Shoftim - 3rd Portion

Join me as we learn Chumash for Tuesday, third Torah reading of parashah Shofetim, chapter 18, verse 1. Yesterday we learned about the laws pertaining to appointing a Jewish king. Today we continue with the priests, the Kohanim entitlements, though they were already mentioned in the book of the book of Numbers after the story of Pinchas, but the Torah over here mentions it again as well, Moshe reminding the Jewish people of their obligations to the Kohanim. The Kohanim and the Levites will not have a portion together with any all the other people in the land of Israel at a portion or section in the land of Israel together with the other nations of the Jewish people. God's fire offerings and and their inheritance, you can have all of that's what they will have. What does that mean? Rashi explains. All of the tribe of Levi, what does it mean all of the tribe of Levi? You can give the all the gifts of the even though that one may not serve in the holy temple if he has a blemish, but he's still entitled to the gifts, whether they have a blemish or not. The in the spoils that they would get back from the war, as well the and the land like all the other tribes. Meaning that the tribe of Levi did not get the spoils that came back from war or did they not get a specific land and they were spread apart over the 42 cities. All of the tribe of Levi. What they would eat would be the the holy sacrifice that were brought in the holy temple, the holy of all holies. And and their inheritance, all of the that refers to the holy sacrifice that they were allowed to eat in the entire territory of the land of Israel, which refers to through my tithes and donations that were giving them first. However, an absolute land, meaning an actual property land that they would have that was used for agriculture. They they would not be able to have amongst the Jewish people like all the other nations, like all the other tribes. The year limit they would not have amongst their brothers. And the Sifrei explains the year limit. What does it mean that they're not going to have a portion? That means an other portion amongst their brothers. This of the five nations of the world. But Rashi says I have an idea of my I'm not sure what the Midrash is referring to when it says the other five or inheritance of the five what they are getting what they're not getting. But Rashi postures to say that it seems that what it means cannot that the land of Canaan on the other side of the Jordan meaning from the west of the Jordan River until the Great Sea meaning called the land of the five nations. The reason why it was called the land of the five nations because five of the seven nations lived in that area which were the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The other two nations, the Amorites and the Canaanites were on the other side partially on the other side of the Jordan. So therefore the therefore these nations of were considered the land of the two nations. So maybe what Rashi says is the other nations there's the other three nations that were going that are going to be part of the land of Israel when Messiah comes. They were promised to Abraham at the time of the covenant and telling us that even in the land of the Canaanites and Ammonites maybe they won't have a portion in there as well. The same So too in the the Torah reading when it talks about the gifts that were given to Aaron and the sons telling us that even in the other three lands of the telling us that even in the other three lands of the and the and that the Levites also won't have a specific land amongst those areas. After Rashi gave that first interpretation on the Sifrei, then Rashi found another explanation on the Sifrei, and therefore Rashi over here gives another explanation of what it could be as well. Shuv nimtza b'divrei Rabbeinu Kolonimus, I found later on in the words of Rabbeinu Kolonimus, "Hocheiach Gershon b'Sifrei and this is what the Sifrei means. V'nachalah la'Leviim, they will not have a portion Eilu nachalat Chamishah. B'kerev echav, Eilu nachalat Shiv'ah." That's in the appropriate portion of the five. They will not have amongst their brothers that refers to the seven. Meaning, and this is way Rabbeinu Kolonimus explains the Sifrei. Nachalat Chamishah, the the inheritance, the portion of the five refers to Shiv'atim, five tribes. Nachalat Shiv'ah, the portion of the seven refers to seven tribes. Meaning, we're not talking about the nations of the world with that we're living in the land of Israel at the time. We're talking about five tribes and seven tribes of the Jewish people. And this is what he means. Mitoch she Moshe v'Yehoshua chelku nachalah l'lo Chamishah Shiv'atim l'vad, because Moshe and Yehoshua only separated and gave and divided land only five tribes. Because she'kein Moshe inchilu Reuven v'Gad v'chatzi Shevet Menasheh, because Moshe already gave to the two and a half tribes of Reuven, Gad, and a half of Shevet Menasheh. V'Yehoshua inchil Yehudah v'Efraim v'chatzi Shevet Menasheh, Yehoshua gave Yehudah, Efraim, and a half of Shevet Menasheh. V'eilu Shiv'ah acheirim, the other seven, natlu me'alein, they took it on their own after Yehoshua died. U'mital kach he he'iskichu Chamishah l'vad v'Shiv'ah l'vad. That means during Moshe and Yehoshua's lifetime only five and a half tribes got their five tribes got their specific allotted portions. After Yehoshua died, the other seven tribes went and took their allotted portions of already what was destined for them to get according to the maps. They went and they took their portions. So, according to uh the way the Rabbeinu Kolonimus explains it, meaning that the Levites don't have a portion not in the initial five that motion Yeshua separated and divided and not in the later seven that the tribes took on their own. K'asher diber like he spoke to him, where did he tell him? In the book of Numbers God tells the Jewish people they will not take inheritance, they will not have a spot in the land of Israel. God is their portion, is their lot. Verse two. They will not have a an inheritance amongst their brothers. They say God is their inheritance. K'asher diber like God spoke to them as we mentioned in the book of Numbers. Verse three. And this will be the following must be the priests' entitlement from the people. From those that bring sacrifices. Im shor whether it's a sheep im seh or im shor it's like ox, I'm sorry. Im she or im seh a sheep and not so much a coin. You will have to give to the coin three parts. Hazroya, the shoulder, the cheek, and the stomach. Rashi