12
Three entries in the Otzar Ishei Tanach. Novach was born in mitzrayim and died after Moshe rabbeinu, sedder olam rabba 9. When knas was captured, Novach called it by his own name, in order to have a memorial, being that he didn't have sons, medrash agadda bamidbar 32 38. That name didn't last, Rus rabba 5 5.
Also of interest rav Hirsch discusses the ...
8
In Chapter 25 we see that the Moabite women seduced some Israelites into temple prostitution. Therefore when God commanded Israel to raze the people of Midian he wanted the armies to kill the woman also and not take them as spoils of war. They did not do it at first but kept all the woman as booty. God was angry with them for that and then he makes it ...
8
This is the only occurrence of that phenomenon in the 247-year cycle. Source: the table in the Tur, hilchos rosh chodesh.
7
In Maayan Beis Hashoeivah 31 7, Rabbi Shwab asks this very question and suggests that perhaps Midyan was a tremendous nation or perhaps two nations, and only the ones under the jurisdiction of the five kings living on the border of Moav were killed, leaving the Moavites near Egypt alive. He also answers with this idea how Pinchas would wage war against his ...
7
BS"D
Rav Eliyahu Mansour addresses this question in his 5766 (2006) derashah on Parashat Mattot (link, starting at 45:55). He cites RaSh"Y (BeMidbar 32:42) who points out that there should have been a mappiq in the Heh of the word "לה". And that, without the mappiq, the word can be read "לא" (i.e. "לא נבח"). Because it can be read as such, RaSh"Y explains, ...
7
The Gemara Bava Basra 120a Here writes that one list is according to their age, and the other is based on their wisdom.
5
Sure. We see in Yehoshua 1:13-15 that he reminds all two and a half tribes of "what Moshe the servant of Hashem commanded you," and after it's all over he calls all of them (Yehoshua 22:1-3) and praises them for keeping their word, using the same expression.
Meshech Chochma explains why the condition wasn't explicitly mentioned by Moses to the half tribe of ...
5
The phrase means literally "the lying of a man" and is euphemistic for intimate relations as performed by a man, which is how it is generally translated in the verses (Numbers 31:17-18) you cite:
וְעַתָּ֕ה הִרְג֥וּ כָל־זָכָ֖ר בַּטָּ֑ף וְכָל־אִשָּׁ֗ה יֹדַ֥עַת אִ֛ישׁ לְמִשְׁכַּ֥ב זָכָ֖ר הֲרֹֽגוּ׃
Now, therefore, slay every male among the children, and ...
4
R' Hirsch's commentary on verse 5 addresses this curiosity:
This repeated restarting their speech implies a pause, and shows that they themselves were not without suspicion as to how their proposition would be received. They required a pause to pull themselves together to continue bringing their request forward.
4
Targum Pseudo Jonathan in the beginning of Balak states, (english) that Moab and Midian were a united nation and kingdom up to this point.
Perhaps we can say from this that Moab was an umbrella term for the kingdom as it is mentioned in Chukat as a geographic location. Midian on the other hand was a district within it from which young women were enlisted to ...
4
According to my Concordance, there are two similar words for “sheep”.
They are
צאן and צֹנֶה.
"Your sheep" will form as צאנכם and צנאכם respectively.
(The difference is in the position of the aleph).
The normal spelling is צאן and there are many occurrences in Tanakh.
צאנכם occurs in Ex 10:24, Ex 12:32 and 1Shmuel 8:17.
צֹנֶה occurs once in Psalms 8:...
4
An aish.com article titled "Half of Menashe" offers a number of answers:
The first two tribes, Reuven and Gad, were involved in the negotiations with Moshe from the outset. How did the tribe or part of
the tribe of Menashe get themselves involved in this? The text itself
is silent; therefore the commentaries feel free to offer different
...
4
Bereishis Rabbah 44:23 notes that Avraham was promised 10 nations' territory in the succeeding Pesukim in Bereishis 15, but his children only got 7 nations' territory. The Midrash simply identifies the three nations left out: Arabia, Shalami, and Nabatea; or Damascus, Asia Minor, and Syria; or Asia Minor, Turkey, and Carthage; or Edom, Moav, and Ammon. The ...
4
That's exactly the difference between our human judgment and Heavenly knowledge.
Those girls (and many more examples in the Tanach) were not judged by Moses and his earthly court, they were judged by the Heavenly court and found guilty and sentenced to death. Only Moses and his army were asked to execute the sentence.
Just look around - innocent children ...
