh (exaggerated for emphasis) when the word refers to a woman’s husband. Not doing so should require repeating the word correctly. Nine of the Mapik Hei words in our sedra are Ishah.

Some of the others might also change the meaning, but I haven’t examined them closely enough to say. A word like lah, meaning her, might not require correction if the BK says la (without the aspirated Hei) because Lamed-Hei without a mapik has no other meaning. Should it be read lah? Yes, that is the correct pronunciation.

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The sedra continues with the successful battle against Midyan and the details of the spoils of war and their disposition. And there are lots of numbers in this section of the sedra.

They start with Bamidbar 31:26: “Take a count of the plunder of the captive people and animals, you, together with Elazar HaKohen and the paternal leaders of the community... Divide it equally between the warriors and the rest of the People...” There is a tax on the soldiers of 1/500 (0.2%), and from the people, a tax of 1/50 (2%).

And then the numbers flow: 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, 32,000 captive women... Followed by the puzzling further numbers: Half of the sheep for the soldiers: 337,500, tax: 675; half of the cattle: 36,000, tax: 72; half of the donkeys: 30,500, tax: 61; half of the captive women: 16,000, tax: 32. Then, the other half: Half the sheep for the rest of the People: 337,550, and so on... Loads of numbers.

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Which brings us to Parshat Mas’ei. The first notable number is 42. That’s the number of places of our encampments, from leaving Egypt until being poised at the threshold of Eretz Yisrael. If you count the places, you will need to include the place Israel left Egypt from among the 42 places. And, of course, the last place is Arvot Moav, the Plains of Moav, on the east side of the Jordan River opposite Yericho (Jericho). If you number the places from zero to 41, rather than from 1-42, then the 25^th place of encampment is Chashmona, and because of the play-on-words connecting to the Chashmona’im, makes this one of several remazim,hints, to Chanuka in the Torah. Chanu Kaf-Hei,they rested at place #25.

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Besides Hatarat Nedarim, a mitzva not in the Written Word but no less a mitzva, we find in Parshat Mas’ei a mitzva that Rambam (and Sefer HaChinuch) don’t count, but Ramban definitely does. Bamidbar 33:53 is the pasuk that Ramban (Nachmanides) cites as the source of his Mitzva #4 – the mitzva to live in Israel, Mitzvat Yishuv Eretz Yisrael.

The fact that Rambam does not list living in Eretz Yisrael as one of the Taryag is often used as an excuse given by some religious Jews for not seriously considering making aliya. If it were really a mitzva, Rambam too would have included it. Rambam, in his monumental halachic work Mishneh Torah, echoes the Gemara in saying that a person shall always live in Israel, even in a city the majority of whose inhabitants are idol worshipers, rather than live in Chutz LaAretz, even in a place where the majority of the inhabitants are Jewish. That’s kind of clear about living in Eretz Yisrael. So why does he not count it among the 613? Perhaps it is because Rambam sees Yishuv Eretz Yisrael as a supra-mitzva. A mitzva that is more than a specific command. Living in Israel facilitates the observance of many mitzvot, the ones categorized as Mitzvot HaT’luyot Ba’Aretz – mitzvot dependent on the Land. So too, the quality of all mitzvot observed in the place where G-d wants us to be is greater than doing the same mitzvot anywhere else. (Ramban expresses that idea.)

Excuses for not living in Israel abound; some are understandable, some are just excuses. But no one should claim that it is not Hashem’s ratzon (will or desire) that His People should live a Life of Torah and mitzvot in His Chosen Land.

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A couple of words about Rosh Chodesh bentching. Even though the common custom is to call the month Av until after the tenth, the announcement of the upcoming month this Shabbat should be “Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av will be on Yom R’vi’I” (Wednesday). Even though Tish’a b’Av captures our attention, only a third of the month is mournful. Two thirds of the month are to be considered comforting for the bright future of the Complete Redemption. And let’s not forget that smack in the middle of the month is a day that the Mishna declares as a great day of joy. More on Tu b’Av in future columns.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov.