Musar do Liczb 33:58

אלה מסעי בני ישראל . "These are the journeys of the children of Israel." Journeys are comparable to exiles in that they afford a person atonement for his sins. When someone decides to leave home in order to reside in a place where Torah learning is available, his journey may be described as at G–d's behest. It is not by accident that all the Torah scholars of earlier generations left home, i.e. exiled themselves in order to study. This principle can be summarized as צא ולמד, "leave home in order to study!"

The Zohar, commenting on 12,3: ויקחו להם איש ה לבית אבות שה לבית, "They shall each acquire for themselves a lamb per family or a lamb per household," comments that in effect G–d told the Jews to physically get hold of the Egyptians' deity, to keep it locked up for three days and to publicly excecute it on the fourth day. The Egyptians had to witness all this. This was a harder pill for them to swallow than all the other plagues that they had been subjected to previously, and this their idol was afterwards to be roasted on the fire as part of its execution. It was not to be boiled in water because the Torah's command to burn the idols (of the nations we conquered) in fire legislated in Deut. 7,25 would not have been carried out by boiling. If one were to boil the Passover lamb it would be equivalent to hiding it, covering it up, and one could not smell its fragrance. The distinctive smell of its roasting should permeate the house. The reason that it must be roasted whole with its legs and head is to prevent giving the impression that it is alive or that it is a pig, for instance. It must be prepared as food in such a way that everyone notices that it is an Egyptian deity that is being treated in this fashion. The Passover lamb must also not be eaten in a ravenous manner, but at a time when one has almost completed one's meal. No bone may be broken so that the skeleton can be viewed as whole, and its inability to save itself be demonstrated. For all these reasons the Torah speaks about ובאלוההים עשה שפטים "He executed judgments on their deities" (Numbers 33,4).

Our sages explain that the words in 14,10: "And here Israel saw מצרים travelling behind them,” refer to the שר של מצרים. This is the reason the Torah speaks about מצרים instead of about מצריים. When the Israelites saw this, they were assailed by great doubts. At the time of the slaying of every first-born in Egypt they had believed that G–d personally was in their midst and that all these miracles had not been orchestrated with the help of angels, etc., but had been performed by G–d in His capacity as the four-lettered Ineffable Name. They had been convinced that the first-born highest-ranking שר של מצרים, had also been defeated and no longer existed. They had believed that G–d had disposed of that force because no one but G–d Himself was able to accomplish this! The very fact that the Egyptians had buried all their dead had served as a sign for the Israelites that G–d personally had struck down every first-born (as described in Numbers 33,4). When Israel saw that all the Egyptian first-born on earth had been slain, they naturally assumed that their שר in the upper regions had been slain also, because we know of the principle that the spiritual counterparts of the nations on earth suffer defeat in the Celestial Regions prior to the defeat of the nations on earth whom they represent. In this instance, however, the שר של מצרים had not yet been totally eliminated. When the Torah in Numbers 33,4 spoke about G–d having struck, i.e. הכה Egypt, this did not mean that G–d struck a fatal blow at that time. G–d had allowed the שר to survive until the Egyptians were drowned in the sea. The שר had already been weakened.

We find that Adam essentially violated three categories of sin: idol worship, sexual licentiousness, and bloodshed. He was also guilty of violating property rights, i.e. financial misdemeanors. Our sages describe Adam as a heretic in Sanhedrin 38. They describe him as "pulling his foreskin," (ibid. i.e. to make himself appear as if he had not been circumcised) He also cohabited with his wife who had previously been slept with by the serpent. As a result Adam's son Cain was infected with the pollutant of the serpent, the reason why he could become a murderer. [I recommend to the reader the commentary on this by Rabbeinu Chananel, who sees these accusations as being mouthed by the Gentiles, and who feels that the Talmud quotes them only in order to teach us how to respond to Biblical quotations taken out of context and used against us by our enemies. Ed.] As to Adam having sinned in property matters, this must be explained, seeing that the whole world belonged to him and he could not therefore become guilty of stealing, embezzling, etc. Rashi comments on Leviticus 1,2 that the reason why the Torah uses the word אדם as an example for someone who offers a sacrifice is, that just as Adam could not have brought a sacrifice from money which was not his, so anyone who offers a sacrifice is warned not to use stolen money for its purchase. Adam's sin consisted of his attitude to material things, described by the Torah as פורה ראש ולענה, "sprouting poison weed and wormwood" (Deut. 29,17). Adam displayed greed by eating from the tree of knowledge, which is described by the Torah as "inspiring desire in the eyes" (Genesis 3,6). He was a victim of the trait which our sages described when they said: "man does not leave this world without leaving behind half his desires unfulfilled, that having amassed his first million, a man already aims at the second million" (Kohelet Rabbah 1,34). Adam himself is alluded to in these three portions. Prior to his sin, Adam can be viewed as having been ראש המטות, "the (spiritual) head of all human tribes." Our sages describe the ministering angels surrounding Adam as paying homage to him, eager to hear his words of wisdom (Bereshit Rabbah 8,9). When the Torah says of the progress of the Jewish people in the desert in Numbers 33,2: "These are the departures of the Jewish people according to their journeys," this is a veiled reference to Adam who had been expelled from Paradise and forced to reside in various parts of the earth, a constant traveler. At the end of the same verse, the Torah reverses the description of these journeys by describing them as "their journeys according to the points of their departures."

