YISD 0409-0410_5785

(2) זה הדבר THIS IS THE WORD — Moses prophesied with the words (introduced his message by the statement), “Thus saith the Lord, About midnight [will I go into the midst of Egypt]” (Exodus 11:4), and other prophets also prophesied with “Thus saith the Lord”, Moses, however, had an additional superiority in that he prophesied also with the expression “This is the actual word [that God hath spoken]” (Sifrei Bamidbar 153:2). Another explanation of זה הדבר THIS IS THE WORD: it is a restrictive phrase serving to intimate that the Sage (the expert) makes use of the expression “invalidating” (התרה), and the husband (dealing with his wife’s vows), only of the expression “annulling” (הפרה), as is the language of Scripture here (e. g., in v. 9), and that if they (one of them) exchanges the expression, it (the vow) is not invalidated nor is it annulled as the case may be (Nedarim 78a).

(6) Moses dispatched them on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar serving as a priest on the campaign, equipped with the sacred utensils and the trumpets for sounding the blasts.

(22) and the land has been subdued, at the instance of ה׳, and then you return—you shall be clear before ה׳ and before Israel; and this land shall be your holding under ה׳.

(1) These were the marches of the Israelites who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron.

(1) אלה מסעי THESE ARE THE JOURNEYS (STAGES) [OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — Why are these stations recorded here? In order to make known the loving acts of the Omnipresent: that although He had decreed against them to make them move about and wander in the wilderness, you should not think that they wandered and moved about without cessation from one station to another station all the forty years, and that they had no rest, for you see that there are here only forty-two stages. Deduct from them fourteen, all of which were their stopping places in the first year after they left Egypt, before the decree was made, viz., from the time when they journeyed from Rameses until when they came to Rithmah whence the spies were sent out — as it is said. (Numbers 12:16): “And afterwards the people journeyed from Hazeroth, [and encamped in the wilderness of Paran], whereupon the Lord said unto Moses, (Numbers 13:2) "Send thee men [who may search out the land]”; and here (v. 18) it states, “and they journeyed from Hazeroth and they encamped in Rithmah”, so you learn that it (Rithmah) is in the wilderness of Paran. — Further deduct from them the eight stages which were after Aaron’s death viz., those from Mount Hor to the plains of Moab in the fourtieth year (v. 38). It follows that during the whole of the thirty eight years they made only twenty journeys. This is excerpted from the work of R. Moses the Preacher. — R. Tanchuma gave another explanation of it (of the question why these stages are here recorded). A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king whose son was ill and whom he took to a distant place to cure him. When they returned home the father began to enumerate all the stages, saying to him, “Here we slept, here we caught cold, here you had the head-ache, etc.” (Midrash Tanchuma 4:10:3.

(29) Such shall be your law of procedure throughout the ages in all your settlements.

(1) בכל מושבתיכם [AND THESE THINGS SHOULD BE AN ORDINANCE OF JUSTICE FOR YOU] IN ALL YOUR DWELLINGS — This teaches that the "minor Sanhedrin" functions outside the Land as long as there is [the main] one functioning in the Land of Israel [namely, while the Temple stood].(Makkot 7a)

(1) IN ALL YOUR HABITATIONS. “This teaches us that a Sanhedrin may function outside the Land [of Israel] as long as one functions in the Land of Israel itself.” This is Rashi’s language. This is indeed correct, because after the destruction [of the Temple] the Sanhedrin cannot function in the Land of Israel nor outside it, just as our Rabbis have said in the Chapter Arba Mithoth Beth Din: “And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days — when there is a priest [performing the Divine Service in the Sanctuary] there is [execution of] judgment; when there is no priest [at the Sanctuary] there is no judgment.” And we have been taught in the Mechilta: “Whence do we know that judicial execution can take place only during the existence of the Sanctuary? Because it says, From Mine altar, thou shalt take him, that he may die. If you have an altar, you may render capital punishment, and if not, you may not do so.” But I have nowhere found in connection with a commandment which is limited to the [duration of the] existence of the Sanctuary that Scripture should say about it, throughout your generations in all your habitations [as it does here], because this [expression] indicates [the contrary, namely that it is binding] even during the exile, outside the Land. Thus [it uses this expression] in connection with [the obligation of abstaining from work on the Festival of Shavuoth, and in connection with the prohibition of [eating from] the new crop [before bringing the omer on the sixteenth day of Nisan], in order to make [these laws] obligatory even outside the Land [of Israel] and even nowadays [when the Temple is destroyed], so that we should not [think that the prohibition against eating of the new crop is] dependent upon [the actual offering of] the omer, and [so that we should not make the commandment to abstain from work on Shavuoth dependent] upon the offering of the new meal-offering [on that day]. Likewise [the expression throughout your generations in all your habitations is used] in connection with [the prohibition against eating certain] fats so that we should not think that it is dependent upon the offerings. [And so here too the expression throughout your generations in all your dwellings would indicate that the execution of judgment including the death-penalty, applies at all times, and is not dependent upon the existence of the Sanctuary!] Perhaps the Rabbis interpreted the words [in our verse here]: And these things shall be for a statute of judgment [as referring not to the criminal cases mentioned in this section, but] to [the general law of] the Sanhedrin mentioned continually in this section, as it is said, [until he stand] before ‘the congregation’ for judgment;then ‘the congregation’ shall judge, and Scripture is thus saying that we should always have, throughout all generations, and even after the destruction [of the Sanctuary], “a congregation that judges” [i.e., a Sanhedrin, or court] in order to adjudicate upon the laws of fines, robberies, personal injury, and all monetary matters, and to deal with the law of forty stripes.