One Missing Brother
INTRODUCTION TO
PARASHAT HASHAVUA
PARASHAT
VE-ZOT HA-BERAKHA
One
Missing Brother
By
Rabbi Yaakov Beasley
A. INTRODUCTION
In
his final words to the people, Moshe imparts his version of the blessings upon
the twelve tribes of Israel. These
blessings, no doubt, speak of the future roles to be played out by each of the
individual tribes. Yet, Moshe is
not the first in the Torah to bless the twelve tribes imbibing them with some
future message. On his deathbed,
Yaakov also blessed his children (Bereishit 49:1-28). One of the issues that the classical
commentators dealt with was the notable differences and shifts in emphasis when
comparing Yaakov's blessings to Moshes.
For example, in Bereishit 49:5-7, Yaakov scolds his son Levi
together with Shimon for their involvement in the massacre of Shekhem. Yaakov expresses his strong disapproval
of their actions by declaring that not only would the two tribes not receive a
designated share of the Land of Israel, but that they would be dispersed amongst
the entire nation.[i] In our parasha, however, we
immediately detect a complete reversal in both tone and content in Moshe's
blessings. Instead of anger, he
designates the tribe for a sacred mission of promulgating the Word of God among
the Jewish people. The curse of
dispersion he transformed into a blessing.
While Levi will not receive a particular parcel of land in Israel, they
will be found throughout the country in their new and exalted role as educators
of the masses They shall teach Yaakov Your ordinances, and Israel Your law
(Devarim 33:10).
B. WHY IS SHIMON
MISSING?
However,
one brother who did not fare well under Yaakov found that Moshe dealt with him
in an even stricter fashion.
Shimon, Levis comrade in arms and sentenced by his father not to receive
an inheritance in the land, is pointedly excluded by Moshe in the list of
blessings. That Shimon should
suffer such a fate is not surprising, as he has a long history of being the
least favored of all the tribes/sons.
After the kidnapping and rape of Dina, it was Shimon, together with Levi,
who initiated the massacre of the entire town of Shekhem (Bereishit
34). Many commentators, by a
process of elimination, identify him as the one who threw Yosef into the pit and
even proposed murdering him (Bereishit 37:20); this view seemingly
confirmed by Yosefs later singling out of Shimon to be kept as hostage the
first time the brothers returned to Canaan (Bereishit 42:24). This attitude is confirmed by the harsh
blessing he receives from his father, and reinforced here in the glaring lack of
blessing from Moshe.
However,
Rashi suggests, Shimon is nevertheless included by implication, within the
rubric of the blessing of Yehuda:
And this is for Yehuda, and he said:
Hear, O Lord, the voice of Yehuda
Another thing. Hear Hashem, the voice of Yehuda. Here
it alludes to the blessing for Shimon within the blessing of Yehuda
(Sifrei). And even when they
divided the Land of Israel, Shimon received [a portion] within the lot of
Yehuda, as is said, And from the territory of the sons of Yehuda, there was an
inheritance for the Shimonites (Yehoshua 19:9). And why was he not given a blessing in
his own right? Because he [Moshe] had a grudge against him because of what he
did in Shittim. Thus is it written
in Aggadat Tehillim (Midrash Shohar Tov 90.3). (Rashis commentary to Devarim
33:7)
At
Shittim the Jewish people were led astray by the seductions of the Moabite and
Midianite women. In this story, the
central figure is the Israelite man who publicly cohabitates with a Midianite
woman in broad daylight, in the eyes of Moshe and in the eyes of the entire
congregation (Bamidbar 25:6).
This man is later identified as Zimri ben Salu, a prince and head of a
household in Shimon. Only their summary execution by Pinchas
prevented the plague, the symbol of divine wrath, from destroying the entire
congregation.
Why
should the entire tribe of Shimon be punished for the actions of a single
individual? The Ibn Ezra answers:
Because those who served the idol [Baal Peor] were from Shimon, as evidenced
by the numbers. In the census of the tribes in Pinchas, taken after the plague
that struck the people due to their actions at Shittim, we find a relatively
small number for the tribe of Shimon 22,200 (Bamidbar 26:14) which
stands out both when compared with the other tribes, and when compared with
their number at the beginning of Sefer Bamidbar 59,300. According to the Ibn Ezra, this
testifies to the fact that the great majority of the 24,000 who died in the
plague that followed the sin of Baal Peor were from the tribe of
Shimon.
