Ramban on the Parsha | Rabbi Shlomo Friedman (Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh)

── Shiur Outline ──
(0:01) Why the chalisha hadaas appears in this order?
(2:12) Aaron’s descendants and the Chanukah of the Mishkan
(4:01) Age of Levite service: 25 vs 30 debate
(6:52) Bederech Rechokah: who brings the second Passover?
(9:35) Anan movement dictates Israel’s desert travel schedule
(12:25) Moshe’s plea to Yisro: stay and help conquer
(16:36) Backwards Nuns and Vayehi Binsoa: structural puzzle
(23:13) Ramban on the three puranot and the kvetching
(26:08) Desiring a Desire – What’s the Problem?
(27:22) The Symbolic Meaning of the Number Seventy
(30:18) Understanding the Phrase ‘Adoni Moshe kela'em’
(32:42) Why Moshe’s Humility Is Highlighted Here
(34:35) Moshe’s Prophecy Compared to Other Nevi’im
(36:16) Semichut HaParshiyot and the Three‑Fold Confusion
(37:21) When Do Levi’im Begin Their Service?
(38:41) The Negative Aspect of the Israelite Complaints

AI-Generated Summary (AI can be inaccurate. Check important information):

1. The Chanukah connection — The nechama given to Aaron for not participating in the princes' offerings was a remez to the future Hasmonean dedication, which was a nedava (voluntary act), unlike the obligatory miluim service.
2. Levi apprenticeship years — A Levi begins training at age twenty-five but only receives a specific, permanent appointment (ish ish al avodaso) upon reaching age thirty.
3. Defining "Distant Way" — While some define derech rechoka as being merely outside the azarah, the literal meaning (peshat) and the Amoraim suggest it refers to being beyond Modi'im at midday.
4. Loyalty despite discomfort — The repetitive descriptions of the journeys teach that Bnei Yisrael remained loyal to the anan even when it meant staying in unpleasant locations or traveling when exhausted.
5. Yisro's name and portionChovav was the name Yisro received upon his geirus; he ultimately agreed to stay with Bnei Yisrael because he was offered a permanent nachala in the Land.
6. The "Upside-down Nuns" — The section of Vayehi Binsoa acts as a buffer between the pur'anus of leaving Sinai "like a child fleeing school" and the subsequent complaints in the desert.
7. Three-fold tragedy avoidance — The placement of these verses prevents three consecutive "tragedies," which would have established a chazaka (unbroken pattern) of spiritual failure.
8. The sin of "kvetching" — The misoninim were punished not for a specific speech act, but for their general attitude of being "coerced" and ungrateful for God's goodness.
9. Desiring a desire — The asafsaf sinned by cultivating a ta'avah for its own sake, seeking the feeling of physical craving rather than satisfying a true physical need.
10. Natural vs. Miraculous meat — Moshe's skepticism regarding the meat was based on a misunderstanding: he thought God intended to provide it through derech hateva (natural means) rather than a miracle.
11. Eldad and Medad's status — Joshua's request to "lock them up" stemmed from a concern they were nevi'ei sheker (false prophets) or that they were moreh halacha lifnei rabbo (ruling in the presence of their teacher).
12. The uniqueness of Moshe's prophecy — The Torah emphasizes Moshe's humility to explain why God defended him and to underscore that his prophecy was in a completely different league than all others.

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So the Ramban asks why this is in this order,

something which requires some explanation,

but in any case,

why why why was the חלישות הדעת?

After all הלא קרבנו גדול משל נשיאים שהקריבו בימים ההם קרבנות הרבה.

During that time the נשיאים brought קרבנות so was Aaron doing that עבודה כהן

המילואים.

אלא מאי?

You might suggest ואם תאמר.

I think this ואם תאמר is of significance as we’ll see in a bit.

ואם תאמר שהם היו חובה ונתקנא בהם שחלשה דעתו שלא הקריב נדבה כמותם לחנוכת

המזבח.

So you might suggest,

well tell you what the חלישות הדעת is,

that they were מקריב something which is a נדבה and Aaron’s עבודה was חובה.

So he says it would seem that that answer doesn’t work because after all

the הדלקת נרות that הקדוש ברוך הוא comforted Aaron with is something which is

a חובה.

So if his צער was on the fact that he didn’t have a חלק

in a נדבה,

how could the נחמה be on something which is itself a חובה not a

נדבה?

So says the Ramban,

what answers these questions is the fact that this is a רמז to חנוכת

חשמונאי.

אבל ענין אגדה זו לדרוש רמז מן הפרשה על חנוכה של נרות שהיתה בבית

שני על ידי אהרן ובניו,

רצוני לומר חשמונאי כהן גדול ובניו.

And he quotes some מדרש of רבינו ניסים,

or רבינו ניסים במגילת סתרים.

