Shalom everyone and thank you again for joining me in study of parashat ma totmasei, the two last parashat that basically ends Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, the book that described the journey of the Jewish people through the desert towards the land of Israel. What we will try to do today is to try to touch upon each parashat because this Shabbat we're going to read them both together. So I'll try to highlight two different aspects of Parashat Matot and Parashat Mase. In Parashat Matot, the Torah describes one of the most famous stories about Reuven and God, the tribes of Reuven and God, who requested to get their inheritance on the other side of the Jordan River, not entering the land of Israel. Let's try to understand their motivation, the very harsh reaction that they received from Moshe, and then the agreement between them. So the Torah states, the tribes of Reuven and God had a tremendous amount of flack. So they saw the other side of the Jordan River. They didn't see yet the land of Israel. They had no clue what is on the other side. But they saw that there is a lot of food for their flack. So what did they do? So they approached Moshe and Elazar and the presidents of the congregation, saying, all these cities that are on this side of the river, this land that God basically delivered in our hands, has tremendous amount of food for our flock, and we have a lot of it. Obviously, this is on the brinks of the Jordan River. This is when the Jewish people are ready to go into the land of Israel. And then you have these people who are claiming, who are requesting, please don't take us to the other side of the river. Do not enter us to the land of Israel. We can just imagine what kind of associations, what kind of memories that brings to Moshe and to the entire congregation. They already went through that story once with the spies, with Parashat Schlach that we learned together a few weeks ago. So we can definitely expect somewhat of a harsh reaction, and that's exactly what we get. This is an amazing statement. And also, not only that you are so selfish, look what would you do. You're going to what? You're going to cause the entire people to think twice, should we go into the land of Israel? Maybe we should do the same thing like these two tribes and stay on the other side of the Jordan River. Which means basically Moshe Rabbeinu says to the tribes, you are doing something terrible. A, you are very selfish. You want to live here in tranquility while your brothers and sisters are fighting, fighting what Hashem wants them to do, to conquer the land of Israel. And B, you are going to want to weaken the people. You are going to make everyone think twice. Would they want to go into the land of Israel and face a war? So they said, So they approached him again and they said, No, no, no, you misunderstood us. Let us build cities for our flak first, and then cities for our children. And what about us? Oh, anachnu, nechaleth chushim lifne bne Israel Tashera Vyunumel Mekumam. We will be Sayerat Matkal. We will be the special units. We will go first with our brothers and sisters to conquer the land of Israel. And we will not go back to our cities, to our families, until what? Until every tribe will have its territory in the land of Israel, and then we'll go back. Because we are not going to the land of Israel. That's a fact. Now, the tribes of Reuben and God says to Moshe, this is a fact. We are not going into the land of Israel, but we are not going to just sit here and not fight with the people of Israel. We're going to. We're just going to build cities for our flock and for our children. Then we will go and we will lead the Jewish army into the land of Israel. And then after every Jew has its inheritance, we will go back. Sounds like a good deal, right? If you will do that, if you will be the first one to lead the army, and then you can't say that. So Moshe is making a double condition. He says to them, Okay, I heard you. If you will do what you said you will, what you committed to do, which means to lead, to be the leaders of the Israeli army and to conquer the land of Israel, so then I will give you this land, the other side of the Jordan River. But if you not, if you're not going to what to help Am Israel, to help the nation of Israel to conquer the land of Israel, so then I cannot not give you the land because you can take it, I will not be here, says Moshe. But you will find something terrible as a punishment. And therefore, after I made this double condition, says Moshe, Bnulachim Arimnetzona achem tasu. Okay, so now you can build cities for your children, and then cities for your flack, and then fulfill your commitment and lead the army to conquer the land of Israel. So the tribe of God and Ruven responded to Moshe, saying, We will do exactly like you commanded us. Tapeinu, our children, our wives, Miknenu, our flak, the Holbeemtenu, and all the beasts and the animals we