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A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned the two tribes of Gad and Reuven, who sought to take their portion in the holy land on the east side of the Jordan. There, the land was good for cattle, which these two tribes possessed in abundance. Moshe criticized the two tribes, comparing them to the spies, who forty years earlier misled the Jews, causing them to reject the land of Israel. As punishment, the Jews were made to wander in the desert for forty years before finally coming to the stage of our parsha (Devarim), where they stood ready to enter Israel. At the end of our parsha, Moshe granted the land east of the Jordan to Gad and Reuven, but there are subtle differences between the process described in our parsha and as it was described two weeks ago (parshat Matos), that demand our attention.
First of all, in our parsha, the verse states that the two tribes should “go before your brothers, the people of Israel, all the tribes” (Deut. 3:18). Rashi explains, “They preceded the rest of the Jews in war, since they were heroic warriors and their enemies would fall before them, as it says, ‘they would lop of the arm and with it the head [of the enemy].” But in the earlier parsha, Matos, Rashi explained things differently. There, he said (Numb. 32:17) that the two tribes fought “at the head of the troops,” meaning that they were not a separate group of warriors from the rest of the Jews, but that they fought together with the rest of the Jews, while leading them. Why would Rashi explain things any differently here than in our parsha?
Before tackling this question (and others that arise), there is another general question that comes up regarding the fighting ability of the tribes. Elsewhere in the Torah, the tribe of Judah is compared to a lion, “king” of the animal world. From this, we may assume that the men of Judah were even greater warriors than Reuven and Gad. So wouldn’t it have made more sense for Judah to lead the Jews into battle, rather than Reuven and Gad? In answer, Rashi says about Reuven and Gad that “their enemies would fall before them.” But, regarding Judah, the Torah says, “Your hand is on the neck of your enemies.” This implies that the enemy would run away from Judah, in order to escape from them. The warriors of the tribe of Judah were forced to capture them from behind (“on the neckŔ) in order to dispatch them. However, in the war to conquer the land of Israel, this was not an option. In the conquest of Israel, the Jews were commanded to kill every individual of the seven Canaanite nations. If they ran away, it could make it difficult to kill them, and could also give them time to “trick” the Jews. In fact this is what the Gibeonites did - they disguised themselves as another nation and exacted a promise from the Jews not to kill them. So, in order for the Jewish war of conquest to be successful, they couldn’t let their enemies run away. That’s why it fell to Reuven and Gad to lead this war. They were so fierce that their “enemies fell before them” – on the spot they would kill their enemies, “lopping off the arm with the head.”
Still, why does Rashi say in parshat Matos that the two tribes should fight “before” (together with) the Jews, while in our parsha, he says that they should fight “before” (as a separate group from) the rest of the Jews? The answer lies in the interpretation of the word lifnei (“before”) that occurs in both parshas. Just as in English, the word lifnei (“before”) may mean either “preceding” (in time) or “in front of” (in space). Which way it is interpreted is determined by whatever word follows it. If what follows the word connects to the word preceding it, then “before” (lifnei) means before in the physical sense, “in front of,” and joined. But, if the words preceding and succeeding it are not associated, then lifnei means “preceding” in time, implying disconnection.
Applying this principle, we find that in parshat Matos, the key words are lifnei bnei Yisrael – “before the Jewish people.” Now, the two tribes of Reuven and Gad were part and parcel of the Jewish people; they were two of the twelve tribes, without which the Jewish people were not complete. Therefore, lifnei in this case implies “in front of” physically but not separate from, the rest of the Jewish people. That is why Rashi comments that in Matos, Reuven and Gad were to lead the Jews into battle to conquer the land of Israel, but not to fight as a separate group. However, the key words in Devarim are lifnei achichem – “before your brothers.” Here, the implication is that Reuven and Gad are not part of the rest of the brothers – they are commanded to fight separately. There is no overall group bringing them together here (as there was in Matos – bnei Yisrael), so the implication is that these two brothers (tribes) would fight separately from the rest of the brothers. Thus, in Devarim, lifnei means “before” in the sense of time. First, Reuven and Gad would fight, and only then (if at all) would the rest of the tribes get involved.
However, we still need to understand what changed between parshat Matos and our parsha. Why would Moshe command the two tribes first to fight with, and then to fight separately, from the rest of the tribes? And since Rashi doesn’t explain this, we must assume that it is so simple that even a five-year old learning Torah for the first time will also understand what transpired.
What transpired was the following: Between Matos and Devarim, Moshe finally accepted and understood that he would not be entering the land of Israel. While the Jews stood on the east side of the Jordan and Moshe was able to distribute that part of the land to the two tribes, there was still a sliver of hope that G-d would annul the decree forbidding him from entering the Land. After all, he had already entered an area that could be considered part of Israel, so perhaps there was room to think that as a result of his prayers, G-d would permit him to enter the rest of the land. However, as G-d says later in the Torah, “Do not continue to speak with Me more on this subject” (Deut. 3:26) – G-d commanded Moshe to cease requesting an annulment of the decree. As a result, Moshe concluded finally that he would not enter the land of Israel. It would be Joshua who would take the Jews into Israel and conduct the war of conquest.
