Yirmiyahu says: “So said Hashem: Let the wise not glory in his wisdom, and let the valiant not glory in his valor; let the rich not glory in his riches. Rather, let the one who glories glory in this: perceiving and knowing Me.” These gifts, when they do not come from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, they will ultimately cease from him.
The Midrash continues to say that wise, mighty, and wealthy men – both from Bnei Yisrael and the nations – were eradicated from this world because their gifts were self-claimed and self-seized and not given by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Similarly, the tribes of Reuven and Gad, who loved their wealth and settled outside Eretz Yisrael, were exiled first amongst all the tribes, because they separated from their brethren over possessions.
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 99b) teaches us about the Pasuk from Bamidbar (15:30), which speaks of someone acting defiantly in public: וְהַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־תַּעֲשֶׂה בְּיָד רָמָה. An example of this is Menashe ben Chizkiyahu, King of Yehuda, who would publicly mock the Torah, suggesting that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote certain parts unnecessarily. Menashe questioned the need for verses like "And Lotan's sister was Timna" and "Timna was a concubine to Eliphaz," arguing they were meaningless. He also mocked the verse about Reuven finding dudaim during the wheat harvest season, questioning the relevance of the timing. Why does it matter if it was during the wheat harvest, barley harvest, or banana picking season? The Gemara explains these Pesukim which Menashe mocked, saying that the Pasuk about Reuven during the wheat harvest teaches that the righteous avoid theft. Reuven waited until after the harvest when field owners wouldn't mind people walking through, thus avoiding theft.
Chazal say this aligns with the principle of חֲנֹך לַנַּעַר עַל־פִּי דַרְכּוֹ גַּם כִּי־יַזְקִין לֹא־יָסוּר מִמֶּנָּה (Mishlei 22:6). This shows the importance of proper education, as seen with Reuven's descendants, who 300 years later left Egypt, crossed the Jordan, and prepared to enter the land.
The Midrash Hagadol (Matot) explains. Unlike earlier generations destroyed for theft, the tribes of Reuven and Gad avoided stealing by requesting land outside Canaan, fearing their abundant cattle might damage others' fields and make them liable as thieves. Their choice was driven by a desire for honest living and sensitivity to others’ property. They feared theft so much that they requested an inheritance on the other side of the Jordan, willing to forgo the Mitzvah of settling the Land to avoid theft!
Rabbotai, Chazal tell us they were money-loving, yet also careful to avoid theft – how does this reconcile?
Chazal reveal another reason for their desire for land across the Jordan – unrelated to sheep or goats. In the bracha given to Gad, the Torah says: רֵאשִׁית לוֹ כִּי־שָׁם חֶלְקַת מְחֹקֵק סָפוּן וַי – He saw the foremost for himself, for there the great scribe’s burial plot is concealed. Why did Gad want the first piece of land, the place first conquered by Bnei Yisrael? He wanted it because he knew that there, in his inheritance, was the burial place of Moshe Rabbeinu! The Chatam Sofer says it was fitting for the children of Gad to dwell near Moshe, as it was not appropriate for him to be buried in the land of non-Jews!
With this introduction, I’d like to touch upon a fundamental concept brought in the teachings of Kabbalah – we cannot question these matters but only present them as they are.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu orchestrated that the children of Gad and Reuven would request an inheritance across the Jordan, along with half the tribe of Menashe (who did not initially request land there), because He did not want them to dwell in Eretz Yisrael. Why? When Yaakov married Leah, he thought Rachel was under the chuppah. Many explanations are given for how he did not notice, one of them being that when Yaakov arrived at the wedding, it was dark, as it was on Shabbat.
The Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 70:19) recounts how Lavan conspired with the townspeople to deceive Yaakov. He convinced them that Yaakov's presence brought blessing, but since he was about to leave, they should help delay him. Lavan proposed switching Leah for Rachel at the wedding, held in darkness, and demanded guarantees of silence – i.e., deposits of money – from the townspeople. With those, he funded the wedding. The Midrash continues, saying that Yaakov said to her, "You deceiver, daughter of a deceiver! Wasn't I calling you Rachel all night, and you answered me?!" Leah replied to Yaakov, "Have you ever seen a barber without students [to cut his hair]? Didn't your father ask you if you were Eisav, and you answered him, 'I am Esav, your firstborn' – and are you really Eisav?!" The Yefeh To’ar explains that these words should not be taken literally. Leah was not taunting him but rather saying, "Just as you followed your mother's command and deceived your father by saying you were Eisav to receive the brachot, so too I followed my father's command and entered the chuppah; I didn't know if it was permissible or obligatory to do so – in Charan, there are no rabbis, the only Rav here is Rav Bariach [in reference to the door and lock company in Israel] – I had no one to ask, so I learned directly from you! Just as it was permissible for you to deceive for the sake of peace, I learned to fulfill my father's command and achieve completeness by building a family with you.”