That’s not the standard ר״ן,

that’s an earlier ר״ן,

that indicates that in fact this is a רמז to חנוכה.

And now this answers all the world’s questions.

How does it answer the question?

So not entirely clear.

The question of why the חלישות הדעת?

So perhaps what the Ramban means to say that as he suggested,

the חלישות הדעת was based on the fact that the נשיאים did something which

is a נדבה and he did not have any share in the נדבה.

And what is the response to that?

Well,

Aaron’s descendants will be involved in the חנוכת בית חשמונאי.

So perhaps what he means to say is the חנוכת בית חשמונאי in a

certain sense was a נדבה because after all they didn’t need to lay their

lives on the line,

they didn’t need to raise the מרד,

but nevertheless they went ahead and did so and that was certainly going in

a certain sense beyond the call of duty,

that was a נדבה.

What about the question of what’s the נחמה of הדלקת נרות?

What’s unique about the הדלקת נרות?

Well,

the הדלקת נרות,

that’s a רמז to the הדלקת נרות of the חשמונאים which is something which

came about through the נדבה of the descendants of אהרן.

Okay,

let’s keep in mind that the Ramban over here speaks of the great מעלה

of the descendants of אהרן in that which they did in חנוכת חשמונאי and

in fact in ויחי,

there he points out that if not for them then the תורה would have

been forgotten from the Jewish people.

On the other hand,

he also there very severely criticizes בני חשמונאי and says that it was improper

for them to stay with the מלכות,

they should have turned that over to שבט יהודה and because they didn’t do

so,

then they all were killed.

Okay,

skipping to in פסוק ד in the middle of the פסוק,

the Ramban addresses a סתירה which רש״י also points out.

From what age did the לויים begin their עבודה?

On one hand the פסוקים here indicate from the age of twenty-five,

earlier the תורה spoke of the לויים beginning their עבודה from the age thirty.

So how to resolve that?

So וכתב רש״י כאן,

I think this is about a quarter the way through the פסוק in the

standard printing page רכ״ב at the end of the page.

Again we’re in פרק ח פסוק ד.

וכתב רש״י כאן הוא אומר בן חמש ועשרים.

Does anybody have a new Ramban to know where this is?

ר״פ.

Okay.

וכתב רש״י כאן הוא אומר בן חמש ועשרים ומקום אחר אומר בן שלשים שנה

הכיצד בן חמש ועשרים יבא ללמוד הלכות עבודה.

לומד חמש שנים ונעמד ועובד.

רש״י throws in some interesting comment,

I have to figure out what this means,

what מכאן לתלמוד היושב לפני רבו שלא ראה סימן יפה במשנתו חמש שנים שוב

אינו רואה.

In any case,

the רמב״ן suggests that רש״י would tell us that this would explain the slightly

different לשון that's used over here and that's used earlier.

Over here,

פסוק says from the age of twenty-five,

it says לבוא לצבוא צבא בעבודת אהל מועד.

It doesn't say that he would be עובד,

just says לבוא לצבוא צבא בעבודת אהל מועד.

He would stand there and learn,

but not necessarily have a proper job.

However,

the רמב״ן himself feels that perhaps it's just a דעת יחיד,

that approach.

And על דרך הפשט,

says the רמב״ן skipping a few lines,

ועל דרך הפשט הנמנים ביד משה ואהרן היו מבן שלשים שנה ומעלה והם אשר

הפקיד אותם איש איש על עבודתו ועל משאו.

So those from age thirty got a specific job.

אולם כאן צוה כי כל אשר ידע בעצמו שבא לכל חמש ועשרים שנים יקשר

לעבודה ויבוא בכל אבת נפשו לעבוד עמהם.

He could work together with them,

but to get a specific set job,

that was only from the age of thirty.

Skipping to פרק ט פסוק

י,

בדרך רחוקה.

The תורה says a person that was בדרך רחוקה brings a קרבן פסח שני.

What does בדרך רחוקה mean?

It's מחלוקת תנאים.

רבי עקיבא says something which sounds more כפשוטו,

דרך רחוקה,

that he is at twelve noon מהמודיעים וחוץ.

What's the significance of being מהמודיעים וחוץ?

Well,

if he's twelve noon at מודיעים,

then he wouldn't be able to make it by שקיעה to ירושלים due to

the פקקים on the way,

whatever,

due to the fact that it takes more than six hours to come to

the עזרה,

so that's דרך רחוקה.

However,

רב אלעזר says that דרך רחוקה means the very fact that he's outside the

עזרה.

And רש״י quotes the שיטה of רב אלעזר,

which רמב״ן says is strange,

after all the שיטה of רב אלעזר is further from the פשט.

So says the רמב״ן,

skipping a few lines,

וטעם דרך רחוקה כדברי רש״י שהיו חוץ לאסקופת העזרה כל זמן השחיטה.

ורמז בניקוד,

and that's hinted to by the ניקוד when there's a dot on a word,

that is a hint that that word in a certain sense is meant to

be toned down.

ונרמז בניקוד על הה׳

של רחוקה כפי הדעת הזאת.

ואני תמה עליו,

says the רמב״ן about רש״י,

למה תפס לו שיטת רב אלעזר.

ונכון לתפוס שיטתו של רבי עקיבא מהמודיעים וחוץ וכן דעת האמוראים בגמרא דאמר עולא

כל שאינו יכול להכנס בשעת שחיטה.

He can't make it if he's in a place at twelve noon which is

so far that it would prevent him from making it to ירושלים at the

time that the קרבן פסח could be נשחט.

ופשוטו של מקרא כי עומד בתחלת בין הערבים במקום שלא הגיע לעזרה בעת השחיטה

דרך רחוקה הוא,

though he is פטור.

Okay,

the רמב״ן points out that even a person who was מזיד about not bringing

a קרבן פסח ראשון,

still does have the ability of fixing things up if he brings a פסח

שני.

And that which תורה speaks of a בדרך רחוקה,

that that person had permission to not bring a פסח ראשון as opposed to

a מזיד that what he did was wrong.

Okay,

פסוק יט.

The פסוק indicates that the Jewish people would travel based on the movement of

the ענן.

Whenever the ענן would move,

then the Jewish people would travel,

and the תורה gives a number of examples.

The רמב״ן discusses the significance of these examples.

Parenthetically,

this is not the רמב״ן.

If you take a look at the examples,

they're not in a particular order and they don't seem to be in a

clear-cut order or progression.

Perhaps that is based on the following,

a brother-in-law of mine suggested that this business with the ענן sometimes staying a

long time,

sometimes staying a short time was to prepare the Jewish people for going to

war.

Apparently the army,

sometimes you don't know exactly how long you're going to be in a particular

place,

and if you assume that that's the case,

so maybe it's deliberate that there's no particular order of the פסוקים so as

to indicate that hey,

it wasn't always any clear rhyme or reason for why we're traveling,

why we're staying or not.

In any case,

getting back to רמב״ן,

so says רמב״ן פסוק יט:

ובהאריך הענן.

כי אם יאריך הענן על המשכן ימים רבים,

במקום הוא איננו טוב בעיניהם,

והיו חפצים ומתאווים באותה שעה לסוע מן המקום,

אף על פי כן לא יעברו על רצון השם.

So times they might be a place which doesn't have such pleasant conditions,

but nevertheless they would not travel without the ענן moving.

וזה טעם ששמרו בני ישראל את משמרת השם ולא יסעו.

מיראת השם ישמרם משמרת מצותו ולא יסעו.

Okay,

and then the פסוק continues:

וכן אם יהיה הענן ימים מספר,

כשנים או שלשה ימים,

a short time,

והיו העם יגעים מאד,

ונוח בדרך כחם,

and they wanted to stick around because they wanted to rest from the traveling,

nevertheless יעשו רצון השם ללכת אחרי הענן.

וסיפר עוד כי יש שלא יעמדו רק לילה אחד ויסעו בבוקר,

אף על פי שטורח גדול להם to travel if they just reached there.

ואם יעמוד הענן יומם ולילה,

כי הלכו כל הלילה ובאו במקום ההוא בבוקר,

וינוח הענן שם כל היום ההוא וכל הלילה,

ונעלה בבוקר השני ונסעו,

וטורח גדול מהראשון,

because they assumed that they're going to be there,

they're already unpacked,

and then they need to get moving.

Okay,

skipping to פסוק כט,

י-כט,

page רכט in the standard printing.

ויאמר משה לחובב.

So משה רבנו encourages חובב,

also known as יתרו of course,

to stick around and יתרו's response is nah,

thank you but I think I'm leaving.

משה רבנו says please stick around and what happens in the end we're not

told.

So the רמב״ן addresses A what's this dialogue about and B what happened in

the end.

So says the רמב״ן:

כבר פירשתי חובב שם חדש שקראו ליתרו כאשר שב לתורת ישראל,

כי זה דרך כל המתגייר to change their name,

כי לעבדיו יקרא שם אחר.

On the bottom,

there's an interesting מראה מקום that has a discussion about רות.

Why רות did not change her name and after all,

isn't she called רות already when she marries מחלון?

So the רמב״ן on the הערות רב שוול,

he quotes the מחלוקת about when exactly the גירות of רות took place.

Did it take place before she married מחלון or after she married מחלון when

on the way back from שדי מואב?

So in fact,

it's a מחלוקת,

there's a מחלוקת about that topic and if you should assume,

and the רמב״ן assumes that beforehand her name was not רות.

רות is the new name that she got.

You guys learned in ברכות what's the significance of the name רות?

