Parshas Behaaloscha 5783

Who Made the Menorah? (8:4)

• Betzalel (Targum Yonasan; also see Shemos 37:17)
• Hashem after Moshe threw gold into the fire (Rashi citing Midrash Tanchuma, Behaaloscha 3)
• Moshe (Sifrei 61)
  

When setting apart the Leviim, why does the Torah start off by saying "the entire congregation of Bnei Yisroel" but changes to just "Bnei Yisroel"? (8:20)

• The second mention refers to the firstborn who agreed to give up their privileges (Ohr haChayim)

Who were the people unable to bring the Korbon Pesach and were allowed to bring it on Pesach Sheni? (9:6)

• They were tamei due to a contact with a dead body (Pesachim 6b). Ibn Ezra adds that it is impossible that for such large camp without people dying every day.
  
• They were the bearers of Yosef's coffin (Sukkah 25a) [see Midrash Aggadah who argues that they should have been able to purify themselves].
• Mishael and Elizaphan who became tamei through contact with Nadav and Avihu (Midrash Aggadah).
  
• They were involved in a Mes Mitzvah (Sukkah 25b, Midrash Aggadah).

Who are Hovav and Reuel? (10:29)

• Hovav is Yisro, and Reuel was his father (Rashi, also see Shoftim 4:11). Chasam Sofer (Behaaloscha 21) adds that the Torah specifically refers to Reuel as the [grand]father-in-law of Moshe and a Midaini since he didn't convert yet, but not to Yisro (who is considered as a newborn because he converted).
  
• Hovav, Reuel and Yisro are all the same person, and his name was Hovav (Midrash Aggadah). Rabbeinu Bachya and Ramban add that Hovav was the name given to Yisro when he converted. 

Parshas Behaaloscha 5778

The Lineage of Eldad and Medad

The Torah writes (Numbers 11:26):

Two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in camp; yet the spirit rested upon them—they were among those recorded, but they had not gone out to the Tent—and they prophesied in the camp.

Daas Zekeinim (Numbers 11:27, also cited in Paneach Raza) writes:

These two men were (half) brothers of Moses. When the Torah was given, and certain types of family members were no longer allowed to live in married union together, such couples separated in accordance with the law. This caused sorrow among such families as we know from verse 10 in our chapter where Moses is portrayed as listening to the weeping of families which had been broken up as a result of the new laws. Amram, Moses’ father, was also affected by these new laws, as when Pharaoh had decreed that all male Jewish babies were to be downed, he had divorced his wife Yocheved, who was his aunt. He had remarried and Eldod and Meydod were sons sired by him from this marriage. Their named reflected that they were compensations for a marriage broken up as a result of the prohibition to marry one’s aunt .... Our author claims to have found a manuscript of a certain Rabbi Amram, son of a Rabbi Hillel, who had lived in the land of Israel, in which the author writes as follows: “I have personally seen the graves of Eldod and Meydod brother of Aaron through his father’s side but not from the same mother.”’

Another opinion (ibid):

... Some scholars claim that Eldod is identical with a certain Elidod son of Kisslon, mentioned in Numbers 34,21. Meydod is supposed to be identical with Kemuel son of Shifton in verse 24 in that chapter. ... The author finds it difficult to believe that these two men had been half-brothers of Moses seeing that according to the Torah in Numbers chapter 34, Elidod and Kisslon were members of the tribe of Binyamin. Kemuel is described there as a member of the tribe of Ephrayim.

(the connection with Numbers 34:21-24 is also quoted in Bamidbar Rabbah 15 - these were the heads of tribes that helped to divide the land with Yehoshua; this also would fit with what Rashi writes about 2 tribes lacking one elder and they were from two different tribes but they didn't necessarily go through the lottery)
 
 Targum Jonathan (ibid) writes:

But two men had remained in the camp; the name of the one Eldad, and the name of the second Medad, the sons of Elizaphan bar Parnach [the prince of Tribe of Zebulun], whom Jochebed the daughter of Levi bare to him when Amram her husband had put her away; and to whom she had been espoused before she gave birth to Moshe.

Rabbi Frand asks why Yocheved got remarried against Amram's halachic opinion, and answers that since she was closer to the Patriarchs she understood the will of Hashem much clearer.

Additional Notes

• According to the Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 3), Eldad and Medad outlived Yehoshua
• As per Rashi there are opinions that Eldad and Medad continued to receive prophecy after this day and even after Moshe died
• Rabbi Jonathan Sacks asks about the difference between Korach and his desired to power, vs. Eldad and Medad, specifically in regards to how Yehoshua reacted. He answers that Moshe served two roles: prophet and king, and Korach wanted the kingship, but in the case of Eldad and Medad, it wasn't about power but prophecy
• Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky cites sources that Eldad and Medad were the elders after Yehoshua or that it was the Tribe of Levi
• Midrash haGadol (Numbers 11:26) states that Bezalel was the one who suggested to Moses the idea of picking the Sanhedrin through a lottery
• See our earlier post about who inspected the tzaraas on Miriam
• See our earlier post about who the elders were

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]