@DoubleAA "I've never tried it, but I imagine it's similar to daf yomi: a regulated program synchronized around the world aiming at completing a worthwhile body of Jewish texts." time: 2012-07-17 06:26:14Z
I just asked a question about this week's parsha and didn't see a match when I typed "matot" so I created parshat-matot. I then went to add it to the systematic list of tags and saw mattos there. This is a request to create a synonym. (I don't have enough rep in the tag to suggest it the usual...
Well, we have a nice crowd, though some of youse ain't Mi Yodeyans (or, I'm guessing, interested in the subject matter). Welcome to Parashat Hashavua' Chat #29 - Matot-Mas'e 5772, @HodofHod @TRiG @yehuda @MonicaCellio @OrigamiRobot @DoubleAA @jrg
@MonicaCellio Indeed. Anyone have anything to start us off with? (I personally am sans books except what I see online, and unable to pay complete attention here. Speaking of which:) Sources for Matot.
I'm sans books too and I should have checked this at home, but... what's with the 2.5 tribes that decided to take the land they had rather than what was promised? They said it was good land, but surely what was to come would be better? Why not take it?
@MonicaCellio What do you mean by "they had"? Everyone was east of the Jordan, but no one "owned" that land.
@MonicaCellio Also, note that only two tribes requested that land. (Part of M'nashe also got it because there was more than enough space for two tribes IIRC.)
@msh210 Wasn't that land they'd already conquered? But if not, that makes it even worse -- if you have to take it anyway, why shouldn't you take what God promised?
@MonicaCellio Not strictly half, but part. And I don't have a paper copy (which I still find easier to leaf through) here, but check whether when they are mentioned it is because they're given it and when they're not it's because they didn't reuqest it -- i.e. whether their being mentioned correlates with request/receipt.
@MonicaCellio Right, yeah, good question (and it sounds like @HodofHod has an answer), I was merely nitpicking the details.
@MonicaCellio Also, note that only two tribes requested that land. (Part of M'nashe also got it because there was more than enough space for two tribes IIRC.)
Also, for example, the Torah often refers to חצי שבט מנשה having received territory on the east side of the Jordan, but from Josh. 17:1-2 we see that in fact most of the tribe (six subfamilies of Gilead) were assigned to the west side (Eretz Yisrael proper). — AlexApr 20 at 16:39
@HodofHod thanks - stuck it in a tab for later reading.
Ok. Something I've wondered about oftern, and it comes up again at the beginning of this week (Num 31, for our onlookers): why would anybody voluntarily take a vow or make an oath? It seems dangerous and what good can come from it? I feel like I'm missing something fundamental.
@MonicaCellio One reason I've heard -- no source for it atm -- is that someone who has a particular bad predilection might enforce a resolution against it with a vow. E.g., suppose someone eats too much unhealthful food, he might swear off milkshakes. Or if he gossips too much, he might swear off using Twitter.
@MonicaCellio Oddly, though, one thing that I've seen a lot of (and I never learned N'darim) is "hamudar hanaa mechavero", someone who's sworn off deriving bvenefit from a specific other person. I can only imagine why someone would do that: because he hates the other guy? because the other guy is poor and he doesn't want to deprive him? I really wish I knew.
I wonder if someone who needs to make a vow to correct a behavior he can't correct otherwise risks placing a stumbling-block before himself -- he knows his will is weak, and by making the vow things will be even worse for him if he fails -- would his rav permit it if he knew? (Just speculating/wondering out loud.)
Another case of making a vow is as a promise to God in exchange for a good outcome (e.g. Yiftach). But since God owns everything can one really bribe God?
("bribe" is my word; I'm not accusing Yiftach of bad motives.)
@msh210 Not fluent enough, I'm afraid. Can you tell me enough about it that I might search it out in English? (I'm failing to parse the title as something I recognize, which could be "Monica doesn't know how to infer vowels well enough" rather than an unfamiliar title...)
@MonicaCellio Bribe is the wrong word, I think. But though G-d is the owner of all, he still desires our mitzvos, for some reason. ("af a taavah iz nisht kein kashes")
@HodofHod Bribe isn't the right word, yeah. I was trying to get at the "if You do this for me I'll do this for You" aspect; God wants our mitzvot but doesn't he want them to be without strings too?
@MonicaCellio I can't find an English online, but you should read Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah Siman 203 which is entitled "Which vows are good and which are bad." Hebrew available here hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9732&st=&pgnum=290
Leaving aside, for purposes of this question, any issues of monetary benefit associated with giving charity (tax deductions, supporting school fundraisers by purchasing items at a discount, etc.), which, in most cases, at least, it's possible to track how much monetary savings are associated with...
@MonicaCellio Ask the prof's permission and sit in on a college Hebrew course. (Or take the course.) Or maybe some Jewish resource around you offers Hebrew courses.
@msh210 Working on it. Alas, those classes are currently smack in the middle of the work day, but I check every semester. I'm working with books on my own plus studying in Hebrew (with lots of help) with a chevruta.
Didn't mean to divert the parsha chat. Anyone else have anything?
@DoubleAA (In fact, the question does mention Chabad -- sort of. It should explain what Chitas is, but links to WP for that instead: and WP says it's a Chabad thing.)
@DoubleAA I was going to detag that one chabad but left it alone. Probably I shoulda detagged it. Maybe I still will. SAH is a halacha source used by everyone and the question has nothing (besides that it's about SAH) to do with Chabad/Lubavitch.
@DoubleAA I've now commented on that question.
@DoubleAA What's your take on it (w.r.t. the tag)?
@DoubleAA I'm with DoubleAA. If the question were "why does Chabad do this?" then I'd tag chabad, but as it is it doesn't seem to be a Chabad-specific question.
I just asked a question about this week's parsha and didn't see a match when I typed "matot" so I created parshat-matot. I then went to add it to the systematic list of tags and saw mattos there. This is a request to create a synonym. (I don't have enough rep in the tag to suggest it the usual...
Rashi on the top of Bechoros 46a, the last Rashi of the perek (chapter), says to make a neder.