That night, Leah conceived Reuven. Siftei Kohen, quoting the Arizal, explains that when Yaakov was with her, he was sure it was Rachel, and therefore, the child Leah conceived is considered in a certain aspect as a substitute son. Later, when Rachel saw she was not conceiving, she took her maidservant and said to Yaakov: בֹּא אֵלֶיהָ וְתֵלֵד עַל בִּרְכַּי וְאִבָּנֶה גַם אָנֹכִי מִמֶּנָּה – Come to her, and she will bear upon my knees, and I too will be built from her. As a result, Rachel had two children – Dan and Naphtali. Leah, later seeing she was not conceiving, also gave her maidservant to Yaakov, but Siftei Kohen notes that nowhere in the Torah does it say Leah told Yaakov, "I am bringing you my maidservant, and I too will be built from her." Therefore, his mind was on Leah, and this is like taking a wife without matchmaking, and from this union, Gad was born.
The Chida adds (Devash Le’phi), Menashe was the firstborn of Osnat – who came from Dina and Shechem ben Chamor, and who married Yosef. This means, half of Menashe was kosher, whereas the other half, from Shechem ben Chamor, was impure and had to remain outside of Eretz Yisrael. His inheritance was beyond the Jordan River because he had a blemish from Osnat. Also, Reuven, who was given to Leah without Yaakov's knowledge, and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, was given to Leah secretly, so the tribe of Reuven and Gad and half the tribe of Menashe did not merit dwelling in the holy land. This is hinted at in: כִּי מִגְרָעוֹת נָתַן לַבַּיִת סָבִיב חוּצָה – For he had provided recesses around the outside of the House. The word מִגְרָעוֹת (recesses) is comprised of מג"ר עו"ת – the initials of Menashe, Gad, and Reuven (מג"ר), together with the flaw or blemish (עוות) leading them to remain outside.
Furthermore, the Chida adds, to avoid publicizing this matter so they would not be ashamed, Hakadosh Baruch Hu placed in their hearts to request their inheritance beyond the Jordan River. They pleaded with Moshe Rabbeinu, and conditions were made, and they went to war with their brothers to merit this inheritance, a matter that was a punishment for them, yet they themselves requested it earnestly and with effort, to spare them the shame.
Rav Yonatan Eybeschutz presents truly wonderful ideas that I am sure were said with prophecy. He opens with several questions. The first question: Why did only these two tribes have an abundance of cattle and not others? The second question: It is said that the burial place of Moshe Rabbeinu was בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב מוּל בֵּית פְּעוֹר – why specifically in the valley in the land of Moav and opposite Beit Pe’or? Adding to this question: The Gemara (Sotah 14a) teaches, Moshe Rabbeinu was buried next to Beit Pe’or to atone for the act of Pe’or. But why Moshe? Why not Aharon HaKohen? The third and final question of Rav Eybeschutz: We mentioned that Shevet Gad desired that inheritance because Moshe was buried there. Seemingly, it should have been Yissachar, the pillar of Torah, who was buried next to Moshe Rabbeinu. So why did Gad specifically want an inheritance next to Moshe Rabbeinu, more than any other tribe?
After gathering the questions, we can now approach the explanation. At the end of Parshat Balak, the Torah recounts that Bnei Yisrael sinned with the sin of Shittim, which included the sin of immorality and idolatry. We just mentioned, in the name of Chazal in the Gemara, that Moshe Rabbeinu was buried opposite Beit Pe’or to atone for the act of Peor. The Gemara teaches:
The Midrash teaches that Moshe died in the territory of Reuven but was buried in the portion of Gad; carried four mil in the wings of the Shechinah itself, since no one else could perform the burial. His exact burial place remains hidden and unknowable, as even the wicked Roman kingdom sent messengers to the governor of Beit Pe’or demanding: "Show us where Moshe is buried." The governor showed them the burial place, but when they stood above, it seemed to them as if they saw the grave below, and when they descended below, it seemed to them as if it was above. They divided into two groups, one stood above and one below, and then those standing above thought the grave was below, and those standing below thought it was above. They were mystified, fulfilling the Pasuk: וְלֹא יָדַע אִישׁ אֶת קְבֻרָתוֹ – And no man knows his burial place.
