One of the dinim the Torah talks about in Parashat Pinchas is the dinim of ירושה, the dinim concerning inheritance. And we see that the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot, when he quotes all the mitzvot, so the last mitzvah in the seder of the mitzvot aseh, in the order of the positive mitzvot, is the mitzvah of נחלות, the mitzvah of inheritance. As we know, the Rambam divided the Sefer HaMitzvot into two parts: first he writes all the mitzvot aseh, all the positive mitzvot, and then all the negative mitzvot. So the last one of the positive mitzvot is the mitzvah of נחלות, the mitzvah that the Beit Din has to judge the dinim of נחלות and inheritance. And with the same order, the Rambam writes it in the beginning of his Sefer Yad HaChazakah. Because in the beginning of his Sefer Yad HaChazakah, Mishneh Torah, he also writes the whole list of all the mitzvot, and also divides it into mitzvot aseh and mitzvot lo ta'aseh. So the last one of the positive mitzvot is the mitzvah of נחלות, the mitzvah of Beit Din to judge the dinim of נחלות, of inheritance. And he quotes the pasuk from Parashat Pinchas that teaches us the din of נחלות. Now we know that the seder, the order in the Rambam is also very exact. Not only the words of the Rambam are exact, but even the order of the Rambam are exact, as the Yad Malachi writes in the Klalei HaRambam אות ו. So it comes out that since the Rambam writes the last mitzvot aseh is the mitzvah of נחלות, obviously there must be something special in the mitzvah of נחלות. Because we know that the Rambam did not follow the order of the mitzvot the way they are written in the Torah. He has his own order. Now being that the mitzvah of נחלות is the last one, and we have a rule the Gemara says, הכל הולך אחר החיתום, everything follows the end, so obviously the last mitzvah must be a mitzvah which is a very general mitzvah, and that's why this is the last mitzvah. Similar to the fact that the Rambam has the first mitzvah, the מצוה לידע שיש שם אלוקה, to know that there is a God, as the pasuk says אנכי ה׳ אלקיך. Now this is not the first mitzvah mentioned in the Torah, but the reason that Rambam writes this as the first mitzvah, because this is the foundation of all the mitzvot. As the Rambam writes in the beginning of the Sefer Yad Hachazakah, Mishneh Torah, that יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות, that the foundation of all foundations and the pillar of all wisdom is לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון, to know that there is the first Being. This is the foundation of everything. So therefore, the first mitzvah which is the foundation of the other mitzvot is the mitzvah to know and believe that there is a God. The same would be concerning the last mitzvah. Since הכל הולך אחר החיתום, everything follows the end, so the last mitzvah must be a very special mitzvah, a mitzvah which is a מצוה כללית, a general mitzvah. So it seems that the mitzvah of נחלות, the mitzvah of inheritance, is a very general mitzvah. Now the question is, what is the reason that mitzvah of נחלות is such a special mitzvah? At first glance, we could have answered that the reason is because all the mitzvot are given to the person while he's alive. The mitzvah of נחלות takes place after the person passes away from the world. So therefore, this is the last mitzvah, because all the other mitzvot are done earlier, while he's alive. The mitzvah of נחלות, which is done later, so this is the last mitzvah. But it's a very big dochak, it's very hard to say this, because there are many other mitzvot which are also concerning a person after he dies. For instance, the Rambam mentions the mitzvah of קבורה, the mitzvah of burial, מצוה רל״א, the 231st mitzvah, which is also a mitzvah done after the person passes away, and nevertheless, the Rambam doesn't count that as the last mitzvah. So therefore, we can't say that the reason that the mitzvah of נחלות, the mitzvah of inheritance, is the last mitzvah because it comes after the person passes away. In addition to that, the mitzvah of נחלות is not a mitzvah on the person anyway. It's a mitzvah on the Beit Din. The mitzvah is that the Beit Din has to לדון בדיני נחלות, that the Beit Din has to judge the dinim of נחלות, of inheritance. As the Chinuch in מצוה ת׳ writes clearly that according to the Rambam, he says, the mitzvah of נחלות is a mitzvah on the Beit Din, that the Beit Din has to judge. So therefore, it's hard to say that the reason the mitzvah of נחלות is the last mitzvah because it deals with a person after he passes away. But who is supposed to do the mitzvah? The בית דין. And the בית דין are people who are alive. So then the reason couldn't be because this is a דין concerning a person after he passes away. So we're back to the question: what is so special about the mitzvah of inheritance that this is the last mitzvah of the mitzvot aseh?