have, Yusham Beara Girah, they will be located in this side of the river, and we will go as the leaders of the army to conquer the land of Israel. Now there is something very interesting. If you look at the top of the page, the first verse of the top of the page, when the first time that the tribes of Reuben and God approached Moshe, they said, We will build cities for our flock and cities for our children. When Moshe reacted to them, he says, What? If you look at the end of the first paragraph, Bnulachim Aremle Taphem, Ugderot letzonakem. First you build cities for your children, and only after that to your flock. And then when the tribe of Reuven and God responded again to Moshe, they basically copy-paste what he said. Tapeinu, first our children, our wives, and then our flock. So if we pause here for just a second, we see something very interesting. The Torah began that story with the description. They had a tremendous amount of flock. They had tremendous amount of wealth. And they did not want to go into the land of Israel. Immediately you see that there is something with their priorities which is a bit skewed. There is something not right. It seems to be that they prefer their flock and their wealth and their plenty rather than to go as one unit with the Am Israel, with the nation of Israel, to conquer the land of Israel, to fulfill God's promise and to create an independent kingdom. They prefer their wealth. And in a way, this mindset also, in a way, encouraged them to say what? First we'll build cities for our flock, and only after that for our children, which again seems to be so odd. Especially for us, Am Israel, we always try to put forth first our children before the wealth and the money. And immediately Rashi understands it. And Rashi, the 11th century commentator from France, says immediately, this is amazing how Rashi immediately catches this point and says, when they come and say we'll build cities for our flock, and only after that cities for our children, he says they had more compassion towards their money rather than their children. And it's all based on priorities. When someone says a sentence, listen to his or her priorities. What do they put first? What do they put second? So when Moshe reacted to them, he used that opportunity to teach them. It was an educational moment. And Moshe says to them, he says, first you need to think about your children. They are the most important thing, not your flock. First build cities for your children, protect your children. And only after that, fences for your flock. So we see, and I don't know what came first, the chicken or the egg, which means their obsession with money and funds, and that was the cause for why they wanted to stay on the other side of the river, or they just had so much money, so their entire perspective, their entire vantage point, their entire mindset was programmed money, wealth, flack. Ah, also children, wives, family, land of Israel, Amisrael. This is not the right priorities. And Moshe immediately tried to fix it. You know, I don't know how many of you participated in a ceremony that's called Pidon Haben, the redemption of the first son. When a woman gives birth to a son and that's her first son in some interesting conditions, but basically, if that's the first son, you need to what to redeem him. You need to go to the cohen, to the priest, and you the priest is going to ask the parents a question. I can redeem your son, but it's going to cost you five shekels. Do you want to give me the five shekels? Oh, I'll just skip your first son. Now, every time you go to such a ceremony, everyone laughs and no one says, Oh, obviously the parents are going to give the five shekels. But listen to the question. The priest asks the parents, five shekels or your first son? This is a question for life. For us as parents, as grandparents, as parents to be, what do you prefer? Five shekels? Money or your first son? I'll just take a moment to say it should not be mutually exclusive. The Tawa has nothing against accumulating wealth. However, the Torah cannot tolerate obsession with wealth and ignoring education, family, children, really quantity and quality time in teaching our children and helping them shaping their future. Hamishash Kalim, five shekels, or your first son. It's your choice. And that's what was Moshe trying to convey to the tribe of Gadden Reuven. You need to think about your priorities. You need to understand what are you asking for. You need to know that by staying on that side of the river in a way, even if you want it or not, you separate yourself from Am Israel. You separate yourself in a way from the story that it's now being written in the land of Israel. Is that worthwhile to do? Because of your flock? So Moshe is not able to convince them to enter the land of Israel, but at least he is able to cause them to rethink their priorities. So when they reacted back to Moshe, they said, first cities for our