Matot

The ninth section of the Book of Numbers begins as Moses addresses the heads of the tribes (Matot, in Hebrew), teaching them the laws of vows and oaths. It then resumes the historical narrative, recounting the events during the last year of the Jewish peo...

"וידבר משה אל ראשי המטות...איש כי ידר נדר לה'...ככל היצא מפיו יעשה" “Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes...‘If a man takes a vow to G‑d...According to whatever comes from his mouth shall he do.’” (30:2,3) QUESTION: Moshe taught all the commandments fir...

The Torah portion of Matos begins with the laws of vows and the nullification and absolution thereof.See Bamidbar 30:2-17 and commentary of Rashi. Taking a vow means that an individual imposes a specific stricture upon himself, prohibiting himself from de...

The Torah portion Matos begins with Moshe speaking “to the tribal heads of the Jewish people, telling them that this is the word that G-d commanded.”Bamidbar 29:2. The Torah then goes on to spell out the laws of vows, nedarim , and their annulment, hatora...

1. The Midianites enticed the Jewish people to commit sins of idolatry and sexual immorality, causing the death of 24,000 Jews in a plague. As a result Hashem commanded Moshe “Tzaro’r et Hamidyanin” — “Harass the Midianites” — “vehikitem otom” — “and smit...

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Moses agreed to the proposal of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and also settled half of the tribe of Manasseh on the east bank of the Jordan River. Living in the Future וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם מֹשֶׁה . . . וְלַחֲצִי שֵׁבֶט מְנַשֶּׁה . . . וְאֶת מַמְלֶכֶת עוֹג מֶלֶ...

Noticing that the territory of Kings Sichon and Og were suited to grazing their large herds and flocks, the tribes of Reuben and Gad asked Moses if they could take possession of these territories and not cross the Jordan River into Canaan. Moses rebuked t...

The officers of the army counted the soldiers in their charge, and found that miraculously, not even one was missing. The War Against Hatred וְלֹא נִפְקַד מִמֶּנּוּ אִישׁ: (במדבר לא:מט) [The officers said to Moses,] “Not one man is missing from us.” Numbe...

G-d then instructed Moses to count the people and animals that had been captured from the Midianites. The soldiers were allowed to keep half and the other half was to be given to the rest of the Jewish people. The soldiers then had to give 1/500th of thei...