Masei

📜 The Story

Parshat Masei opens with a long, special list: the Torah tells us the names of all 42 places Bnei Yisrael traveled to during their forty years in the desert, from the moment they left Mitzrayim until they reached the plains of Moav, right by the Yarden River across from Yericho. This list shows how Hashem watched over the people through every single stop of their long journey.

Hashem then commands Moshe to tell the people that when they enter the Land of Israel, they must drive out all the nations living there and destroy their idols and altars. Hashem describes the exact borders of the Land of Israel, and He tells Moshe to choose leaders from each tribe who will help divide the land fairly among all the families.

The Leviim did not receive their own big portion of land like the other tribes, since their job was to serve in the Mishkan. Instead, Hashem commanded that the other tribes give the Leviim forty eight cities to live in, together with surrounding fields for their animals.

Six of those forty eight cities were very special, they were called arei miklat, cities of refuge. If a person accidentally killed someone, without meaning to, he could run to one of these cities and be safe there from the relatives who might want revenge. He had to stay in the city of refuge until the Kohen Gadol of that time passed away, and only then could he return home in peace. The Torah is careful to explain that a court must always check the facts, and that at least two witnesses are needed before anyone can be punished for murder.

The parsha, and the whole book of Bamidbar, ends with the story of the daughters of Tzelofchad. Since they had no brothers, they had inherited their father's portion of land in their tribe, Menasheh. To make sure that land would not pass to another tribe, they married men from within their own tribe. In this way the Torah teaches how much every family's connection to its portion in the Land of Israel matters.