Rabbi Alter: Complete Conquest.
Weekly Portion: The Ten Tribes Need to Help to Conquer the Land!
Weekly Portion: The Ten Tribes Need to Help to Conquer the Land!
The First Five Books of Moses are divided up in such a way that every Shabat a section is read out in the Synagogue
so that by the end of the year all of the Torah (i.e. the Pentateuch, the first Five Books of the Bible) will have been read.
Some years are different from others. Sometimes two portions are read as one.
This is the case this week (August 2024, Tammuz 5789) where the portion consists of two sections and is named "Matot-Masai".
It stretches from Numbers 29:2 to the end of the Book of Numbers.
Religious Jews often try to read the portion before the Shabat. So do I.
This week I had an extra reason to do so. One of my grandsons is having a Bar-Mitsvah i.e. 13-year birthday considered becoming an adult.
A small family celebration will take place. I might be asked to say something.
Among the 'gems" of wisdom I came across, some of which may be suitable, I found the following point:
The Promised Land stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates. The Holiness of the Land is not Homogeneous. Some sections are more sacred than others.
Some were meant to be conquered before the others. The Israelites were supposed to enter the Land west of the Jordan, conquer and divide it and then spread outwards. The Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-Tribe of Manasseh had numerous flocks of sheep and cattle. The areas east of the Jordan had already been conquered on the way westward. This land was suitable for cattle and sheep. The two and a half-Tribes accordingly requested that the Land east of the Jordan first be given unto them, and that they leave their flocks there. In return the portion further west that would otherwise have gone to them be given to their brother-tribes.
Moses agreed on condition that they first help their brothers subdue the regions west of the River Jordan.
Numbers (CJV) 32:
20 MOSES SAID TO THEM, "IF YOU DO THIS THING, IF YOU ARM YOURSELVES FOR BATTLE BEFORE THE LORD,
21 AND YOUR ARMED FORCE CROSSES THE JORDAN BEFORE THE LORD UNTIL HE HAS DRIVEN OUT HIS ENEMIES BEFORE HIM,
22 AND THE LAND WILL BE CONQUERED BEFORE THE LORD, AFTERWARDS YOU MAY RETURN, AND YOU SHALL BE FREED [OF YOUR OBLIGATION] FROM THE LORD AND FROM ISRAEL, AND THIS LAND WILL BECOME YOUR HERITAGE BEFORE THE LORD.
The Commentary "Ha-Emek Davar" by the NETZIV (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, 1816-1893) explains that in the beginning all the 12 Tribes were meant to conquer together the area west of the Jordan. This region would then be divided among all 12 of them. The land east of the Jordan would then in turn be divided up among the 12 Tribes who would use if for grazing. Since Reuben and Gad had much sheep and cattle (apparently far in excess of the others) they asked that they receive the area east of the Jordan and not divide it among the other Tribes.
In return the portions that they would otherwise have gotten west of the Jordan should be given to the Ten Tribes in that area.
This was agreed to BUT the half-Tribe of Manasseh also received a portion east of the Jordan alongside Reuben and Gad.
Manasseh therefore had portions on each side of the Jordan. The case of Manasseh in this instance needs further study.
The Commentary "Beit Yisroel" (Rabbi Yisroel Alter, 1895-1977) speaks at length on this but from a different aspect.
(We have used this sources several times in the past on Lost Ten Tribe Matters).
Among other things he says (roughly): That by the two and a half-Tribes from over the Jordan participating in the Conquest west of the Jordan their own lands (east of the Jordan) are to be joined (in the spiritual sense) to the Land they are conquering and it is all counted as one entity.
(Without that it would have been considered a separate entity).
"710. Matot." paraphrased:
This was their task, to make the area east of the Jordan part of the Land of Israel, to be included with the whole of Israel. Moses showed them how to do this. They needed to invest all their energies in the conquest of the Land west of the Jordan together with the other Hebrews. They would then receive their own land east of the Jordan, which would then be upgraded as part of the Promised Land of Israel.
The Practical Implications for our time:
The Jews of Today comprise the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and minority representative fractions from the other Tribes.
They at present have about half their members today in the western section of the Land of Israel.
They are struggling for this Land against Palestinian Muslims and their allies in Gaza, the West Bank, and possibly southern Lebanon.
To some degree the Jews of Israel are being assisted by the USA and UK. These latter parties derive from the Lost Ten Tribes especially those of Joseph.
By "Joseph" helping "Judah" he is affirming his right to share in the Conquest of the Land which is being fought over as well as all the other Lands of Great Israel that are beyond the present borders. The Lands the Ten Tribes now dwell in (overseas) are in whole or in part in the future to be considered as pertaining to the Land of Israel as explained by the Hatam Sofer, see:
Predicted Hebrew Islands
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/rabbi/sofer.html
See Also:
Half of Manasseh?
The Riddle of the Half-Tribe of Manasseh.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribelist/manasseh/half.html