Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Parshas Korach 5777

Who Got the Land of Korach's Company?

The Torah writes (Numbers 16:32):
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions.
The Talmud (Bava Batra 118b) states:
Abaye said to him: We are referring to the protesters who were among the assembly of Korah. This term is not referring to all those who protested, but rather to the 250 individuals who protested along with Korah, and it is their portions of land that Joshua and Caleb received.
(Korach himself was a Levite and did not get land, plus his sons survived and they probably got whatever portion of Levite cities he was supposed to get)

When Did Korach Get His Name?

The Zohar writes (3:49a):
When did he get the name Korach? At the time he was shaved [like all the other Levites]. At the time that Korach saw his head without any hair and he saw Aaron adorned with royal garments, it became light in his eyes and he became jealous of Aaron
(see also our previous post about his name being the same as the grandson of Esau)

What Was Korach's Job?

The Midrash writes (Bamidbar Rabbah 18:15):
Korach was the treasurer of household of Pharaoh and in his hands he held the keys to all of the treasuries
Midrash also writes (ibid 18:3):
Our Sages say: Korach was a wise person and he was from the carriers of the Ark

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Parshas Shlach 5777

Why Did Moses Sends the Spies from the South?

The Torah writes (Numbers 13:17):
When Moses sent them to scout the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negeb and on into the hill country,
Bekhor Shor (ibid):
They were near the south of the Land of Israel and he told them to go through the Negeb which was near by
Sforno (ibid):
Moses wanted them to commence their mission from the very spot the Israelites found themselves in at this time, i.e. in the south of the land of Canaan. He considered that at this point entry into the land of Canaan would not present any difficulty and they would not have to travel around the country inn order to enter from a more distant location.
Rashi (ibid):
It (the South) was the worst part of the Land of Israel. He bid them spy this out first because such is the way of merchants: they show a prospective purchaser the inferior goods first, and afterwards they show the best 
The Traveling Staff
Rabeinu Bachya (ibid) writes:

Moses gave them his staff in order to safe them from their hands

Related Posts

See also our previous posts relevant to this parsha:
 [Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Parshas Behaaloscha 5777

What Did Miriam Tell Aron about Their Brother?

The Torah writes (Numbers 12:1-2)
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married: “He married a Cushite woman!” They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” The LORD heard it.
Rashi (ibid) - he divorced his wife:
THAT HE HAD MARRIED A CUSHITE WOMAN, and had now divorced her.
and (ibid) - he separated from his wife:
And whence did Miriam know that Moses had separated himself from his wife (for this was the statement she made; cf. Rashi below)? R. Nathan answered: “Miriam was beside Zipporah When it was told to Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp’ (Numbers 11:17). When Zipporah heard this, she exclaimed, Woe to the wives of these if they have anything to do with prophecy, for they will separate from their wives just has my husband has separated from me!” It was from this that Miriam knew about it, and she told it to Aaron.
Daas Zekeinim:
“for he had married a woman from the land of Cush.” (Ethiopia) According to Moses’ biography, Moses had been king in that country and his wife had been a queen in her own right previously. Moses had ruled over that land for a period of forty years (before coming to Midian) This is why the Torah reported Miriam and Aaron as speaking critically only of Moses (“did G–d only speak with Moses?”) They thought that seeing that G–d had spoken with Moses, Moses had felt that no Jewish woman was good enough for him to marry, i.e. that he had given himself airs. They did not criticise Moses for having married Tzipporah, as he had done so in circumstances when he was a refugee from Egyptian justice at the time.

Chizkuni:
they wondered why Moses had chosen this point in time to separate from Tzipporah and concluded that it was because she wasn't beautfiul, and they could not understand that he had married her in the first place seeing that she had always been that way.
And:
A different interpretation of this line: She had been a queen in her land, the land of Kush. This would fit with what we have read in Chronicles that Moses had been a King in that land. At the time, he had to marry a local woman. Now there was no need for him to remain married to a Kushite woman. 

Several Points about the Story of Miriam

  • The definition of the words "אשה כושית" has several possibilities but the simplest is that it was someone from the land or the people of Cush
  • That is a problem if Tzipporah is the person referenced here since her father, Jethro, was from Midian who was one of the sons of Abraham. There are several possible solutions:
    • it does in fact refer to her, but the word doesn't mean "someone from Cush".
    • it does refer to her since her mother was from Cush (see Rokeach)
    • it refers to Moses's first wife who was the Queen of Cush
    • Midrash states that Tzipporah and Basiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, were twins who were abandoned in the marketplace and adopted by Jethro and Pharaoh. This way these still could have been originally from Cush.
  • What was the issue that Miriam noticed?
    • According to Rashi it was that Moses separated or divorced his wife
    • According to other opinions above, it was that as if Moses was too important to marry someone Jewish
    • Or that he should be marrying someone Jewish now that he has the opportunity
  • How did Miriam know this and why is this story placed here?
    • According to Rashi it was she overheard Tzipporah saying that during the story of Eldad and Medad (who were Moses's half brothers)
    • It is also possible she hard about her lineage from Jethro's family that was just here
[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]