The Torah/Matot

Questions

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Here are a few of the questions that the Rabbis raised about this Torah reading:

  • Are vows good or bad?[1]
  • What is the Biblical basis for the law of the dissolution of vows?[2]
  • Does God vow? If so, is God bound by the vow?[3]
  • May one annul a vow on the Sabbath?[4]
  • Why did the Israelites pillage the Midianites?[5]
  • Did the Reubenites and Gadites have an honorable reason to settle outside the Land of Israel?[6]
  • How can one honor the command of Numbers 32:22 that “you shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel”?[7]

Notes

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  1. Mishnah Avot 3:13; Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 9:1; Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 22a, 59a; Numbers Rabbah 22:1.
  2. Mishnah Chagigah 1:8; Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 10a.
  3. Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 74a, Berakhot 32a; Exodus Rabbah 43:4.
  4. Mishnah Shabbat 24:5; Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 157a.
  5. Numbers Rabbah 22:8.
  6. Numbers Rabbah 22:7, 9.
  7. Babylonian Talmud Yoma 38a.