explains, why does it say from the nation that the people that were obligated to give it was only to the not from the coinem. That it when a coin brought a sacrifice he was not obligated to give these those three parts. Im shor im seh whether it's ox or sheep. Why does he mention those two? That specifically it came from a domesticated animal to exclude the not a domesticated animal that it would not be obligated to give those three parts. Hazroya, what is the shoulder and how do we consider the shoulder? The actual the way it worked was that if you look at the animal's leg, the animal's front leg we're talking about, was split up into three parts. You have the bottom part which is the actual foot or hoof on the bottom which goes up until about the knee joint. That was one part. The next part which was from the knee joint until like the hip, which is in the actual part of the animal, and then the one that goes from there all the way through the animal to the neck. The shoulder was the middle part, not the bottom part that was closer to the ground, not the part that was closer to the head, but the middle part is what we would call the shoulder in the animal. They would have to give the cheek, and the cheek including the tongue. The commentators used to those who used to find commentary on the verses would explain and The shoulder because because of the reward of them doing the mitzvah, so together with their hand, the shoulder with their hand. The reason why they got the shoulder was because of the mitzvah that they did with their hand. The cheek was because of the prayer. The stomach If you look at these three gifts that were given to the was in the merit of Pinhas that he stood up and he stopped the plague, and therefore God gave the extra three gifts, which are these three gifts. Why these three? So, the first one, which is the shoulder because he took the spear in his hand. That's number one. Number two is the cheek because since he prayed, and that's by his lips that he prayed to God. And number three, the stomach is because that's the way he killed Zimri and Cozbi. Verse four. Other priest entitlements include as well racious the must give the first of your grain, wine, and oil. Racious gaze to and the first fleece of your sheep. Racious the What are we referring here to That's the first donation of the but they doesn't say how much The rabbis explain and say how much does one have to give. I and you have to Whenever you give you should give with a good eye generously. One in a 40th, which is about two and a half out of a hundred. All right, that's cool. I I know all that's considered not generous. 1 in 60, which is about 1 and 2/3 out of 100, that's banenous. That's the average below. 1 in 50 means two out of every 100. Some that's the summer alamicra. This is what the what a person should usually give. And therefore a some who that we dependent this what it says in the verse so they leave us make a decision to not go on less than 1/60. Because as we find when he talks about the law of khala, he refers to that period that it says one should give 1/6 of the efa. And the core which is 30 sa of wheat. And therefore if you come out the measurement of a efa is three sa. So therefore we come out that the highest So the core when you give a half a sa, these are measurements that were done in the temple times. And over here if you're looking at a half a sa towards a core. That's 1/60. The core is 60 sa. So when we refer to over here the amounts that were given if there's two different measurements, the Torah does not say clearly how much the donation to give to the cohen is amount. It could be 1/60, 1/50, 1/40. 1/40 of course is the least generous. 1/50 is the most and 1/60 is the average and that we learn from the verse that we talk about how the efa and the core the measurements of that time tell us this is 1/60. The gracious gazing the first fleece of your sheep. What we're referring to over here when you shear your your sheep every year you should give a nice portion of it to the cohen. For the Peter shear again it does not say how much of the wool you have to give to the cohen. For the most of the shear the rabbis explained once not give less than 1/60. The common saying how much how many how much sheep a person may have. Like means you have to give from every single sheep. Do you have to give from only some of the sheep? So it says much if a person has at least five sheep, that means if you have less than five sheep, you're not obligated to give the first wool to your sheep. Once you have five, you then become obligated to give the first of your sheep. It should have been it says the saying as we used to talk about the gifts that Abigail sent to David and he sent them and she sent five um five sheep with their wool sheared. So the Therefore, we learn from there that it means five sheep you have to have a minimum of five to be able to start giving to the coin. Rabbi Akiva Rabbi Akiva says, "Rashi is guest the very fact that it says two words, the first of your fleece sh'tayim means as long as you have two of them." There is another word, a sheep arba that gives it's another plural. So you have two plus two is four. Titenoi you should give you tame you learn that from some place else. If you look at the words of the verse it says the first of your fleece is two. Tzeincha which is plural cuz what tzein one is one sheep so tzeincha [snorts] your to plural your sheep is two, that's four. Then it says titenoi you should give to him that makes it five. So therefore we learn from here as well a minimum of five is where a person then becomes the obligation to start giving the first of his fleece to the coin. Verse five. Ki voi bachar Hashem why you giving this to the coin? Because you must give to um Ki voi bachar Hashem cuz he is the one that God has chosen for us a select that you have from all your tribes l'amud l'shareis to stand and to serve b'shem Hashem in the name of God who will run of color yamim he and his children for the rest of days. And for all time. Him and his sons in fact I should say for all time. L'amud l'shareis mikanchim sheidus olam um and from here we learn that serving in the holy temple had to be standing. The coin must stand was not allowed to sit in anywhere of the holy temple. There was only one section which was on like in the outside, the peripheral of the holy temple, and that was where the Sanhedrin cuz they had to sit in judgment, but in the actual holy temple one was not allowed to sit. This concludes the third Torah reading of Parshat Shoftim. Bye.