Beit Tefillah Torah Teaching

•Parashah – Mattot / Masei (Num 30-36)

Slide 1
Traditional Blessing Before
the Reading of the Torah

Baruch atah HaShem Eloheynu melech ha'olam,

Asher bachar banu mikol-ha'amim, venatan lanu et-torato
Baruch atah HaShem, noten hatorah. Amen
Blessed are You –HaShem our Elohim, King of the Universe,
who has chosen us from all peoples and has given us His
Torah. Blessed are You -HaShem, Giver of the Torah.
 Beit Tefillah Torah Teaching

•Outline
–Laws of Neder
–Boundaries of Israel
–The Cities of Refuge

Slide 3
 The Laws of Neder

•Num 30:3 – If a man takes a vow to HASHEM or

establishes a prohibition upon himself (Heb.
Naphesho), he shall not desecrate his word…
•The intensity of making a neder
–Artscroll Chumash commentary – The Torah
introduces a chapter which, upon reflection, gives
a person the right to do something that heretofore
could be done only by God: to create a new
halachic status…One can prohibit to himself
something that the Torah permits.
–An example of this would be a Nazirite vow
(Num 6)
Slide 4
 The Laws of Neder

•Can someone make a vow for something forbidden to

become permitted?
–Judges 11:31 – Then it shall be that whatever
emerges—what will emerge from the doors of my
house—toward me when I return in peace from the
children of Ammon, it shall belong to HASHEM and I
shall offer it up as an elevation offering.
–Judges 11-34-35 – Jephthah arrived at Mizpah, to
his home, and behold! his daughter was coming out
toward him…When he saw her, he tore his clothes
and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me to
my knees, and you have joined those that trouble me.
I have opened my mouth to HASHEM and I cannot
recant!
Slide 5
 The Laws of Neder

•Most sages agree that Jephthah’s neder did not

need to be fulfilled because the Torah does not
permit human sacrifice.
•Artscroll commentary – Under no circumstances
was Jephtah permitted to sacrifice his daughter, nor
could he obligate her to a course of behavior.
Jephthah should have gone to Phinehas to have his
vow annulled.

Slide 6
 The Laws of Neder

•Did Ananias and Sapphira make a vow invoking the

name and not fulfill it? Is this what caused their fate?
•Acts 5:1-5 – But a certain man named Ananias, with
Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back
[part] of the price, his wife also being privy [to it], and
brought a certain part, and laid [it] at the apostles'
feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled
thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back
[part] of the price of the land?…why hast thou
conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied
unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these
words fell down, and gave up the ghost…

Slide 7
 The Laws of Neder

•Revoking a Neder
–A woman’s vow can be revoked in one of two
ways
–If unmarried her father can revoke her vow:
•Num 30:6 – But if her father restrains her on
the day of his hearing, all her vows or
prohibitions that she established upon herself
shall not stand; and HASHEM will forgive her,
for her father restrained her.

Slide 8
 The Laws of Neder

•Revoking a Neder continued…

–If married her husband can revoke her vow:
•Num 30:9 – But if on the day of her
husband’s hearing he shall restrain her and he
shall revoke the vow that is upon her of the
utterance of her lips by which she had
prohibited something upon herself—then
HASHEM will forgive her.
–NOTE: There is a specified time limit in which
the vows can be revoked. (i.e. on the day of
Slide 9 hearing).
 The Laws of Neder

•If a woman made a vow and then later marries can her
husband revoke it?
•The Hebrew language may give us a possible answer to
this question by showing a status change of a woman
–Buried Treasure by Rabbi Daniel Lapin – “Since
the Hebrew word for brother is ach, one would expect
the word for sister to be achAH. But it isn’t. Rather
than adding an ah sound, the word for sister is made
by adding on the plural feminine ending, ot. Based
upon Hebrew’s grammatical rules, there is no such
creature as one sister. Each one is actually a
minimum of two. (page 77)
Slide 10
 The Laws of Neder

–Buried Treasure by Rabbi Daniel Lapin –

“Similarly, parents interact with their daughters quite
differently after they marry. The Hebrew word for son,
BeN, is related to the concept of building, BoNeH;
while the word for daughter, BaT, is related to BaYit,
or home. When he marries, a son’s obligations to his
new family “build” on top of those he already has to
his parents and siblings. When a man marries, he is
not leaving his family for another; he is bringing a new
person, his bride, into his own family…On the other
hand, when a daughter marries, she is now chiefly
committed to building her new “home.” (page 81)
Slide 11
 The Laws of Neder

•If a woman’s neder can be revoked then can a

man’s neder also be revoked?
–A Daily Dose of Torah (Artscroll) – The Mishnah
(Chagigah 1:8) tells us: “[The regualtions governing]
release from vows hover in the air, and have no [firm
Scriptural] support.” This is referring to the law that a
talmid chacham, a Torah scholar, can annul a
person’s vow, assuming the proper halachic
conditions are met…As Rashi explains, were it not for
the oral tradition handed down from teacher to
student, we would not be able to rely on this scant
Scriptural support. (i.e. he will not desecrate his word
Slide 12
thus implying that some else could.)
 The Boundaries of Israel

•Why does the Torah take the time to define for us the
boundaries of Israel?
–Rashi tells us the Torah delineates the boundaries of
Israel because of the many commandments that are
obligatory only within the land.
–All nations have been given specific lands to occupy
(Deut. 2)
–So there would be no dispute what the borders were
(The UN should pass a resolution defining these
borders)
–Laws of War depend upon where the enemy dwells
Slide 13 (Deut. 20)
 The Cities of Refuge

•What is the purpose of cities of refuge?

–Num 35:9-12 – HASHEM spoke to Moses saying…
you will designate cities for yourselves, cities of refuge
shall they be for you, and a killer shall flee there—one
who takes a life unintentionally. The cities shall for
you a refuge from the avenger, so that the killer will
not die until he stand before the assembly for
judgment.
•The killer is provided protection until he stands
trial

Slide 14
 The Cities of Refuge

•What happens if the killer leaves the city of refuge

before the death of the high priest?
–Num 35:26 – But if the killer will ever leave the
border of his city of refuge to which he had fled,
and the avenger of the blood shall find him
outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the
avenger of the blood will kill the killer—he has no
blood guilt.

Slide 15
 The Cities of Refuge

•What is the purpose of the death of the High Priest

as a requirement for the manslayer to leave the city
of refuge?
–Artscroll commentary – Quoting Sforno says,
“Since there are varying degrees of
“unintentionality,” no human court can determine
how long the exile for individual cases should be.
The duration of exiles, therefore, is left to an
event ordained by God alone.

Slide 16
Traditional Blessing After
the Reading of the Torah

Baruch atah HaShem, Eloheynu melech ha'olam,

Asher natan lanu torat emet, vechayey olam nata betochenu.
Baruch atah HaShem, noten hatorah. Amen
Blessed are You –HaShem our Elohim, King of the universe,
who has given us the Torah of truth, and has planted everlasting
life in our midst. Blessed are You -HaShem, Giver of the Torah.