Tosafot writes, Every year, at the time when Bnei Yisrael sinned with the daughters of Moav, Beit Pe’or rises to accuse and remind of the sin, and when it sees Moshe's grave, it returns and sinks, for Moshe Rabbeinu sank it into the ground up to its nose. And why is this idolatry called Pe’or? Chazal say (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 46): Whenever Israel sinned, it would rise and open its mouth – פּוֹעֵר אֶת פִּיו – to bite with its spirit and destroy Bnei Yisrael, therefore it is called Pe’or.
And why was Moshe buried there and not Aharon? The Tiferet Yonatan brings the words of the Gemara in Massechet Sanhedrin (64a), which asks what exactly the idolatry of Pe’or is. The Gemara recounts how a non-Jewish woman, suffering from an illness, vowed to worship every idolatry if she was healed. She proceeded to do so until she encountered Pe’or. She asked the priests how one worships this idol. They replied, “One eats spinach, which causes diarrhea, and drinks beer, which also causes diarrhea, and defecates before it.” Disgusted, she refused, preferring illness over such degradation.
It turns out that to worship Pe’or, one must eat and drink things that loosen the bowels. Consequently, on an empty stomach, it is impossible to worship it. However, asks the Tiferet Yonatan, how did Bnei Yisrael worship Pe’or when all their food was manna? The Gemara (Yoma 75b) explains that manna was either bread that the ministering angels eat, or bread that is absorbed in the 248 limbs. This implies that one who eats manna has no excretions. At one point they complained for “real” food, claiming, “This manna will eventually swell in our intestines – is there any human who ingests and does not excrete? We eat and eat, and nothing comes out, one day we will explode!" If they ate manna and had no excretions, how exactly did they worship Pe’or?!
The Tiferet Yonatan says, to answer this question, we need to read a Pasuk verse in Parshat Balak, where the Torah says:
וַיֵּשֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשִּׁטִּים וַיָּחֶל הָעָם לִזְנוֹת אֶל־בְּנוֹת מוֹאָב׃ וַתִּקְרֶאןָ לָעָם לְזִבְחֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶן וַיֹּאכַל הָעָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ לֵאלֹהֵיהֶן׃
Yisrael settled in Shittim and the people began acting promiscuously with the daughters of Moav. The girls of Moav invited the people to their idolatrous sacrifices; and the people ate and prostrated themselves before their gods.
The Midrash Tanchuma (Balak 18) expands: The Moavite women, following Bilaam’s counsel, seduced Bnei Yisrael into idolatry. They set up market stalls with harlots hidden behind curtains, using old women to lure the men inside. Once inside, the young women enticed them with flattery, wine, and by appealing to their shared ancestry of Terach (father of Avraham Avinu). Gradually, they drew the men into sin, first through intimacy, then by convincing them to offer sacrifices to the idol Pe’or as a condition for being with them. “You don't want to eat from our sacrifices and cooked foods; so, here are calves and roosters slaughtered according to your laws – eat!" When the man would then demand her, she’d say, "Slaughter this rooster and we’ll cook and eat together, and then I am yours!" When he came to slaughter, she’d say, "I will not listen until you slaughter it to Pe’or." And like this, he would be led astray after her, slaughtering the animal to Pe’or, eating with her, and clinging to one another. Bilaam even advised withholding wine to ensure the men sinned deliberately, and not under intoxication!
So, it turns out that they did eat meat besides the manna, and thus they could serve Pe’or! What happens to Bnei Yisrael in the desert when they want to eat steak on a weekday afternoon – can they eat? If they just wanted the taste of steak, they could get it in the manna. But if they wanted to eat real steak? The Gemara (Chullin 16b) discusses this and says that meat of desire was forbidden to them in the desert, and therefore to eat meat, they could bring a Korban Shelamim, and what remained for the owners they could take and eat.