4
Mechilta d'Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, 12:38
ומקנה רב היה לבני (גד) [ראובן] ולבני (ראובן) [גד] יכול לבני ראובן ולבני גד היה לשאר שבטים לא היה? אלא מלמד שאלו פשטו ידיהם בו
How could it be that Reuven and Gad ended up with so much more cattle than the others? This teaches us that these two tribes stuck out their hands and [were quick] to grab [the spoils] ...
3
The Talmud (Bavli, Y'vamos 60:2) deduces from the wording of the passage that the ones killed were not the women who had been intimate with men but those who physically could be, which is those who had reached their third birthday. (This is also cited by Rashi on verse 17.)
3
Art Scroll on Matos 32:18 cites Haamek Hadavar that this was in order to allay suspicion that they would want to take advantage of their privileged position (having already received their land) to settle down earlier than the rest of the tribes.
Matos 32:22
you shall be freed [of your obligation] from the Lord and from Israel,
and this land will ...
3
נַחְנוּ is liely the older form of אֲנַחְנוּ; the prosthetic אֲ was probably added by analogy with אֲנִי. According to Blau, if the aleph were original, it would have been vocalized with a qamas by the process of pretonic lengthening. The analogy process continued in Rabbinic Hebrew where the form אָנוּ appears regularly (the ketiv of Jeremiah 42:6 is אנו, ...
3
Had he delayed, and not hurried to fight Midyan, could he have
prolonged his life indefinitely?
Prior to your question we must ask a more basic question: Would delaying prolong his life?
It sounds plausible that it would have, but it also sounds like that is not the point. Instead, the point seems to be that even though his death was the next major event,...
3
A few answers exist to this question.
First of all, we can reject the assumptions that just because we know of one particular Midianite woman who was involved (i.e. Kosbi bas Tzur), many other Midianite women were also involved, and that the command to attack Midian as opposed to Moav means that Midianite women were more at fault. In fact, the Gemara (Bava ...
3
The Art Scroll Chumash on Mattos 32:16 cites Abarbanel who says that they intended to rebuild and refortify the cities. I have seen in a number of places that had they left those remaining behind defenseless, the "inhabitants of the land" surrounding the areas captured would have moved in and conquered the areas occupied by Reuven and Gad.
The Art Scroll ...
3
It says "animals" in verse 47.
But if that's not enough for you, ibn Ezra clarifies that "animals" in verse 30 (which you translated "cattle") means animals not otherwise listed but "animals" in verse 47 means animals generally [i.e. including those listed in verse 30].
3
Simple answer is yes there is a very good reason, though sorry, it's somewhat graphic.
"Mishkevei isha" (plural) refers to vaginal and anal; only one of those applies to males. This is in fact the Talmud's source that the same punishment would apply, if a woman was a prohibited relation, for either type of activity.
3
Rashi's explanation is
וכלי הקדש AND THE VESSELS OF HOLINESS … [WERE WITH THEM] — these were the Ark and the Golden Plate (which are termed קדש, “holiness”, in Numbers 4:20 and Leviticus 8:9 respectively) (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 157:4; Sotah 43a).
The Ibn Ezra agrees that it was the Ark.
The Haamek Davar says it was the Ark or the Tzitz.
Rabbeinu Bahya ...
3
You should compare apples to apples, not to oranges.
Abraham wasn't in a war, while Moses was.
Actually, god wanted this raid to be an act of vengence, so maybe there is no place for mercy here.
Bameedbar 31 2
נקם נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים אחר תאסף אל עמי
Avenge the vengeance of Israel from the Midianites, Afterwards you will die.
3
Yes it still applies. The laws are found in Shulchan Arukh YD 234.
Here is an example of a modern rabbi discussing using it practically nowadays.
3
Yes. These halachos can be found in the Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 234:1-72
(the case you specifically mention- annulling the vow until sunset- can be found in YD 234:21).
Even though technically these halachos exist today, the Shulchan Aruch (YD 203:1, 4) recommends extreme caution re: taking a vow:
כל הנודר אף ע"פ שמקיימו נקרא רשע ונקרא חוטא
...
2
It's the pausal kal masculine plural imperative. (Gesenius (§29.4(b), ¶29m) has more info.)
2
Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov (Sassow?) reinterpreted it as follows: "אֵלֶּה הַחֻקִּים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה׳ אֶת מֹשֶׁה בֵּין אִישׁ לְאִשְׁתּוֹ" — these laws, the Torah, make a connection (צוותא) between a man and his wife on the one hand and God on the other, so that God's immanence (שכינה) dwells with them — "בֵּין אָב לְבִתּוֹ בִּנְעֻרֶיהָ בֵּית אָבִיהָ" — but ...
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