We previously brought the words of the Ba’al HaTurim (also shared by the Rokeach): Why specifically two trumpets? Because when they go out to war and need the merit of the holy Avot, two trumpets are sounded – one for Avraham and one for Yaakov. This follows the Pasuk:
At first glance, the language of the Pasuk is unclear. It begins with oppressor and ends with enemies. If it started with oppressor, it should have ended with oppressors – the same term, only in plural. Why does it switch midway? Chazal (Sifrei, Beha’alotcha 76) say, this Pasuk speaks of the war of Gog and Magog. Thus, when the war of Gog and Magog arrives, we will be saved from both the oppressor and the enemy!
The Netziv (Ha’emek Davar) writes: The word for oppressors should have been written, consistent with the phrase for oppressor and so on. We have already explained that the word enemy implies only hatred in the heart and does not indicate action with the hands, as the Netziv comments on the Sifrei: It is well known that the term oppressor applies only to one who acts harmfully in practice, whereas enemy applies also to one who harbors hatred in the heart. This is the meaning of what is taught in the Sifrei: The verse is referring to the war of Gog and Magog.
In which war are Bnei Yisrael saved and not subjugated afterward? You find this only in the war of Gog and Magog, as it says: "And Hashem will go out and wage war against those nations. What is written immediately after? 'And Hashem will be King over all the earth.'"
The Netziv continues, this does not mean that the Baraita is explaining the actual Mitzvah of blowing the trumpets specifically in the context of the war of Gog and Magog, but rather that the promise written in the Pasuk is explicitly tied to that war. And it is difficult for us, for we have seen many times that Tefillah and trumpets do not help, and the sins of the generation cause failure regardless. So how can the Pasuk clearly say "you shall be saved"?
The Baraita teaches: Initially, this promise was given only regarding the war of Gog and Magog, as it says, “you shall be saved from your enemies” and not “from your oppressors,” proving that the promise applies only in a situation where there is salvation even from the enemy of the heart – and that is only possible in the war of Gog and Magog, when the entire world will recognize the greatness of Knesset Yisrael and accept Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the G-d of Yisrael, as King. These are the words of the Netziv.
Rabbotai, this leads to the following question: Which trumpets will be sounded in the war of Gog and Magog? The Meshech Chochma writes: The trumpets which Moshe made, which were hidden at his death, will be revealed in Milchemet Gog u’Magog, and at that time, they will be blown again.
At first glance, however, this idea is unclear. Where did the Meshech Chochmah get this idea that in the future, the exclusive trumpets of Moshe Rabbeinu will be revealed?
Let’s turn to the middle of our Parsha, where the matter of the inverted letter nun’s is found. The Torah states:
Whenever the Ark departed Moshe would say: “Rise, Hashem, and may Your enemies disperse, and those who hate You flee before You.” When it rested, he would say: “Come to rest, Hashem, among the myriads and thousands of Israel.”
Note that before and after this brief section, there is an inverted letter nun. Why? To separate between calamity and calamity. On one side, right after this section, we find the story of the complainers, which culminated in a fire of G-d burning among them and consuming the edge of the camp. And on the other side, prior to this section, we find Bnei Yisrael setting out from Har Sinai: “And they journeyed from the mountain of Hashem,” which we’ll explain shortly.
What is it that the complainers wanted? The Torah states: “And the mixed multitude among them craved a craving.” What exactly did they want? They wanted meat, “Who will feed us meat?” But Rashi asks, did they not already have meat?! He says, they were merely seeking a pretext.
Moshe heard the people weep according to their families, at the door of each one’s tent. The Anger of Hashem was greatly aroused and in Moshe’s eyes, it was evil. Moshe said to Hashem: “Why have you dealt poorly with Your servant, and why have I not found favor in Your eyes that You place the burden of the entire people upon me? Have I conceived this entire people? have I given birth to it that You say to me, carry it in your lap as a nurse carries an infant, to the land which You swore to their forefathers? From where do I have meat to give to this entire people on account of which they cry to me, saying: ‘Give us meat and we shall eat.’ I alone cannot carry this entire people, for they are too burdensome for me. If this is the way You treat me, please kill me, if I have found favor in Your eyes; so that I will not see my evil.”
