"האם זה באמת יכול להחשב כעבודה"
"Can It Really Be Classified As Work"
Parashat HaShavua Matot-Masei / Tribes-Journeys
This Week's Reading List:
BaMidbar / Numbers 30:2-36:13
Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3:4
Piliphim / Philippines 1:12-16
Yaacov / James 4:1-12
Bamidbar {31:21} El'azar the cohen (priest) said to the men of war who went to the battle, This is the statute of the Torah which HaShem has commanded Moshe: {31:22} however the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, {31:23} everything that may abide the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be tahor (ritually clean) ; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that does not withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water. {31:24} You shall wash your clothes on hash'vi‘i (the seventh) day, and you shall be tahor; and afterward you shall come into the camp.
Hello all you legalists out there -- did you read this? HaShem told the men who went to war to wash their clothes on the seventh day. This means that the seventh day could have very easily fallen on a Shabbat – a war ends on Sunday means there needs to be a wash on the Shabbat! How can that be? How could G-d tell us in His Word not to work on the Shabbat and then turn around and instruct these men of war to wash their clothes on the seventh day -- even if it may fall on the Shabbat? The answer is very simple and Yeshua HaMashiach (the Messiah) gave us the answer in the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant).
Mordechai (Mark) {2:27} And He was saying to them, "The Shabbat was made for man, and not man for the Shabbat.
What this verse is saying is that we were not made to serve Shabbat; Shabbat was made to serve us. Shabbat was to be a mandatory day off. This was something unheard off in the pagan world.
HaShem is not legalistic; He is a compassionate, loving, caring and understanding G-d. These men of war in our Parasha had just finished fighting a battle on behalf of HaShem. We are not told exactly how many days the battle was raging, it probably went on for days, nor are we told what day the battle ended. The warriors were no doubt tired, they were weary. I am sure that, once the battle was won and everything was over, they all wanted nothing more than to go home to their respective families. However, before they could enter the camp they had to fulfill the command of G-d. They had to fulfill the commandment to remain outside of the camp for seven days and on the seventh day they were to purify themselves and wash their cloths. After doing all of this they could enter the camp. As I said above, it is totally possible that the seventh day would fall on the Shabbat. If it had, was HaShem, the compassionate G-d, going to make these men wait an extra day before being allowed to go home to their families? I think not! He would allow the men to wash their clothes, even though it was a Shabbat, presumably so that they could re-enter the camp and rejoin their families without any further delay.
Mordechai {3:4} And He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Shabbat to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent.
Obviously it is lawful to do good on the Shabbat. So, even though these men had to fulfill their required seven days outside the camp, reuniting these men of war with their loved ones after they had experienced the horrors of battle was clearly something that is good and, therefore, lawful -- even if it meant washing their clothes on the Shabbat.
Some people need to take a good hard look at themselves and the man made rules
they impose on themselves and other people. In certain areas of Torah and under certain conditions HaShem may not be as dogmatic or as harsh as we may think or make Him out to be.
While I do not know if any of these men of war were in the laundry business during their regular 9-5 jobs, I am sure that, for the ones who were married, it was their wives’ who did the laundry and not them when they went home. So, can what they were asked to do if it fell on the Shabbat really be classified as work? Seems not!
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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