שזכתה שיצא ממנה דוד שריוהו להקדוש ברוך הוא בשירות ותשבחות.

It's also been pointed out of course that the גימטריא of רות is six

hundred and seven,

six hundred and six.

Is that correct?

What's the significance of that?

Well she already had שבע מצוות בני נח so now when she became Jewish

she added another six hundred and six to complete the תרי״ג.

In any case back to the,

so the רמב״ן had mentioned that when a person מתגייר he has a שם

אחר and his name was חובב.

Okay,

so says רמב״ן:

והנה משה חילה פניו ללכת עמהם ואמר לו סתם והטבנו לך,

and he יתרו felt that probably what he means is the give us of

the booty when we wage war.

But says יתרו,

hey,

I have enough at home,

I don't need that.

But then משה רבנו says no,

ועל זה אמר לו משה,

אל נא תעזב אתנו כי מדעתך המדבר תהיה לנו לעיניים ובכיבוש הארץ ותורנו הדרך

אשר נעלה בה,

help us conquer the land.

Parenthetically,

does he need יתרו'ס help in conquering the land?

Probably the עננים,

I don't know if over here משה רבנו was trying to give יתרו a

good feeling.

After all,

now when you want to truly do somebody a favor then you should not

give them the feeling that you're doing them a favor,

right?

So in any case,

so משה רבנו tells יתרו you'll be able to help us out and help

us conquer the land and then when we conquer the land we'll give you

נחלה he's hinting we'll give him נחלה in ארץ ישראל.

Oh,

that's another story.

It's not just being given a property of the booty,

it's being given a חלק בארץ ישראל.

And that,

says רמב"ן,

is something which יתרו took him up on the offer.

ועל דעתי כי נתרצה אליו,

he says the last couple lines,

ונתרצה אליו בזה ויעשה כן כאשר הזכרתי שם בפרשת יתרו וכך במדרשם בני קיני

חותן משה מביאים ביכורים וקורים דכתיב לכה אתנו והטבנו לך.

Okay.

ויהי בנסע הארן.

Okay.

To understand this רמב"ן,

I meant to bring the chart with the red נ'ס.

Okay,

so we'll just try to listen carefully.

By way of introduction let's mention the following.

You have the פסוק,

פסוק ל"ג,

ויסעו מהר ה' דרך שלשת ימים.

Okay.

Then you have the backwards נ'.

And then you have which פסוקים?

Is that correct?

Up about half my...

then after ויסעו מהר ה' דרך שלשת ימים,

we have an ענן ה' was with them,

then they...

right,

right,

right.

I'm sorry,

which...

י' ל' ה'.

Okay.

So ויסעו מהר ה' דרך שלשת ימים,

אמרנו בשם ה' נוסע לפניהם דרך שלשת ימים לתור להם מנוחה וענן ה' עליהם

יומם בנסעם מן המחנה.

Then the backwards נ',

ויהי בנסע הארן ויאמר משה קומה ה' ויפצו איביך וינסו משנאיך מפניך,

ובנחה יאמר שובה ה' רבבות אלפי ישראל.

Then another backwards נ'.

And then you have ויהי כמתאננים רע באזני ה'.

They're קוועטשינג.

How are we going to make it,

how are we going to survive in the מדבר?

רמב"ן will explain.

And הקדוש ברוך הוא gets angry so to speak,

ותבער בקצה המחנה,

and then משה רבנו דאווענט,

ותשקע האש.

And that place is called תבערה.

Then והאספסוף אשר בקרבו התאוו תאוה.

People are קוועטשינג:

מי יאכילנו בשר.

We want,

we want meat.

Where's the shawarma?

Okay.

That's the order of the פסוקים.

Now says רמב"ן,

quoting רש"י,

בנסע הארן עשה לו סימן מלפניו ומלאחריו.

So ויהי בנסע הארן is set off before and after with backwards נ'ס.

עשה לו סימן מלפניו ומלאחריו לומר שאין זה מקומו.

So meaning ויהי בנסע הארן that's not the ideal place where it should have

been placed.

That's not the ideal place for those פסוקים.

But those פסוקים were placed there כדי להפסיק בין פורענות לפורענות.

This is in גמרא בפרק כל כתבי הקדש לשון רש"י.

Okay.

What רש"י doesn't bother to explain over here is ולא פירש לנו הרב מה

פורענות הזו שהוצרך להפסיק בה.

Because it's not mentioned here.

Because פורענות קודם מויהי בנסע הארן.

ויהי בנסע הארן,

those פסוקים are meant to be מפסיק between two פורענויות.

But we don't have any פורענות before ויהי בנסע.

We have a couple פורענויות after.

We have the מתאננים that are קוועטשינג about how we're going to survive in

the מדבר,

and you have the התאוו תאוה that are קוועטשינג about meat.

