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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A family owned a small farm in Canada, just yards away from the North Dakota border. For generations, their land had been the subject of a minor dispute between Canada and the United States. The matriarch of the family, who had just celebrated her ninetieth birthday, lived on the farm with her son and his family.

One day, her son rushed into her room with a letter in his hand. “Mom, I have some news,” he said. “The government has come to an agreement with the people in Washington. They’ve decided that our land is really part of the United States. We have the right to approve or disapprove of the agreement. What do you think?”

“What do I think?” his mother replied. “Jump at it! Call them immediately and tell them we accept. I don’t think I could stand another one of those Canadian winters!”

DANGEROUS TERRITORY

The story of the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven which is in this week’s parsha, Mattos-Masei, should really rile up every one of us.

How is it possible that hundreds of thousands of good, holy Jews wanted to remain outside of Eretz Yisrael, outside the land about which it said, “The land upon which the L-rd your G-d’s eyes are on it”?

Picture it, we are on the threshold of the Geula, about to enter the promised land with Moshiach, and a large group of Jews says, “Can we remain in galus? It’s really nice for us here…” What would you think about this request? How would you regard these people?

Some erudite scholars will say it wasn’t that simple. It’s very possible that the land of Sichon and Og, which the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven wanted to settle, is actually part of the promised land, because this land was mentioned in the “Covenant Between the Pieces” to Avrohom Avinu as “the Land of Refaim.” It’s part of the land of the seven nations, where Canaanites and Chitites lived previously, and therefore, this area has the special holiness of Eretz Yisrael.

This could be true but it’s a scholarly explanation that has long been under dispute between the commentators, the Rishonim and Acharonim, and after all is said and done, even if the explanation is correct, the main point is not mentioned in the biblical account (ikar chaseir min ha’sefer)…

Aside from the first question above, there’s another question that’s more upsetting than the first, which is – the request of the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven seems to be a repeat of the sin of the spies!

What was the sin of the spies? They didn’t want to enter the land, period. What did the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven do? Exactly the same thing! How is it possible that after forty years of rectifying the sin, they would repeat the same sin?!

In an amazing sicha, the Rebbe reveals a new dimension of this surprising story and teaches us an important lesson about the Geula. Not only didn’t the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven repeat the mistake of the spies; on the contrary, they are the ones who rectified the sin of the spies!

How?

TERRITORIAL SETTLEMENT

G-d promised Avrohom the “land of the ten nations,” including the three nations of Edom, Amon and Moav (Keini, Kenizi, Kadmoni). The intention of the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven was to hasten the inheriting of the entire land of Israel, including those three nations which we are meant to take possession of only in the true and complete Geula.

The land of Sichon and Og are a (small) part of Moav and Ammon and by settling there they wanted to hasten the process of getting the complete land of Israel with the Geula sheleima. In other words, they did not intend for the Jewish people to remain on the western side of the Jordan, outside of Eretz Yisrael. Rather, they wanted the Jewish people to settle both sides of the Jordan! (How did Zev Jabotinsky put it, “Two banks has the Jordan. This is ours and the other one also.”

What was the purpose of this settlement? What did they want to achieve? They wanted to fix the sin of the spies and bring the Geula!

When doing teshuva, the rectification of the sin is accomplished when doing the same deed for a holy purpose. The deed that previously was in a sin, becomes transformed to a mitzva. So too here, just as the spies didn’t want to enter the land (in a negative sense), the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven didn’t want to enter the land (in a positive sense). Why?

So that instead of just getting the land of the seven nations, the Jewish people would conquer all ten nations. When the conquering of the land would be complete, that would lead to the true and complete Geula!

This is also the reason that Moshe (ultimately) agreed to what they said because he also wanted to bring the Guela. The lesson for us is clear. If the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven were ready for the Geula thousands of years ago, so much so that they went above and beyond and sacrificed themselves in order to hasten the Geula, now, in the era of the Geula, we should do everything we can to bring the Geula and enter the complete Eretz Yisrael with the complete Geula.

Preparing to enter the promised land happens through the personal redemption of each one of us. When a Jew does a mitzva as he is supposed to, he redeems himself and prepares himself and the entire nation for the collective Geula. Just as in the story with the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven that seemed manifestly to be a sin, and through the illumination of the Rebbe who attributes merit to every Jew it becomes rectification and a mitzva, the same should be the case in the personal lives of every one of us.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a story that illustrates how to really look at the actions of another Jew. R’ Yochanan Wasserman recounts what happened one Friday in a fruit store next to his house:

I stood on line with a basket of grapes in my wagon, along with a watermelon, a bag of apples and some onions. Suddenly, someone who looked like he learns in kollel, stretched out his hand plucked a grape, said a bracha and ate it, sampling the grapes to see if they were sweet enough.

I was taken aback. Eating without paying? Didn’t you learn as a child not to steal?

He tasted another grape or two and upon deciding they were tasty enough, he took a basket and walked to the other side of the store. It was finally my turn. I put the watermelon on the scale, then the apples, the onions and the grapes.

The checker saw me put the grapes on the scale and he stopped me. “Before you buy the grapes, you have to taste them. In this store, we taste before buying so nobody will have complaints that he bought something that was not as good as he thought it would be.”

I was ashamed. There was no stealing in the store; rather, there was suspecting someone blameless and not finding a zechus here. The one who was guilty was not the man who tasted the grapes but the one who stood there and judged him critically. That was me.

Good Shabbos!

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