With these two Parashot, Matot (Tribes)and Masei (Journeys), we complete the Book of Numbers. It begins in the second month of the second year after the ‘exit – yetziah – יציאה’ from Egypt and concludes with the arrival at the Promised Land after 38 years of Israel’s wandering in the desert. Our sages say that these represent the 42 stages or incidents that happened to Israel through which God teaches us how to behave together.
Bamidbar tells us of the importance of Moshe’s leadership over the two generations. The first generation, the one that left Egypt, was a supposed idyllic one; sadly, they have been put on a pedestal instead of people seeing them for who they were. They were not the best; they had been under a lot of oppression and had a slave mentality. This would have to be changed. They were contaminated by the gods of Egypt, which needed to be removed from their minds.
Then, 38 years later, just as they were to enter the land, we see the second generation repeating the mistakes of their forefathers. We sometimes complain about our children, but don’t stop to realize that they are a projection of ourselves. To help them, we need to start by looking within and changing ourselves.
When our Messiah Yeshua was asked by the Pharisees how to sum up the Ten Commandments, He said: “Love the LORD, your God with all your heart, your soul and your resources and love your neighbor as you love yourselves”. The first three are mitzvot, which are about our relationship with the Creator; the fourth and fifth, the Shabbat and honouring parents, known as chukkim, do not have a logical explanation but are for us. The last 5 mishpatim are about the relationship with our neighbor. The only legal characteristics are the last 5. The Torah is not a book of laws. Torah means instructions which give us principles to live by. The prophet’s role was to show us the right way. Most religions are based on legalism rather than GOD’s revelation; they follow the letter of the law rather than principles, thus causing us to lose perspective of the message. It is like a mosaic. When we get too close, we can’t see the bigger picture.
Moses had to take the people out slave mentality and belief in many gods to only one Creator; to remember the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and have self-respect. Many of us have had past traumas, and we need to heal from them, to learn from them in order to be victorious. This is why the Torah takes us through a process – it is not done in a second. He allowed the people to go through a transformation. The people had let go of their gods and be redirected toward the one GOD. This is where the principle of bechirah chofshit, free will, comes into play as well as sinat Chinam, gratuitous hatred. We have both sides battling each other. The greatest gift that we have is free will. Most religions try to suppress this. They prefer to provide us with a way out so that we stop trying to help ourselves and learn to depend on them. This is the fallacy of religion. They make you believe that we need someone or something else to pay for our sins. They are used to appeasing their gods. This is done through the death of someone or something. The Creator wanted to free us from that. He changes the direction. We, however, have believed that it is not possible to be perfect, that GOD made us with mistakes; that’s why we need them. However, free will means that we are responsible for what we do. We can’t pass the buck to anyone. This process is called teshuva… by acknowledging what we have done, making it right and returning to Him. It is not repentance. It means coming back to the Creator. That’s all he requires: no animal sacrifice can do that for us. Most religions teach, “Don’t worry about what you have to do…just follow our rules and doctrines, then you’ll be ok.” Those at the top tell you the way. Moshe Rabeinu taught the people that they are responsible for their actions and will have to pay for the consequences. God will constantly be reminding the people of Israel of this process of teshuva.
After Bamidbar, the natural progression should have been the book of Joshua; however, instead, Devarim, also known as Deuteronomy, follows. In the first four books, the Creator spoke directly to Moshe, who transmitted the message to us. In Deuteronomy, Moshe will be telling the story from his perspective.
The question, “Who is Israel?” is a subject that has been discussed throughout the ages by our sages and even as I speak, our Rabbis are fighting over who has the right to convert people to their brand of Judaism. I do not believe in conversion, so that’s not an issue for me. You would be surprised at how many things about the Scriptures have been accepted as truth, but are deductions or theological ideas developed by intelligent people. When we search, we realize they have been invented. Remember, “All that glitters is not gold”, and it is our responsibility to check their veracity.