To answer this על דרך הדרוש and על דרך הרמז, על דרך החסידות, is that we see in a different place that the end is with נחלות. We see that the last Mishnah in ששה סדרי משנה, in the whole of Shas, in all Mishnayot, Masechet Uktzin, is with the מאמר עתיד הקדוש ברוך הוא להנחיל לכל צדיק וצדיק ש״י עולמות, and Hashem in the future will make every single tzadik inherit 310 worlds, and quotes the pasuk in Mishlei, קפיטל ח׳ פסוק כ״א, where it says להנחיל אוהבי יש, that Hashem will make His lovers, the people who love Him, the tzadikim, He will make them inherit יש, יש means 310. And the מפרשים explain, the Rambam in his Perush Hamishnayot, and the Rosh, and the Rav, that the reason that Mishnayot finishes דוקא with this מאמר, דוקא with this statement, it's not mamash mamash the end, there is another מאמר after that, but this is almost the end, so they explain that since this pasuk and this מאמר deals with the schar, the reward that the Yidden will get after they finish doing their avodah, which comes after you finish learning the whole Torah and after you finish doing all your mitzvot, then you get the reward, that's why the Mishnayot finishes with this מאמר, because the end of the Mishnayot means after all of Mishnayot. Now, all of Mishnayot is the whole Torah and includes all the mitzvot. After you finish with the whole Torah and all the mitzvot, that's when the sechar comes. That's why it deals, it speaks about this inyan. And we see that here, too, it speaks about ירושה, about נחלה, as it says עתיד הקדוש ברוך הוא להנחיל לכל צדיק וצדיק, that Hashem will make every צדיק inherit, and quotes the pasuk where it says להנחיל אוהבי יש, that the אוהבים will be נוחל, will inherit the 310 worlds. So we see that here, the end of Mishnayot also finishes with the inyan of נחלה, with the inyan of ירושה. So we could say that the same reason the Rambam finishes his mitzvot aseh with the inyan of נחלה, with the inyan of ירושה, because this inyan of ירושה has a very special thing. What is, after all, so special about the inyan of נחלה, the inyan of ירושה, that this should be the end of Mishnayot and the end of all the mitzvot aseh, of the positive mitzvot? So it explains this based on an introduction.

In Parashat Pinchas, the parashah of נחלות is written in connection to the inheritance and division of Eretz Yisrael. As the Torah says that Hashem told them to divide Eretz Yisrael, and that's when the daughters of Tzelafchad came and complained: תנה לנו אחוזה בתוך אחי אבינו, we also want an inheritance in Eretz Yisrael. And in connection to that, Hashem gave the parashah of נחלות, and He said איש כי ימות etc., if a person will die, and his ירושה goes over to his son, if he doesn't have a son it goes to a daughter, etc., etc. So it comes out that the inyan of yerusha is written in connection to Hashem giving the Yidden Eretz Yisrael. Concerning the connection of Yidden to Eretz Yisrael, we find that there are three ways Eretz Yisrael was given to the Yidden. One thing is that it was given to them as a yerusha, as an inheritance, as the pasuk says in Parashat Vaera, קפיטל ו׳ פסוק ח׳: ונתתי אותה לכם מורשה אני ה׳, that I will give it to you, meaning Eretz Yisrael to you, as a מורשה, as an inheritance. And the Gemara actually says in בבא בתרא דף קי״ט עמוד ב׳ and in עבודה זרה דף נ״ג עמוד ב׳ and many other places that ירושה היא לכם מאבותיכם, that Eretz Yisrael is a yerusha from your parents, it is an inheritance. But in addition to that, we also find that Eretz Yisrael was given to the Yidden in the form of a division. Eretz Yisrael was divided as the pasuk says in קפיטל כ״ו פסוק נ״ד: לרב תרבה נחלתו ולמעט תמעיט נחלתו, to a bigger shevet you give a bigger chelek, a bigger share, to a smaller shevet you give a smaller share, so it was also given to them as a chelek, we call it. And then a third thing we find that אך בגורל יחלק את הארץ, as the pasuk says there in פסוק נ״ה, that the division of Eretz Yisrael was done through a goral, through throwing lots. So it comes out that the connection of Yidden to Eretz Yisrael is in three inyanim. One way, it's a yerusha, it's an inheritance. The other thing is it was given to them in a division על פי שכל, it was divided logically, as a bigger shevet would get more, a smaller shevet would get a smaller piece, etc., etc. And then it was given to them as a חלוקה על פי גורל, a division according to the goral, which is not שכל. Goral is something that you have no reason why to divide it a certain way, you just throw lots. And the fact that there was another thing here, it was given by the אורים ותומים, that they would ask the אורים ותומים which chelek goes to which shevet, that is one inyan together with the goral. All the Urim VeTumim did was to prove that the goral was done al pi ruach hakodesh, was done with ruach hakodesh, it wasn't done without ruach hakodesh. As we understand from Rashi in פרשת פנחס, קפיטל כ״ו פסוק נ״ד, and from the Rashbam in בבא בתרא דף קכ״ב עמוד א׳.

