Matot, Masei and the Three Weeks

         

We (naḥnu) will pass over as the vanguard before the Eternal into the land of Canaan …          Numbers 32:32

The sons of Gad and Reuven use the unusual form “naḥnu” rather than the common “anaḥnu,” which Ba’al haTurim relates to two other verses which also use the form “naḥnu”:

We are all the sons of one man …  Genesis 42:11

We have sinned and rebelled… Lamentations 3:42

My father explained the connection among the verses. Whether it is the vanguard going to fight God’s battles or the sinners of Israel, “we are all the sons of one man.” Every Jew must feel a sense of responsibility for all fellow Jews. Through this bond of unity and feeling of mutual responsibility, the sons of Gad and Reuven were empowered to enter the Promised Land as Israel’s vanguard. Ultimately, the tribes’ acceptance of their communal responsibility, rather than focusing on their narrow personal interests, is the guarantee of their success in liberating the Holy Land.

This message of the importance of feeling common kinship and unity is especially timely, as Parashat Matot is always read during the period of three weeks of mourning the destruction of the Temple, since the second Temple was destroyed as the result of baseless hatred (sin’at ḥinam) among the Jews.

            The Hassidic master, the Rebbi of Skolin noted that Parashat Masei is always read during the Three Weeks, the period of national mourning from the 17^th of Tammuz until the 9^th of Av, and explained that there is a valuable lesson to be learnt from this timing.

            All the journeys of the Children of Israel and all their travail in the desert were for the purpose of reaching the Promised Land. So too we must be aware that all of Israel's journeys through the long and bitter exile are for the purpose of purifying us until we reach the final redemption which will bring Israel's return to its Land.