Mattos

The sicha for parshas Mattos is in Vol. VIII of Likkutei Sichos.

In this parsha we read the story of the tribe of Gad and Reuvain and half of the tribe of Menashe who came to Moshe Rabbeinu before the Jews were going to cross over the Jordan into Eretz Israel and said that since they have a lot of sheep and on this side of the Jordan it is good grazing ground, they want to settle here on the east side of the Jordan. The Torah says that Moshe was very critical of them. He said to them, your brothers are going to go to war to capture Eretz Israel and you are going to be sitting here?

Then he went on to say, why are you turning the hearts of the Jews away, by discouraging them from crossing to the Land that G-d is giving them. This is what your parents did, when I sent the spies from Kadesh Barnea to check out the Land, and they went up to Nahal Eshkol, and they came back and gave a negative report. Then G-d got very angry with the Jews and swore not to let them in to the Land except for Calev and Yehoshua who gave a good report. And then Moshe says in very strong language, and now you rise up in place of your parents, students of sinful people, and you are going to bring further trouble to the Jewish people.

The tribes answered Moshe that their intention is that they will settle their families and sheep here, and then they will go up armed and lead the Jews in their battles, and once they are settled and all Eretz Israel has been captured and there is peace in the Land, then they will come back and live here. To this Moshe agreed and approved their plan.

The Rebbe says in the name of the Ohr HaChayim HaKodesh, when the tribes came to Moshe and said that they want to live here, they referred to the land as this land that G-d fought the battle for and gave to the Jewish people. They said this in order to make it clear that they didn’t mean to discourage Jews from going into the Land, or frightening them, or show any fear on their part of the nation that lived in Eretz Israel, that one shouldn’t think that that is why they were afraid to go across the Jordan. They said G-d fights our battles anyway, so there will be no problem going into Israel, there is no question that it will be successful and G-d is going to give the rest of the Land to rest of the tribes. Therefore it is not out of fear that we don’t want to cross the Jordan, but on the contrary because of our great trust – just as G-d fought our battles until now, and gave us this Land – so G-d will fight the battles in Eretz Israel, and give the Jews the rest of the Land.

So they made it very clear that it was not a lack of faith or fear of the enemy that was making them choose to stay on this side of the Jordan. And yet Moshe answered them so sharply, your brothers are going to go to war and you are going to sit here! What he meant was that although it was true that G-d is leading the war and that G-d gives us success, but we still have to fight the war that too is part of G-d’s command. And so you have to join your brothers in that fight. And when Moshe says, and why do you turn the hearts of your brothers away from the Land, he means that by staying here you are discouraging the Jews from wanting to go into Israel because they will think that you are staying here out of fear, and that your emunah and trust in G-d’s fighting the battle is just an excuse to cover up your fear. And then Moshe goes on to say with the strongest condemnation, you are just like the spies, your fathers who refused to go into the Land and now you have taken their place in making the same mistake.

The Rebbe asks the following questions:

Since the two tribes, Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvain already said that they believe in G-d and trust that G-d will give us the Land, how can Moshe then compare them to the spies who came back and said we can’t do it, that we can’t beat the enemy? Where is the comparison since they clearly stated that they do believe and the only problem Moshe could find was that some other Jews might mistakenly interpret their staying on this side of the Jordan as an act of fear. That certainly doesn’t make them as bad as the spies who clearly said that they didn’t believe it could be done.

2) Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvain came to Moshe with a request not to take them to the other side of the Jordan. All Moshe had to say that it was not okay, and that would have ended the whole conversation. Why did Moshe have to attack them and say you are as bad as your parents, you are doing the same thing. They came and asked, the spies didn’t ask, they made a decision, they made a statement whereas the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain were merely making a request.

3) After it all got cleared up and they said they had every intention of crossing the Jordan and fighting the war with their brothers, they just want to leave their families and sheep here on this side of the Jordan, Moshe agreed. This means it was okay for them to do this. Why then do we find that later on when the Jews were taken into golus, the first to go into golus were the two tribes of Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvain? And as the Gemarrah quotes from Mishlei concerning their going into exile, because they grabbed their inheritance first, the end was that it was not blessed. So if there was something wrong with them settling there, why did Moshe agree?

