Parashat Mattot/Mas`ei
Numbers 30:2–36:13
The “founders” generation has passed away in the wilderness. Almost no one who was an adult in Egypt has survived. Moses himself knows that his days are numbered. But the Children of Israel will now enter the Promised Land, though it has taken them a generation longer than originally planned. There is no turning back.
Or is there? At the threshold of entering the land two tribes – Reuven and Gad (later joined by some of Menasheh) – confront Moses and inform him that they do not want to cross the Jordan with their brothers and sisters. The land upon which they are encamped right now is much too good to pass up.
This is a new kind of confrontation, different from previous challenges faced by Moses as he has led the Israelites. He has seen the people abandon God almost as soon as they received the Torah. He has heard bitter complaints and demands for water and for meat. He has had to hear his own kinsmen rebel against his authority. He has handled Israelites’ complaints that they were being excluded from the community. In all these cases Moses has turned to God and received answers and responses from the Redeemer of Israel. But this time is different. This time the group that presents its case does not want to change the course of events for the rest of Israel. They are concerned only about what they perceive as their own best interests. They are fine with the rest of the Israelites crossing the river to possess the land that God promised their ancestors. They just don’t want to go along, themselves.
Moses knows that his time is almost over. He knows that his most precious dream of entering the land will not come true. But he thought he had made sure that the rest of the people would proceed. Now that assumption is shaken. He also knows that he cannot turn to God for further guidance. He remembers that a generation before, when entry to the land seemed imminent, because of the refusal of a small group of leaders to support the entry, the entire people were spooked and refused to go forward. And God could not make them enter against their will. Would the same thing happen again? Moses knew that he did not have another 40 years to wander so as to raise another generation and try again.
Moses speaks sharply and bluntly to these dissidents. : “Will your brothers enter into battle while you sit here?” (Num. 32:6) He asks the rebels if they understand what they might be doing to the hearts of “this entire people”. (v. 15) He does not mention that his own heart must have been breaking.
There seems to be no room for further discussion. There is a clear disconnect between Moses and these tribes. The passionate words of Moses are answered by the Reubenites and Gaddites with calm, practical dispassion. Instead of referring to their “brothers,” as Moses had done, they blandly refer to “the Children of Israel,” as if they were not a part of that people. Yet, there is something subtly different about this refusal to enter the land as compared with the tragic refusal of a generation before. This time the refusal is not categorical. They do not deny their bonds with Israel completely. They do not simply refuse to budge. Rather, the Reuven and Gad tribes acknowledge Moses’ authority and seek his acquiescence in their plan. They ask that the lands they wish to settle be officially granted to them by Moses and the people. Because they see their rights to the land as stemming from a grant by the people, they agree that, in exchange for it, they will help the Israelites conquer the land that is their God-given inheritance. Moses gives in and makes them swear to uphold their pledge.
This story can be read as the genesis of the Diaspora Jew. Some characteristics of the Diaspora Jew, as implied by this story, include a sense of connection to the entire people of Israel, but a sense that lacks a certain intensity. In addition, the connection to the land of Israel is not normatively felt, although the connection of other Jews to the land is respected and supported. On the other hand, the source of such attenuations of these connections is a strong sense of personal identity defined in other terms. For Reuven and Gad their identity is strongly formed by how they spend their days. They are not farmers, but herders. And they wish to remain herders. Even as they agree to help their fellow Israelites, their first concern is for their flocks and cattle. (v. 16) They do not see themselves taking root in the soil, but as grazing upon it. We may well remember their introduction to Pharaoh by Joseph, many years before. Joseph asks them to hide their identities as herders because he is concerned that the Egyptians would view them unfavorably. The brothers refuse to heed his advice and proudly proclaim that they are herders (dammit!). Their sense of identity is too precious for them to deny. (See Gen. 46:32 and ff.)
We learn from this story that, ironically, the beginning of the Diaspora Jew stems from even before we entered the land. Indeed, until the establishment of the modern state of Israel, it could have been said that the Diaspora Jew both preceded and succeeded the Jew of the Land of Israel. Only now, and once again, do both types of Jew coexist at the same time, placing before each of us the question of which we choose to be. If we wished to employ a phrase used today to express solidarity with a particular group or cause, we could fairly say: “We are Reuven and Gad.”
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
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image: “Neighbors” © Elide Pinheiro used with permission via Creative Commons License.
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