Moses didn’t receive this message at Mount Sinai in some obscure way; there were millions present, but were they only native-born Israelites? No, the Erev Rav, the mixed multitude, were also there. Both Israelites and non-Israelites standing at Sinai that day accepted the message that God gave to Moshe.
Why was it revealed at Mt Sinai and not on Mt Moriah in Jerusalem? The message of the Torah is a universal one, but our rabbis are holding the Torah captive as if it were only for the Jews. They insist that the Gentiles have the Seven Noahide laws, but where are these found in the Torah? Nowhere…they are a fabrication. We believe more in what man has to say than in what the Torah does. We have been brainwashed. If you ask anyone about their beliefs, they will parrot their religious doctrines, convinced that theirs is the only way.
Who were the only two men to enter the Promised Land? Joshua and Caleb. Joshua represents the northern empire or the Israelites, and Caleb represents the Southern empire or Judah, when Israel was divided into two. Interestingly, Joshua was a native-born Israelite from the tribe of Ephraim, and Caleb was a Kenezzite, a Gentile. What a beautiful picture of Jew and Gentile coming together at the end in the Promised Land. That was Rabbi Yeshua’s message in his day. He wanted to help his people come back to the written Torah of Moses at a time when God’s words had been added to and changed, but he was also making it universal.
The haftarah this week prepares us for the upcoming three weeks, when we remember how Israel was rebuked for how far they have strayed from the Creator. The idealistic idea that Israel never abandoned GOD is not true; the Creator was constantly bringing them back… that is teshuva. Yet, there is always a remnant, a people who follow the Creator for what He reveals to us, not for what men teach.
Moshe could not enter the Promised Land because he failed. But why did he deserve such a punishment? Would the Creator punish him for such a minor failure after all that he had done? He was old, in his 120th year; what harm would it have done to allow him this honor? Most rabbis explain that the people would have turned him into a god if he had continued his journey with them. He needed to be seen as a human being and not a god. We have been taught false ideologies from various religions. Their teachings may sound logical, but they are not all that they seem. We need to be open-minded, willing to see things from a different angle. We need to go through a paradigm shift.
Israel has been chosen by the Creator as a people through whom something special would be done. They had a calling. Everyone who is a part of Israel has a calling. Israel was not called because of its race or ethnicity. It also has nothing to do with conversion. No one has the power to convert anyone. That is a religious lie. That’s still a fight today in Jerusalem, but I do not follow men; I need to follow the Creator. That is what our Rabbi Yeshua taught us. Israel was called because of our father Abraham, who left his home, taking his wife and family with him. At the beginning, his people were his servants; then he had Isaac, followed by Jacob, and then the twelve tribes. Not one of the twelve married a native-born Israelite. Then, how are they Jews if Jewishness is passed down through the mother? Our rabbis explain that all the women converted, like Ruth. That idea of conversion is hocus pocus. It’s like putting your hand over a piece of meat and declaring, “You are no longer meat; now you are fish.” It’s time to come down to earth. Our Creator gave us brains and understanding, and we are all responsible before Him.
Moshe’s leadership was constantly challenged by the very people over whom he was placed in charge. They were rebellious from the beginning to the end. Known as the Reluctant Leader, he never wanted to be their leader, but he eventually accepted his role, identified with them and acknowledged that they were his people. When the Creator threatened to destroy them and start again, he begged the Creator to take his life and save them. He was prepared to give his life for theirs.
What was the Creator’s response to Moshe? “Nobody can give their life for somebody else. Everyone is responsible for their acts. If you sin, you pay for it.” The Torah never says that Moshe died for the sins of the people; the Creator wants each of us to be responsible. That is what our Messiah Yeshua taught us. Theological understandings have completely changed the natural revelation of the Scriptures. They may look good, but when we take the time to examine their veracity, we can find the holes in their theories. The Creator wants us to search for ourselves, which is why Israel had to experience all that it did.