There was a difference in the way Moshe fought, and the way Joshua fought. We see clearly that in all the wars Moshe was involved in, the Jews were miraculously victorious. They did not win their wars by natural means, but by supernatural means. There was the flight from the Egyptians, who supernaturally drowned in the sea. There was case in the war with Amalek, which even though led by Joshua was dependent upon Moshe raising his arms and keeping them raised, in order to nullify the Amalekian witchcraft. And there were the wars against the two giants, Sichon and Og on the east bank of the Jordan, which Moshe won in the most supernatural manner. All the time that Moshe hoped to enter the land of Israel, there was hope that the war of conquest would also take place in a supernatural manner. Therefore, he told the two tribes to fight “in front” of the Jews, because he hoped that their mere presence would motivate the rest of the Jews, while mortally frightening the enemy. Even though this was to be a supernatural fight, a semblance of natural preparation was necessary, and the presence of the two tribes before the rest of the Jews would be sufficient to overcome the initial fear and propel the Jews to miraculous victory.
However, after it became clear that Joshua, not Moshe, would lead the Jews in battle, a more serious natural preparation became necessary. Joshua’s wars took place within the confines of natural events, and the Jews could not rely on miracles to conquer the land of Israel. Therefore, placing the two most fierce tribes in front of and together with the rest of the Jews, was not sufficient. It was necessary to separate the fierce warriors and give them their own division, which would fight “before” the rest of the Jews in time. They would create the initial frightful impression that would subdue and destroy the enemy, on a natural level. Then, the remainder of the Jews could perform a “mop-up” operation if necessary. Because the war was led by Joshua, a more serious natural preparation was necessary in order to succeed, even though ultimately his victory was also miraculous (in that no Jewish soldiers were lost in the war of conquest of Israel).
On a psychological level, the enemy of the Jews is the internal enemy, the yetzer harah, or “evil inclination,” that seeks to lead Jews away from their main task – actualization of their intrinsic connection with G-d. The fight against the yetzer harah cannot be won piece-meal, by tackling it first intellectually, and then emotionally, in a step by step process. It can only be won by mesiras nefesh – self sacrifice – in an all-out assault that “lops off the arm and together with it, the head.” In a step-by-step process, one might begin with the head, trying to reason and persuade the yetzer harah in an orderly fashion. But in a war with the evil inclination, we cannot wait until the head is persuaded and the intellect falls into line, because in the meantime, it’s very possible that we will do something wrong. Therefore, we have to start with action, by first “lopping of the arm” – eliminating the evil deed – and then the head will follow. This was the path of the two tribes of Reuven and Gad. The rest of the tribes did not demonstrate any particular self-sacrifice. Their job was to follow the normal path of persuasion, progressively convincing the animal soul and evil inclination of the correctness of Torah and bringing it into line. However, the two tribes of Reuven and Gad sought to utterly destroy the animal soul. They began by correcting their action and behavior, and then by excising whatever intellectual faults remained.
Within the path of mesiras nefesh, there are two approaches. Both are necessary in order to have an effect upon the soul powers of man – his intellect and emotions. However, each acts in a different manner. In the beginning, man acts with mesiras nefesh in order to persuade his intellect and emotions to follow him. He does this by “remembering at all times how he is willing to give himself over to G-d in total unity.” Then, he applies this memory and the impression that it makes upon him to his performance of Torah and mitzvoth. Everything that he does, whether meditation and prayer, or fulfillment of physical mitzvoth, becomes permeated with a spirit of self-sacrifice. This is the initial approach of Reuven and Gad, who were first instructed to fight in front of, and with, the rest of the Jews. Their initial self-sacrifice was meant to “rub off” and influence the rest of the Jews.
But, the second stage of mesiras nefesh is pure self-sacrifice, the kind that is demanded of a Jew in order to sanctify the name of G-d (when demanded on rare occasions). This is what happens when a Jew must act without concern for his own life, in order to save other Jews or his own spiritual existence. This kind of mesiras nefesh acts on its own, without connection to the rest of the soul powers. But, when a Jew acts in this way, it automatically affects the rest of his soul powers, sweeping them up in the current of his own ascent and return to G-d. As Tanya explains (Ch. 19), when a Jew undergoes a test in his faith in G-d, it calls forth his powers of self-sacrifice, automatically drawing upon all of his soul powers, including his thought, speech and action. Even though this level of self-sacrifice is not enclothed in the soul powers of mind and heart, it nevertheless sweeps them up in its current and transforms the entire person. This corresponds to the second command of Moshe, in our parsha, to the tribes of Reuven and Gad. They were to go to war before (in time) the rest of the Jews, preceding them as a separate fighting force to destroy the enemy. In that way, the rest of the Jews would follow automatically, with no more than a “mopping-up operation” left to conquer and settle the land of Israel.
From Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ztz’l, vol. 9, pp. 1-13
Rabbi David Sterne, Jerusalem Connection in the old city of Jerusalem