children, and only after that, fences for our flock. The Orachim has a little bit of a different look on their request. Umiknehrav, as I said before, the Torah began the story with the description that the tribe of Ruven and God came with tremendous amount of flack. He says, the reason for the Torah to tell us that Shevet reven and God, the tribes of Ruven and God had so much flak, it was Lehatztika Katuv Tama nimzabiyem, lish elat eret sikon veog ki emetu. He says it came to justify why did they ask for that side of the river? But how come that they had more flack than any other tribe? says the Orachaim. So what is the reason that they had more flak than any other tribe? They were strong. The tribe of Ruven and God were very mighty people. And when there was a war against the nation of Sichon, the Moabites, the Midianites, the Ammonites on the other side of the river, they took more spoil, they took more flock, and that's how they in a way enlarged their percentage of the flack, comparing them to any other tribe, which again, the Orachaim, based on his interpretation, it says something about the tribe of woven and God. Yes, they are mighty, they are strong, but they are also a bit obsessive with accumulating flack, which is obviously funds and wealth. The Barbanel has a very different aspect and look and interpretation on their request. So until now, if I would ask, okay, what is the reason that the tribes of Ruben and God asked to stay on that side of the river? The answer is their priorities were skewed, they did not understand the importance of family, children, they put all their obsession with wealth and funds, and that's why they wanted to stay there, even though they in a way separate themselves from Am Islail. So we basically are trying to chastise them, rebuke them. Hey, get your priorities straight. You don't know exactly your priorities. Moshe was able to convince them halfway, which means they changed their priorities, but still they insisted on staying on that side of the river. So if we'll look at them, we'll say, ah, not exactly great tribes. Rabitz Jac Donna Barbanel, a Spanish commentator from the 15th century, suggested a totally different interpretation. And he says the following. This is an incredible political analysis. Ruven was the firstborn. He was Yaqov's and Leah firstborn. In ancient cultures and obviously in the time of the Bible, if you are the firstborn, you probably, or you should be, the leader. However, Reuven did few things in his life that he lost his privilege as a firstborn. His firstborn rights were given to Joseph, to Yosef, and the kingdom was given to Yehuda, to Judah. Reuven was not able to fathom to be in the land of Israel and get orders again from his younger brothers. He couldn't stand it anymore. Therefore, because of this, I will call it political reason, but I guess it might be even more of a personal thing, this hurt. He couldn't fathom life that every day is being reminded that ah, you were the firstborn, but you lost it. And therefore you're going to get orders from your younger brother. So therefore, Reuven decided, you know what? I have enough from that. I have enough from that for 40 years in the desert. You know what? Now we are going to want to erect a kingdom. I want to build my own kingdom. I want to run my own businesses. I'm a firstborn. I'm capable. And because I will never be able to do it in the land of Israel, I would like to separate. This is a cognitive decision. This is a decision that Reuven did according to the Barbanel in a very clear way. I do not want to be part of Am Israel to the extent that I'm with them and get orders for my younger brothers. So that Chevet Reuven. I have enough to be humiliated. What about God? What about the tribe of God? So says the Barbanel, because God was also the firstborn from the maidservants, from Zilpah, who was the maidservant for Leah. So God and Reuven had something in common. What was their commonality? The commonality was that they were both firstborns and they were both stripped away from what? From their rights to be a firstborn. And therefore, they both decided to go to the other side of the river. Now, what about the half of the tribe of Menashe? Because it was not only Ruven and God, at the end, half of the tribe of Menasheh also found himself on the other side of the river. Really, Menashe had no want or will or desire to join them, but at the end, Moshe decided to put half of Menasheh there. I would suggest also, by the way, Menashe was also firstborn. And Yaakov was the one to replace them. Perhaps Menashe also had those thoughts and feelings that you know what, it's not fair to be pushed around by your younger brother. If I take if I digress for a second and I look at the Barbanel's interpretation, you see something really personal. Oven and God and maybe half of Menasheh, they were hurt that their right to lead was taken away from them. And they seized an opportunity to do it