Our Parsha this Shabbos is a Double Parsha of Mattos - Masei and the Haftorah for this Shabbos is Yirmeyahu Jeremiah 2 : 4 - 28 ; 3 : 4 ; 4 : 1 - 2 , which relates with the theme of these Three Weeks of Mourning that we are in right now between the Seventeenth of Tammuz , when we wronged HaShem at the Chait Ha'Eigel , the Golden Calf and The Holy Tablets were smashed and these three weeks carry on until Tisha B ' Av , when the spies brought a negative report of the Gift of The Holy Land and we could not enter the land at that time and had to wonder for almost forty years in the Wilderness . The last Parsha Spoke of the Offerings for the Festivals and this Parsha of Mattos starts teaching about Vows and Oaths . When discussing Vows and Oaths , what actually is the difference between a ' Neder ' - a ' Vow ' and a ' Sh'vuah ' - an ' Oath ? ' Both Vows and Oaths deal with us talking of or stating that we will either do or not do something , but a ' Neder , ' a ' Vow ' refers more to an obligation that one makes over an object , whereas a ' Sh'vuah , ' an Oath , ' refers more to do with an obligation one makes over oneself . What is interesting is that a ' Vow ' - ' Neder , ' brings about a new condition for an object , whereas , a ' Sh'vuah ' - an ' Oath ' brings about a new condition for oneself . So if one says that from now on , one will no longer eat a specific food , then one brings about a new condition and law upon oneself , for that specific food and so that specific food now becomes forbidden , as it takes on a new forbidden status . This is a ' Neder . ' But if one has sworn that one will go and partake of a certain food , then one has placed an obligation upon oneself and not the food and so , this is a ' Sh'vuah ' - an ' Oath . ' This opportunity to obligate oneself to a law that one takes upon oneself that never existed before one made it , is a way to make a Law that becomes binding upon oneself , That HaShem Never Commanded and so if one breaks that which is uttered out of one's own mouth , something one has taken upon oneself to do or not do , one can be punished with lashes for not fulfilling it . This is one reason That HaShem Does Not Like us to make Vows or Oaths . Only HaShem Is G-D Who Makes Laws . As HaShem Says , to the one who made this prohibition upon himself , " he shall not desecrate his word ; according to whatever comes from his mouth shall he do . " So our word must be straight-forward and honest and we must uphold our word about things we say we will do and not break it or take it lightly . Speech is very powerful . With HaShem's Words , HaShem Created Creation . As our Rabbonim say , better not to Vow , then Vow and not do what we Vowed , Chas Ve Shalom . When one makes a Vow or Oath in which one was not sure of all the facts at the time of making it , our Rabbonim allow it to be annulled in front of three learned sages or men of learned standing . This is one of the reasons Why HaShem Put the section of Vows and Oaths in the Sedra called " Mattos , " - " Tribes , " as the heads of a Tribe who were men of high standing , could be approached to try and annul the Vow . But HaShem Takes the subject of Vows very seriously And HaShem Does Not Want us to Vow or make Oaths . Our Sages tell of the story of King Tzidkiyahu , one of the captives of king Nebuchadnezzar of Bavel , where Tzidkiyahu once walked in on Nebuchadnezzar breaking one of the Noachide Laws to the Gentiles , where he was eating the limb of a living rabbit . Nebuchadnezzar had Tzidkiyahu Vow that he would not tell anyone about what he saw , but after vowing , some time later , Tzidkiyahu went to the Sages of the time and had his Vow annulled and this subsequently came out and got to the ears of Nebuchadbezzar , who approached the Sages at that time and asked them to expound their Holy Torah . When the Sages came to the part of Vows and Oaths , he knew they had annulled Tzidkiyahu's Vow and he then had them tied with their hair tied to horses tails and had them pulled from one city , the City of Yerushalayim , to another city , the City of Lud ( Midrash Says - Bamidbar - Rabbi M Weissman ) , till they died . Why Did HaShem Allow this to take place ? Because HaShem Does Not Like Vows and Oaths Made . Why would this be so Hurtful To HaShem ? The answer is very understandable . Only HaShem Can Make Laws And Obligations For us . It is not for us to add to or to take away from The Holy Laws That HaShem Put Upon us . HaShem Knows What Laws we need And HaShem Knows Exactly What To Command us to do and it is not for us to add to or subtract from that , by putting upon ourselves restrictions That HaShem Never Did and thus wrongly restricting ourselves from The Goodness That HaShem Made For us to enjoy , That HaShem Never Forbade of us to partake of . HaShem's Laws Are Totally Complete And They Are All That we need for living In HaShem's Creation . When we make Vows or Oaths , we are adding Laws That HaShem Has Not Put Upon us and as I mentioned , HaShem Knows All the Laws we need . We should not make out that we know better by adding more obligations