Masei

The first words of our parsha are אלה מסעי בני ישראל these are the travels of the Jewish people, which the אלשיך explains as implying that the travels were because of them.  Hashem really wanted to bring the Jews straight into ארץ ישראל even more quickly than natural as we are informed that they did an eleven day journey in three days. However, because the people sinned, they were delayed forty years, so it was the people that caused these journeys. That's why it was called by their name.

We see that every person is responsible for what happens in his life. If, because of their sins the people caused themselves to wander for forty years, then how much more so on the positive side, if one follows the Torah & goes on the right path, he will bring upon himself only good while saving himself from any bad that comes to the world.  

There was a story told of a little boy who fell out of a third story window, landing on the ground. Hatzolah was called & they rushed to the scene expecting the worst. When they got there, however, they were shocked to see that the child was fine. They brought him to the hospital where the doctors, too, were astounded that this child fell three floors & nothing had happened to him. How was that possible?

The doctors were so dumbfounded that they sent someone to go to the house to see how it was possible. This is what they found. The building was three stories high; however it didn't start out like that. Originally, it was a one story house to which the owners added two floors as the family grew. When the house was one story, a drainpipe ran from the roof to the ground. Even after the owner built the additional two floors, the drainpipe remained. When the child fell from the third floor, his shirt got stuck on that drainpipe holding him there for a few seconds, breaking his fall.

Why would someone add two floors to his house & maintain a drainpipe that has absolutely no purpose from the old roof? When this man decided to add to his home, he first consulted his rabbi, רבי משה ניישלאס who told him that when he builds, he's not allowed to remove the old drainpipes. Even though the owner complained, saying that it’s going to be an eyesore and that they’re not needed because he's putting new ones on the new roof, the rabbi told him he couldn't do it. So he didn't.

When רב זילברטיין heard this story, he said that there is a possible reason why the rabbi didn't let the man remove the drainpipe. One of the commands of רבי יהודה החסיד was that one can't close up a door or a window in a home because the שדים are found there. The gemara, as well, says that sheidim are also found around drainpipes, so the rabbi applied the cheirim to that as well.

For twenty years, this house stood with old useless pipes marring the look of the house, for seemingly no reason other than listening to Daas Torah. Now, however, everyone saw that the reason was to save this child's life.

This shows us that even though we don't always understand the teachings of the Torah, if we follow them we'll come out ahead. As the רבי מסקולן says, the travels of our parsha were to get us to Eretz Yisroel. We have to realize that all the tribulations & trials that we go through in this bitter exile are merely to get us to the ultimate redemption. If we take this lesson to heart, trust our Chachamim & listen to the Torah, we will merit the geulah in our day!

Mattos

Hashem commands Moshe to go to war with the Midianites who caused the Jewish people to sin. Moshe tells the people to take a thousand solders from each shevet & go to war on Midian. The Torah continues וישלך אתם משה אלף למטה לצבא And Moshe sent out a thousand per shevet to the army.

The Midrash asks: Since Hashem told Moshe himself to go take vengeance on Midian, how can he send other people to do it? The Midrash answers that since Moshe had dwelled in Midian, he felt how can I go to war with a country that housed me?  
The Otzros Hatorah asks, what kind of answer is that? If Hashem commands you to do something, how could you send someone else in your place, no matter what your reasoning is?
He answers that the power of Hakaras Hatov is so strong & self-evident that when Hashem told Moshe to take vengeance on Midian, Moshe had no doubt, whatsoever, that Hashem couldn't have meant that he should go himself, but that he should send other people.

The Midrash also tells us that, in addition to the twelve thousand that went to battle, another twelve thousand went with them to daven , one person to daven for each person who’s fighting. They all went onto the battlefield together. רב חזקל לוינשטיין asks, why couldn't they just stay in the camp & daven; as well, why did there have to be a davener corresponding to every soldier.

He answers that the purpose was so the soldiers shouldn't say כוחי ועוצם ידי , my strength & my strong hand is what won this battle. By constantly seeing the ones that were davening they all understood that it was the power of the tefila that won the war.

Maybe we could take this a step further & say that another reason they had to go together is to teach the lesson of Hakaras Hatov; each person was doing his job. The soldier was fighting & the davener was davening. At times, it looked as if the Bnei Yisroel were winning because the soldier was fighting a good fight & at times there were miraculous events, presumably brought on by the davener. Each one was grateful to the other, teaching us that we have to be grateful for everyone's part in the good that happens to us.  

When רב איסר זלמן מלצר was very old & frail, רב שלום אייזן brought his son to the tzaddik for a beracha. He gave him a beracha to be a gadol in Torah & yiras shomaim. Then, on the day of the Bar Mitzva, everyone was shocked to see רב איסר זלמן walking slowly, with great effort, by himself from his house to the house of  רב שלום which was quite a distance. They ran up to him & asked him why he was exerting himself to come to the Bar Mitzva. When they had come to the rabbi's house, they only intended to secure a beracha!

He answered them, “I owe you a debt of gratitude. When you came to tell me about the bar mitzva of your son, I thought to myself, wow time really flies. I remember being at the wedding of רב שלום & now he's coming to tell me about the bar mitzva of his son...... Time goes by so quickly so I resolved right then to maximize my time. Since it was because of you that I had these thoughts, I owe you הכרת הטוב & wanted to share in your simcha.