So if and so was meant to be מפסיק between two פורעניות then it's

in the wrong place.

ולשון הגמרא שם,

now he quotes the גמרא there in כל כתבי in שבת,

פורענות שנייה,

ויהי כמתאוננים,

ויהי כמתאוננים,

which is found right after ויהי בנסוע.

They're קוועטשן how are we going to survive in the מדבר.

And what's פורענות ראשונה?

ויסעו מהר השם.

So what's פורענות about that?

רמב"ן quoting רש"י and the גמרא that that ויסעו מהר השם,

what's the פורענות of סרו מאחרי השם?

Where's it indicate in the פסוקים anything about סרו מאחרי השם?

Well,

you have the התאוו תאווה which is mentioned later.

And what's it got to do with ויסעו מהר השם?

So says רמב"ן quoting רש"י,

וכתב רש"י שם שהיה כמו יומן מסעם התאוו תאווה האספסוף list them על הבשר

and says רמב"ן that doesn't seem to make any sense because after all after

all the התאוו תאווה comes only later,

so he suggests that רש"י will tell you that from the time they left

ויסעו מהר השם they were already planning about קוועטשן about the meat.

רמב"ן says אין בזה טעם וריח.

Okay,

obviously רש"י did have some approach but the רמב"ן himself thinks that פשט is

the following.

ועניין המדרש הזה מצאו אותו באגדה שנסעו מהר סיני בשמחה כתינוק הבורח מבית הספר.

אמרו שמא ירבה וייתן לנו מצוות.

זהו ויסעו מהר השם שמחשבתם להסיע עצמם משם מפני שהוא הר השם.

ויסעו מהר השם doesn't only mean that that's the place where they traveled from,

but they traveled because it's הר השם.

Who knows,

תרי"ג might turn out to be a lot more,

maybe it's going to be more than תרי"ג,

so they said let's get out of here.

וזו פורענות ראשונה.

Okay,

so altogether רמב"ן understands you have the פורענות ראשונה of ויסעו מהר השם,

then you have ויהי בנסוע which is מפסיק between that פורענות and the פורעניות

of מתאוננים and התאוו תאווה.

So you have three פורעניות and you have a הפסק between פורענות number one

and number two.

And what is gained?

What's gained is that you don't have three in a row.

Three in a row is a חזקה.

So you have a הפסק between פורעניות you don't have three in a row.

וזו פורענות ראשונה והפסיק שלא יהיו ג' פורעניות סמוכות זו לזו נמצא מוחזק מפורענות,

כדאיתמר מחלוקת בתרי זימני הווי חזקה או תלתי זימני.

So this פסוק holds that,

so the רמב"ן seems to be assuming that תלתי זימני הווי חזקה.

Okay,

now the רמב"ן ends this piece with an interesting line.

וקרא החטא פורענות אף על פי שלא להם פורענות.

So hey,

so ויסעו מהר השם,

true that was negative,

why is that called a פורענות?

It's a חטא.

Why is it called a פורענות?

So says רמב"ן,

well חטא is referred to as a פורענות and he adds ושמא אלמלא חטא

עם זה היה מכניסם לארץ מיד.

Perhaps it's called פורענות because after all if not for that,

if not for that ויסעו מהר השם,

then perhaps they would have entered ארץ ישראל right away without having the חטא

of the מרגלים.

רבי סולובייצ'יק has some famous דרשה I think once gave at some point,

it's something recorded on פרשת בהעלותך,

he says that everything was set up to enter the Promised Land.

But he says that their complaining,

their קוועטשן,

they're asking for meat and wanting to be involved overly too much in the

physical,

that's what prevented them from being able to enter ארץ ישראל at that time.

Okay,

י"א א',

ויהי העם כמתאוננים.

So the אבן עזרא says they were speaking evil things.

But the רמב"ן says why would the תורה not tell us what evil things

they were speaking about.

And the רמב"ן says that it's just that they were קוועטשן.

They were קוועטשן and saying how are we going to survive here in the

מדבר.

And rather what would have been proper is,

רמב"ן says four lines before the end,

שהיה להם ללכת אחרי...

בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרוב כל הטובה שנתן להם,

והם היו כאנוסים ומכרחים,

מתאוננים ומתרעמים על עניינם *besimcha u'vetuv levav merov kol hatova shenatan lahem,

vehem hayu ke'anusim u'mucharachim,

mitaoninim u'mitra'amim al inyanam*.

לכן *Lachen* אמר בשניה וישובו ויבכו בני ישראל *amar bashniya vayashuvu vayivku bnei Yisrael*.

They were questioning.

That's interesting.

