Kol Ramah

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. This week we conclude the Book of Numbers with a double portion, Mattot-Massei [Numbers 30:2-36:13], the longest portion of the year. As individual portions they fall somewhere in the middle of the number of verses in Numbers, but together they exceed them all. The parashah begins with a discussion of vows, in particular those made by a woman who is either in the domain of her father or of her husband. This is followed by what might be termed the Midianite Massacre, which we tried to avoid in our conversation but to which we somehow came back; the separation of the tribes of Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe; the list of journeys which led the Israelites out of Egypt to their final resting place [the plains of Moab] before entering the Promised Land; andthe division of the land, including the boundaries of the Promised Land, the apportionment, , the Levitical cities, and the laws governing the unintentional manslayer. As with the B