Massei

The sicha for parshas Massei is in Vol. XIII of Likkutei Sichos.

In parshas Massei we read about the division of the Land among the tribes and there are many details that need to be understood. Firstly, the Rebbe says there is a contradiction here. On the one hand, the land was divided in a logical, rational fashion. The larger tribes were given larger portions and the smaller tribes smaller portions. What is more the Gemarrah says, they were not measured strictly by quantity, by size, but rather by quality so a smaller portion could be given if it was qualitatively greater, it produced more. And on the other hand we are told that it says that the land should be divided through a gorel, by drawing lots.

Secondly, before they drew the lots, Elazar, the Kohen Gadol, prophesized through the urim v’tumim, which part of the Land belongs to whom. Why then was it also necessary to draw lots?

And thirdly, concerning this drawing of the lots, the Sages say, that the Jews were commanded that they should take the results of the lots very seriously and not question their authority. And then the tshuvas geonim says that anybody violates what the lots reveal, is like violating the Ten Commandments. So the question is what is the relationship between the lots and the Ten Commandments? And why not commandments in general, why the Ten Commandments?

To understand this, we first have to understand the three ways of acquiring Torah. The first is by inheriting it - the Torah is described as a yerusha, an inheritance, as we say “Torah tziva lanu Moshe, morasha kehillas Yakov” that the Torah is an inheritance to the Jews. The second is through purchase as it says in the Gemarrah, G-d says, I sold you My Torah. And the third is as a gift - the Torah is a matana, as we say in davening “zman Matan Torahsanu” that Shavuos is the time of the gifting of the Torah – the Torah was given to us as a gift.

Now the difference between these three forms is that an inheritance is not dependent on the talents and the abilities of the inheritor, whether he is young or old, learned or not. As the Mishnah says, a child one day old inherits and can pass on an inheritance. Whereas acquiring something through purchase, the person has to be able to pay the value of the object being acquired. In both cases, inheritance and purchase, there needs to be some kind of a relationship between the one who is acquiring and what he is acquiring. With an inheritance in essence the heir is related to what he is inheriting because in some sense it belongs to him originally, and that is why it passes on to him automatically without any effort. And in the purchase, the person has to be able to pay for that which he is acquiring. So there has to be an equal value in order to acquire through purchase. Whereas when a person receives a gift, the recipient of the gift, needs to have no relationship to the gift at all, it is given to him by the will of the giver, but he is no way related to it before it is given to him.
And so we find these three parallels in Torah.

1) We have the inheritance of Torah, where every single Jew regardless of who or what he is as long as he is from the Children of Israel he inherits the Torah. As we say that the word Israel, the word for Jew is an acronym for Yesh Shishim Osios B’Torah, every Jew is represented in Torah by a letter. So every Jew has a letter in Torah simply by inheritance. And that is why every Jew has an obligation to study Torah at least to some degree. In this all Jews are equal, that every Jew has to study Torah and as the expression is, no person, no matter what his situation is, can free himself from this obligation to study at least some Torah. That is the inheritance.

2) There is the purchase of Torah, the part of Torah that is understood and comprehended through study. It comes to the person through hard work, through striving, and as the Mishnah says, “lo yagiti u’masiti, al ta’amin” if a person says I have acquired Torah without effort, don’t believe him, just as it is impossible for a person to buy something without paying for it. Concerning this part of Torah that the Sages say, prepare yourself to study Torah because it is not an inheritance, in other words, the understanding and the knowledge of Torah does not come as an inheritance. And in this no two people are alike. Everybody’s mind works differently. It depends on the talents a person is born with, and also in the manner in which he strives and approaches the study of Torah. And with the obligation to study there is also a great difference between the one who is obligated to study Torah day and night because his lifestyle permits it versus the one who works hard and his obligation is to study one chapter in the morning and one chapter at night, and sometimes even less that. That is the purchase of Torah.

3) Then there is the gift of Torah. This is where Torah is given to a person from above, not measured by the limitations of a created being, unlike the inheritance and the purchase, which are a result of the person’s existence and understanding respectively. It is G-d’s desire to give us this gift, and it has nothing to do with what we are or who we are. The Sages say that in the beginning Moshe studied Torah but he kept forgetting it until G-d gave him the Torah as a gift, which means that in order for the Torah to be permanently memorized without any forgetfulness, which is really superhuman, as this is not the nature of a human being, G-d gives Torah as a matana.