Now, when we say that Eretz Yisrael is connected to Yidden in these three ways, really it's not Eretz Yisrael that's connected to Yidden, this shows a connection between Hashem and the Yidden in these three ways. Because the reason That Eretz Yisrael was given to the Yidden is because Eretz Yisrael is the nachalah of Hashem. As the pasuk says in שמואל א׳, קפיטל כ״ו, פסוק י״ט, Eretz Yisrael is Hashem's inheritance, as the pasuk also says in פרשת עקב, קפיטל י״א, פסוק י״ב, that תמיד עיני השם אלקיך בה, that constantly the eyes of Hashem are in ארץ ישראל, מראשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. So this is a nachalah of Hashem. So therefore, Eretz Yisrael was given to the Yidden, because the Yidden are also considered a nachalah of Hashem, the inheritance of Hashem. As we understand it from ואתחנן, קפיטל ד׳, פסוק כ׳, and פרשת עקב, קפיטל ט׳, פסוק כ״ו and פסוק כ״ט, in האזינו, קפיטל ל״ב, פסוק ט׳, and many times in Tanach we find that the Yidden are called the nachalah or the inheritance of Hashem. And as the Chazal say in Tanchuma, Parashat Re'eh, ח׳, and also in Bamidbar Rabbah, פרשה כ״ג, ז׳, that אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, השם said, יבואו ישראל שבאו לחלקי, let the Yidden come, who came to My part, וינחלו את הארץ שבא לחלקי, and should inherit the land that came to My part. And it says in Mechilta, in פרשת בשלח, דף ט״ו, י״ז, that יבואו ישראל שנקראו נחלה, let the Yidden who are called nachalah, inheritance, let them come לארץ, to the land שנקרא נחלה, which is called inheritance, ויבנו בית המקדש שנקרא נחלה, בזכות התורה שנקרא נחלה. And let them build the בית המקדש which is called inheritance, in zechut of the Torah which is called inheritance. So we see that the connection of Yidden to ארץ ישראל is because they are connected to Hashem, and therefore Hashem gave them ארץ ישראל. And therefore we takeh see that just like we see the connection of Yidden to ארץ ישראל in these three ways, we find that the connection of Yidden to Hashem are in the same three ways. As we say in davenen every morning, אשרינו, how lucky we are, מה טוב חלקנו, how good is our share, ומה נעים גורלנו, and how tasty, how geshmak is our lot, ומה יפה ירושתנו, how nice is our inheritance. So here too, we use three expressions: חלקנו, our part, גורלנו, our lot, and ירושתנו, our inheritance. So we have the inyan of yerushah here, we have the inyan of goral here, and the inyan of chalukah here. So we see that the Yidden are connected to Hashem the same three ways as they are connected to ארץ ישראל, because really it's the same thing. And as we see here, the last of the three, which means it's the highest madregah, the highest level, is yerushah. That's why the last one is ומה יפה ירושתנו, how nice is our yerushah. What is the difference between these three ways of connection between the Yidden and Hashem? So we know that the difference between חלקנו and גורלנו, between חלק and גורל, part and lot, is dugma, similar to the difference between sale and a present. When you sell something, the reason it's given to the second person is because he bought it. That means that he did something that he deserved to get it. When you give a present, it is not because he bought it. A present is given just out of the good will of the one that gives the present. And the same is concerning the Yidden and Hashem. One way the Yidden are connected to Hashem is because they deserve it. The Yidden do avodat Hashem, they serve Hashem, and they deserve that connection, they deserve all the different things Hashem gives to the Bnei Yisrael. But in addition to that, there is another connection that the Yidden have, not because of what they deserve, but completely because of the will of Hashem. And that is what we call bechirah, when Hashem chose us. And the real meaning of bechirah, bechirah chofshit, free choice, is that it doesn't come because of the thing that is chosen, but completely because of the will of the chooser. Just like בגשמיות, when a person chooses, out of two things he chooses one, so obviously both are the same, because if one would be better than the other, then the thing itself would, so to speak, call out, \"Take me because I am better.\" When we say that a person chooses, the pshat is that both are the same, and he, on his own, chose, decided to take number one over number two. So it comes completely because of the ratzon of the chooser. And that fits to the concept of גורל, because when you throw a גורל, it is not because the thing that was chosen deserves it over the other one, because if that would be, you wouldn't throw a גורל, you would automatically take that one. גורל means that both are the same, and the person did something to prove that he should take this one over that one. So something doesn't come as a result of the avodah of the one that is chosen, but it comes because of the one that is choosing, because of him. And the same is with the Yidden and Hashem. That in addition to the fact that the Yidden deserve because they serve Hashem, there is another thing: Hashem chose the Bnei Yisrael completely because of His own ratzon, because of His own will. But nevertheless, even when we talk about choice, still, it seems as if there are two inyanim. One chooses the other. The difference between selling and giving a present, or the difference between a חלק and a גורל, and choice, for instance, the difference is that here, it is because of the one that is taken, it is because the avodah of the person that is taken that is chosen, that he deserves it, and the other one, the מתנה, comes because the person who gives the מתנה wants to do it. The גורל shows that the person who threw the גורל, he is going to take this one not because of the avodah of the one that is taken. But nevertheless, in both of these cases, the pshat is that you have two things here, and one chooses the other, or one gives a present to the other.

There is a third level, and that is the fact, as it says in the Zohar, that ישראל וקודשא בריך הוא כולא חד, that the Yidden and Hashem are really one. And this concept is expressed in inyan of yerushah, because we know that when it comes to yerushah, when a person inherits something, it is not the pshat that he is somebody else that inherited from another person, but as we know, the pasuk says in Tehillim, קאפיטל מ״ה, פסוק י״ז, that תחת אבותיך יהיו בניך, that the children are instead, in place of the parents, which means that the parent himself, so to speak, continues through the child, as it is understood from the Gemara בבא בתרא דף קמ״ט עמוד א׳, that yerushah the pshat that it's as if it's a continuation of the same person. So this expresses the highest level of connection between the Yidden and Hashem, the fact that they are like יורשים. They are like those who inherit, that means that the one that inherits is mamash the same and one with the one from whom he inherits. It's not like a נכסים, property is given over from one to another, like when you sell something or even when you give a present, cause there you give from one to the other. Here, it's the same one that's continued in the יורש. And that's the highest level of a yid, that he's connected to Hashem even way higher than the fact that Hashem chose him, but because a yid and Hashem are really one, as we know, קודשא בריך הוא וישראל כולא חד. And because ארץ ישראל was given to the Yidden, because ארץ ישראל is a נחלה of Hashem, so therefore, in the connection of Yidden to ארץ ישראל, we also find these three things. On one hand, it was given to them through גורל. It was also given to them as a חלק, but then you have the third level, that was given to them as a yerushah, as an inheritance, because the Yidden are like the יורשים of Hashem, so they are also יורשים of ארץ ישראל. Now this explains why the end of Mishnayot talks about yerushah, the inyan of להנחיל, because after a yid reaches the highest madreigah, he is able to reach this madreigah of yerushah of Hashem, that he is mamash like one with Hashem. And that is the reason also that the Rambam has the last mitzvot aseh, the mitzvah of נחלה, the mitzvah of ירושה, because this is the end, so to speak, the ultimate level a person could reach is to feel his connection to Hashem in a way that not like two things that are connected, but in a way like ירושה, just like a יורש is one with the מוריש, a Yid feels mamash one with Hashem, because essentially a Yid and Hashem are one. And therefore the last mitzvah, which is the ultimate level a person reaches, which expresses itself in the fact that this is the end, after all the mitzvot, is the mitzvah of נחלה, the mitzvah of ירושה.