for themselves. And what was the cost? The cost was a separation from the nation of Israel. Because as much as connection you can have between the two sides of the river, and the river is not the ocean, you can just go and visit. But just to visit, but still stay separate. In a way, divide Am Israel already into two nations. And therefore, their personal hurt caused, or basically was the impetus for this divide that we will find in Amisrael later on in Tanakh. Take a look at Zefer Yahushua. In the book of Joshua, where there is a description that the tribe of Wuven and God really led Am Israel's army and they conquered the land of Israel and then they went back to their homes. What did they do? They built a big altar on the other side of the river. Am Israel, when they saw this altar, they thought that, oh, Ruven and God are starting to being idol worshippers and we need to destroy them. So before they went to war against them, they sent Pinchas and Elazar to talk to them and to say, what's going on here? Why did you build this altar? Take a look at what it says in Sephira Yoshua, chapter 22nd. It says, So the tribes of Ruben and God explained to Pinchas and to El-Azar, the representative of the other nine and a half tribes who already entered the land of Israel. They said, don't think that we are going to be idol worshippers. We build that altar for one reason. So your children will not excommunicate our children. They will not look at us as foreigners, as the other family. We are one family. So therefore, this altar, it's like almost like a monument of the relationships, the connection, the attachment that we on this side of the river and you on that side of the river has. I will read one more Pasuk. The second one, it's really not an altar to bring sacrifices on it. It's like almost like a monument that connects us both. So when Pinchas, the priest, and all the congregation, all the leaders of the congregation heard the explanation, they said, you know what? Okay, we understand. However, there is one thing to understand, and there is a different thing to forgive. The Natsiv of Naftalitzviu Da Berlin, when he saw, when he read Moshe's reaction to the tribe of woman and God, saying to them, How can you even think that you will stay here and enjoy life while your brothers and sisters will go and fight and conquer the land of Israel? says the Naziv, Ze avla neged Israel. That's injustice against the entire nation of Israel. The Natsiv said something so insightful. He says, Look, this side of the Jordan River was conquered by whom? All of Am Israel, they all participated. And what do you suggest? You suggest that you will take it, you will enjoy the fruits of all Am Israel, and then you will tell Am Israel, you go ahead and conquer your own land, I'm not going to participate. So even though later on the tribe of God and Reuven participated in a full sense of the world in leading the army to conquer the land of Israel, I think that there was always something that bothered all Amisrael. They already have their cities. There is one thing to go to war when you know when you know that you have a home, that you have a family, they are all safe, and then you help others to get their inheritance. It's totally different war when you are not sure you will get your home. You are not sure that you will be able to conquer your territory. This is a different war. And I think that Am Israel carried that uh, I will say, disappointment from Ruven and God for generations to come. The Malbim also explained the idea of Moshe's severe and harsh reaction to the tribe of Ruven and God. And he says, How can you think even staying here? Your brothers and sisters are fighting, they will fight, and you will sit here, says the Malbim. This is just injustice. That's injust. We say in Hebrew, total injust. That you will sit here and enjoy life and your brothers and sisters will fight for you. You must be part of what? You must be part of the burden that the entire Jewish people take on Pani's shoulders. So, here we finish, we complete parashatmatot. Parashatma tot, which is the parsha before the last parsha. If I would ask what is the lesson, one of the major lessons of the parsha is the idea of Am Israel. Am Israel needs everyone to participate in a war. Am Israel needs everyone to join together. You cannot have groups in Am Israel. Every tribe needs to contribute his or her, I would say, talent, passion, wisdom for the success of Am Israel. Only by being together as a nation, you can fully conquer the land of Israel and build a kingdom of priests, a kingdom of a holy nation, a kingdom that can be a light unto the nations. So that's Parashatmatot. And now it will bring us to Parashat Masay. In Parashat Maseh, which means basically journeys, traveling. The Torah states, these are the journeys that the traveling, that the Jewish people, that Am Israel, that the nation of Israel went through from Exodus from the time that they