Fateful Setbacks – Merging of the “Journey” and the “Encampment?”

“Behold a people that rise up as a Lavi (lioness) and as an Ari (lion) does he lift himself up” (Balaam’s narrative to the Israelites: (Num. 23:24).

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“When the Lord will return the exiles of Zion, we will have been like dreamers. Then our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with songs of joy; then will they say among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for these. The Lord has done great things for us; we were joyful.’ Lord, return our exiles as streams to arid soil. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed; he will surely return with songs of joy, carrying his sheaves” (Psalms 126)

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You probably never thought you’d see the day when worthy Torah lessons might be gleaned from raw political culture, but is it not said that “Life is stranger than fiction?” Perhaps it’s a sign of the times; the Messianic era has long been described as an age of contradiction. Be that as it may, there is at least one valuable lesson that seems to mimic politics:

Sicha of the Rebbe – Parshas Matos-Massei

The Rebbe says:

1. This week’s Torah portion discusses how the Land of Israel should be divided up between all the Twelve Tribes,.

2. The Rebbe now asks the first of two questions regarding this:

We find two contradictory instructions regarding the division of the Land of Israel. On one hand the Torah tells us that the land shall be split up logically, as the verse states, “To the many you shall increase its inheritance and to the few shall you decrease its inheritance”. However on the other hand we find that the Torah tells us to split the land according to a lottery which is above logic and reason, as the verse states, “This is the land which you shall divide by inheritance as a lottery”.