07 Jul MATOT: SACRIFICING THE MISSION FOR THE LOVE THE EASTERN SETTLERS: A TALE OF LOVE

The Old Man
Arnold had reached
the age of 105 and
suddenly stopped
going to synagogue.
Worried by Arnold’s
absence after so many
years of faithful attendance, his rabbi went to
see him. He found him in excellent health, so
the Rabbi asked, “How come after all these
years we don’t see you at services anymore?”
Arnold looked around and lowered his voice.
“I’ll tell you, Rabbi,” he whispered. “When I
got to be 90, I expected G-d to take me any
day. But then I got to be 95, then 100, then
105. So I figured that G-d is very busy and
must have “forgotten” about me and I don’t
want to remind Him.”
The Eastern Colonists
The children of Israel are en route to the Land
of Canaan when they are attacked by the
armies of Sichon and Og, whose domain lay
on the eastern bank of the Jordanian river.
Moshe Bnei Yisrael into battle, defeats the
two kings and conquers their land.
In an unexpected turn of events, the tribes of
Gad and Reuvein, who own an enormous
amount of sheep and cattle, ask that they be
given these territories, which were prime
pastureland, in lieu of their allotment in the
land of Canaan, which lay to the west of the
Jordan.
“The descendants of Reuvein and Gad had an
extremely large number of animals,” the
Torah relates in this week’s parsha. “And they
saw that the Ya’zer and Gilead areas were
good for livestock. The descendants of Gad
and Reuvein came and presented the
following petition to Moshe… ‘If we have
found favor in your eyes, may this land be
given to your servants for a possession; do not
take us across the Jordan.’”
Moshe becomes extremely upset. He gives
them a fiery and dramatic sermon that lasts
ten complete verses, a pretty long stretch in
biblical narrative. “Shall your brothers go to
war while you sit here?” Moshe thunders.
“Why do you dissuade the heart of the
children of Israel from crossing to the land
that G-d has given them”?
Forty years earlier, he reminds them, Bnei
Yisrael had been poised to enter the land of
Canaan. But following a negative report by
the spies who were sent to scout the land, the
entire nation spurned the land promised to
their ancestors as the eternal heritage of
Israel. G-d decreed that they remain in the
desert for forty years, until that entire
generation died out and a new generation

prepared to accept the gift and challenge of
the Promised Land. And now, said Moshe to
Reuvein and Gad, you are repeating the sin of
the Spies — a sin which condemned an entire
generation and stopped Jewish history in its
tracks for forty years. Like your parents
before you, you are about to dissuade the
heart of your brethren from entering the land.
“You will destroy this entire nation,” Moshe
concludes his passionate rebuke.
Reuvein and Gad accept Moshe’s words with
grace. In response, they clarify their original
position. Far from seeking to free themselves
from the impending wars for the Land, they
were fully prepared to send their troops into
the Land and take a leading role in the battles
until they were successfully concluded. Only
then would they return to the lands allotted to
them in the east. “We will not return to our
homes until every Israelite has received his
Inheritance,” they pledge.
Moshe consents to their plea. He changes his
tone and grants them the territories they
requested.
The Questions
Several points in this narrative are perplexing.
First, since their intentions it seems, were
really pure (they never had in mind to abandon
their brethren going to war), how did Moshe
misread them so profoundly and grow so
furious with them? Why did Moshe not first
inquire what their intentions were before
coming down so hard on them?
Second, Moshe’s words focused on the point
that it was unacceptable that one segment of
Jewry isolates from the rest of the nation,
shirking responsibility and escaping the fate
of their brethren. But what about the
seemingly more important point: G-d wanted
the Jews to settle the land at the west of the
Jordan! These people decided that they wish
to remain in the Trans-Jordan, but who gave
these two tribes the right to redefine the plan
and choose the East instead of the West? Why
did Moshe consent to their request?
Searching for the Sub-Plot
Every serious student of the Tanach is aware
that most biblical plots contain sub-plots
(often sub-sub plots), rarely articulated in the
narrative explicitly. Our present tale is no
exception: The explicit narrative is about two
tribes of Israel concerned with their enormous
amount of livestock. Yet the drama in which
this episode is captured in the Torah somehow
gives one a sense that these tribes were not
only concerned about their cattle; something
very personal was at stake in their request to
remain in the Trans-Jordan. What was it?
The Torah gives us no hint. There is no way of

knowing. We are left in the dark until Moshe
is about to leave the world.
In the last section of Devarim, just moments
before his passing, Moshe speaks to each of
the twelve tribes of Israel. His words to the
tribe of Gad must be heeded to carefully:
“He [Gad] chose the first portion [of land
available], for that is where the lawgiver’s
plot is hidden.”
Unlimited Loyalty
These brief cryptic words, at last, expose to us
the true reason behind Gad’s insistence to
settle the territory to the East of the Jordan.
Moshe, the lawgiver, was destined to die in
the East and never to cross the Jordan. Gad
pined to remain with Moshe. Gad would not
allow Moshe’s burial plot to remain isolated
in the plains of Moav devoid of the presence
of even a single Jew.
The cry of Gad and Reuvein “Do not take us
across the Jordan,” was a plea not to separate
them from Moshe. If Moshe is not destined to
cross the river, they too did not wish to cross
it. These were no mere farmers worrying
about real estate. These were souls so deeply
attached to their Rebbe who were determined
to spend their lives near the resting place of
Moshe.
Moshe’s Intuition
Moshe, clearly, did not anticipate such a
movement. When the members of the tribes
of Gad and Reuvein approached him with
their request, they naturally could not
communicate the entire truth. They would not
talk to Moshe about his own death and his
gravesite. Instead, they discussed secondary,
albeit not dishonest, motivations, namely the
fate of their abundant cattle.
Moshe, in his intuition, felt that what they
were expressing to him did not capture the
entire story. Moshe sensed that their words
eclipsed a deeper truth. He thus suspected
them in contriving a scheme designed to
escape responsibility. Hence, he rebuked
them severely.
Yet surprisingly, they accepted Moshe’s
words in grace. The narrative makes it clear
that they were not upset by the false
accusations Moshe thrust upon them. Why
not?
Because they knew that they were not being
straightforward. Above all, this was not about
them and their ego; it was about their selfless
love and dedication to Moshe. His fury did
not alienate them, it merely demonstrated
once again the genuine leader Moshe was and
strengthened their resolve to remain in his
proximity for eternity.

Moshe agreed to fulfill their request. He could
not tear himself away from the people he
dedicated his life to. If his people reciprocated
the love he showered upon them, he would
not be the one to expel them from his midst.
And at the last moments before his death, he
extols Gad for this deeply loving choice.
The mistake
Yet, after all is said, rabbinic commentary
does criticize Reuvein and Gad for their
decision to remain in the Trans-Jordan. The
verse in Mishlei, “If an inheritance is seized
hastily in the beginning, its end will not be
blessed,” is applied in the Midrash to the two
tribes who seized the territory to the East of
the Jordan. Centuries later, when the Jews are
exiled from their land through the Assyrian
and later Babylonian empires, it is these two
tribes who are the first to be exiled from their
land.
Why?
Notwithstanding the noble and deeply moving
intentions of Gad and Reuvein, their choice is
considered “hasty” and immature. It was
emotionally compelling and profoundly
moving, but spiritually short sighted.
Yes, Gad and Reuvein could not abandon
Moshe’s burial place. They were determined
to remain in the proximity of Moshe’s body.
Yet they failed to realize that Moshe’s true
presence would not remain interred in the
earth of the plains of Moav. Moshe would
continue to live on in his vision, in his ideas,
in his teachings. And Moshe’s vision was that
the Jewish people fulfill their G-d given
mandate to enter the Land of Canaan, settle it
and transform it into a Holy Land, redefining
the physical landscape of the land as an abode
for G-dliness.
Moshe was never comprised of simple matter
so that his identity would be defined merely
in terms of his physical body. Moshe’s life
embodied a truth, a vision, a way of looking at
the world and understanding the objective of
man’s journey on this earth. As long as that
truth would live in the hearts of people
dedicated to Moshe’s dream of transforming
the earthy land of Canaan into a divine
landscape, Moshe would remain alive.
To be in the physical presence of Moshe is
great. Greater yet is to leave his presence and
fulfill his mission to settle the Holy Land.