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Shabbat Parashat Matot 5774

Matot | 21 Tamuz 5774 | 19/07/2014

Parashat Hashavua: The East Bank’s Big Four

The latter portions of Sefer Bamidbar deal significantly with the beginning of the Israelite inhabitation of the areas east of the Jordan River, including the regions of the Gilad and the Bashan (these regions are today in North West Jordan, Southern Syria and the Golan Heights). These lands were home to, in addition to the interspersed cities of Kohanim and Levi’im, significant populations of four tribes: Menashe, Binyamin, Ephrayim, and Yehuda (Reuven and Gad were to the south). Three of these tribes are mentioned together with the Gilad in Tehillim (60:9): “To me (David) is Gilad and to me is Menashe; and Ephrayim is the strength of my head; Yehuda is my lawgiver.” Our claim of significant representations from these four tribes in these regions emerges from a study of several references throughout Tanach, which we will now explore.

Ask the Rabbi: Buying Land for Shemitta

A group is giving the opportunity to buy agricultural land in Israel for the Shemitta year. Is that worthwhile?

Ein Ayah: Torah vs. Tefilla – Part I

Rava saw that Rav Hamnuna was davening for a long time. Rava said: They abandon eternal life and occupy themselves with transient life. Rav Hamnuna reasoned: The time of tefilla is independent from the time of Torah.

Pninat Mishpat: Commitment to Pay in Exchange for a Cherem

[Reuven claimed that Shimon owed Reuven’s father 800 rubles, as Reuven’s father announced in front of two witnesses, and now that Reuven’s father has died, Reuven is to receive the money. Shimon said that he owes only 300 rubles, and that he had informed Reuven of this fact during his father’s lifetime. In fact, said Shimon, if Reuven will accept a cherem denying that Shimon had told Reuven as above, he (Shimon) would pay the entire 800 rubles. They signed a document confirming the challenge and strengthened it with a kinyan sudar. The question is whether this arrangement is binding, as Shimon now wants to get out of it. The local rav/dayan posited that since a cherem is basically a form of oath, one cannot create a binding cherem on a claim that does not have intrinsic significance. Specifically, even if Reuven were to admit that Shimon had denied the oath during his father’s life, that would not have exempted Shimon from paying (there was no claim that Reuven or his father had admitted that Shimon was correct). Therefore, giving credence to such a cherem is “making a condition that contradicts the Torah” law of not making valueless oaths. The local rav asked the author of Beit Yitzchak for his opinion on the matter.]

Hemdat Yamim

is dedicated

to the memory of:

The kidnapped boys o.b.m.

Yaakov Naftali Frenkel

Gil-Ad Michael Shaer

and Eyal Yifrach

Mina Presser

bat Harav David and Bina

on the occasion of her yahrzeit,

24 Tammuz

and members of her family

who perished in the shoah

Al Kiddush Hashem

R' Meir
ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld

o.b.m

Rabbi Yosef Mordechai Simcha

ben Bina Stern o.b.m

who passed away

21 Adar I, 5774

R' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

R' Shmuel Shemesh z"l

Eretz Hemdah's

Board Member

who passed away

18 Sivan, 5774

Hemdat Yamim

is endowed by

Les & Ethel Sutker

of Chicago, Illinois
in loving memory of
Max and Mary Sutker
and

Louis and Lillian Klein, z”l

A weekly divrei Torah leaflet: A Glimpse at the Parasha, Ask the Rabbi, From the writings of Harav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, zt”l, Pninat Mishpat (Jewish Monetary Law).