BESHALACH: 5. And it shall be on the sixth day that when they
prepare what they will bring, it will be double of what they gather every day. 6. [Thereupon,] Moses and Aaron said to all
the children of Israel, [In the] evening, you shall know that the Lord brought
you out of the land of Egypt.
HAFTORAH:
The brook Kishon swept
them away,
that ancient brook,
the brook Kishon;
TALMUD SOTAH: Daf 29 - Strictnesses related to eating Terumah and Sacrifices
GENERATIONS FROM ADAM TO THE LAST KING OF
JUDAH: Salmah
JOURNEYS IN
THE DESERT: They journeyed from Benei jaakan and camped in Hor hagidgad
For Week 29, the week of Passover, the
Torah portion section for this week continues to introduce the Mannah, and finishes by saying, “you
shall know that the Lord brought you out of the land of Egypt.” The mannah, after all, serves as a great
reinforcement of the concept of faith, emunah,
a central theme of Passover.
The Talmud (beginning of tractate Be'ah) also derives an important principle
in Jewish law – the concept of preparing for a holiday: “when they prepare what
they will bring,” is understood in the Talmud to mean that one have in mind from
beforehand what one will be using (both physically and spiritually) during the
holiday, and that a holiday cannot prepare for a normal day, or even for the Sabbath, and the Sabbath as
well cannot prepare for a normal day or a holiday.
The Haftorah’s
verses for this week speak of how the “brook Kishon” swept them away. This
parallels the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, celebrated this week, in which the
Egyptians were swept away. Rashi states
that the Kishon had been a guarantor for the Sea of Reeds, as stated in the
Talmud. (Pessachim 118B).
Daf Kaf Tet (Folio
29) of Sotah discusses further how the Sotah
is forbidden from eating Terumah. It
also discusses other specific purity laws of Terumah and of sacrifices in general. As mentioned in the previous
week, Passover was a time when the laws of ritual purity were particularly
strict, given that the Passover sacrifice had to be brought and eaten in a
state of purity. Furthermore, in Passover we are very strict regarding what we
eat, and many have the custom of not eating anything at all except for the food
in one’s own kitchen.
Salmah is the son of Nachshon and the father of Boaz. Salmah means a garment. He is also called Salmon, which means a small garment (“on” is a Hebrew suffix denoting small; Nachshon therefore means small snake).
Psalm 104 states, “Oteh Ohr Ka’Salmah,” G-d enwraps himself with light as a garment.[1]
The Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya
that the Torah itself is the intermediary that is able to bridge the gap
between the infinite and the finite, the “light” and the “garment.”[2] Similarly, Salmah is the intermediary between Nachshon and the generation of
the exodus from Egypt, and Boaz, who marries Ruth and sets the stage for the
birth of King David. Salmah also comes
from the word “Sulam” which means ladder, and the Midrash builds on the idea of Salmah being an intermediary:
“Because until him they formed a ladder of princes; from him onwards they
formed a ladder of kings.” [3]
Passover itself is an intermediary stage, the “Holiday of Spring:” a first step
towards freedom and the beginning of the summer months.
In the
twenty-ninth week, the Jews journey from Benei Jaakan and camp in Hor hagidgad.
Hor Hagidgad means a hole/crevice of Gidgad.
Based on the Arizal’s writings, Rabbi
Jacobson explains that Hor HaGidgad is related to the intellect, the head and
its crevices. Chor HaGidgad also
appears to be related to the Mannah,
which was called “zerah gad,” a seed
of “gad.” Talmud translates gad in a few different ways, one of
which is that it would be “magid” it
would tell/resolve doubts. Another related translation is that it came from the
word “Haggadah,” the stories of the
Talmud (from the same verb, “lehagid”)
that draw the heart of the listener, just like the Mannah did.[4]
Again, the Mannah is a key aspect of
the Passover story.
In order to accept the gift of the Mannah, we have to make a vessel for it, a crevice within our
hearts, within our selves. The personal journey for this week is to internalize
the concept of experiencing the narrowness of as well as the freedom from the
first and the last of our exiles, and now focus on opening up our hearts, to
the gift of the mannah, to the gift
of emunah.
[1] This is actually part of the
preparatory prayers said before donning the Talit,
the Jewish prayer shawl, as well as the Musaf
prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
[2]
http://m.chabad.org/m/dailystudy/default.asp?tDate=9/6/2021&type=tanya
[3] The Aramaic Version of Ruth.
Ethan Levine: http://books.google.com/books?id=0oARN-rwn-EC&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=Jesse+died+only+because+of+the+sin+of+the+snake&source=bl&ots=-HWK-HDiUs&sig=TzGoVLhfcG2EF13Gmah5smfLGAI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=akNsUa_iPMr4qAHp5YD4BA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Jesse%20died%20only%20because%20of%20the%20sin%20of%20the%20snake&f=false
[4] Talmud, Yoma 75A.
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