Milk and Money

(1) Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben — (2) to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute. (3) They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and ה' is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above יהוה’s congregation?” (4) When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. (5) Then he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Come morning, ה' will make known who is [God’s] and who is holy by granting direct access; the one whom [God] has chosen will be granted access. (6) Do this: You, Korah and all your band, take fire pans, (7) and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before ה'. Then the candidate whom ה' chooses, he shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” (8) Moses said further to Korah, “Hear me, sons of Levi. (9) Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you direct access, to perform the duties of יהוה’s Tabernacle and to minister to the community and serve them? (10) Now that [God] has advanced you and all your fellow Levites with you, do you seek the priesthood too? (11) Truly, it is against ה' that you and all your company have banded together. For who is Aaron that you should rail against him?” (12) Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come! (13) Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over us? (14) Even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and given us possession of fields and vineyards, should you gouge out the eyes of those involved? We will not come!” (15) Moses was much aggrieved and he said to ה', “Pay no regard to their oblation. I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them.” (16) And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company appear before ה', you and they and Aaron. (17) Each of you take your fire pan and lay incense on it, and each of you bring that fire pan before ה', two hundred and fifty fire pans; you and Aaron also [bring] your fire pans.” (18) They each took their fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and took a place at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, as did Moses and Aaron. (19) Korah gathered the whole community against them at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Then the Presence of ה' appeared to the whole community, (20) and ה' spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, (21) “Stand back from this community that I may annihilate them in an instant!” (22) But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, Source of the breath of all flesh! When one member sins, will You be wrathful with the whole community?” (23) ה' spoke to Moses, saying, (24) “Speak to the community and say: Withdraw from about the abodes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” (25) Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, the elders of Israel following him. (26) He addressed the community, saying, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be wiped out for all their sins.” (27) So they withdrew from about the abodes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Now Dathan and Abiram had come out and they stood at the entrance of their tents, with their wives, their adult children, and their little ones. (28) And Moses said, “By this you shall know that it was ה' who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising: (29) if these people’s death is that of all humankind, if their lot is humankind’s common fate, it was not ה' who sent me. (30) But if ה' brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that those involved have spurned ה'.” (31) Scarcely had he finished speaking all these words when the ground under them burst asunder, (32) and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions. (33) They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation. (34) All Israel around them fled at their shrieks, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!” (35) And a fire went forth from ה' and consumed the two hundred and fifty contestants offering the incense.

(12) The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.

(Bamidbar 7:12) "And the one who presented his offering on the first day": What is the intent of this? "first" of all the days of the year (i.e., the first of Nissan). "Nachshon ben Aminadav of the tribe of Judah": Is the intent of this attribution to link him with his tribe or to indicate that he obtained (the offering) from his tribe and brought it? It is, therefore, written (Ibid. 17) "This is the offering of Nachshon ben Aminadav" — his personal offering and not his tribe's. What, then, is the intent of Nachshon ben Aminadav of the tribe of Judah"? To link him with his tribe.

(8) I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

flowing with milk and honey

(11) Sweetness drops
From your lips, O bride;
Honey and milk
Are under your tongue;
And the scent of your robes
Is like the scent of Lebanon.

The Gemara raises an objection from a baraita: For what reason did the Sages say that the honey of bees is permitted? It is because they bring the nectar from the flowers into their body, but they do not excrete it from their body as a bodily excretion. So too, the urine of a donkey is not an excretion produced by the body itself. Rather, it is simply ejected in the same form that it entered the body. Why, then, should it be forbidden? The Gemara answers: Rav Sheshet stated his answer in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Ya’akov, who says that with regard to honey, the Merciful One permits it as an exception to the principle that a substance that emerges from a non-kosher animal is non-kosher. This is as it is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Ya’akov says that it is stated: “Yet these may you eat of all winged creatures” (Leviticus 11:21). The word “these” indicates that you may eat these, but you may not eat a non-kosher winged creature. The Gemara asks: Why is this inference necessary? The prohibition against eating a non-kosher winged creature is written explicitly: “All winged creatures that go upon all fours are a repugnance to you” (Leviticus 11:20). Rather, the inference must be understood as follows: You may not eat a non-kosher winged creature, but you may eat that which a non-kosher winged creature discharges from its body, and what is that? That is the honey of bees.

The Torah Temimah (Leviticus 11:21, note 66) quotes several halachot that result from the fact that honey is just regurgitated nectar. These include Rishonim who said that but for the fact that the original plant taste is not detectable, the berachah on bee’s honey would be Ha’adamah; Rambam’s ruling that bee’s honey, like fruit juice, does not cause chimutz (leavening) and Shu”t Sha’ar Ephraim’s ruling that one who vows not to eat products of living creatures may eat honey. Employing this logic, it can be observed that because the sweet syrup of any fruit is called honey (Rashi, Leviticus 2:11), bee’s honey may actually be called honey because it is merely regurgitated fruit nectar. Hence all honey is fruit nectar, and bee’s honey is simply one example.

See: Tzarich Iyun: Milk and Honey, Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky

(11) No meal offering that you offer to ה' shall be made with leaven, for no leaven or honey may be turned into smoke as an offering by fire to ה'.

Honey - all Biblical devash is date honey