We find that Adam essentially violated three categories of sin: idol worship, sexual licentiousness, and bloodshed. He was also guilty of violating property rights, i.e. financial misdemeanors. Our sages describe Adam as a heretic in Sanhedrin 38. They describe him as "pulling his foreskin," (ibid. i.e. to make himself appear as if he had not been circumcised) He also cohabited with his wife who had previously been slept with by the serpent. As a result Adam's son Cain was infected with the pollutant of the serpent, the reason why he could become a murderer. [I recommend to the reader the commentary on this by Rabbeinu Chananel, who sees these accusations as being mouthed by the Gentiles, and who feels that the Talmud quotes them only in order to teach us how to respond to Biblical quotations taken out of context and used against us by our enemies. Ed.] As to Adam having sinned in property matters, this must be explained, seeing that the whole world belonged to him and he could not therefore become guilty of stealing, embezzling, etc. Rashi comments on Leviticus 1,2 that the reason why the Torah uses the word אדם as an example for someone who offers a sacrifice is, that just as Adam could not have brought a sacrifice from money which was not his, so anyone who offers a sacrifice is warned not to use stolen money for its purchase. Adam's sin consisted of his attitude to material things, described by the Torah as פורה ראש ולענה, "sprouting poison weed and wormwood" (Deut. 29,17). Adam displayed greed by eating from the tree of knowledge, which is described by the Torah as "inspiring desire in the eyes" (Genesis 3,6). He was a victim of the trait which our sages described when they said: "man does not leave this world without leaving behind half his desires unfulfilled, that having amassed his first million, a man already aims at the second million" (Kohelet Rabbah 1,34). Adam himself is alluded to in these three portions. Prior to his sin, Adam can be viewed as having been ראש המטות, "the (spiritual) head of all human tribes." Our sages describe the ministering angels surrounding Adam as paying homage to him, eager to hear his words of wisdom (Bereshit Rabbah 8,9). When the Torah says of the progress of the Jewish people in the desert in Numbers 33,2: "These are the departures of the Jewish people according to their journeys," this is a veiled reference to Adam who had been expelled from Paradise and forced to reside in various parts of the earth, a constant traveler. At the end of the same verse, the Torah reverses the description of these journeys by describing them as "their journeys according to the points of their departures."

To get back to the subject of the תיקונים. Joseph, in his capacity as the sacred seed of his father, who in turn represented the spiritual beauty of Adam prior to his sin, was truly created בצלם אלוקים, in the image of G–d, because he was not the result of a smelly drop of semen. He wore the striped coat, a metaphor for the garments woven of light worn by Adam and Eve before they sinned, as we have outlined on pages 290,294. He was therefore the natural enemy of Esau who represented the opposite attributes, the pollution by the serpent, the smelly drop of semen, and the start of a long line of bastards. He demonstrated his loyalty to the Holy Covenant by resisting the lures of Potiphar's wife, by remaining in control of his baser urges. He merited to be elevated to kingdom because his self-control exercised in a country which symbolized sexual promiscuity and perversion, was that much more remarkable. The "crown" of Royalty worn by Joseph was first and foremost his mastery over the guardian angel of Egypt; we have already explained on page 295 that Egypt, (and hence its guardian angel), was second only to ארץ ישראל itself. The שר של מצרים is second only to Israel in the ranks of carriers of G–d's chariots. When the Torah describes Joseph as "riding" in the מרכבת המשנה, this is a hyperbole for Joseph having replaced the guardian angel of Egypt in that role. This augured well for Israel, who, though they would become enslaved in Egypt, would achieve their spiritual refinement in that environment. After that period of refinement, Israel would עלה יעלה, ascend from Egypt spiritually, having witnessed G–d's miracles and judgments on the Egyptians. They would see the guardian angel of Egypt humbled, as described in Numbers 33, 4: “ובאלוהיהם עשה שפטים, The Lord executed judgments on their gods."