(Numbers 6:2-9:35)

(Haftara: Yechezkel 28:25-29:21)

1. [6:2,3] “I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov as “almighty God”, but by my name…” God is saying that the fathers had a different revelation of God than Moshe had. Can one know anything about the essence of God, or are there only different revelations for us? When people relate to each other, do they know anything about the essence of the other, or only about what is revealed about the other?
2. [6:4] “I set up my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan…” It seems that God made a covenant with Avraham because God knew that his descendants would do kindness and justice (Breishit 18:19). Is the giving of Canaan a reward for doing kindness and justice or a necessity for doing kindness and justice on a grander scale?
3. [7:1] “I will make you like an angel to Pharoah, and Aharon, your brother will be your prophet…” God could have given Moshe the power to talk to Pharoah. What political or dramatic advantage is there in having Aharon speak for Moshe?
4. [Haftara: Yechezkel 28:26] “…they will live safely on it…and plant vineyards…” There are many plants that farmers plant. Why is planting vineyards a sign that one is living safely in the land?
5. [29:13, 14] “And I will return the captivity of Egypt…and they will be a lowly kingdom.” Why does God say that He will re-establish the Egyptians as a lowly kingdom? If they are scattered, let them remain scattered and be lost among the nations. Why should they again become a nation with a land?

Commentary

Understanding reached by one’s own mind is the highest expression of spiritual progress. Everything that is learned through study is absorbed from the outside, and is less significant than what is thought through by the soul itself. Through study, we learn how to draw on what is hidden in the heart, in the depths of the soul, one’s inner understanding, from the knowledge within.

1. Avraham Y. H. Kuk, 1865-1935, Lithuania and Israel.

This study page is dedicated to the memory of Gad Eliahu ben David and Kochava–Eli Zucker

And to the memory of Sarah Bella bat Yitzchak Kummer, Chaim Yosef Yechiel ben Eliyahu Kummer and Eliyahu and Margaret Kummer