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D'var: Parashat Mattot-Masei 5783 Commentary by Michael Goldstein Friday, July 14, 2023 |
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Mattot Numbers 30:2 — 32:42
Masei Numbers 33:1 — 36:13 |
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There is one of the seven Shabbats during the year that have double readings. The two portions we read this week are Matot and Masei. They conclude the Book of Numbers.
In Matot, Moses describes the laws of vows; the Israelites attack the Midianites; and the tribes of Reuven and Gad ask to settle on the Jordan’s East bank. In Masei, the 40-year midbar journey is recounted; the tribes of Reuven and Gad agree to help the other tribes conquer the Canaanites on the West bank; God tells Moses what property each tribe will have; He clarifies the laws of murder and cities of refuge; and the daughters of Zelophehad receive their inheritance. I’ve read these portions a few times and there are times I want to lock them away because they can be so disturbing to my sense of what Judaism is and should be. There are two things here I want to talk about. They are related, however distantly. First, Matot begins with sexism. Men must keep their vows, but a woman’s vows may be nullified by her husband if she’s married or by her father if she’s not. I’ll come back to that injustice soon. Then Matot continues with genocide. In a spirit of revenge, 12 thousand Israelites invade Midian and slaughter all the men. They return with the women and children, along with livestock and other spoils of war. Moses is angry because they did not wreak sufficient vengeance, so in Numbers 31:17-18 he commands them; Now kill every male child, and every woman who can lie intimately with a man you shall kill. And all the young girls, you may keep alive for yourselves. It’s bloodcurdling. And, remember that Moses lived in Midian. His wife, Zipporah, and his father-in-law, Jethro, were Midianites. In Masei, ethnic cleansing in Canaan is foretold. In Numbers 33:51-56, God tells Moses: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their temples, destroy their molten idols, and demolish their high places. if you do not drive out the inhabitants from before you, then those whom you leave over will be as spikes in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land in which you settle. And what I had intended to do to them, I will do to you. So, it wasn’t easy to find a positive message here, but, hey, I take my job seriously. Yes, it hurts to see oppression, poverty, sickness, and all the other terrible things that humans do to each other. That’s why so many turn away when confronted by them. But what we should do when we read the Torah’s most disturbing passages is to use those sections to identify, maintain, and act on our deepest ethical and moral values as human beings. Here’s the second thing I wanted to take up and it is very important. It is the ridiculous male-chauvinist notion that a woman’s vows can be revoked by her father or husband. Ah, but the rule has sort of an out. The Torah tells us in Numbers Chapter 30: If her father or her husband revokes her vows on the day he hears them, anything issuing from her lips regarding her vows or self-imposed prohibitions shall not stand; and her father or her husband hears it but remains silent on the day he hears it, her vows shall stand, and her prohibition which she has imposed upon herself shall stand. We can’t really ignore the issue of women’s rights, but let me just put it aside for a moment. Now: If her father or husband can revoke her vows on day one, why can’t they do it on day two? Well, according to the Talmud, the answer is: silence is assent. Once he hears what she has sworn, he can either revoke it immediately or remain quiet. So, the lesson for us is simple: In all things, silence is assent. We sometimes see injustice or heartlessness… perhaps a derogatory joke, a rude, selfish, or cruel word or deed, or maybe just upsetting news somewhere… and we do nothing. I believe we should choose a side and speak out or act, or if we are silent, we, in effect, acquiesce to what we find hateful. There is no neutrality… Silence is assent. In that spirit, let me quote the 16th Century Rabbi, Judah Loew: While a person may be individually pious, such good will pale in the face of the sin of not protesting against an emerging communal evil. Not only will such piety not avert the impending evil, but such a pious person will be accountable for having been able to prevent it and not do so. I am reminded of a tradition my Orthodox grandfather in Brooklyn told me about. At the end of each book of the Torah, we should say, hazak hazak, v’nithazek. He told me it means: Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another. May it be so. . Michael Goldstein |
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