Just One Haiku And

H.O.T.D.

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We are born temples

We mourn our own destruction

We live to rubuild

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i

THERE'S A LONG PARSHA POST UP ON MATOT, SEPARATE AND DISTINCT FROM THE IDEAS BELOW. (I may paste and post to there at some point).

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Nechama Leibowitz addresses a different point - that we're all taught that Bilam was the mastermind behind the plan to seduce the Jewish men into idolatry. The thing is that when it happens it says that the people did it, it does not mention that they were entrapped by Bilam (Bamidbar 25:1) In Parshat Matot is when the secret is revealed - that it was Bilam's counsel (32:10). She suggests that the reason for this spacing is to make clear that the people did what they did by choice and can't pass responsibility off onto anyone else. As she puts it (in an English adaptation by Aryeh Newman), "The moral responsibility ultimately rested on the Israelites themselves. They were guilty."

To me that's a wow.

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In 31:2 Moshe is commanded to avenge Midyan. One approach of the Midrash Tanchuma is that Moshe displayed great self sacrifice in attacking Miydan. He was told that after this action he would die. Nevertheless, he moved forward in this mission with alacrity. On the other hand this mission represents the fact that Moshe was given a personal opportunity. The one time in his tenure where Moshe did not take control of a crisis involved Bnot Midyan. For this reason he is given a chance to fix his mistake before he dies.

Rabbi Yitzhak Twersky points out that these 2 midrashim point to a paradigm. Mitzvot often seem like they demand self sacrifice, but at the same time they are actually facilitating our own benefit. This relates to the Ramban's explanation of Moshe’s question, "What does God ask of you except to love Him/Fear Him, etc…" The list is long and includes many difficult requests. How then could Moshe justify making it sound like God asks only a small thing?

The Ramban points out that the conclusion of Moshe’s statement, the two word phrase "le'tov lach" - "for your own good" explains the entire statement. When someone requests something from you which is truly for your own benefit it is unreasonable to complain that they are asking too much. This connects with the Karate Kid scene where the kid realizes that waxing on and waxing off and all the other work Mr. Miagi had him do was really training him to become a karate master and not just Mr. Miago abusing him. This is also similar to a mashal of Rav Chaim MeVolozion -that if one is mandated by a king to count gold bricks and is paid and also told that he keeps every brick he counts it it's not sensible for this worker to complain of being bossed around by the king).