In essence, Moshe Rabbeinu says: “If it’s about bringing meat to Bnei Yisrael – I’m not here!” Why? Because it is known that the heavenly manna came down through Moshe Rabbeinu’s merit (Ta’anit 9a), and therefore, he was unwilling to lower himself to provide meat – a lower-level food of human beings.
Hashem said to Moshe: Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Yisrael, whom you know to be the elders of the people and its officers, and take them to the Tent of Meeting, and they shall stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take from the spirit that is upon you and place it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone ... You shall not eat for one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a full month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected G-d who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?” ... And Moshe went out and spoke to the people the words of G-d, and he gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and stood them around the Tent. And G-d came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and He took from the spirit that was upon him and placed it upon the seventy elders, and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. But two men remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Meidad, and the spirit rested upon them, and they were among those written but did not go out to the Tent, and they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moshe, saying: Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp.
Moshe Rabbeinu is unwilling to bear the burden of the people, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells him to take seventy elders to assist him. How do they choose these seventy elders? Chazal (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:19) say: When Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Moshe, “Gather for Me seventy men,” Moshe responded: “What shall I do? If I bring five from each tribe, they do not reach seventy but only sixty. But if I bring six from one tribe and five from another, I will cause jealousy between tribes.” So, what did he do? He took seventy-two slips and wrote “elder” on them, and two blank slips, and mixed them together in a box. He said: “Come and take your slips!” Whoever drew a slip with “elder” written on it knew he was appointed an elder; if he drew a blank slip, he knew he was not appointed. The appointed one would say to him: “There is one slip with elder written on it; if you were worthy of being appointed, it would have come to you.” This is how the elders were appointed. The Torah tells us that all seventy elders received prophecy through Moshe Rabbeinu:
Hashem descended in a cloud and spoke to him, and He magnified the spirit which was upon him, and He gave it unto the seventy men, the elders. When the spirit came to rest upon them, they prophesied, and they did not cease.
However, Eldad and Meidad were different. They received their prophecy not through Moshe Rabbeinu but directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. What did they prophesy? Chazal say: Eldad and Meidad were there and humbled themselves, saying, “We are not worthy to be among the appointed elders.” Because they humbled themselves, they were found to surpass the elders in five ways. The elders prophesied only for the next day, but they prophesied about what would happen at the end of forty years. And what did they prophesy? Some say about the downfall of Gog, and some say it was centered around Moshe: "Moshe will die, and Yehoshua will bring Yisrael into the land."
The Ba’al HaTurim writes, the word for prophesying, as it appears in “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp,” can also be read as “their prophet died.” It is also an acronym for: “Moshe rests his soul in the Garden of G-d, Yehoshua brings in.”
The Gemara states (Sanhedrin 17a) two opinions as to what they prophesied about. One says it was the matter of the quail, and the other says they prophesied about Gog and Magog. The question arises: If you say they prophesied about the quail, it is understandable, as they knew quail was about to come down. If you say they prophesied that Moshe would die and Yehoshua would bring them in, that too is understandable, albeit a prophecy for thirty-eight years later. But if you say they prophesied about Gog and Magog, 3332 years have passed since then! Why was it so urgent to prophesy about it at that moment? Another related question: Why specifically seventy elders, no more and no less?
The Ba’al HaTurim writes: Seventy men correspond to the seventy souls that went down to Egypt, the seventy nations, the seventy names of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the seventy names of Yisrael, and the seventy names of Yerushalayim. Furthermore, the tagin (crowns) on the letter heh of “gather” indicate that they should be proficient and careful in the five books of the Torah.