upon ourselves then HaShem Already Has Done . This Is HaShem's Creation , not ours and we have no right to limit ourselves on things That HaShem Has Already Allowed us to have and partake of . HaShem's Holy Torah Then explains the Case of , if a woman makes a Vow and her Father in his home hears it and he is silent about it , then her Vow stands upon her . But if her Father restrained her on the day of his hearing it , then it shall not stand And HaShem Will Forgive her . If she is married , then her husband can revoke it if he heard it but if he was silent , then her words stand . A Widow or Divorcee who has no husband , her words stand . Thus one should rather not make Vows or Oaths at all . HaShem Then Commands Moshe that we are to take vengeance against the Midianites and thereafter , Moshe would be gather unto his people . What a Tzaddik was Moshe who was able to put his own feelings aside of knowing that after this battle he would pass away , yet he still honoured HaShem's Wish with alacrity and love and did not delay , where he could have delayed this battle and lived longer , yet he did not , but organized straight away for the battle in honour Of HaShem . Moshe took a thousand from each Tribe , only men of righteousness , who had not taken part in falling to the idol worship of baal and he organized the army ready for battle . Pinchas , who we read about in the previous Parsha , made peace between HaShem and the people when Pinchas took action and stopped the Plague after the incident caused by Bilaam , when Bilaam arranged for the Midyanite females to try and entice the men of Israel and try to get them to worship the idol baal and we also read how Pinchas stepped up and took action against Cozbi the Midyanite daughter of a leader of Midyan when she was taken into the tent of the leader of Simeon and Pinchas courageously got up and speared them both and by his action , stayed the Plague . Pinchas was also the son of Aharon's son Elazar and so , was holy Pinchas the grandson of Aharon . Pinchas was put in charge of the campaign , a most holy man and Moshe gave him the Tzitz , the Head - Band to use against Bilaam . They killed the five kings of Midyan , including Cozbi's Father , where Cozbi was the woman who had come into the camp of Israel and gone into the tent of the head of Simeon , when they both committed an outrage in the Camp . Pinchas met Bilaam , who had returned to Midyan to fetch his money for helping Midyan with his idea to catch our men with the incident of the Midianite women . Bilaam's greed was his downfall , for he ended up facing Pinchas and Bilaam flew into the air . Pinchas pointed the Holy Tzitz at him and he fell down and Pinchas slew him . The Children of Israel took the Midyanite women captive and their young children , cattle flocks and spoils , they also took . They brought it to Moshe and Elazar the Kohein and to the camp of the Children of Israel . Moshe was upset with them that they had let the women of Midyan live , the immoral women who had led Israel to sin . The Midyanite women , according to Rashi ( Midrash Says Bamidbar - Rabbi M Weissman ) , were marched before the Tzitz and all those who had known a man , their face took on a greenish glow and they were slain . Elazar was then given the Kashering Laws of utensils and the spoils of battle were also divided . In the battle against Midyan , Reuvein and Gad had accumulated much cattle and they desired to rather take their portion of Land on the East side of the Jordan . Moshe was upset with them that they were doing a similar action to what the spies had done before , for by their action and request , they might put off the rest of Israel from wanting to enter the Land and that they were shunning What Land , HaShem Wanted To Give them In Israel . But they assured Moshe that they would join in the battle at the fore-front of Battle when Israel went in to conquer the Land , leaving their wives and children on the East side of the Jordan . And no doubt , they did exactly that in Yehoshuah's time , leaving their families for 14 years during the conquest . Though Moshe felt that they should take What HaShem Wants To Give them in the Holy Land . How interesting it was , that in later years when Israel was conquered , the land that they chose on the East side of the Jordan , was the first to be attacked . Manasseh had not asked to be there , but afterwards volunteered for half their Tribe to also settle on the East Bank of the Jordan . Our Rabbonim suggest that this took place , with half the Tribe of Manasseh joining them , so as to keep the other two Tribes in a much holier state , for the Tribe of Manasseh was at the time , great Torah Scholars . This is where the Sedra of Mattos ends . The Sedra of Masei begins by telling of the " Masei " - the " Journeys " of the Children of Israel from Egypt to Israel . The word " Masei " means " Journeys . " We might ask Why HaShem Would Put the list of our " Journeys " Place - By - Place , of our people from Mitzrayim to Canaan , In The Holy Torah ? This was to show A Great Love That HaShem