ומקנה רב היה לבני ראובן ולבני גד, “and the tribes of Reuven and Gad possessed large amounts of livestock.” The tribe who was a descendant of Leah is mentioned first although the tribe of Gad was the instigator of this request (Ibn Ezra).

ויבואו בני גד ובני ראובן, “the members of the tribe of Gad and Reuven came, etc.” The Gadites came up with the idea of remaining on the far bank of the Jordan. They were personally much braver than the members of Reuven as we know from Moses’ blessing in Deut. 33,20: וטרף זרוע אף קדקוד, “tearing off arm and even head.” They were not afraid that by choosing to remain physically distant from the main body of the people on the far side of the Jordan they would be isolated and easy prey for the surrounding nations.

A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Mattot 5: when material wealth is received from heaven it is liable to endure; if its source is not heavenly it is unlikely to endure. There were two truly wealthy people in the world, one was an Israelite, i.e. Korach, the other was Haman. Both of them not only lost their wealth but they perished ignominiously seeing that their material wealth had not been a gift from heaven. They had acquired it by tearing it away from others. You will also find that the wealth possessed by the members of the tribes Gad and Reuven caused them to become inordinately fond of it. As a result they lived (loosely speaking) in what we call חוצה לארץ, outside the essential part of Eretz Yisrael. They separated from the main body of the people on account of their possessions and wound up being the first to be exiled because of their sins (compare Chronicles I 5,26). When we read in Psalms 75,7: “for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness הרים, for it is G’d Who gives judgment, He brings down one man, He lifts up another.” The psalmist referred to the fate of the two and a half tribes Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe (compare Tanchuma Mattot 6). The words ולא ממדבר הרים, normally translated as “and not from a wilderness of mountains,” are somewhat misleading. Whereas it is true that everywhere else in the Holy Bible the word הרים means “mountains,” in this instance it means “elevation.” (socially, financially). When G’d wanted to enrich the members of these tribes He gave them what had belonged to the Midianites. Thereby He fulfilled what is written in Psalms 75,7. Why are material possesions called נכסים ? Because it is in the nature of such belongings to be hidden (disappear) from one owner and become revealed to the other owner. Chanah alluded to this when she said in Samuel I 2,7: ה' מוריש ומעשיר, משפיל אף מרומם, “the Lord makes poor and makes rich; He casts down, He also lifts high.” When G’d displays His anger (אף) at one people, another is liable to benefit from that. This is the reason our chapter is introduced most unusually with the conjunctive letter ו. Instead of the words ומקנה רב היה, וגו', I would have expected something like לבני ראובן וגד היה מקנה רב. The letter ו as the introduction to the whole chapter draws our attention to the fact that the reason these tribes had so many possessions was only because they had captured them from the Midianites, i.e. that G’d had deprived the Midianites of their possessions. When Kohelet 10,2 speaks of “the heart of the wise being on the right whereas the heart of the foolish is on the left,” he had in mind people like the members of the tribes of Gad and Reuven who made things of secondary significance such as the livestock their primary concern, i.e. they confused that which is essential with that which is merely auxiliary. They demonstrated this when they mentioned their livestock before referring to their children (verse 16). G’d told them that people who considered their personal wealth as more important than their children would find that their wealth was not blessed. This is what Solomon taught us in Proverbs 20,21: “An inheritance gained hastily (sudden riches) at the outset will not be blessed in the end.” This is also the meaning of Proverbs 23,4: “Do not tire yourself out trying to become rich; desist out of a feeling of insight.” The truly wealthy individual is he who is content with what G’d has seen fit to provide for him as we know from Psalms 128,2: “when you consume the fruit of the labors of your hands you will be happy and feel content.”

עטרות ודיבון. These districts had been part of the lands of Sichon, the king of the Emorites. Some of the nine locations mentioned here used to be centers of idolatry such as Nevo and Baal Meon. We find that at least Nevo is mentioned in that context in Isaiah 46,1 when he describes these idols as collapsing. In Onkelos’ translation of this verse we find that he uses the word בית repeatedly. Presumably, this refers to the temples to these deities which had stood in those locations. Our sages in Shabbat 115 also refer to places where idolatry was practiced with the prefix בי, i.e. “house of.” When the members of the tribe of Reuven rebuilt these towns they also renamed them to remove their stigma. This is the meaning of מוסבות שם in verse 38, i.e. the Torah tells us that these places had acquired new names. The names of the idolatry which had been practiced there should not be remembered. When our sages said in Berachot 8 that each one of us should endeavor to complete reviewing the Torah portion read each week together with the congregation by reading the Hebrew text twice and the Targum once, even “Attarot and Divon,” they meant that it is in order to mention the original names of these locations. But for this statement by the sages we might have reasoned that seeing the Targum is only a translation of these names which we had already read twice in Hebrew it would be inappropriate to repeat the names of these centers of idolatry a third time in Aramaic.

You should realize that there is also a mystical dimension connected to the rebuilding of these towns and renaming them. Whereas our verse, as is customary, is explicit regarding events on terrestrial earth, it also contains allusions pertaining to what occurs in the celestial spheres in which we also have “structures” parallel to those on earth. We are dealing here with nine names (Attarot, Divon, Yaazer, Nimrah, Cheshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nevo and Beon) which correspond to the nine times we find the word ויאמר אלו-הים in the report of the creation in Genesis chapter 1. The tenth (equivalent) of the word ויאמר is not mentioned as it is the word בראשית, and at a time when there was no matter to be addressed yet it would have sounded peculiar to issue instructions to אין, something non-existent. [This is a reference to the statement in Avot 5,1 that the world was created by means of ten directives, the assumption being that each directive was introduced by the word ויאמר. Rashi there comments that the tenth (missing) ויאמר is actually represented by the very word בראשית. Ed.] Our verse here draws our attention to the nine directives with which the world was created after the initial raw material had come into existence, and divides it into three stages as represented by our mussaph prayer on Rosh Hashanah when we have three separate groups of benedictions called מלכיות, זכרונות, שופרות. The mystical dimension of the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah 32 describing that three groups of shofar blasts must be blown on that day, is linked to the statement of our sages to read the weekly Torah portion three times. We must appreciate that just as repeating something three times, such as the blowing of the shofar or the reading of the Torah portion, each time deepens our understanding of it, so that even such names as Attarot and Divon which when we read them the first time make no impression upon us are going to give rise to more profound analysis if we repeat them again and again. Seeing that the entire Torah from Bereshit to Vezot Habracha is a continuous document, indivisible, these names simply must have a significance over and beyond their sound. It is up to us to decipher the deeper meaning. There is no qualitative difference between reading about the leaders of the tribes of Esau, the names of the towns captured from Sichon, or the Ten Commandments. All of the Torah is of equal degree of sanctity. All of it stems from the same source. Its “waters” originate from the Temple (Ezekiel 47,12), and all have been given to us from the same shepherd. [I believe the reason the author is at such pains to provide a meaning for these place names over and above merely giving us this information is that he wants to pre-empt anyone asking why the Torah did not simply write that these two tribes claimed lands in Gilead and Yaazer especially suitable for grazing without giving us a list of these names which we should read for the next several thousand years every week when these places had even be renamed. How would we know where these locations are if we did not know their original names? On the other hand, if the names listed are the original names why would we have to remember all these sites of idolatry? Ed.] The meanings of the words עטרות ודיבון, etc. are as follows: the location עטרות, is spelled in the verse it occurs next, (34) without the letter ו, i.e. it is an allusion to עטרת, a crown. The word דיבון refers to the river which originates in Gan Eden which never ceases to flow. The word is written with the conjunctive letter ו at the beginning, although all the other locations mentioned have not been linked by the letter ו. The numerical value of the word ודיבון is 72, an allusion to the 72-lettered name of G’d. A never ceasing river reminds us of Psalms 78,20: הכה צור ויזובו מים, “He struck the rock and waters flowed.” The name of the place יעזר is a reference to the emanation הוד of which we know from Psalms 145,5 הדר כבוד הודך. The emanation הוד is the “lowest” on the left side of the diagram of emanations, a side representative of the negative spiritual influences of Satan. Because of this, man, i.e. Israel is in need of divine assistance to overcome its influence. The location described by the name נמרה symbolises the emanation נצח, the one opposite הוד on the right side of the diagram we referred to. The word may be perceived as an acrostic of the line ימין ה' רוממה In Psalms 118,16. The two emanations הוד, נצח are perceived as the two “thighs,” supports of the universe, in the diagram of the emanations which I referred to. We have an allusion to this in Psalms 16,11 נעימות בימינך נצח. The location described as חשבון is an allusion to our patriarch Yaakov, of whom it is written in Psalms 16,11: ישראל אשר בו אתפאר, a reference to the tetragram, i.e. the word חשבון has a numerical value of שם כ'ו, ‘the name equal to 26” [numerical value of י-ה-ו-ה]. The location described as אלעלה is an allusion to the patriarch Yitzchak who has been described variously as עולה תמימה, “an unblemished burnt-offering.” We could therefore read the word אלעלה as עלה לאל by slightly re-arranging the sequence of the letters. Since the Torah wanted to hint at his outstanding characteristic גבורה, a manifestation of the attribute of Justice, (the last letter ה in the tetragram), the name אלעלה concludes with the letter ה in the list of these nine locations. This becomes clearer when you compare the name in verse 37 as אלעלא with the letter א at the end instead of the letter ה. We have another instance where Yitzchak’s outstanding characteristic is alluded to by a change in the spelling of his name in Psalms 105,9 where the letter צ in יצחק is replaced by the letter ש, an allusion to the fact that he is a “great fire.” The location described as שבם is a reference to Avraham; it may be understood as an acrostic of אברהם סבא, “grandfather Avraham, i.e. the originator of Judaism.” The location described as נבו alludes to the emanation בינה, whereas the location described as בעון is an allusion to the emanation חכמה. When you reverse the sequence of the letters in that word you get נובע. We find this word connected to wisdom, חכמה in Proverbs 18,4 נחל נבע מקור חכמה, “the source of wisdom is a flowing stream.” The word is also connected to מעון, מעונה (when the letters are reversed) “regions in the upper celestial heavens, origin of wisdom.” This is why this place is referred to as מעון in verse 38, i.e. ואת בעל מעון. At any rate, I believe we have demonstrated that the names of these locations all relate to important concepts although at first glance they may appear as irrelevant.