Couldn’t the Creator have changed their minds in one second to make them follow Him without question? That’s where the principle of His greatest gift to us – Free Will, comes in. We were made in God’s likeness and image. What does that mean? Why didn’t He make the plants and animals in His image? Does it have anything to do with a physical image? Our God is ethereal, not physical. He gave us brains, a heart, the capacity to communicate and the ability to act upon our thoughts. It is not about the physicality of seeing and touching, but the ethereal. Our immortality is in our neshama, our spirit. We have lost that understanding.
Right now, everything has to neatly fit into boxes, and humans have the chutzpah to think that we can define God. Even the wisest king who ever lived, Solomon, questioned how he could put God in a structure – in that case, the Temple. The Temple was for us, not for God. When we come here to the synagogue to worship, we’re not doing it for Him; it’s for us. He doesn’t need our praises. We need Him; He doesn’t need us. We need to start from the beginning, from His Principles.
Moses was sad and disappointed that he couldn’t enter the Promised Land, supposedly because, in a moment of outburst, he took the glory for himself instead of giving it to the Creator. Look at what it cost him, but the eternal GOD still allowed him to see it and assured him that he had done a good job. You and I are simply passing through this world and will not be able to complete everything. The principle is that we need to help each other on this journey. A true relationship with God is not based upon what we believe but upon what is within us and our relationship with each other. Many of us define ourselves by our doctrines, but doctrines don’t save. The heart, the intentions are the Key to understanding the Torah. The heart is not about feelings. It is about the action that we take.
Jeremiah 17:9 -10 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceeding weak–who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” We build beautiful doctrines but leave out being faithful to the Creator. When we fail, all He is asking us to do is to sincerely acknowledge what we have done and then return to Him. I love Yeshua’s parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s a story about a young man raised in a wealthy home. He had everything, but yearned to be free and independent. He asked his father for his inheritance instead of waiting for him to die. He gave it to him without question, but it wasn’t long before he lost everything to gambling, drinking and false friends. When he was alone and at his lowest, he found a job feeding pigs until he suddenly realized that the lowest of servants in his father’s house was better off than him. He decided to return home and ask his father for a position as a servant. When his father saw him coming, he didn’t reject him; rather, he rejoiced and threw a banquet for him. He didn’t have to tell his father that he would sacrifice an animal to pay for his sins. He didn’t even have to tell his father that he would pay him back. His father opened his arms and received him because he acknowledged what he had done wrong! That is what our Messiah Yeshua was teaching us. That is true teshuva. Then we can rebuild our lives and start again on the right track. Religions put ideas and fear into our heads that unless we do what they tell us, we will go into the lake of fire.
Moshe longed to be with his people as they crossed into Canaan. Instead, at the end of Bamidbar, Moses was told that he was going to die, and the baton would be passed to Joshua. When God allowed him to see the other side, he stopped arguing. A beautiful principle for us here is that sometimes we simply have to accept our situation. Sometimes we have done things that have consequences. All we can do is thank the Creator for teaching us this lesson, and look for the opportunity to start again. Our God is the GOD of beginning again. He sees each of us as a person of value, each important to him, and we each need a relationship with Him. When we gather as a community, we share that relationship. Remember, no one can replace us…there are no proxies.
In this Parashah, Matot Masei, we learn about vows and oaths. Our Messiah Yeshua told us in Mattityahu 5:33-37, “‘Again, you have heard it said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to God. But I say this to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. 37 All you need say is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than this comes from evil.”
What a beautiful way to finish the book of Bamidbar. Our Rabbi Yeshua is teaching us that we do not need to promise anything we can’t keep. We have a term in Judaism that allows us to respond better when asked to do something; we can respond with “Bli Neder,” which means “Without a vow.” Do your best, but don’t make promises or vain oaths that you can’t keep.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Netanel ben Yochanan, z’’ l
Ranebi