And it is this part of the Torah that is called gorel, by lots. Just as a gift is given to the recipient independent of his knowledge or his abilities, in the same way, when something is chosen by a lot, it is really independent of any thought or of any human consideration. Rather the result of a lot is determined by G-d, by Divine providence. And that is why the lot represents that which is above the human condition.

Now in this aspect of Torah that is given as a gift, although as we said before, it comes strictly as a choice on G-d’s part – G-d wishes to give Torah as a gift – and it is not result of the recipient’s efforts or worth, yet we find that the Sages say that when a person gives another person a gift, it must mean that the recipient somehow pleased the giver otherwise the giver would not be moved to give the gift. So even in the giving of the gift, there is some quality necessary in the recipient that moves the giver to give him the gift.

This is still not the same as having earned or deserved what he is getting, as in the inheritance and the purchase. And that is why the Sages say yagati u’matsasi ta’amin, if a person says I have worked hard and I have succeeded in Torah believe him. It is explained elsewhere “I have succeeded” means I have succeeded beyond my efforts. That is why it is called “matsasi” from “matsiya” finding something that came to the person unexpectedly. It is beyond what his efforts deserved. And yet even though it is a matsiya, even though it is beyond what was expected, yet it comes as a direct result of the person’s efforts, which means that the effort reveals and therefore forces the mind to understand beyond what the person expected.

And that is why there is the opposite expression as well “yagati v’lo matsasi, al ta’amin”, a person who says I have tried very hard, but I have not succeeded in understanding Torah, don’t believe him. So we see that the effort not only makes it possible to understand but it makes it necessary. A person can’t try and not succeed, because the trying produces the success whereas the giving of a gift is completely beyond anything the person does, because it is coming as a choice of the Creator, not as the efforts of the creation. And that is why it is called matana, it is given for free even though there has to be some preparation on the part of the recipient - he has to be pleasing to G-d, and when he is, then the gift is given.

The same is with the drawing of the lots. We find where the Shaalos v’Tshuvas Havas Ya’ir says that if a person draws lots properly then the Divine providence will shine through and tell him how he should behave. In fact, the Rebbe writes elsewhere that if a person needs to know what to do, he is in a quandary and can’t decide, he should draw lots, and the Divine providence will tell him exactly what to do. But that is if the lots are drawn properly, honestly. So we see that even in the drawing of the lots, which is Divine providence, there has to a certain honesty on the part of the creations so that the Creator’s intention can shine through and guide the person on how he should behave. Just as Moshe Rabbeinu had to study the Torah first, and forget some of it, and only then was it given to him as a gift from above to where he couldn’t forget.

And that is what the Mishnah means when it says “may it be Your will, Hashem Elokanu v’Elokay Avosanu,” Our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, “sheyibonei Bais HaMikdash bimhera b’yamenu,” that the Bais HaMikdash should be built swiftly in our days, “v’sen helkenu b’Torasecha” and give us our portion in Your Torah. What is the meaning of this prayer, “ give us our portion in Your Torah”? If a person learns, “I have worked hard and I have succeeded, then you believe him,” but if a person hasn’t worked then he can’t claim to have succeeded as a result of some prayer, so what is this prayer where we ask G-d to give us our portion in the Torah? And what is the relationship between having our portion in Torah with the building of the Bais HaMikdash? And what does it mean “our portion” as if it is already ours? And then we say “give us our portion” but “in Your Torah”, so it is not ours, it is Yours.

The explanation is that the main meaning of this prayer is that it is referring to the part of Torah that is given as a gift, “v’sen” – “sen” comes from the word “matana.” It comes from above which is beyond the reach of any human effort. That is why there has to be a prayer and a request that it be given as a gift. On the other hand, in order to be worthy of a gift, the person has to be pleasing, has to do something right. So we are asking for the part of Torah that is a gift, after we have already successfully acquired that part of Torah which is “our” part, when we have understood all that we can understand as a result of our efforts, “v’sen helkenu” our portion, the part that we have understood through effort. “B’Torahsecha” means we want to be connected and immersed in the part of Torah which is Your Torah, the part that is given from above as a gift, so that our learning of Torah, what we understand by our own efforts should not be separated or severed from that part of Torah which is a gift from above. As the Gemarrah says when a person passes away and comes to Gan Eden, his study should be in his hands, and then he will be taught and come to understand that which he studied in this world but understood only superficially on a much deeper level in Gan Eden on the level of the secrets of Torah.