The רמב"ן *Ramban* wrote it,

wrote wrote about...

in מרה *Marah*,

so it says שם נתן להם חוק ומשפט ושם נסהו *sham natan lahem chok

u'mishpat v’sham nisahu*,

see the Jewish people would accept the מצוות *mitzvot*,

the idea of their receiving מצוות *mitzvot* in the future with joy,

and I think that the רמב"ן'ס *Ramban's* implication is that they did so.

So having the proper attitude that was considered to be a big זכות *zechut*.

And over here,

having a negative attitude is considered to be something very improper.

So it's important not only what we do,

but also the attitude with which we do it.

Okay.

פסוק ד' *Pasuk daled*.

ואספסוף אשר בקרבו התאוו תאוה *ve'asafsuf asher bekirbo hitavu ta'avah*,

שלא היה להם חסרון במדבר *shelo haya lahem chisaron bamidbar*,

כי היה להם המן לשובע *ki haya lahem haman lesova*,

ועושים ממנו מטעמים שונים *ve'osim mimenu mata'amim shonim*,

בטעם חשוב מאוד *beta'am chashuv me'od*,

כאשר יספר,

אלא שהיו בנפשם תאוה,

שיהיו לאסון מושל *ka'asher yesaper,

ela shehayu benafsham ta'avah,

sheyihyu le'ason moshel*,

כמתאוים לאכול פחמים ועפר ומאכלים הנבאשים *k'mitavim le'echol pechamim ve'afar umachalim hanevashim*.

I'm not sure exactly what that means,

but he says that they desired,

I think the מפרשים *mefarshim* explain they desired to have a desire.

It's one thing a person sometimes has a תאוה *ta'avah*,

so you know at times if it's a תאוה *ta'avah* for something which is

not אסור *asur*,

so sometimes a person will give in to that תאוה *ta'avah*.

But to desire to have a desire,

that's something which is not considered to be proper.

You know,

to feel that what gives me טעם *ta'am* in life is the fact that

I have desires on גשמיות *gashmiut* and fulfill them,

that's not a proper attitude.

Okay.

אשר נאכל במצרים חנם *asher ne'echal be'mitzrayim chinam*.

Why would the מצרים *Mitzrim* be so kind as to give them fish?

So the רמב"ן *Ramban* says,

well they would work in מצרים *Mitzrayim* and sometimes apparently in מצרים *Mitzrayim* from

the נילוס *Nilus* there were lots of fish available,

so sometimes the מצרים *Mitzrim* would allow them to eat from those fish.

Okay,

skipping to אספה לי שבעים איש *esfa li shivim ish*,

פסוק ט"ז *Pasuk tet-zayin*,

י"א ט"ז *Yud-aleph tet-zayin*.

So the רמב"ן *Ramban* talks about the significance of seventy.

We know that there are שבעים אומות *shivim umot*,

and there are שבעים לשונות *shivim leshonot*,

פרי החג *parei hachag* are שבעים *shivim*,

there's שבעים *shivim* in the סנהדרין *Sanhedrin*,

the Jewish people go down to מצרים *Mitzrayim* with שבעים *shivim*.

So he says the significance of שבעים *shivim* is,

כי המספר הזה יכלול *ki hamispar hazeh yichlol*,

line three on page רל"ד *resh lamed daled*,

המספר הזה יכלול כל הדעות,

ובו יסובו כל הכוחות,

ולא יפלא מהם כל דבר *hamispar hazeh yichlol kol hade'ot,

u'vo yisovu kol hakoachot,

velo yipale mehem kol davar*,

וכן מתן תורה בשבעים מזקני ישראל *vechen matan Torah beshivim m'ziknei Yisrael*.

It's a number which is associated with the full spectrum of opinions.

And says also בשמים *bashamayim*,

the רמב"ן *Ramban* indicates that certain earthly matters which correspond to heavenly concepts and

have some heavenly counterparts.

Okay,

skipping to לא יום אחד תאכלון *lo yom echad tochleun*.

The Jewish people are told they're going to eat meat for not one day,

two days,

thirty days,

until it comes out of their noses and going to be disgusted by it.

And משה רבינו *Moshe Rabbeinu* has a very odd response.

Says הקדוש ברוך הוא *Hakadosh Baruch Hu*,

how's that going to happen?

So there are a couple of interpretations in the מדרש *Midrash* that reinterpret that

that's not כפשוטו *k'pshuto*.

But the simple interpretation is like רבי עקיבא *Rabbi Akiva* says,

that how you gonna manage to do that?

Which is so awfully strange for משה רבינו *Moshe Rabbeinu*,

בכל ביתי נאמן הוא *bechol beiti ne'eman hu*,

to express such a sentiment,

to ask such a question.

רמב"ן *Ramban* says that משה רבינו *Moshe Rabbeinu* understood that when הקדוש ברוך הוא

*Hakadosh Baruch Hu* is going to perform an אות ומופת *ot u'mofet*,

then it's something that He will inform them in advance.

