Shabbos Parashas Mattos-Maasei - 5778

Shabbos Parashas Mattos-Maasei - 5778

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall not contaminate the land in which you dwell, in whose midst I rest, for I

am Hashem Who rests among the children of Israel. [Bamidbar 35:34]

The previous verse tells us not to "cause unfaithfulness to the land", then goes on to

say that the "land will not have an atonement for the blood that was spilled in it

except through the blood of the one who spilled it." Can land be unfaithful?

Contaminated? Does it need atonement? Attributing human characteristics to

inanimate objects has no direct meaning, but there are underlying lessons here.

We read in numerous places that the Canaanite tribes had somehow defiled the holy

land, and were being evicted. We then read in numerous places that Israel did more

or less the same acts, and were exiled, although not permanently evicted. There has

to be a difference.

All the commentaries agree that the Creator of the world is entitled to give whatever

land He wishes to whichever nation He chooses, and to later take it away and instead

give it to someone else. But our verse seems to go beyond this in discussing

contamination, unfaithfulness, atonement, and spilling blood. God did not need to go

to such lengths to explain His reasoning nor justify His actions. Our verse is not a

proof, in itself, of Jewish ownership of the land--that comes from other verses. So

what is the Torah telling us?

We see, from here and elsewhere, that this strip of land is special. God 'rests' in the

midst of this land, therefore He forbids polluting it in any form, maintaining its holiness.

But our verse tells us something more. It also says that He "rests among the

children of Israel". If the Jews are in the land, this presents no problem. But when

the people 'contaminate' the land, they are exiled from it, and these two statements

become difficult to reconcile. On the simple level, our verse is a commandment to

us to not let that happen. Yet, God knew it would fall to that, so what is the Torah

teaching us?

The Canaanites were kicked out permanently, in fact in large part destroyed. The Jews

were merely exiled temporarily, albeit a long temporarily. The reason comes in these

two verses.

Talelei Oros goes through an extended discussion of murder. He shows how the

nations of the world prohibit it, and shows that their reasoning is that murder makes

it hard to have a decent society. All well and good, says Talelei Oros, that they

should prohibit murder, but their reason is wrong. Jews prohibit murder because it's

wrong. Not because it makes things difficult, is unpopular, or any other man-made

reason, but because the Torah tells us it is just plain abhorrent. In a society that

has to find a man-made reason, there will be man-made exceptions, and blood will

be spilled in the land based on man's decision, not on God's.

The Torah tells us that the only blood to be spilled is that of the murderer, and this

will not contaminate the land. The Torah allows certain kinds of wars, and this will

not contaminate the land. The Torah did not allow man to choose politically correct

reasons to allow it. The nations do, the children of Israel do not. That is the divider

between those who can live in the holy land and those who cannot.

We have been exiled temporarily for our sins, but we have been promised eventual

redemption because we do things for Torah reasons rather than man-made reasons.