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THE WEEKLY SIDRA- BAMIDBAR
Rabbi Moshe Greebel
Every so often, this mailing presents its readers with a more Lomdishe (academic) approach to the weekly Sidra, wherein some slight glimpse of the more technical profundities of the Torah HaK’dosha, may be beholden. This week’s Sidra is no exception to that rule.
Throughout the Torah, we see the concept of Bais Av (house of a father), or what we refer to as the paternal side of the family. Concerning Avraham Avinu, we find:
“…..Get out from your country, and from your family, and from your father’s house…..” (B’raishis 12:1)
Eliezer at the well, asked Rivkah:
“…..Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge in?” (ibid. 24:23)
In the city of Bais Kail, originally Luz, Ya’akov Avinu stated:
“So that I come back to my father’s house in peace…..” (ibid. 28:21)
Rachail and Leah say to their husband Ya’akov:
“…..Is there yet any share or inheritance for us in our father’s house?” (ibid. 31:14)
These then, are only a very few of the instances where the Torah refers to the Bais Av in Sefer B’raishis alone. And, as one can certainly expect, the concept of Bais Av plays a very important role in this week’s Sidra. When it comes to the counting of the B’nai Yisroel at the very beginning of Sefer Bamidbar, HaShem states to Moshe:
“Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Yisroel, by families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of names, every male by their polls.” (Bamidbar 1:2)
From this Passuk (verse), Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson (1808-1875) of blessed memory, in his text Divrei Shaul (published 1877), tells us that in the Torah, only Jews are direct descendants of a Bais Av. The proof of this exclusion of non Jews to a Bais Av in the Torah, is seen from the words of Na’ami to her non Jewish daughters-in-law:
“…..Go, return each of you to her mother’s house…..” (Rus 1:8)
On the this Passuk, we find the following in the Midrash Rus Rabbah 2-13:
“The mother of Avnimos of Gadara (a heathen philosopher friend of Rabbi Meir) died, and Rabbi Meir went up to console him, and he found them sitting in mourning. Some time later his father died, and Rabbi Meir again went up to console him, and found them engaged in their normal occupations. He said to him, ‘It appears to me that your mother was more dear to you than your father!’ He answered him, ‘Is it not then written, “To her mother’s house,” but not “To her father's house”? Rabbi Meir answered him, ‘You have spoken well, for a heathen indeed has no father.’”
Developing this theme, Rav Yosef Shaul instructed that the birth of each individual has been witnessed by doctors, nurses, midwives, attendants, etc. Hence, one’s biological mother is never really in doubt.
This however, cannot be said for one’s father, in whom the doubt of paternity always exists, a fact which should pose continuous problems for the proper functioning of society. Yet, fortunately for us, that is precisely why HaShem Yisborach, in His infinite wisdom, created the concept of probability through a majority. In order to comprehend this, we begin with the following Passuk:
“And he who strikes his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.” (Sh’mos 21:15)
The Gemarah in Chulin 11b poses:
“Rav Mari said, ‘It is derived from the case of one who smites his father, or his mother, for which offence the Divine law prescribes death. Now why do we not fear that the person struck may not have been his father? Is it not because we follow the majority, and a woman cohabits with her husband more often (than with a stranger)?’”
This then, is the concept of Holchin Achar HaRov (following the majority), which applies only to Jews, who always descend in the Torah from their respective Bais Av. Non Jews, who do not descend in the Torah from any Bais Av nevertheless, do not have the probability of Holchin Achar HaRov concerning their paternity.
This is precisely why, concerning the B’nai Yisroel, the Torah states in this week’s Sidra, ‘By the house of their fathers.’
Now, in reality, continued Rav Yosef Shaul, this concept of only a Jew descending from a Bais Av does offer us a very sound answer to a question that has always been posed on the commentary of the Ramban (Rav Moshe Ben Nachman 1194- 1270) of blessed memory. To understand this question, we begin with the Gemarah in Sanhedrin 56b:
“Yisroel was given ten Mitzvos at Marah (Sh’mos 15:23), seven of which had already been accepted by the children of Noach, to which were added at Marah, courts of justice, the Shabbos, and honoring one's father and mother.”
Oddly enough, the Ramban counted the honoring of one’s father and one’s mother as two separate Mitzvos. This being so, eleven Mitzvos, not the stated ten, would have been given to Yisroel in Marah. This then, is the question posed on the Ramban, to which we refer.
However, if we apply the concept of Bais Av to the Mitzvos given at Marah, we will have an answer to this question. That is, the encampment at Marah took place prior to Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), when all the B’nai Yisroel were still considered B’nai Noach (non Jews). And, still being B’nai Noach at that time, they did not yet have the status of Holchin Achar HaRov concerning their paternity, and therefore, could not be considered as having descended from a Bais Av. What all this means is, that at this precise time, in defense of the Ramban, the B’nai Yisroel only had an obligation to honor the mother-not the father, whose status was at best a doubt- which is one Mitzvah less, and now does equal the ten Mitzvos of which the Gemarah in Sanhedrin spoke.
May we soon see the G’ulah Sh’laimah in its complete resplendency- and in our times. Good Shabbos.
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