The Reuven-Gad syndrome: Mattot-Masei 5784

This week’s public Torah reading brings to an end the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar. No longer do we have the slave generation that left Egypt in haste and, when faced with problems and difficulties, constantly longed to return there. In their place we find a new generation, standing poised and ready to enter the Land of Israel and fulfill God’s covenant with Avraham. However, once again, narrow personal interests becloud the general picture and weaken the necessary national resolve. 

Now it is not the so-called fleshpots of Egypt that beckon. Rather, temptation comes from the rich pasture lands east of the Jordan River  that entice the cattle-raising tribes of Reuven and Gad to plead with Moshe that they remain there and not be compelled to cross the river and enter the promised Land of Israel. 

Moshe’s initial reaction to their request is one of shock and bitter disappointment. He reminds them that their parents’ generation was destroyed in the desert for disparaging the Land of Israel and for refusing to make any effort to possess its. He warns them that they have apparently learned little from the experiences of their forebears, embracing the prospect of making the same errors of judgment. Moshe is greatly frustrated by their attitude. Why can’t they see past their cattle, their personal gain, an imagined short-term benefit and the consequences of their refusal to acknowledge the grandeur of the Lord’s long-term vision for them and their land? It is this spiritual blindness, this unwillingness to appreciate the uniqueness of Israel, its people and its land that Moshe bemoans. 

Reuven and Gad get their way, but their gain is only temporary and it comes at a price. Separated from their brethren west of the Jordan, the breakaway tribes will struggle to defend themselves and will be the first tribes to be exiled. They produce no major leaders or heroes for the Jewish people and their dreams of prosperity and material success are only fleetingly realized. 

Criticized bitterly and for all time by the prophetess Devorah for standing aside in an hour of national Jewish peril, the tribes of Reuven and Gad become the prototype for Jewish indifference to the causes of Jewish survival and success. In the modern world they unfortunately have many heirs and disciples. Mordecai warned Esther not to stand apart and be passive in the face of Haman and his decrees. He warned her that, when the Jews would somehow escape from their troubles, she and her family would be doomed to extinction if she allowed her narrow self-interest to rule over her national duty for the preservation of Israel. 

Today too, narrow self-interests govern many Jews—even leaders who seemingly should know better—in their attitudes, policies and behavior regarding the existential problems that face the Jewish people and the Jewish state. The Talmud teaches us that Jerusalem always needs advocates for its cause. That certainly is the case today. Jewish apathy and alienation are our enemies. The current allure of political correctness in policy and mindset is not just misleading but dangerous. Standing at the cusp of great adventures and opportunities, we must take care to avoid suffering the Reuven-Gad syndrome. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein