With the plague at the end of the
previous parsha killing 24,000 people, Hashem commands Moshe and Elazar to
conduct a new census of the Bnei Yisrael at the beginning of this week’s
parsha, Parshas Pinchas. This census also informs us that the Bnei Yisrael were
now ready to enter the Land as an important requirement had been fulfilled. “וּבְאֵ֨לֶּה֙
לֹא־הָ֣יָה אִ֔ישׁ מִפְּקוּדֵ֣י משֶׁ֔ה וְאַֽהֲרֹ֖ן הַכֹּהֵ֑ן אֲשֶׁ֥ר פָּֽקְד֛וּ
אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינָֽי” “Among these there was no man who had been in the census of
Moshe and Aharon when they counted the children of Yisrael in the Sinai desert.”
(Bamidbar 26:64).
After the sin with the
Spies, Hashem decreed that all men alive at the time over the age of twenty,
excluding Calev and Yehoshua, were to die in the desert. The pasuk tells us that
this had now occurred. But Rashi quotes a medrash that explains that there were
still people alive from that time, just not men. The women had not been
included in the punishment, and even the ones who were over twenty at the time
of the Spies were still alive and would enter Eretz Yisrael. The medrash
explains “לפי שהן היו מחבבות את הארץ”, women love Eretz
Yisrael. What is it about Eretz Yisrael that women connect to it more than men?
The Kli Yakar gives
two reasons; I would like to focus on the second. When it comes to rain in
Eretz Yisrael, every year is an adventure. Will it be a drought or will there
be plenty? One thing is for certain, it’s completely up to Hashem. Either the
rains will come or they won’t. In Chutz La’aretz, the reality is different. Their
rains are generally consistent, but they are not always the precise amount, and
they don’t always fall in the proper location. Therefore, irrigation systems
are put in place to bring the precise amount of water to the area where it is needed.
These systems can be complex and difficult to build and maintain. Since there
is more physical labor involved, it requires a lot more work for field hands,
and a lot less reliance on Hashem.
Eretz Yisrael is the
opposite; the rain is entirely dependent on Hashem in the first place, so when
the rains fall, they fall exactly where they are needed and with the exact
amount. Even though there is still a lot of work needed to plow and plant the
crops, the irrigation is taken care of, resulting in much less physical labor. In
response to this, Hashem instituted Terumah and Maaser in Eretz Yisrael but not
in Chutz La’aretz. In Eretz Yisrael, Hashem feels the farmers owe Him for
providing a convenient irrigation system; therefore, He requires them to share
their crops with His private employees, the Kohanim and Levi’im. Because they
need to work harder, Hashem didn’t obligate the Chutz La’aretz farmers in these
extra gifts.
The women of that generation
and today as well, have a special affinity towards the mitzvah of tzedakah that
men do not share. They pined to enter a land that allowed them to fulfill their
natural tendencies of sharing crops and bread with the needy; in fact, they
were excited to go to a place that obligated them in tzedakah so they would be
able to share this great mitzvah with their (hesitant) husbands! The report of
the Spies could not influence them; they were too set on fulfilling this great
mitzvah to believe any lashon hara that could be said about Eretz Yisrael.
Shabbat Shalom!
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