Ramban
rejects this argument, maintaining that the sin of Baal Peor should not be
attributed specifically to the tribe of Shimon:
In
my opinion their number is not a proof, for there would still be more than
thirteen thousand missing aside from those who died in the plague. Some other tribes also lost people [if
we compare the figures of the two censes]: the tribe of Gad lost five thousand,
while the tribe of Efraim lost eight thousand. Moreover, since the text says
(Bamidbar 25:3), Israel joined itself to Baal Peor, and also (ibid.
verse 4), Take all the heads of the people, it would seem that the idolaters
were represented in all the tribes, and all the judges had to judge them. Likewise it says (ibid., verse 11), I
did not destroy Bnei Yisrael in My jealousy
heaven forefend that
Moshe would refrain from blessing Shimon, and that a tribe of Israel would be
wiped out, for all those who joined themselves to Baal Peor were already gone
as it is written (ibid. 4:3),
For every person who had gone after Baal Peor the Lord your God destroyed
him from your midst. Of all of those remaining it is written (ibid., verse 4),
And you who cleave to the Lord your God you are all alive today. Why, then,
should he not bless them?
Therefore
Ramban proposes an essentially technical reason as to why no mention is made of
the tribe of Shimon:
What
appears correct to me is that the text counts only twelve tribes of Israel, as
it is written in the blessing of Yaakov (Bereishit 49:28), All of these
are the tribes of Israel, twelve. Yaakov explicitly counted his twelve
children, counting Yosef as a single tribe, while Moshe chose to count Yosef as
two tribes, as it is written (verse 17), They are the tens of thousands of
Efraim and they are the thousands of Menashe, and therefore left out Shimon,
FOR HIS TRIBE WAS NOT A LARGE ONE, AND THE BLESSING THAT YAAKOV HAD GIVEN THEM
WAS NOT A GREAT ONE; rather, he divided them amongst [the tribes of] Yaakov and
scattered them amongst Israel.
Hence here too they were blessed by way of the blessings to the other
tribes, amongst which they found themselves.
In
other words, Moshe wished to maintain the tradition of giving twelve blessings,
as the tribes are always listed as some configuration of the number twelve. Normally, Efraim and Menashe are
combined as "Yosef" their father, who did not have his own tribe. As they are landless, usually Levi is
deleted; however this time Moshe wished to bless Levi, due to the overriding
importance of their task of transmitting Torah values to the nation. Therefore, he omitted Shimon, as their
population was small.
C. THE APPROACH OF THE
ABRABANEL
The
late medieval Spanish commentator Don Issac Abrabanel answers the question as to
why Shimon is not listed by Moshe by providing an overall perspective to our
parasha. Comparing the
blessings that Moshe gives the people in this parasha with the blessings
that Yaakov uttered on his deathbed, he arrives at the following
conclusion. At first glance, we
would find it difficult to classify all twelve of Yaakovs "blessings" according
to any coherent organizing principle.
Some of the brothers receive blessings while others are chastised; some
hear future prophecies while others dont; and some contain allusions to their
future inheritance in the Land of Israel while others are told nothing at
all. However, the Abarbanel claims
that there is one unifying theme that runs through all of the blessings. He claims that Yaakov realized that
there was one issue that would have to be settled by the various tribes in the
future, and that is the question of leadership. Aware that the tribes would form a
national entity, and would ultimately be charged with the duty of selecting a
king, he sought to forestall any possible civil war by deciding the issue before
his death. As such, Yaakov used his
blessings to delineate why each brother did or did not possess the necessary
characteristics to lead the Jewish people.
Each brothers strengths and flaws are listed, and ultimately, only
Yehuda emerges fit to assume the throne.
The
situation in our parasha, however, is different. As Yaakov already settled the issue of
who would ultimately lead the nation, Moshe Rabbeinu has to deal with the
pressing issue of their upcoming entry into the land of Israel - where each
tribe would settle and the way in which the Land would be conquered. Therefore, though they were disqualified
for the kingship, Reuven is spoken to first, as they were the ones who would
lead the battles in the conquest of Canaan (see Bamidbar 32:17). After Reuven, Moshe turns to Yehuda, who
would eventually assume the role of primacy in war (see Sefer Shoftim
1:2). Binyamin follow Yehuda, as
their portion in the land was to be adjacent to that of Yehuda (the two tribes
shared dominion of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and its surroundings). Levi comes next, as they had no real
portion, but were centered at the Beit Ha-Mikdash, and Yosef follows, as his two
tribes are next in line geographically speaking. The remaining tribes are then blessed in
a pattern that more or less follows their inheritance in the
Land.
This
approach of Abarbanel solves our question - why did Moshe not include
Shimon? As Ramban claims, Shimon is
omitted here since Shimon's portion in the land was eventually swallowed up by
Yehuda, and therefore they do not merit any individual mention in Moshes final
statements. However, Abarbanel
claims that there is at least a reference to Shimon hidden in the blessing to
Yehuda. Moshe states "shema
Hashem kol Yehuda," a hint to the naming of Shimon back in Bereishit
- "ki shama Hashem et koli." Since Shimon was to be absorbed by Yehuda,
claims Abarbanel, his blessing is absorbed as well.
[i] I have heard from Rav
Yoel Bin Nun (one of todays leading luminaries in Tanakh study) that in fact,
based on the names of Shimon that appear in Divrei Ha-yamim Aleph, throughout
Biblical history we can locate hints to the tribe of Shimon in different
geographic locations of the land in conformity with Yaakov's curse.