Friday, July 9, 2010

Daily Aliya for Matot-Massei, Shishi (6th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: G‑d appoints a representative from each tribe to divide his tribe's portion of land between the tribal members. The Jews are commanded to provide the Levites with 48 cities where they would dwell -- 42 cities plus the six cities of refuge which would be designated. Along with these cities, the Levites were given expanses surrounding the cities for their cattle.

After selecting an administrator for each tribe to help decide which family receives which piece of their tribe's land, the very next section talks about the requirement to donate part of their land to the Levites. So the Jews just got their land, and they already have to give some of it away. But it highlights the concept that we have what we have so we can do something positive with it, like sharing land with the Levites that hadn't been given any. If we're given money, we should give those who haven't - and it's not just a nice thing to do - it's the reason why you were given the money! The same is true for anything we have been granted with in life.

No comments:

Post a Comment