These events demonstrate the importance of הכרת הטוב . From the soldiers saving each other’s lives to giving someone shelter to even causing someone to have thoughts that help him, the size of the benefit does not matter. Whatever the benefit, the Torah is teaching us to have   הכרת הטוב !

Pinchas

After the plague, which was averted only by Pinchas' courageous act to avenge the honor of Hashem, nearly destroyed the nation, the Torah once again counts the nation to see how many people are left.

The Torah then lists the names of the people who were left, with additional commentary on those who had something noteworthy happen to them.

One such example: ובני אליאב נמואל ודתן ואבירם, the sons of Aliav were Nemual & Dassan & Aviram. Then the posuk mentions an incident and continues הוא דתן ואבירם אשר הצו על משה ועל אהרן בעדת קורח , that's Dassan & Aviram that fought with Moshe & Aaron with the assembly of Korach.  

It’s very interesting to note that Korach himself, the instigator of the argument with Moshe, isn't mentioned at all when they list Shevet Levi. So why are Dasan & Aviram mentioned when they were only the sidebar to Korach, played a minor role. Why not Korach, himself; why does the Torah have to recount their part?

There is a fascinating explanation given by רב בן ציון ציזלינג. When it comes time to appoint a rabbi over a city, there is a great dispute among the people as to what kind of rabbi to appoint. The learners want a talmid chacham while the regular people want someone entertaining, a good speaker with good stories and the business men want a worldly rabbi.

Everyone wants one that is best suited for his needs. Then you have the people that join in the dispute just to add fuel to the fires. They’re not really interested in selecting a rabbi at all; they will just get involved in every argument just to keep the disputes going.  

This is how we could understand the story of Korach, who, at least, had cause to debate Aaron's appointment as Kohen Kadol. The bechorim were supposed to be the Kohanim or anyone from Shevet Levi, which had been selected as the shevet from whom the Kohanim would be selected. Therefore Korach, who was from Shevet Levi & was a Bechor, as well, had something to gain by debating Aaron. It could have been him instead of Aaron.

However, when we’re told that Dassan & Aviram were in this too, it’s astounding. Why would they get involved in a fight in which they had no stake. They were neither Levi'm nor Bechorim. That's why the posuk says הוא דתן ואבירם ... These are the instigators that get involved in disputes in which they can't gain. Rather, they just get involved for the sake of argument.

On the other hand, Hashem gives Pinchas the covenant of peace. What did Pinchas do? He stopped the plague that was destroying the people. He killed Zimri who was also instigating the people against Moshe. We must learn from here to stay far away from machlokes and not to get involved, especially in things that don't concern us. Then, we, too, will be blessed with the covenant of peace!

Balak

When Balak and his nation see what the Jews did to the Emori, they are frightened of what lies ahead for them. Recognizing that the Jews are not winning their wars in a natural way, they look for a solution that's not natural too. They go to hire Bilaam to go and curse the Jews utilizing the same power of the mouth that the Jews have.

Rashi tells us that one of the reasons that Hashem let His divine presence rest on a non-Jewish evil person was so the nations of the world wouldn't be able to complain, saying had you given us prophets, we, too, would have changed for the better. He gave them a prophet who not only didn't help them change for the better, rather made them worse by advising them to be promiscuous.

The problem, though, remains. The nations could say that You gave the Jews great leaders like Moshe while You gave us a leader who was a degenerate. Of course we wouldn't improve!

Explains the sefer לב אהרן , Chazal tell us that Hashem went around to all the nations of the world asking them if they wanted the Torah. Each one responded negatively until He reached the Jewish people, who accepted it. The nations of the world refused to accept the Torah yet wanted prophets, so Hashem gave them a prophet without the Torah. Originally, that prophet was the same caliber as Moshe; as Chazal tell us ולא קם נביא עוד בישראל כמשה , and there was no Navi like Moshe, by the Jewish people. Chazal expound that to mean by the Jewish people there was no one like Moshe; however, by the nations of the world there was - Bilaam.

Both started on an even footing; however, Moshe had the Torah and so rose to the greatest levels while Billam, who didn't have Torah, sunk to the lowest low. Without the guidance of the Torah, even a prophet is worthless.

In נובהרדוק , they told the following story to try to demonstrate this concept. Once, the Shamash came into the Shul to clean. He saw that the town thief came into the shul & walked up to the ארון קודש . Since the thief didn't see him, he hid under a bench to see if the thief would try to steal the Sifrei Torah. If so, he would catch him red handed. Much to his surprise, the thief opens the curtains & starts crying to Hashem. The shmash thinks to himself, “maybe the thief has someone sick in his household or something” so he makes an effort to hear what the thief is saying. He hears him saying over & over, "please Hashem give me Ruach Hakodesh".  

The shamash is appalled! How could this common thief be asking for Ruach Hakodesh? So he walks up to the thief, & asking him, “why are you davening for Ruach Hakodesh?” The thief answers him, “you really don't understand? Every day, I risk my life breaking into homes. Sometimes, I go into big fancy homes & find nothing to steal while, other times, I go into a plain home & there I hit the jackpot. I want Ruach Hakodesh so that I don't waste my time & risk my life for nothing!

We all start out the same. We all have the same opportunities as Moshe or Bilaam. We all ask Hashem for the same things: some use it for good & some for bad. Learn from the lesson of Bilaam & the thief; ask Hashem for everything but use it with the Torah's guidance. Then, what we do will be for the good & we will be able to strive to reach the level of Moshe Rabbainu!