Torah Reading
Numbers 30:2 - 32:42
Haftarah
Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3
In this week’s Torah portion, Moses describes the laws of oaths. The Israelites battle the Midianites. The tribes of Reuven and Gad request to dwell outside of the Land of Israel.
Featured Commentary
Everyone must have a safe place to be before anyone can feel at home.
How the kosher practice of waiting between meat and dairy reminds us of Moses' discomfort with violence.
Awareness of the wholeness in the Torah opens our eyes to the wholeness of the world.
The laws of vows and the rabbinic cautions against making them teach the holiness and power of the spoken word.
Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson
The laws of nullifying vows teach us that our silence and inaction in the face of contemporary injustice and oppression is akin to assenting to it.
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson
How can we stimulate and support women to fulfill their dreams?
What accounts for the negative correlation between material excess and awareness of the Divine?
The severity of the war against the Midianites should motivate us to examine our own behavior and root out our own forms of idolatry.
The laws of vows teach that our words have the power to create holiness between us.
The request of the tribes of Reuben and Gad to settle outside of the Land of Israel raises the issue of balancing communal and individual needs.
The war against Midian teaches that when Israel does fight wars, they must fight with compassion and a minimum of casualties.
Our discomfort with the Torah's command to wipe out other nations stems from the contrast between that directive and the Torah's usual emphasis on respect for human life.
Matot: A Resource for Families
The first haftarah of oppression (for Parashat Matot or Parashat Pinhas), and the haftarah read by Sephardim for Parashat Shemot.
Moses describes the laws of oaths; the Israelites battle the Midianites; the tribes of Reuben and Gad request to dwell outside of the Land of Israel.
