The Kli Yakar - Parshat Baha'alotcha

​This Week's Topics:

• Torah as Your Dictionary
• How to Shorten the Galut (Hint: It is has to do with the Erev Rav.)

• Why Did Moshe Rabbeinu Address Hashem as a Female? 

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First of all, here is a little bit of Torah vocabulary from the Kli Yakar in 10:29:
What is the difference between the words halicha/הליכה and nesiah/נסיעה ?

הליכה 
You journey forth in body only, but your mind is left behind.
As the Kli Yakar explains: "The term halicha falls upon the movement of the legs alone that transfer a person from place to place, but it's possible that even as he goes to another place, nonetheless, his mind is still connected to the place he went from."

נסיעה 
You transfer both your mind and your body from one place to another.
The Kli Yakar goes on to say: "But [regarding] the term nesiah, the transfer includes one's body and one's thought in every way."
 
So this is good to keep in mind when reading the Torah and understanding what is meant when each term is being used.

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Don't be a Stiff-Necked Religious Hypocrite

וַיִּסְעוּ מֵהַר יְ' דֶּרֶךְ שְׁלשֶׁת יָמִים וַאֲרוֹן בְּרִית יְ' נֹסֵעַ לִפְנֵיהֶם 

They traveled a distance of three days from the mountain of Hashem, and the Ark of Hashem's Covenant traveled three days before them.... (10:33)

Next, the Kli Yakar comments on how we sometimes turn our back on Hashem, giving Him the back of our stiff neck as we turn our face toward the adulation and approval we receive from "the Nation/ha'Am" - which is the code word for Erev Rav.

​Referring to the nun in this verse, he explains:

It is symbolic of the time when Yisrael backs away from the Aron Brit Hashem [Ark of Hashem's Covenant] and their faces are toward the Camp, meaning toward the Am, toward the love of the matters of This World, toward which those of the Camp are inclined.

And in order to find favor in the eyes of the Camp, one turns the back of the neck to the Shechinah and turns every aim of his deeds toward being an important person in the camp or an agent or a prince over them.

And this is the main sin among us, which causes the lengthiness of the Galut.

​For most of them do turn their face from the Aron Brit Hashem to the Camp until any skillfully [carried-out] deed from Torah and mitzvot is not done for its own sake, but instead to bring glory to they themselves before others, to find favor in their eyes.
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And the guardians of the city themselves are as if they are destroyers of the city.

That last sentence rhymes in Aramaic:

V'neturei karta k'ilu hem hem charuvei karta.
 
ונטורי קרתא כאילו הם הם חרובי קרתא 
 
It means something to us nowadays for reasons that didn't even exist in the Kli Yakar's time, doesn't it?
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Food for thought.... 

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Why is Hashem Suddenly Addressed as Feminine?

וְאִם כָּכָה | אַתְּ עֹשֶׂה לִּי 

And if this is how You treat me.... (11:15)

Here, we have the famous verse in which Moshe Rabbeinu addresses Hashem in feminine form - meaning as if Hashem is female.

As is well-known, Rashi says this is because Moshe Rabbeinu's strength weakened when he heard what Hashem intended to do to His people, just like women are physically weaker than men.

But the Kli Yakar disagrees.

After all, he notes, it is Hashem being referred to as feminine, not Moshe Rabbeinu.

Mahari Abarbanel explains: "You make me as male caretaker who holds the nursing baby although he has no breasts with which to nurse the child when he cries. Likewise, it is not in my hands to fulfill Your request."

And regarding this, it says, " 'And if this is how You treat me' because this likeness of a female is found in You as it is in Your Hands to quench their thirst.

​And You guide a man, so how can You cast upon me the concept of a female when I am a male who has no breasts with which to nurse?' "

And this concept of [the feminine form of] "You" is directed Above and does not refer to a weakening of strength, God forbid, but it teaches about His Ability, which resembles that of a female who possesses breasts with which to nurse.

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Basically, the Kli Yakar explains that Moshe Rabbeinu addresses Hashem as a Mother who possesses the innate capability to supply her children with unending nourishment, as is the general idea of nursing:

The supply goes according to the demands of the baby.

May we always merit to have both our bodies and our minds in the right place.

May we always merit to please Hashem over anyone else.

​And may we always merit that Hashem supplies us with unending nourishment.

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my translation and any errors are also mine. 
The Hebrew and English verses were taken from this wonderful site:
The Complete Tanach at Chabad.org