Parshas Matos – Masai

Bs”d

Parshas Matos-Masai 5772
by Mordechai Dolinsky

כלל ישראל mourns the loss of this great leader, Rav Yosef Sholom Eliyashiv זצוק”ל. It is amazing how our leaders are chosen by השם for us through השגחה פרטית . We can see how directly and indirectly he had his impact on כלל ישראל by the massive mourning. He will surely continue to serve כלל ישראל from his great place in עולם האמת.

It is difficult to understand how the bnai Gad and bnai Reuven made a priority of receiving plentiful grazing lands for the cattle over getting their permanent נחלה in the more precious and greater boundaries of ארץ ישראל.

We find that our greatest leaders including the אבות , Moshe Rabeinu, and דוד המלך were shepherds. This occupation afforded the shepherds tremendous blocks of time for coming close to השם and studying the תורה. For bnai Gad and bnai Reuven the great grazing lands meant another מסכתא and more דבקות inהשם .

It is noteworthy that when משה רבנו originally criticized those shvatim for not wanting the join כלל ישראל in the war to capture the other side of the Yarden, it wasn’t at all for the lack of contributing man power rather the danger of lowering the level of אמונה and בטחון of the other שבטים. Imagine the greatness of our nation.