Moshe’s complaint was not only that they were needed to join the war and if not they were abandoning their brothers and expressing a fear of going into Israel, but rather they were giving the message that the Land of Israel was not the best land; that there was some benefit to staying on this side of the Jordan. The land was better for sheep, and therefore in some way better than Eretz Israel. And to this Moshe said, why are you discouraging the hearts of your brothers from going into the Land? This is what your parents did. The spies, in addition to saying we are afraid to go, we can’t win this battle, they also talked negatively about the Land – it is not such a good land, it devours its inhabitants and so on – and that, the giving a bad report, talking negatively about Eretz Israel, this is what disheartens the Jews from going, not just the fear of the enemy.

And that is why in the response Moshe gives to Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvain, he mentions how the spies went up to Nachal Eshkol, because they brought back the fruits from there and used them to criticize the land. And so even after they agreed to be part of the battle and part of the army, and Moshe agreed and allowed them to settle there, yet their choice and preference to settle on the other side of the Jordan is still considered to be a negative choice which didn’t end up having a very good result. As long as they did not cause fear, and they joined the war and showed courage, then they were not doing that part of what the spies did, but the fact that they preferred a land other than Eretz Israel, for whatever reason, is still a negative quality. Even though by going into the war, they were not discouraging other Jews, by choosing to stay there, they were still making a bad choice.

What remains to be explained is, since Moshe was devoted to all Jews and to every individual Jew, why was it that if in fact for the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvain this was not such a good choice, even though it was okay for the rest of the Jews because it wasn’t discouraging them, why wasn’t Moshe concerned for their spiritual well-being, and why did he agree to have them do something that was not for their good?

To make the question even stronger, Chassidus says that the reason that the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain wanted to stay on the other side of the Jordan and remain shepherds is because they wanted to stay somewhat isolated from worldly affairs, and by being shepherds out in the fields, they would be closer to G-d than if they came into the Land and got caught up in worldly activity.

And this is also why the Patriarchs and the Tribes other than Yosef also preferred to be shepherds. In that way they wouldn’t be distracted by the demands of physical life, and could be constantly connected and focused on G-dliness. This shows an inner, deeper similarity between Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvain with the spies, because the spies also argued that they need to stay in the desert. Their deeper intention was that as long as they were in the desert and the food came from heaven, and the water came from the stone, they had all the time in the world to focus on G-dliness, and in that way they could be connected to G-d at all times.

But going into the Land it would mean that they would have to work the land and that would take them away from G-dliness. So they preferred to stay in the land where the bread comes from heaven rather than from the ground. And although the Patriarchs and the Tribes remained shepherds and did not get involved in worldly affairs, for them it was not considered a sin and they were not punished for it. And even though in the end, it turned out that Yosef was right, that one has to bring G-dliness into the world and into worldly affairs, the difference is that the spies were after Matan Torah and the Tribes were before.

Before Matan Torah, when the instruction had not yet been given to make the physical world into a receptive vessel for G-dliness and turn it into a dwelling place for G-d, then their choice might not have been the best but it was certainly not a sin. But after Matan Torah, when Jews were told that the whole kavanah is that G-d comes down to Mt. Sinai and that the whole world has to become a dwelling place for G-d, so now the spies who refused to bring G-dliness to the world, but want to stay in a desert and eat food from heaven, it is a sin and not acceptable.

According to this, the question becomes in stronger. Why did Moshe agree to have the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain stay on the other side of the Jordan, agree in their decision to remain uninvolved in worldly affairs, separate from the physical world, when it was already after Matan Torah and it is now a sin to not be involved in making the world a G-dly place?

This can be explained by understanding the distinction between those who stay in the world of Torah and those who go out into the world of business, Yissachar and Zevulun, the moreh Torah , those who are masters of Torah, and the moreh d’uvdim tovim, those who are masters of the good deeds, who are involved in the physical world. Even today we have this distinction that there are those who devote themselves to the study of Torah, and yet it is not considered a sin or a fault. This is because there are two parts in making the world a dwelling place for G-d. The first is that G-d should be completely comfortable and not have to be concealed at all in His presence in the world, that the world should be completely and totally receptive to His essence. In addition, it is also necessary that this presence not be concealed, that not only should G-d be comfortable and be present everywhere in the world but that it should be obvious that G-d is present and comfortable in the whole world.

Those who devote their lives to the doing of mitzvahs do the actual job of making the world receptive and a dwelling for G-d but how are we going to know when the world does become a dwelling place for G-d, how are we going to recognize when it is happening. How is it going to be revealed and understood that this is what we are seeing. This comes only through devotion to the study of Torah. Those who devote themselves to the study of Torah, the moreh Torah, through their learning, contribute to making the world a dwelling place for G-d because they bring the light to the dwelling place so that it is an illuminated house not a dark one.

