Parshat Matot-Ma'asei: Maintaining Balance Between Us and the World
This week we finish reading the book of Bemidbar /Numbers with the double parashah /portion of Matot-Ma'asei .At the beginning of Chapter 32, in Parshat Matot, the people are encamped on the east side of the Jordan river preparing to enter and conquer the Promised Land of Canaan. The tribes of Reuben and the Gad, who owned a great many flocks and cattle, noticed that the lands where they were encamped were perfect for raising both. And so the leaders of Reuben and Gad came to Moses, Eleazar the priest and the chieftains of the community asking if they could settle on these lands rather than within the Promised Land. Moses replies to them in anger. He reminds them that 40 years earlier the 10 “evil spies” gave a negative report on the land of Canaan and, because the people believed them, they were forced to wander until that generation died off. “And now,” he says, “ you, a breed of sinful men, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to God's wrath against Is...