Parasha: Naso · Aliyah: Seventh (Malchut)

פגעיאל בן עכרן. Sifri volume 2 item 355 claims it was Asher who had told his brothers of what Reuben had done, whereupon the brothers rebuked him. When Reuben confessed that he had done what Asher had reported, the brothers included Asher again in their circle. This is the meaning of the word פגעי אל, his brothers met him again after first having ostracised him.

Another meaning of the name may be related to the blessing of Asher (Deut. 33,23) "Asher is blessed more than the other sons." Our sages comment on this that "none of the other tribes received as generous a blessing as did Asher." We find that the blessing of the sons was conditioned by their proximity to a holy site, to sanctity. In order to determine this you may assume that the Holy Ark was the centre of sanctity. When this ark was hosted by Oved Edom Hagitti (compare Berachot 63) the host was blessed exceedingly as outlined in the Talmud and the Book of Chronicles. The word פגעי אל means that "G'd has granted me many children." The second part of his name, בן עכרן may be an allusion to a tradition (Tanna be bey Eliyahu 9) that even if the daughters of Asher had sinned, i.e. that they had lost their virginity prior to marriage (figuratively speaking), something עכור, shameful, G'd treated them as if their hymen were intact, i.e. as if they had not sinned at all. [The tradition seems based on those daughters not bleeding when their hymen was ruptured. Ed.]

אחירע בן עינן. This name appears to contain an allusion to the statement of the Sifri on Deut. 33,23 that Naftali was satisfied with favour, i.e. that he did not strive for more than had been granted to him. He enjoyed the fruits of Ginnosaur, the fish of the lake of Kinneret, etc. The word אחי רע suggests that in Naftali's eyes his brothers had received a share inferior to his. His "eye," i.e. his aspirations had been fully met by the blessing he received at the hands of Moses.

ביום המשח אותו, on the day it was anointed. This verse is proof that our contention that all the princes had come to offer their gifts simultaneously on the first of Nissan is correct, but that G'd arranged that only one prince should offer his gift on any single day.

מאת נשיאי ישראל, from the princes of Israel, etc. Why did the Torah have to write these words? Perhaps the Torah wanted to praise the princes for having acted spontaneously in order to inaugurate the altar. The word מאת is as if the Torah had written מאתם, i.e. that the idea originated with the princes and they had not been prompted. Our sages in Sifri volume 1 item 53 state that they all had an equal share in the single מצוה. What the sages meant was the offerings themselves were accounted as if they were a single offering. Different princes acquired different amounts of merit for their part in the offering, however. Nachshon's merit was the greatest of them all.

כל הבקר לעולה, All the oxen used for the total-offering, etc. The word בקר is in the singular as each one formed part of the same collective offering. This is also the reason the Torah used the word זבח השלמים in verse 88 describing the sacrifice as one.

הקול מדבר אליו, the Voice speaking to him, etc. We have already explained on Exodus 20,1 that when G'd speaks an angel is created as a result of such speech and it is the voice of that angel which man (prophet) hears. I have explained all the instances in which the word לאמור appears as unnecessary such as when G'd's message to Moses or Aaron is introduced. This is what is meant here when the Torah speaks of "the Voice" speaking to Moses. The Torah underlines that in this instance G'd's voice spoke to Moses directly, not the voice of an angel. Although there is a dagesh in the letter ד to tell us that the meaning is מתדבר, i.e. the voice itself was doing the talking, it was not the projection of someone else "behind" the voice. This form is grammatically admissible; the intelligent reader will understand what I mean.