BESHALACH: 3. The people thirsted there for water, and
the people complained against Moses, and they said, Why have you brought us up
from Egypt to make me and my children and my livestock die of thirst? 4. Moses
cried out to the Lord, saying, What shall I do for this people? Just a little
longer and they will stone me!
TANACH VERSES
FOLLOWING THE HAFTORAH: 4. And they encamped against them, and they destroyed
the produce of the earth, until you come to Gaza. They would leave no
sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey. 5. For they and their
cattle came up, and their tents, and they came as numerous as locusts; both
they and their camels without number, and they came into the land to destroy
it.
TALMUD SOTAH: DAF 46 – Eglah Arufah and Elisha
GENERATIONS FROM ADAM TO THE LAST KING OF JUDAH: Ahaz
SEVEN
CANA’ANITE NATIONS: Cana’anites
Week 46 is the last week of the month
of Av. The Torah section for this
week continues the theme of complaints over the lack of water/sustenance, and
the extreme and humbling crisis of confidence faced not just by the people but
by Moshe himself. (Moshe is criticized for believing that the Jewish people
could come to stone him).
The Tanach’s verses again speak
of a similar crisis in confidence (and sustenance). Midian and Amalek would
destroy the produce of the earth and “leave no sustenance in Israel, neither
sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.” Both the Torah and Tanach verses are related to the suffering undergone in the month
of Av, meant to bring us to humility
and repentance.
Daf Mem Vav (Folio 46) of Sotah continues to
speak of the Eglah Arufah, the qualifications
of the calf itself, and the importance of escorting people out of a city. It focuses
on Elisha, who, if he had been escorted out of a city, would not have incited
bears into killing 42 youngsters. That city had a serious water problem and Elisha
had just remedied its water. The miracle he performed rendered the watercarrying
work of the boys useless. These youngsters then decided to insult Elisha, which
caused the abovementioned harsh response. (Like Moshe, Elisha is criticized for
not properly controlling his anger).
Ahaz, the son of Jotham, was a truly
terrible king. Weak and extremely idolatrous, he did tremendous damage. Because
of his weakness and subservience to other kings, the treasures of the Temple
were looted. His rule in Judah was contemporary with Hoshea ben Elah and Pekah in
Israel. Ahaz means to grasp, to hold.
However, instead of holding strong to Hashem and rely on His mercy, he seemed
to try to hold on to everyone and everything else.
The forty-sixth week is connected to
conquering the Cana’anites. The
Cana’anites are connected to the negative side of the fourth sefirah, Netzach, which means victory. Their name comes from Cana’an, which
at its root is the word Canah, from
the verb to subdue. Cana’an is also the fourth son of Cham, who is cursed by
Noah because of Cham’s disgraceful behavior, which made it impossible for Noah
to have a fourth son himself.
Cham’s motivation for essentially castrating
his father was that he did not want to share the world with any other progeny
of Noah. He wanted to rule as much as he could and did not want competition. This
is connected to the negative side of Netzach:
angry, recalcitrant behavior, focusing always on winning and unwilling to
see the other’s perspective. Even though the Cana’anites were given the
opportunity to surrender, none of them did.
All seven nations inhabiting the Land
are referred to as Cana’anites, so the fact that this group is specifically
called after Cana’an seems to show that it somehow encompasses the qualities of
all seven. Interestingly, Netzach also
is said encompasses all the qualities of all the other Sefirot.
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