Zeh Can Mean Now
When the tribe of Yosef complains about the daughters of Tzlofchad receiving their father, Chefer’s, portion of the Land, Hashem ratifies their concerns. To introduce the solution, 36;6, Moshe says zeh ha-davar, which we commonly translate as “this is the matter,” Hashem commanded. R. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg re-reads the word zeh, because of Baba Batra 160. There, the Gemara limited the rules of this section to that generation only. Contrary to the simplest reading of the text, the Gemara thought the requirement for Tzlofchad’s daughters or any other women who inherited land to marry within the tribe applied only until the Land had been settled and divided. [He’ll get to why in a moment.]
To support the Gemara [remember, the commentary is called The Writ and the Tradition, to show how they mesh], R. Mecklenburg notes other verses where zeh refers to time. Ya’akov says to Lavan zeh li esrim shanah, Bereshit 31;41, for R. Mecklenburg his way of saying I am now completing twenty years with you; or Shir HaShirim 2;8, the voice of my beloved hinei zeh bah, is coming now; or the zeh yitenu of Shemot 30;13, the Jews now should give to the building of the Mishkan. [In each of those cases, I can see how others would disagree, would still render zeh as “this.”]
Establishing the Character of the Land
Translation issues aside, the rule begs explanation-if maintaining tribal territories matters, why wouldn’t it apply throughout Jewish history? R. Mecklenburg cites Ramban, the time of the original division of the Land was the crucial point, to set up the Land with tribal areas well defined. After it has all been divided and laid, ebbs and flows of ownership are less significant.
[On the one hand, Rambam’s answer has much to recommend it, if we know a region to be Binyamin or Yissachar, let’s say, the fact that one estate in the middle has gone to the Dan husband of a Yissachar woman doesn’t matter so much. Over time, though, I wonder if this could not become more of a problem. If a Yosef woman inherits, down the road, and her husband inherits from her, over time, wouldn’t we have overall regions riddled with exceptions? Neither Ramban nor R. Mecklenburg address the question. My own guess is that we expect the problem to correct itself over time. If an interloper inherits tribal land from his wife, down the road, he may keep it in the family, but he may gift it to his daughter, who would marry a local, or something like that. In the first generation, it was vital to have well-defined areas of Israel for each tribe. For reasons we can discuss another time.]
The Outskirts of Cities
For cities of the Levi’im [the Gemara in Arachin includes all cities in these rules, to varying extents], the Torah requires a thousand amot of uncultivated area, called migrash, and another thousand amot of cultivated area, sadeh. [This was seen as beautifying the city.]
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch calls our attention to where the Torah located this migrash, 35;4, mi-kir ha’ir va-chutzah elef amah, from the wall of the city and outward, a thousand amah. “Outward,” he says, means at the point where the impact of the wall ends. He refers us to Eruvin 57a and 60b, where the first seventy-odd amah outside a city are the city’s outskirts. R. Hirsch claims the first seventy-odd amot are still part of the city, despite being outside the wall, and then we start the thousand of migrash.
Two points to consider: First, R. Hirsch shares the source of the number seventy-plus, it is the square root of 5000, the area of the courtyard of the Mishkan, the movable Tabernacle in the desert. He does not elaborate why we use this to model our cities, but it bears and will reward thought.
[Second, a point I have been thinking about in many contexts, but here, too. Seventy amot, by the largest definition today, is a hundred and forty feet, and is more likely closer to a hundred and five, a hundred and ten feet. In the context of a city and its borders, I wouldn’t have thought we would pay attention to that little a space, but Chazal did. More food for thought.]
A Guaranteed Job
The Torah lists the heads of the tribes, who will oversee the division of Israel, 34;17-19. To introduce the list, Hashem says these are the names of the people, to Malbim a way of saying these people, known in their tribes, have a name/reputation they deserve, can be trusted with this important task, trusted not to favor their own families or tribes in deciding how to settle the Land. [I don’ t remember where right now, but I believe Malbim has had this idea before, leaders too often take for themselves when they should not.]
Their well-deserved reputations assuage another worry of Moshe’s, backs up the guarantee they will live long enough to fulfill these tasks. Moshe, who is not going to merit entering the Land because of a sin he and his brother committed in the fortieth year in the desert, could reasonably worry these men, too, might misstep and incur punishment, not make it all the way.
The idea of their names is to reassure him, they have a good enough track record [and, I think Malbim means, will not be challenged by anything of the level of Moshe and Aharon at the rock] to be sure they will make it.
The worry about “making it” explains the next chapter, too, where Moshe is told to inform the people about giving cities to the Levi’im, and about setting up cities of refuge for those who kill unwittingly. Both are key pieces of settling the Land, and Hashem involved Moshe involved with it now to give him some sense he had participated, more confidence it would all come to fruition as expected.
For our three commentators, Mas’ei processes the settlement of the Land, the need to mark tribal areas well at the start, defines the boundaries of cities, and ensures the process of its settling was already established while Moshe was still around.