The Ramban writes: There are seventy nations in seventy languages, each with a constellation in the heavens and a minister above. Therefore, the number of those who went down to Egypt was seventy, and this number was commanded for the judges of Yisrael, as it encompasses all opinions, including all forces, and nothing is beyond them. So too at Matan Torah, where we find “seventy elders of Yisrael,” the perfect number fitting for the glory of the Shechinah to rest upon them in the upper camp. For Yisrael is the host of Hakadosh Baruch Hu on earth, just as the Aron, Kaporet, and Mishkan were made in the likeness of the ministers above. Moshe presiding over the seventy elders hints at Yisrael as one nation on earth, and thus every Great Sanhedrin sitting in the house of Hakadosh Baruch Hu shall number seventy, with a leader above them like Moshe, totaling seventy-one.
Hashem said to Moshe: “Gather seventy men for Me, from among the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the people’s elders, and its officers, and you shall take them to the Tent of Meeting, and they shall stand there with you.”
Why specifically take the officers who were in Egypt? The Oznaim LaTorah explains, these seventy elders helped Moshe Rabbeinu with the burden of the people and in quelling the dispute of “Give us meat.” But was it not Hakadosh Baruch Hu that provided the meat? It can be said that the elders were helpful so that the people would not come again to Moshe to demand cucumbers, melons, and garlic (as they had longed for earlier). It is like a king who married a woman who had been a servant to a man who oppressed her harshly. When she was taken to the king’s palace, she forgot what she had endured as a servant, and due to the abundance of good, she began to rebel, saying to the king that his table did not please her and that she craved the fine foods she was accustomed to in her youth. What did the king do? He appointed over his household the man under whom the queen had served as a servant. When the queen wanted to mention the fine foods, before being taken to the king’s palace, the man in charge of the king’s household would look at her, and she would recall the beatings she received in his house and the harsh labor she performed there, and she would withdraw. So too with the Eirev Rav that complained before Moshe: “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for free, etc.” They no longer dared to make such claims before the seventy elders, who were officers appointed over the harsh labor imposed by the Egyptians.
The Malbim, and so too the Maharal (Chiddushei Aggadot on Sanhedrin), say that if Moshe Rabbeinu had continued his leadership and brought us into Eretz Yisrael, we would already have experienced the coming of Mashiach Tzidkeinu! But instead, he proclaimed, “I cannot bear this entire people alone, for it is too heavy for me.” The Ramban compares it to a king who entrusted a garden to a guard and gave him the wages for guarding it. After some time, the guard said, “I cannot guard it all alone; bring others to guard with me.” The king said, “I gave you my garden to guard, and all the fruits of its guarding I gave to you. Now you want others to guard it with you? I will bring others to guard with you but know that I will not give them wages from my own; rather, from the wages I originally gave you, they will take their wages.” So too, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Moshe: “I gave you spirit and knowledge to sustain My children, and I did not seek another so that you alone would be distinguished in that guarding. Now you seek another? Know that they will take nothing from Mine, but I will take from the spirit that is upon you and place it upon them.” Yet, even though it is passed from his own on to them, Moshe lacked nothing. The Midrash continues: Moshe was like a lamp placed on a Menorah, from which all catch their light, yet its own light does not diminish.
The Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh explains it according to Chazal in the Gemara (Ta’anit 29a), who expound on the Pasuk: “And the people wept that night.” They established weeping for generations, for it was the night of Tisha B’Av when the Mikdash was destroyed. Chazal further state (Sotah 9a) that if Moshe had entered the land and built the Beit Hamikdash, it would not have been destroyed, as no nation or tongue could touch it. Additionally, the Midrash (Tehillim 79) comments on the 79th chapter of Tehillim: “A psalm of Asaph. O G-d, nations have entered Your domain, defiled Your holy temple, and turned Jerusalem into ruins.”
The Midrash asks, “A psalm of Asaph?”! Should it not have been “a lament of Asaph”? While the chapter describes the terrible destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, it refers to Hakadosh Baruch Hu casting His anger only on wood and stones. If Moshe Rabbeinu had entered the land and built the Beit Hamikdash, it would have been impossible for His anger to be cast upon it, as mentioned. Instead, Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s wrath would have been directed at Knesset Yisrael, leading to their destruction instead of the Beit Hamikdash’s ruin. Therefore, it is a psalm and praise! To the decree of the spies, Hakadosh Baruch Hu also decreed that Moshe Rabbeinu would die in the wilderness, and this is the meaning of “also against me was Hakadosh Baruch Hu angry because of you.” Meaning, due to the consequences of their actions. Had the sin of the spies not occurred, and had they entered the land, it is possible Moshe would have entered with them. Even if he built the Beit Hamikdash, there would be no concern, as the aspect of evil would not have prevailed, and they would have stood in their righteousness in the land. These are the words of the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh.