went out from Egypt to really the border of the land of Israel. Rashi says, why do we need all the description of all these 42 journeys? A, we can do it by ourselves by looking at all the places that were mentioned before Parashat Masay. And also, what's the point? So Rashi brings a very interesting, very interesting explanation. He says, first explanation, it's come to teach us how much Hashem has compassion over us. Why? Basically, what she says, in 40 years, they traveled 42 times. So the average is what? Which means God had compassion on us. He didn't drive us crazy from one place to another, from one place to another, but rather, yes, we journeyed a lot and we went around ourselves and we circled ourselves. However, not every day. We stayed in places, we rested a bit, and then there was another journey. So first and foremost, the idea of what? To show how much God has mercy on us. So despite of all of our sins, all of our transgressions, all the times that we made Hashem upset, Hashem still has compassion on us, which is obviously a tremendous lesson for the Jewish people. They are about to go into the land of Israel, they are obviously going to perform some transgressions and commit some sins, and they need to know that Hashem always loved them. So that's the first interpretation. The second idea, he brings in the name of what? Of Rabitan Chuma. That's Midrashtanchuma, Darash Budrashachirat. So it's a parable for a king that his son was sick, and he took him to a far away place to find remedy for his child. So he found that remedy and they start their journey back from that place too, back to their palace. So on the way, Haviv Vayamunekulamasod, the king will start counting all the places that they journeyed through or stayed in. And here you had a headache. So the second explanation is some kind of a different interpretation than the first one. The first one just talked about God's compassion on us. The second one is more of an involved memory. Basically, Moshe tried to remind the Jewish people what exactly happened in each place. So not only that you will remember, but you will remember also what not to do. And you will remember what exactly you did in every place and how it influenced you, how it impacts your life. This phono, a biovadio's phono, 16th century in Italy, says, This phono has a different take than Rashi. So Rashi says, why do we write all the journeys and all those places? Enter to show God's compassion on us or alternatively to remind us of what we went through so we will learn our lessons. This phono says it's not about our lessons, it's really something else. It's to show how much God appreciates what we did. And I want to talk about that for a minute. Sometimes we, because we like to be very critical and very judgmental, so we look at Am Israel and their journey in the desert, and we only focus on what? On their complaints and them being ungrateful, and them being people of lack of faith, and they always challenge Moshe and they always challenge God, that terrible generation. That's not true. At least it's not the full truth. Just imagine. If you are slaves in Egypt, you are slaves, your families are slaves for generations, for 210 years. Then someone comes to you and says, Look, God revealed himself to me and he told me we need to get out of here, and I'm going to take out to take you out from Egypt. Where are we going? Oh, to the land of Israel. But on the way, we're just going to go into the desert for a while. Would you go? Would you join this leader that you have no clue where he's coming from? It required tremendous faith and trust that he is God's emissary. To take your family with little food into the desert, being chased by the Egyptians, at least for the first seven days after you leave Exodus. After Exodus Paul heard three days later that the nation of Israel is not coming back, he starts chasing them. Then you need to face the splitting of the sea, not knowing that it's going to be split. And then to go into the desert. No water, no food, you have a little bit of food that you brought from Egypt. Now you need to trust God and this emissary Moshe that they will do everything for you. That's what Hashem says. And I think this is a beautiful interpretation of the Sono. Writing those names, those names of the cities, the journey, all the Jewish peoples traveling in the desert, is to show us our kindness to God, following him, almost blindly, yes, complaining, but still moving on towards the land of Israel. That's what we continue to do. We continue to follow that vision, that prophet that was conveyed to us. So that's what this phonos says. The Rambam, Maimanides, in his book The Guide for the Perplexed, says the following. He says the reason why Moshe wrote all the places and all the places that they traveled through, he says it's it's essential. Why? So he says when you look at all the places, you will see that tremendous miracles took place in many of those places. First, the manna came every day, every place. B, there was a traveling well with them, provided them with water. There was the pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud that protected them. They were in the middle of the desert, not close to any, there was with zero proximity to any other settlement or city that they could buy food and still they survived, which means a tremendous miracle. Who would believe that miracle? Only the people who experience it. Therefore, what Moshe does. Moshe writes all those places and writes all the miracles in order to perpetuate the idea of miracles in the generations to come. He says, He says, when people will read, if Parashatmas A would not exist, people will know that the Jewish people went through the desert and they will say, ah, sure, they went through the desert, but the desert was close to what? To a city. So they traveled in the desert, but from time to time they went and buy products and food from the close cities. The Rambam says this is the reason why Moshe detailed, right in tremendous details, all the places that they went through to show you that that was far away from a city. Their entire existence was based on miracles. So for 40 years, that generation went out from Egypt and at the end died in the desert. Moshe wrote all the places that they went through so future generations will understand that God sustained them with miracles. So it's really to show God's might in sustaining probably close to three million people in the desert but just by miracles. The Malbim has a totally different take of why Moshe wrote all those places. And he says the following. But Mitzraim, but Egypt, was not taken away from the Jews. Which means it took time for Am Israel to change disks to transform themselves, to create some kind of a paradigm shift. We are not slaves anymore, we don't live in Egypt. We should get rid of this Egyptian mentality. We are Amisrael. It takes time. You can't just change it like that. And therefore, the time in the desert, going through all their tribulations, going through all those experiences, going through all the natural challenges, weather challenges, food challenges, wars, everything was in order to do what? In order to shape them to become a new generation. It says it should, the pasuk, the verse, should be written in a different way. It should say, and these are the journeys, or these are the places that the Jewish people traveled, not a shar yatz um eretz mit that they left Egypt, but rather that they traveled towards Eret Israel. However, the Malbim says, he says, However, in every Masao Masayat's u yetzi acha dasha me eretz mitzeraim. I'm trying to sum up what the Malbim says. He says, look, I'll go back to the Pasuk. The Pasuk says, Elemas eibne Israel Asheryatsuum me eretz mitzraim. These are the journeys of the Jewish. People who left Egypt. The Malbim says every journey, every place that they went through was not necessarily or not solely or not only for the land of Israel, but rather every place that they went through, they distanced themselves more and more from the land of Egypt. And only then they were ready to go into the land of Israel. The Malbim, in a way, says that this traveling through the desert was essential for Am Israel to rebuild himself, to become a nation of independent nation. I will add that to some extent this generation was gone after 40 years, and a new generation rose. A generation that was not born into slavery, but rather a generation that was born in the Midbar in the desert, free from any regime, from any preconceived ideas, free to be its own people. And this is the generation that enters the land of Israel. This is the generation that builds a kingdom in the land of Israel. This is the generation who is willing to sacrifice his life for the land of Israel. This is a free generation. A generation that understands what it means to be free. It means that you don't do whatever you want, but you are committed to a goal, you are determined to your vision, you want to shape your future. What happened to the tribe of Wuven and God? They were the first one to be exiled when the Babylonians came along. They couldn't stay in their place because there was a little bit of a lack of commitment and skewed priorities. In order to get to the land of Israel, in order to build a kingdom, a nation that will be a light unto the nations. Get your priorities straight. Don't make very selfish personal calculations and separate yourself from Am Israel. Remember all the places that you went through. Remember where you came from. Try to detach yourself and disconnect yourself from Egyptian mentality and mindset. Be a free thinker. Be committed to the Torah that you received on Sinai and be committed to the vision of building a nation in the land of Israel. Build a nation with all the tribes participating together, contributing their talent, and then you can reach tranquility. Thank you.