And they complete the job that the moreh d’uvdim tovim, those who do the mitzvahs in the physical world are accomplishing. But since bringing G-d into the world is accomplished primarily through the mitzvahs, through being involved with the world, that is why at all times there must be a majority of Jews who are devoted to mitzvahs and involved in the world and are making the world G-dly through that and a minority remain involved in the study of Torah exclusively in order to bring light to the dwelling place.

And that is the difference between the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain and the spies. The spies demanded that all Jews remain in the desert, that nobody be involved in the physical world, in worldly affairs and then there would be no dira b’tachtonim at all, so they were severely punished for that. But the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain were saying of course everyone should be involved in the world, and of course we have to make the world a dwelling place for G-d and we have to elevate the physical, so we will help accomplish that but we will remain the shepherds, we will remain the moreh Torah, the ones who learn to bring light to the dira, the dwelling place.

Moshe criticism was that it is not enough that most people work the land and make the world a G-dly place, and a few remain in the yeshivas and study halls to devote themselves to the study of Torah and thereby illuminate the dwelling place but that those who study actually have to help those who are doing the mitzvahs. There is an expression in the Mishnah that when a person says, I devote myself exclusively to Torah; he won’t succeed even in the study of Torah. It has to be Torah and doing mitzvahs, so one has to help those who are involved in making the physical world holy. And when they agreed to do that, then Moshe agreed that they could stay.

We have explained many times that at Matan Torah that which was above came down and that which was below went up - heaven came down and connected with earth and the world went up and connected with G-d. The meaning of that which was high came down to the lower world is an instruction for those who are the Torah learners, who remain high in the holy involvement of the yeshiva and the study hall, that they have to come down and have influence on those who have to go out into the world and make the world G-dly.

So when the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain said, let us stay here and we won’t go across the Jordan, here Moshe said no, this is not the way to study Torah. But after they accepted Moshe’s criticism and were moved to mesires nefesh to capture the Land, which means to make the Land holy, to make the world a dwelling place for G-d, then Moshe agreed that they should be the ones to help the workers, the masters of the good deed to accomplish the task of dira b’tachtonim by being their inspiration and their light.

Therefore when the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain agreed to be participate in the war of making Israel into Eretz Israel, then their involvement and kavanah of fulfilling the purpose of creation to make the world a dwelling place for G-d through being the moreh Torah was acceptable and Moshe have no further complaints as somebody has to fulfill that role even after Matan Torah.

The Rebbe connects this with what is in the beginning of the parsha, the idea of making a neder and then breaking the neder, or hatores nedarim, resolving a neder. A neder means to swear off the world, and hatores nedarim, undoing the neder means being involved with the world, and so the theme of the parsha continues in the story of the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain where there was this issue of separating oneself from the world and of being involved with the world.

After all of this, there still was on a very subtle level a little bit of a lack of truth of the pnimius hakavannah, in their inner intention. That is why, the Gemarrah says, that their rush to have their part of the inheritance on the other side of the Jordan was not such a positive choice because it was a little bit from the world of tohu. It was too thoughtless and it is not the thoughtfulness that is necessary in order to make the world a thorough dwelling place for G-d.

And this the Rebbe connects with the story of Ben Azzai. The Gemarrah tells that he didn’t get married because he was completely devoted into the study of Torah. The Alter Rebbe says in Hilchos Talmud Torah that it is not a sin if a person who desires Torah does not get involved in the world, does not even get married. And yet the Rebbe concludes that this is not the advice the Sages would give when instructing a person in the right path to choose. If it is not a sin, why on the other hand is it not given as advice? So the Rebbe says that just as with the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain, their intention was good, and so the kavanah is a good one, it is not a sinful, unholy desire, but what can come from it, is not always so good.

Therefore the fact that they chose to live on the other side of the Jordan in order to be connected to G-d was a positive intention, they meant well and it was a holy desire. And yet we find, as with Ben Azzai, that his not getting married resulted in negative consequences. Rabbi Akiva, who also devoted himself to twenty-four years of study exclusively and for those twenty-four years was separated from his wife, yet in the end it turned out fine because he did it in cooperation with his wife. In fact it was her idea, and at the end, he came back to her, so it all ended well because he went into the study of Torah with the intention of coming back into the world whereas Ben Azzai never came back into the world. And so it was with the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuvain, their intentions were good but they decided too quickly, it was not a thorough intention, they didn’t think it through to the end, and in the end it turned out negative.

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