Thus, Bnei Yisrael reached the pinnacle – they saw Hakadosh Baruch Hu descend upon Har Sinai, and now they desired meat?! How did this happen? Where did this impulse begin?
Regarding the Pasuk “And they journeyed from the mountain of Hakadosh Baruch Hu,” the Ramban explains that they departed Har Sinai “like a child fleeing from school.” This is why the event is categorized as a calamity, requiring inverted nun’s to separate it from the calamities that follow. Moshe Rabbeinu raises his hands and says, “I cannot alone bear all this people any longer,” and a new leadership of seventy elders begins at that point. Yehoshua brings the people into Eretz Yisrael, Shlomo HaMelech builds the Beit Hamikdash, and in the future, it will be destroyed – all this resulted from the complainers and the weeping of the spies.
If so, Rabbotai, what does Gog and Magog have to do with all this?! Rashi explains (Yechezkel 38:2), Gog is the name of the king, whereas Magog is the name of the nation, as it says back in Bereshit (10:2): “The sons of Yefet: Gomer and Magog.” And why were they specifically called “Gog and Magog” and not something else, such as “Gogel Mogel”? The Midrash (Tanchuma, Korach 12) tells us: “Gog and Magog, in gematria, equal seventy, representing the seventy nations.” This means, the text teaches us that the war of Gog and Magog will be led by Gog, who is king over seventy nations. Connecting back to our previous idea, if Moshe Rabbeinu had remained in leadership, there would be no Gog and no Magog. Why? Because there would have been no need for seventy elders! Moshe Rabbeinu would have brought Bnei Yisrael into the land, the Beit Hamikdash would have been built, and Moshe Rabbeinu would have been Mashiach Tzidkeinu! But instead, Moshe said, “I cannot alone bear all this people,” and Hakadosh Baruch Hu responded, “You can’t? No problem! I will gather seventy men from the elders of Yisrael,” corresponding to the seventy nations, as the day of Gog and Magog would come. Thus, Moshe Rabbeinu’s request and resignation created the war of Gog and Magog.
Now we can return to the prophecy of Eldad and Meidad. According to one opinion in the Midrash, their prophecy was, “Moshe dies, and Yehoshua brings Yisrael into the land.” If so, Moshe Rabbeinu would not build the Beit Hamikdash, and consequently, the one built by Shlomo HaMelech would be destroyed. And so it was, and so we still wait for its rebuilding, as the war of Gog and Magog must come first.
The youth ran and told Moshe, and said: “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp.”
Rashi explains, some say this youth was Moshe’s son, Gershom. Initially, when they did not come to receive the prophecy, it is written, “And two men remained in the camp, the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Meidad,” and after they prophesied, it says the youth ran and cried out, “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp!” The question is, why did it matter to Gershom where they prophesied?
The Gemara asks (Pesachim 88a): What is the meaning of the Pasuk: “And many nations will go and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of Hashem, to the house of the G-d of Yaakov?’” Why does the Pasuk refer to Hashem specifically as the G-d of Yaakov and not also as the G-d of Avraham and Yitzchak? The Gemara then explains that in the future, the nations will not relate to the Beit Hamikdash as Avraham did, with the name mountain (“on the mountain Hashem will be seen”). Nor will they relate to it as Yitzchak did, with the term field (“And Yitzchak went out to meditate in the field”). Rather, they will relate to it as Yaakov, who called it house (“And he called the name of that place Beit El”).
Why did Avraham not call it pasture, and Yitzchak call it plains? Why specifically these three names we find in the Torah? It is brought in the name of the Mahar"i of Belz...