The Tiferet Yonatan writes: There is a reason why specifically these two tribes had an abundance of livestock. It is said that Moshe needed to be buried opposite the idolatry of Pe’or because they sinned there and defiled it, and they needed to eat other things besides the manna. The manna was absorbed in the body and was in the merit of Moshe, and thus Moshe subdued the sin of Pe’or. These two tribes loved the manna, and therefore they had a great multitude of cattle brought with from Egypt, unlike the other tribes who slaughtered their animals and did not cherish the manna to eat it all the time.
Thus, the only shevatim that did not eat meat all those forty years in the desert were Shevet Reuven and Shevet Gad – and therefore they had a great abundance of cattle because they did not slaughter their animals! And since they cherished the manna, they were attached to Moshe Rabbeinu, as the manna came to Bnei Yisrael in his merit (Ta’anit 9a).
The Sefat Emet writes (5640): Regarding the children of Gad and Reuven, in the name of the Rabbi of Peshischa, the interpretation of מִקְנֶה רַב is that they had an acquisition of attachment to Moshe Rabbeinu, their Rebbe. We asked, why was Moshe specifically buried opposite Beit Pe’or and not Aharon, and the answer is very simple. Aharon could not atone for the act of Pe’or since he was a Kohen – and to the Kohanim, sacrifices were brought – The Kohanim eat, and the owners achieve atonement (Yoma 68b). Therefore, by his role, he was compelled to eat meat. In contrast, Moshe Rabbeinu was attached to the manna, and we said that to serve Pe’or, one needed to eat physical food; so Aharon could not atone for the act, Moshe Rabbeinu, in whose merit the manna descended to Israel. Therefore, Aharon could not be buried there. Additionally, if the children of Gad and Reuven cherished the manna and did not eat meat, they too could atone for the act of Pe’or, and therefore they received their inheritance next to Moshe Rabbeinu!
Let's summarize. The children of Gad and Reuven could not say to Moshe Rabbeinu, "Moshe, we want to be buried next to you!" as it's not respectful to speak like that to the leader of the generation. So, what did they do?! They came to him and requested, "Give us an inheritance on the other side of the Jordan because we have a large flock” – to which Moshe replied, “By no means! First, you’ll enter the Land to fight, and only afterward will you receive the inheritance!" But Moshe eventually agreed with them, as the Seforno writes, to avoid entering into a dispute.
Seemingly, what's the problem here?! Enter to fight, and afterward, receive an inheritance. This makes perfect sense! The Chatam Sofer says, they didn’t want Moshe Rabbeinu to be buried even for a moment in the inheritance or land of gentiles, and if they didn’t receive the inheritance first, Moshe Rabbeinu would have been buried in such a land until the time arrived when it would be passed to the inheritance of Bnei Yisrael.
If these are the matters, we can conclude with a wonderful idea. Last Shabbat, we read Parshat Pinchas, and as we know, פִּינְחָס הוּא אֵלִיָּהוּ – Pinchas is Eliyahu, who will herald the redemption. The Megaleh Amukot says, come and see, the first redeemer is buried in the inheritance of the children of Gad – he is Moshe Rabbeinu, who took Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt. And who is the last redeemer?! Mashiach ben David.
But before he arrives, B’ezrat Hashem, there are two processes
First, Eliyahu HaNavi will come, and after him, Mashiach ben Yosef. And where is Eliyahu HaNavi destined to come from? The moment Gad was born, the Torah says: וַתֹּאמֶר לֵאָה בָּא גָד וַתִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמוֹ גָד – what does בָּא גָד mean? Rashi says: בָּא גָד, בָּא מַזָּל טוֹב – Gad has come, good fortune has come. Another interpretation of these words is: From the tribe of Gad. Eliyahu HaNavi is destined to emerge, the one who brings good tidings to the nation, as it says: גָּד גְּדוּד יְגוּדֶנּוּ.
The Megaleh Amukot says, the first place Eliyahu HaNavi appears in the Tanach is in Sefer Melachim Alef (17:1) where it says: וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלִיָּהוּ הַתִּשְׁבִּי מִתֹּשָׁבֵי גִלְעָד – And Eliyahu the Tishbi, who was of the inhabitants of Gilad said. And where is the place called Gilad, from where Eliyahu will come? It is in the inheritance of Gad!
The first redeemer – Moshe Rabbeinu, and the last – Eliyahu HaNavi. On this first [or second] Shabbat of the Three Weeks, may it be the will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu to send us Eliyahu HaNavi, speedily in our days, Amen v’Amen! ◊
