Shabbat Parashat Matot Masei 5786

Matot | 26 Tammuz 5786 | 11/07/2026

Dear Friends,

Shabbat Shalom!

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Parashat Hashavua: The Blessing of Children, Specifically for Menashe – part II

Harav Yosef Carmel

We saw last time that if the increase of 20,5000 people in the Tribe of Menashe is due to the blessing of children to his father Yosef, it is surprising that Ephrayim did not record an increase as well. We also asked why Moshe made a major issue of the requests for land east of the Jordan whereas Moshe seemed to effortlessly give it to Machir ben Menashe. We add another question. In discussing the conquest by Yair ben Menashe, who named the area Chavot Yair, it says that this was the name “until this day” (Devarim 3:14). This implies that there were two stages in the settlement of the area of the Gilad.

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Ask the Rabbi: Haircut for a Bar Mitzva in the Three Weeks

Rav Daniel Mann

My son will have a bar mitzva celebration on Tammuz 22 (without music and dancing). Can he have a haircut right before the party? If yes, can I also have a haircut and shave?

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Moreshet Shaul: I Will Bring You Back Up – part II

Every place in the exile with ten Jews brought stones and earth from Eretz Yisrael to build their houses of prayer (batei knesset) and Torah study (batei medrash), giving the people a feeling of the Land of the Patriarchs, of the Holy Land. These edifices were independent public domains, extraterritorial areas, impenetrable to the atmosphere of the exile.

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P'ninat Mishpat:  Regulation of Land Rights in a Settlement Extension – part V

The plaintiffs (=pl) used to live in an unrecognized settlement extension (=SE), left SE in 2013, and returned in 2016, against the will of the settlement committee (=def). Def instructed pl as to the boundaries of their lot, but pl expanded them and ignored warnings to desist. In 2023, def started preparing neighboring lots for new units, including areas to which pl had asserted control, and destroyed some of pl’s infrastructure. [This installment’s issues:] Pl claims that def must pay for damage to many of his assets that were in and around his property. Def demands that pl be forced to pay municipal taxes like other members of def. Pl refuse because def’s banishment of them prevents their full use of def’s resources, and because def ignores their demand for public disclosure of municipal spending.

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