About ten lines before the end of the פסוק *pasuk* of עוד *od*,

כי כל הנסים יודיעם למשה,

הנני ממטיר לכם לחם מן השמים,

הנני עומד לפניך שם על הצור.

ובכאן שאמר לו,

ואל העם תאמר התקדשו למחר,

ולא הודיעו ענין הנס *ki kol hanissim yodi'am le'moshe,

hineni mamtir lachem lechem min hashamayim,

hineni omed lefanecha sham al hatzur.

u'vechan she'amar lo,

ve'el ha'am tomar hitkadshu lemachar,

velo hodio inyan hanes*.

So משה רבינו *Moshe Rabbeinu* understood that there's not going to be a נס

*nes* over here.

It's going to be בדרך הטבע *bederech hateva*.

So משה רבינו *Moshe Rabbeinu* says,

hey,

בדרך הטבע *bederech hateva* you're going to give them so much meat?

So הקדוש ברוך הוא *Hakadosh Baruch Hu* says,

היד ה' תקצר *hayad Hashem tiktzar*?

Also בדרך הטבע *bederech hateva* I could provide them with a great amount of

meat by having the wind bring these birds.

Okay.

אדני משה כלאם *Adoni Moshe kla'em*.

So משה רבינו *Moshe Rabbeinu* is meant to gather the שבעים זקנים *shivim zekenim*

and They meant to come to the אוהל מועד and there will be some

emanation from רוח הקודש of משה רבנו to these זקנים.

Then you have two people that are being מתנבאי even though they didn't show

up,

Eldad and Medad.

So Joshua says,

if I'm not mistaken,

אדוני משה כלאם.

So what does כלאם mean and why כלאם?

רמב"ן has three possibilities.

One possibility is,

hey,

if they are expressing נבואה and they didn't show up,

then perhaps there is room to be חושש that they are נביאי שקר or

some sort of they're just one craziness,

some רוח רעה.

So we need to lock them up,

lock them up in an insane asylum,

כאילו lock them up because they're איש משוגע מתנבא.

But משה רבנו says,

hey,

maybe they got נבואה not from me.

משה רבנו humility says,

well,

hey,

you know,

it's not,

it's true that they didn't get their נבואה from me,

they didn't show up in the אוהל מועד,

but nevertheless הקדוש ברוך הוא gave them נבואה and let everybody be a נביא.

Alternatively he says that the reason to lock them up is that they were

violating מורה הלכה לפני רבו.

Says that the גמרא would seem to indicate that a person that expresses נבואה

in front of a greater נביא is like מורה הלכה לפני רבו.

גמרא says that בשלמא למאן דאמר משה מת,

the גמרא in סנהדרין quotes י"ז ע"א.

בשלמא למאן דאמר משה מת,

היינו דקאמר יהושע אדוני משה כלאם because after all that's certainly very disrespectful to

משה רבנו,

it could undermine משה רבנו leadership.

למאן דאמר על עסקי שליו,

מאי כלאם?

says the גמרא,

דהוי כמורה הלכה לפני רבו.

So to express נבואה in front of a greater נביא that's מורה הלכה לפני

רבו.

Okay,

a third interpretation of why כלאם and what כלאם means.

The first two interpretations seem to assume that כלאם is to lock them up

as in בית הכלא,

but the third interpretation כלאם means to withhold,

like we ask הקדוש ברוך הוא לא תכלא רחמיך ממני,

דוד המלך says.

So כלאם is to withhold from them נבואה because after all they didn't show

up and therefore it's not proper that they should have נבואה because after all

it would appear as if their נבואה is not coming from משה רבנו.

Okay,

י"ב ג',

the next פסוק,

we should get moving.

והאיש משה ענו מאד.

What's the significance of the humility of משה רבנו?

רמב"ן has three approaches.

א',

why הקדוש ברוך הוא stuck up for him?

הקדוש ברוך הוא stuck up for משה רבנו because משה רבנו himself was humble

and didn't fight his own battle.

If a person doesn't get into fights,

the רמב"ן implies,

then הקדוש ברוך הוא will stick up for him.

להגיד כי השם קינא לו בעבור ענוותנותו,

כי הוא לא יענה את הריב לעולם אף אם ידע.

Okay,

then he has another couple of פשטים according to which it states the humility

of משה רבנו to play up the seriousness in a sense of that which

they spoke about him.

אבן עזרא says that,

hey,

משה רבנו was very humble and whatever he did was לשם שמים not because

he was haughty.

And therefore for them to say that,

hey,

why did משה רבנו see the need to separate himself from his spouse,

which אבן עזרא seems to indicate they were implying that there was some element

perhaps of a גאוה in that,

is something that was very terrible,

was very improper due to the great humility of משה רבנו.

