In this week's double-parsha, Matot-Masei, we learn that the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half of Menashe approach Moshe with an odd request: "If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land (Transjordan) be given to your servants as a heritage; do not bring us across the Jordan (into Eretz Yisrael)" (Bamidbar 32:5). Upon hearing their appeal, Moshe castigates those tribes for even thinking of betraying a mission that has been forty-years in the making. However, these tribes reassure Moshe that their intention is not to evade their national and spiritual responsibilities as Jews, rather, "Enclosures for the flock we shall build here for our livestock and cities for our children" (Ibid.,16). When Moshe hears this, in addition to hearing that they will fight alongside the rest of the people upon entering the Land, his tone and demeanor change, and he tells them, "Build for yourselves cities for your children and enclosures for your penning..." (Ibid., 24). Why did Moshe alter the order of the request from being about building livestock pens first, and then cities for their children, to being about building cities for their children first, and then about building livestock pens? 

To help answer this question, I would like to turn to the words of Rashi, quoting the Midrash Tanchuma, who explains that when Moshe heard the people ask to build corrals first and foremost, he realized that "they were concerned for their property more than they were for their sons and daughters, for they put mention of their livestock ahead of their children. Moshe said to them, 'This is not right. Make that which is essential first, and that which is not as essential second. First build cities for your children and afterward, enclosures for your penning'" (Rashi on Bamidbar 32:16). In other words, Moshe changed the priorities of the tribes of Reuven and Gad. Moshe was teaching them that the most important thing is to care for family first, and then tend to one's social aspirations and material gains. In essence, Moshe was teaching Diasporic Jews, that is, Jews living outside of Eretz Yisrael, the secret of survival: Family comes first. If we can make our families, our children's Jewish education and Jewish environments our chief priority, then those Jewish values will be passed on to the next generation – keeping our connection with our faith, with Torat Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Am Yisrael intact, while living lives outside of the Promised Land.

This Shabbat, let us consider our priorities. Is family first? Is making Jewish community essential? Is having strong Jewish education our primary goal? Living outside of Israel, a land in which Judaism permeates every aspect of life, can be difficult, however, it is doable if we instill the right values in our children by modeling those values ourselves. This Shabbat, let's get our priorities straight and help build the best Jewish world we can for our families, our community and ourselves!

Shabbat Shalom!

-Rabbi Dan