So there is a merging and a joining of the Torah that was learnt and then it is enlightened and illuminated by the deeper, hidden meanings of Torah, the part that was a gift. And so it was with Moshe also, that after he studied the part that he could study, to the degree that he could study it, then it was given as G-d’s gift which is unforgettable just as G-d has no forgetfulness, the Torah which was given to Moshe also contained no forgetfulness. And that is why this is connected to the prayer “sheyibonei Bais HaMikdash” because that part of Torah which is a gift would be ultimately revealed in the teachings of Moshiach after the building of the Bais HaMikdash.

Now the difference between an inheritance and a purchase in Torah, those two parts of Torah that come as a result of the human condition and the gift part of Torah, the matana part of Torah, that comes as a result of the giver, of the Creator, can be recognized also in the way that Torah was given to the Jews.

We say “Torah zviva lanu Moshe” and the Gemarrah says that Torah has the numerical value of 611 because Moshe brought us 611 mitzvahs. The other two mitzvahs, the first two commandments of the Ten Commandments we heard from G-d directly. This is because the study of all the mitzvahs of Torah is that part of the Torah that we need to understand and comprehend. And therefore it was given through Moshe, because he is the one who brings us an understanding of Torah. But the first two commandments “I am G-d Your G-d” and “You shall have no other” the content of those commandments is faith and the acceptance of the yoke of heaven, and that should be far beyond anything we can understand and rationalize.

This comes as a gift from above and that is why those two commandments were said directly by G-d and not through Moshe. This giving of Torah through G-d directly, Matan Torah, the Gift of Torah, the Jews got themselves ready for, by saying “na’aseh” before “nishmah” we will do before we will hear. This shows a complete acceptance, a total submission to G-d’s will. However the effort on the part of the creation or on the part of the created beings is not at all comparable to what was given when G-d came down to Har Sinai, and said “ I am G-d...”

So it is not that the na’aseh v’nishmah, the fact that Jews said we will do and we will hear earned them the Torah, they therefore deserved the Torah, but rather it made them receptive to Torah that was being given far beyond anything that they could have earned or deserved or demanded by right of inheritance.

Now the fact that the other eight commandments were part of Matan Torah shows that they too are on the level of the first two commandments. It is not that Matan Torah ended after the first two commandments, and the other eight were earned. Matan Torah, the Gift of Torah, included the other eight commandments as well.

We will understand this based on what the Ramban says. The Ramban says that the Jews heard G-d say the other eight commandments, they heard G-d’s voice stating the commandments, but they didn’t understand them until Moshe explained them.

So what was the point of hearing G-d’s voice when they didn’t understand what He was saying? And what is the difference between the first two commandments and the other eight, that they able to understand the first two and not the other eight?

The explanation is as follows:

The commandments “I am G-d Your G-d” and “you shall have no other” came to the Jews as a form of emunah and kabbalas ole, faith and acceptance of the yoke of heaven, as a gift from above. That is why they heard it directly from G-d and didn’t need Moshe to explain to them. But it is not enough that the emunah and the kabbalos ole should remain disconnected from all the other mitzvahs of Torah, they have to permeate all mitzvahs even the ones that are understood and the ones that come to through effort. They too should be influenced, illuminated and inspired by the emunah and the kabbalos ole that we feel and recognize in the first two commandments.

So in order to connect that gift with our own efforts, as we said before, helkenu, our part of Torah should be connected with Torahsecha, G-d’s part of Torah. That is why we heard all Ten Commandments from G-d. The voice of G-d said all Ten Commandments and we heard them all, and that gave us our faith in all the commandments, the other eight representing all the commandments of Torah, so our faith and our acceptance of the commandments came from the voice of G-d that pronounced them, and then our understanding of them came through Moshe.

Therefore even the parts of Torah that we understood, that we learnt from Moshe were influenced, motivated and permeated with an emunah and awareness - the hearing of G-d’s voice in that commandment as well.

So when it comes to the dividing land through the drawing of lots, just as Torah is a gift, Eretz Israel also is as a gift from above. There is no effort necessary to making it a holy land, it is holy from above as a gift, and we have to acquire it through a means that also reflects the level that is beyond our efforts and understanding but rather on the level of the gift which is the gorel.

And just as the matana, the part of Torah that is a gift, comes after we have done everything we can in the other two parts of Torah, that which is dependent on our effort, the same is true also with the land. The first has to be a division made logically, through our own efforts and then on top of that, we introduce the Divine providence revealed in the dividing of the Land through the drawing of the lots.

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