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Parshat Matot-Massei
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Bonding with the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land 

אחד אחוז מן החמשים 

"HaShem, HaShem! O Compassionate and Merciful God... Allow me, with Your great compassion that I and all Israel have longing, yearning, desire, and true will to come to the Land of Israel, till I will merit, with Your great compassion, to realize my will and aspiration...” (Likutei Halachot 84)

This week's parsha sums up the Book of Bamidbar, the Book of the Journey Towards the Land of Israel, the journey which incorporates within it the dreams, aspirations, longing and will of the Generation of the Wilderness towards this Holy Land. Indeed, one's thoughts and intent towards a mitzva are an integral part of the mitzva to such an extent that our Sages teach us that if one had intent to do a mitzva, but was unwillingly stopped/detained from doing so, nevertheless it is considered as if he committed the mitzva.

In this way one should never despair from the longing for the Holy Land, and one should know that every such thought and prayer is dear to HaShem and is beneficial to oneself and to our People at large. In addition, one's intention in regard to the specific mitzvot that pertain to the Land also bear significance in the manner one commits these mitzvot. If one endears these mitzvot, one seeks these mitzvot and desires to fufil them in the best possible way. If, however, one sees these mitzvot as a 'burden', God forbid, it is also not difficult to search for ways to be exempt of them, such as our Sages tell of those who would bring produce through their windows and roofs so this produce would not be liable for maaser (which must be taken through the main entrance in order to be liable).

One of the halachot that also portrays one's state of mind in regard to mitzvot of the Land is the taking of Teruma. On a Biblical level the Torah does not mandate how much teruma from produce should be taken, and on this level even a minuscule amount is sufficient. However, our Sages learned from various verses that Teruma should range between 1/40 till 1/60 of the produce. 1/40 is considered a generous amount and portrays a positive state of mind towards the separation of Teruma. 1/60, in contrast, represents a stingy state of mind in regard to Teruma. 1/50 represents the middle path between generosity, and stinginess. Each measurement is given a proof-text in the Talmud Yerushalmi. Both 1/40 and 1/60 are extrapolated from a verse in Ezekiel 45 which states that teruma should be taken in a quantity of 'a sixth [interpretation A]/or a sixth to be added to two sixths (3/6= ½ of an eifa) [interpretation B] for a omer of wheat and a homer of barley', a omer amounting to 10 times an eifa. According to interpretation A the verse in Ezekiel should be interpreted to mean that one should take 1/6 of an eifa from a omer (10 eifas), thereby meaning that one takes 1/60 for teruma. According to interpretation B one is to take ½ of an eifa for two omers, an omer of wheat and an omer of barley (=20 eifas), thereby meaning that one takes 1/40 for teruma. The 'middle path' - 1/50 - is learned from a different proof-text altogether, our title quote from this week's parsha. Since the Torah in this week's parsha uses the ratio of 1/50 in  regard to separating a quotient of the spoils of Midyan for holy purposes, therefore the Rabbis learn that 'all that you take in quotients should be taken by a ratio of 1/50'. The term, 'all that you take', is a term used to refer to the collective whole/'all', and thus pertains to the majority of people, who are neither generous nor stingy. 

his type of learning, which ties seemingly very distant topics, the quotients from the spoils of Midyan to the laws of teruma, is actually very typical of the Talmud Yerushalmi's type of learning. This is the thinking and learning inspired in the 'atmosphere of wisdom' of the Land of Israel where the Talmud Yerushalmi was developed and written. In turn, the Zohar ties the entirety of the Land of Israel to Hebron, suggesting that this type of thinking also stems from the light of Hebron, which means 'connection', where thought is unified in Godly inspiration. 

Real Stories from the Holy Land #128

"On the way back from a family Bar-Mitzva celebration I waited for quite a while for the bus to Jerusalem to arrive, in order to visit my father. Suddenly, I heard a voice, 'come with us to Jerusalem.' This voice was no other than my brother's. 'It turns out' that the driver of the car my brother was in made a mistake, and instead of turning right to depart from the city, he turned left towards the bus stop I was waiting, at which point my brother 'discovered' me and offered me a ride..." R.E 

Sources: Rambam Trumot 3, 2, Yerushalmi Trumot 4, 3

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