Alternatively,

alternatively the humility of משה רבנו is mentioned to play up the חטא in

the sense that the פסוק is saying that משה רבנו was so humble that

they felt comfortable to speak in the presence of משה.

They spoke in the presence of משה,

nevertheless משה רבנו remained silent.

Okay,

skipping to the רמב"ן in פסוק ו' points out that the פסוק over here

indicates the very high level of the נבואה of משה רבנו,

that it was a נבואה of a higher level than the other נביאים.

So he says,

והנה בכאן towards the end of page רל"ט,

I guess close to the middle of פסוק ו',

והנה בכאן לימד הכתוב מה בין נבואת משה לנבואת האחרים.

As we know,

the רמב"ם lists as one of the יסודות,

one of the י"ג עיקרים,

that the נבואת משה רבינו was totally beyond the נבואה of other נביאים.

We use the same word נביא for משה רבינו and נביאים,

but it was a totally different league.

כבר הזכיר כן בקודמים לו,

already we're told with the earlier נביאים that they were on a lower level

as the תורה says:

וירא אל אברהם באל שדי ושמי השם לא נודעתי,

כאשר פירשתי.

And also at the end of the תורה,

the תורה states this:

וכן בסוף התורה בבאים אחריו,

those נביאים after משה רבינו:

לא קם נביא עוד בישראל כמשה אשר ידעו השם פנים אל פנים.

ועניין כולם שווה,

also those פסוקים and also the פסוק over here and also the פסוק at

the end of the תורה have the same connotation that משה רבינו'ס נבואה was

on a much higher level than the נביאים and don't be confused,

says רמב"ן,

by that which there are מאמרי חז"ל or פסוקים that would seem to indicate

some sort of equation between שמואל and משה.

It means there was some small נקודה which made them,

they both stood up for the Jewish people,

were defenders of the Jewish people,

but certainly on a totally different level.

Okay,

to review some things which we've seen,

רמב"ן discussed the סמיכות הפרשיות and he quoted חז"ל that למה נסמכה

פרשת הנשיאים לאהרן because of חלישות הדעת של אהרן and הקדוש ברוך הוא comforted

him with הדלקת הנרות which is an important מצווה.

רמב"ן addressed:

A,

why the נחמה is דווקא הדלקת הנרות and B,

why was there חלישות הדעת altogether?

And he seems to indicate that the חלישות הדעת was due to the fact

that,

the למסקנה,

the חלישות הדעת was due to the fact that what the נשיאים did was

a נדבה,

while what he did was חובה.

And הקדוש ברוך הוא informs him that there's going to be a time when

there's some great important volunteer role which was played by אהרן or the descendants

of אהרן and will be celebrated by the הדלקת המנורה of בית חשמונאי.

Okay,

the רמב"ן quoted רש"י and he deals with how to resolve the age of

לוויים:

when did they start,

twenty-five or thirty?

The רמב"ן'ס own position is that at twenty-five they're able to work but they

get a set position,

that's only from the age of thirty.

Okay,

דרך רחוקה,

רש"י says is right out of the עזרה.

פרקי דרבי אליעזר,

the רמב"ן says על פי פשוטו he thinks that שיטת רבי עקיבא is correct,

that means that he was right outside the,

that's from מודיעים וחוץ.

The רמב"ן explained why the תורה gives so many examples with respect to the

Jewish people camping based on the ענן.

The רמב"ן understands that חובב is the Jewish name given post-גירות to יתרו and

explained the dialogue between משה רבינו and יתרו,

that יתרו thought that משה רבינו was telling him,

telling יתרו they would get booty,

when in fact משה רבינו was offering חלק בארץ ישראל.

And the רמב"ן indicates that in fact יתרו did stay.

The רמב"ן understands that the פסוק ויהי בנסוע is separating the first פורענות of

ויסעו מהר השם כתינוק הבורח מבית הספר which is referred to as a פורענות

either because of a חטא or because it somehow resulted in their not entering

ארץ ישראל right away,

and פורענות number two,

number three.

Again,

the רמב"ן indicates the very fact they were קוועטשינג,

that is considered to be negative.

רמב"ן speaks of the fact that to have a תאווה,

to have a תאווה,

that is something which is improper.

The number seventy,

says רמב"ן,

is one which symbolizes the full spectrum of opinions.

He understands היד השם תקצר that משה רבינו'ס question is:

how בדרך הטבע are you going to give the Jewish people so much meat?

Different interpretations of עניו מאד מכל האדם,

the רמב"ן explains what's the significance of the humility of משה רבינו,

either to speak of the fact that to indicate that he didn't stick up

on his own or to indicate the seriousness of the sin.

רמב"ן points out that also over here and also earlier in the תורה,

also later in the תורה,

the תורה speaks of the fact that נבואת משה רבינו was above and beyond

the נבואה of other נביאים.

Have a wonderful שבת.