Has For us , For HaShem Had Moshe write down every place we went through , just like if a Father and son had travelled together and so to the Father who deeply loves his son , every place that they spent together in closeness , would have emotional meaning . Also , these places were mostly uninhabitable And So HaShem Was Showing us That He Was With us All Along , Watching Over us And Protecting us , for had it not been For HaShem Helping us And Watching over us , we would never have survived . Each place we travelled through had something Spiritual about it that would test us in different ways . What people do in a place , gives that place a certain essence of that thing that has been done there . So each place brought its own test upon us . This shows and teaches us how careful we need to be in our own lives and how we have to behave , as we have the power as people , to put into our physical surroundings , a positive or negative holy or unholy , honest or thieving , peaceful or aggressive essence , into our surroundings , depending on how we as people behave there and this essence we leave in a place , can be a Yetzer Horah or a Yetzer Tov to those that live in that place or that come to that place afterwards . We need to always keep the Spiritual Air Clean and Pure and Holy . Seeing as we were about to enter into the Land of Israel , HaShem Then In His Holy Torah , Defines the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael . HaShem Teaches of the " Ir Miklas , " - the " City of Refuge , " where an inadvertent unintentional Murderer could flee to and he would have to stay there till the death of the Kohein Gadol . No purposeful Murderer could take refuge in this place . There were to be six cities of Refuge . Three on one side and three on the other side of the Jordan . The Cities of Refuge were to be within the 48 cities of the Holy Levites , whose Cities were among the other Tribe's Territories . How different Is HaShem's Laws from the laws of man , where in man's secular World , if a man commits an unintentional murder , he is sent off to prison with other undesirables and cannot grow Spiritually , but in the case of Jewish Law , this man is put into a place among holy people , where he can grow Spiritually and attain higher Spiritual levels to lead him to The Right and Correct Path . Should he have been under a Rabbi when he committed his act , then that Rabbi and family also goes into the City of Refuge , for it showed something lacking in the teacher , if the student was not holy enough and the circumstance of the happening ended in such a negative action . If the unintentional murderer would ever leave this City before he was allowed to , then the " Goel Hadam , " the " Avenger of the blood , " a close relative of the victim had the right to slay him . Our Rabbis teach that if there is no close relative , then the court appoints one in this role as the " Goel Hadam . " For an intentional murderer , he is to be killed , for we must remove the evil from our midst . The Parsha ends with the Tribal Marriages that each Tribe is to marry within their own Tribe so that Tribal Lands remain within the Tribes they were apportioned to , By HaShem and this portion was in reference to the very holy daughters of Tzelafchad of the Tribe of Joseph who married within their Tribe . The Sedra and the Book of Bamidbar Numbers ends with the words , " These are the Commandments and the Ordinances That HaShem Commanded Through Moshe to the Children of Israel in the Plains of Moav , at the Jordan , by Jericho . " ' Chazak Chazak Venitchazeik , ' - ' Be strong Be strong and may we be strengthened , ' as we say at the end of every Book Of The Holy Torah Of HaShem . So ends the Sedras and so ends the Book of Bamidbar Numbers , The Fourth Book Of The Holy Torah . In the Book of Devarim Deuteronomy 4 : 2 in the Torah it states very clearly , " You shall not add to the word that I Command you , nor shall you subtract from it , to observe the Commandments of HaShem , your G-D , that I Command you . " HaShem's Torah Is Complete . It is Peace . The Hebrew word for ' Complete , ' is ' Shaleim ' and the Hebrew word for ' Peace , ' is ' Shalom . ' So the Complete Torah , is Complete Peace And The Path To Peace . Torah Is Totally Perfect In It's Entirety , As HaShem Gave It . It does not need anything added to It or subtracted from It . It is Perfect Just As It Is , Just As HaShem Wrote It And Gave It To us . HaShem Made It Alone In His Oneness And So It Is Perfect As A Path To Bring us To Total Holiness . We are not to add to Torah in any way or subtract from Torah in any way . It Is Perfect And Peaceful And Complete As It Is . When we make our own Vows and Oaths and laws upon ourselves That HaShem Never Commanded us to do , we are adding to The Torah . This is so wrong . HaShem Has Permitted us to partake of certain things and when we limit ourselves of these things , we are adding more Than HaShem Commanded Or Forbade . We are saying then To HaShem , that we think we know better and so , we think we can go and make up our own laws on ourselves . HaShem Is Supreme And So Are His Laws . Who are we to think that we know better . We are minute in His Universe or Universes and we know so very little . HaShem's Laws are the only Guideline we will ever need to get us To Him . Our own laws will not do that at all . The same goes with anyone thinking that they can add more books to the Tanach Bible . This is the same Sin , For HaShem Tells us Clearly That we are Not to add to His Torah . Doing so , is Avodah Zorah Idol Worship , as this is adding or subtracting to HaShem's Torah And Laws . HaShem's Torah Laws Are Complete As They Are . There is one Torah ( from Bereishis to Devarim ) and one Tanach ( Bereishis to Malachi ) and no one is allowed to add to it in any way or make up laws that are not deep within The Holy Torah From HaShem . HaShem's Holy Torah Is Complete As It Is , As It Was Written , As HaShem Wrote It And Gave It To us Through Moshe In It's Holy Hebrew . Any additions made to it , are not from G-D , but are wrongly from man , For G-D Said " NO ADDING To IT . " Any new concept that goes against What Is Written In HaShem's Holy Torah , is a total forbidden Sin and a breaking of HaShem's Commandment of Devarim 4 : 2 . The same goes for anyone who wants to remove any Law , Chas Ve Shalom . HaShem Said Clearly That we must not subtract from it . To even say that one Law of HaShem should Chas Ve Shalom not be kept anymore in the strictness Commanded By HaShem To Moshe And us forever , is breaking HaShem's Commandments , as it is subtracting From HaShem's Laws , Which HaShem in Devarim 4 : 2 Commanded us not to do . We Jews are to Keep HaShem's Holy Shabbos Eternally , As HaShem Commands Shabbos To Be Kept , With It's 39 Melachos In All Their Holiness . We are to keep The Holy Torah as strictly today as we did in Moshe's time , for to lessen on even a single Law , is to break this Commandment Of G-D . G-D's Laws are for us and for our children forever and will not be abolished , as it clearly states in Devarim Deuteronomy 12 : 28 and 29 : 28 and over and over again , HaShem Tells us that His Laws Are Forever And Eternal - Bereishis Genesis 17 : 1 - 14 about circumcision ; Pesach - Shemos Exodus 12 : 14 - 17 ; Shabbos - Shemos Exodus 31 : 12 - 17 ; Tzitzis - Bamidbar Numbers 15 : 38 ; Yom Kippur - Vayikra Leviticus 23 : 27 - 31 ; Succos - Vayikra Leviticus 23 : 41 and many other examples Of How HaShem's Laws Are Forever And Do Not Change And Are To Be Kept Forever . Dovid Hamelech who wrote Tehillim Psalms , wrote in Psalm 119 , a most beautiful rendition To HaShem's Torah And HaShem's Laws and how beautiful They Are and how They Are To Be Kept Forever , Never Changing . So we are never to change HaShem's Laws , we are never to add to Them and we are never to subtract from Them in any way . They Are totally Perfect And Complete As They Are . We are to avoid making Vows and Oaths and any obligation we want to put on ourselves , That HaShem Did Not Command . HaShem Travelled With us at every point in our Journey from Mitzrayim to Eretz Yisroel And Still Travels With us every step that we take now . HaShem Is Always With us and we must always Be With HaShem too , In Keeping Every Torah Commandment That HaShem Commanded In His Holy Torah , Just As HaShem Commanded Moshe . HaShem Gave us A Complete Torah so that we will be ' Complete ' for we can only be Complete And Perfect if we keep HaShem's Torah . HaShem Said to Avraham , " I Am El Shaddai ; walk before Me and be perfect . I Will Set My Covenant ( My Torah ) between Me and you , and I will increase you most exceedingly . " How clear that is , that we are To Keep HaShem's Torah As HaShem Gave it , Forever And Eternally And Walk With HaShem In Completeness And Peace And Perfection And Oneness , Always And Eternally Close To HaShem Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu HaShem The Holy One Blessed Be He . At this time of the year , during these Three Weeks of Mourning between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B'Av , as we approach Tisha B'Av , we all as Jews need to put our own wants aside and come Close To HaShem , through love , In Keeping All Of HaShem's Commandments . Closeness With HaShem , Is our Path To Life . Closeness With HaShem , Is our Destination In Life . Closeness With HaShem , Is Life . Let us all , these very holy days , take proper accounting of ourselves , as Parashas Masei took accounting of our Journeys Toward Holiness And The Holiness Of The Holy Land and as Parashas Mattos did , remind us to be leaders of our own Path Toward HaShem And HaShem's Holiness and let us all become who we are all meant to be , Holy And Loving And Obedient Followers Of HaShem Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu HaShem The Holy One Blessed Be He . I wish Ever Most Beloved HaShem With Faithful And Sweetest And Deepest Eternal And Forever Love , A Most Special And Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh And With Forever Deepest Love and to all my fellow Jews and to all of Creation , a Most Special and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love .