page_title: Masei
section_title: Modern
hierarchical_section_title: Masei / Further reading / Modern
caption_attribution_description: English: Professor James Kugel of Bar Ilan University
context_page_description: Masei, Mas'ei, or Masse is the 43rd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the 10th and last in the Book of Numbers. The parashah constitutes Numbers 33:1–36:13. The parashah discusses the stations of the Israelites' journeys, instructions for taking the land of Israel, cities for the Levites and refuge, and the daughters of Zelophehad.
  It is made up of 5,773 Hebrew letters, 1,461 Hebrew words, 132 verses, and 189 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews generally read it in July or August. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 Saturdays, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In some leap years, parashat Masei is read separately. In most years, parashat Masei is combined with the previous parashah, Matot, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.
context_section_description: Isaac Abravanel. Commentary on the Torah. Italy, between 1492–1509. In, e.g., Abarbanel: Selected Commentaries on the Torah: Volume 4: Bamidbar/Numbers. Translated and annotated by Israel Lazar, pages 325–40. Brooklyn: CreateSpace, 2015. ISBN 978-1508721437.
  Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno. Commentary on the Torah. Venice, 1567. In, e.g., Sforno: Commentary on the Torah. Translation and explanatory notes by Raphael Pelcovitz, pages 814–25. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-89906-268-7.
  Moshe Alshich. Commentary on the Torah. Safed, circa 1593. In, e.g., Moshe Alshich. Midrash of Rabbi Moshe Alshich on the Torah. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 940–43. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2000. ISBN 965-7108-13-6.
  Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, Review & Conclusion. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, page 724. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0-14-043195-0.
  Shabbethai Bass. Sifsei Chachamim. Amsterdam, 1680. In, e.g., Sefer Bamidbar: From the Five Books of the Torah: Chumash: Targum Okelos: Rashi: Sifsei Chachamim: Yalkut: Haftaros, translated by Avrohom Y. Davis, pages 590–634. Lakewood Township, New Jersey: Metsudah Publications, 2013.
  Chaim ibn Attar. Ohr ha-Chaim. Venice, 1742. In Chayim ben Attar. Or Hachayim: Commentary on the Torah. Translated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 4, pages 1740–51. Brooklyn: Lambda Publishers, 1999. ISBN 965-7108-12-8.
  Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal). Commentary on the Torah. Padua, 1871. In, e.g., Samuel David Luzzatto. Torah Commentary. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 4, pages 1121–38. New York: Lambda Publishers, 2012. ISBN 978-965-524-067-2.
  Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter. Sefat Emet. Góra Kalwaria (Ger), Poland, before 1906. Excerpted in The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of Sefat Emet. Translated and interpreted by Arthur Green, pages 275–79. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1998. ISBN 0-8276-0650-8. Reprinted 2012. ISBN 0-8276-0946-9.
  Hermann Cohen. Religion of Reason: Out of the Sources of Judaism. Translated with an introduction by Simon Kaplan; introductory essays by Leo Strauss, page 126. New York: Ungar, 1972. Reprinted Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. ISBN 0-7885-0102-X. Originally published as Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums. Leipzig: Gustav Fock, 1919.
  Alexander Alan Steinbach. Sabbath Queen: Fifty-four Bible Talks to the Young Based on Each Portion of the Pentateuch, pages 135–38. New York: Behrman's Jewish Book House, 1936.
  Julius H. Greenstone. Numbers: With Commentary: The Holy Scriptures, pages 337–64. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1939. Reprinted by Literary Licensing, 2011. ISBN 1258107201.
  Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, pages 109, 111, 447. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
  J. Roy Porter. "The Succession of Joshua." In Proclamation and Presence: Old Testament Essays in Honour of Gwynne Henton Davies. Edited by John I. Durham and J. Roy Porter, pages 102–32. London: SCM Press, 1970. ISBN 0-334-01319-4.
  Jacob Neusner. "‘By the Testimony of Two Witnesses’ in the Damascus Document IX, 17–22 and in Pharisaic-Rabbinic Law." Revue De Qumrân, volume 8, number 2 (30) (1973): pages 197–217.
  Bernard F. Batto. "Red Sea or Reed Sea? How the Mistake Was Made and What Yam Sûp Really Means." Biblical Archaeology Review, volume 10, number 4. (July/August 1984).
  Philip J. Budd. Word Biblical Commentary: Volume 5: Numbers, pages 348–90. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1984. ISBN 0-8499-0204-5.
  Michael Fishbane. Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel, pages 98, 104–05, 148, 172, 238, 258, 308, 363, 529. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-19-826325-2.
  Pinchas H. Peli. Torah Today: A Renewed Encounter with Scripture, pages 195–98. Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Books, 1987. ISBN 0-910250-12-X.
  Jacob Milgrom. The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, pages 277–99, 497–512. Philadelphia: J
caption: kugel
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