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7/11/12

Bnei Reuvain Chanoch Mishpachas HaChanochi


 "Bnei Reuvain Chanoch Mishpachas HaChanochi"; Rashi asks, why does the Torah add a "Hey" to the beginning of each family name and a "Yud" to the end (Chanoch becomes HaChanochi, Palu becomes HaPaluee)?
He answers, because the nations of the world were ridiculing Klal Yisroel by saying, "Why are you tracing your ancestry to your Shevatim? Are you under the impression that the Mitzriyim were not Mezaneh with your mothers?? If they controlled the Bnai Yisroel by forcing them to work, they surely were Mezaneh with the Bnos Yisroel. So all of you are really descendants of Egyptians!"  Therefore Hashem added a "Hey" to the beginning of each family name and a "Yud" to the end, using the name of Hashem - "Koh" - as a testimony that the Jewish women in Mitzrayim were not Mezaneh.
Why did the nations of the world first accuse the Bnos Yisroel of Znus at this point (by the counting of the 40th year in the desert)? 
 This accusation should have been made when the Bnai Yisroel were counted for the first time - in the first year in the desert (Parshas Ki Sisa)? Secondly, why is the name of Hashem placed backwards in the names of the families - Hey and then Yud - why wasn't the "Yud" placed in the beginning of the name and the "Hey" at the end?
The nations of the world would have never accused Klal Yisroel of transgressing the Avayrah of Znus, were it not for the episode that happened in Shittim where the Bnai Yisroel were Mezaneh with the daughters of Moav. It was only after the nations saw this Avayrah, that they said "Just like the men were Mizaneh here, so too were the women Mezaneh in Mitzrayim.
We know that in the Hebrew language Ish means a man and Ishah a woman. They both have the letters Aleph and Shin in their name. What differentiates between them is that an Ishah has a "Hey" and Ish a "Yud". Although it would have been more correct to place the "Yud" in front of the names of the families and the "Hey" at the end, since the ‘Yud" represents the men, who were Mezaneh in Shittim, and were the cause for the accusation of the nations, they are placed at the end of the names. As opposed to the letter "Hey', which represents the women, who were not Mezaneh in Mitzrayim, they are placed at the beginning of the names. 

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