The reason the Torah considered it imperative to mention the names of all of these locations is that they were all part of the territories of Sichon and Og and their significance in terms of idolatry far outshone their local importance as they represented important idolatrous doctrines, doctrines completely opposed to Judaism and Monotheism. Their significance in their time paralleled the importance of the idolatry practiced of the generation of the Tower, the people of which arrogated to themselves the power to uproot G’d in the heavens from His throne. Those people who had phrased their ideology in the innocent sounding slogan “let us make a name for ourselves,” (compare Genesis 11,4 and the commentary of our author there) were the (ideological) descendants of Kayin who had been described earlier in antediluvian times (Genesis 4,17) as בונה עיד constantly engaged in building a city (or cities). The fact that the tribes of Reuven and Gad were well aware of the historical and theological significance of these locations under Sichon and Og prompted them to rename them and thus to eradicate the ideology they had stood for in former times. It was their sincere intention to convert all these places into centers where the Lord would be worshipped instead. This is why they prefaced their request to Moses with the words: “if it pleases you let this land be given to your servants as an heritage;” they meant: “seeing the whole purpose of the Children of Israel crossing the Jordan and disinheriting the Canaanites is to establish a civilization bent on serving the Lord, this is something that we can also do right here.” Their implied point was that if the land captured from Sichon and Og were to remain unpopulated and all the twelve tribes were to live only on the west bank of the Jordan, the vacuum would be filled by other people bent on acquiring grazing land and these people would perpetuate idolatry in that region. It was therefore much better to allow them, who had a surfeit of livestock, to take over these lands instead and to practice Judaism in that region.

בלתי כלב בן יפונה הקנזי, “except for Calev, son of Yephuneh the Kenizite.” Our sages (Sotah 11) derive from here that Calev was a stepson of Kenaz for whom the mother of Calev had born Othniel.

כאשר אדוני דובר , “as my lord speaks.” In verse 31 the formulation is “as the Lord (Hashem) has spoken to your servants so we shall do.” It is clear from these two verses that the Torah wants to equate the authority of Moses with the authority of the Lord. Moses was the kind of instrument for Holy Spirit which functioned around the clock; one was not to think that during certain hours of the day Moses was not on G’d’s “wavelength,’ and that his pronouncements during such times did not have the same validity as when he was inspired. He was always inspired. This is also what our sages (Tanchuma Ki Tissa 27) pointed out in connection with Exodus 33,7: “so it was whenever someone sought Hashem he would go out (outside the camp where Moses had pitched his personal tent) etc.” The Torah does not write that the individual in question went out to seek out Moses but that he went out to seek Hashem. This proves that the people equated what Moses would tell them with what they expected to be told by G’d. The “glue” is called by the substance it is glued to. In other words, seeing that Moses was as if “glued” to Hashem, he himself is sometimes described as if he were Hashem. Our author quotes a number of verses illustrating this in his commentary on Exodus 33,7.

נחנו נעבור חלוצים לפני ה', “we will cross (the Jordan) as vanguard before the Lord.” Actually, the Torah should have written אנחנו instead of נחנו. However, seeing that the members of the tribe of Gad always appear as physically strong and self-reliant, and they had the audacity of describing themselves as a vanguard מלפני ה' “in front of the Lord,” the Torah decided to put them in their place by omitting the letter א from the word אנחנו as if teaching that they needed to downgrade their reliance on ego. The word נחנו appears in the guise of understating ego when Moses and Aaron play down their part in orchestrating the Exodus in Exodus 16,7. This interpretation is tenable as the plain meaning of the words.

However, we have a tradition that the Torah deliberately wanted to commence this verse with the letter נ just as we find Jeremiah commencing Lamentations 3,42 with the words נחנו פשענו ומרינו, “we have rebelled and transgressed.” In Lamentations the need for the verse to commence with the letter נ is dictated by the prophet wanting to maintain the alphabetical sequence of each verse, i.e. each verse commences with the following letter of the alphabet. In our paragraph the need for the verse to commence with the letter נ is dictated by the fact that there are a total of 11 verses in scripture which commence and conclude with the letter נ. It is a well known fact that the tetragram originates in these eleven verses and that it contains 13 letters. If one mentions these verses together with the holy name of G’d which emerges from them one has no reason to be afraid as the great name of the Lord is an antidote against fear itself. [Rabbi Chavell points out that the eleven verses are listed in the Siddur Otzar HaTefillot (page 866 in my edition) after the songs to be recited at the conclusion of the Sabbath.]

The members of the tribe of Gad were not afraid to dwell on the east bank of the Jordan river surrounded by the Gentile nations without natural barriers as they possessed two types of weapons. 1) the physical strength of their bodies; 2) the merit of having been in the vanguard before the Lord during the years in which the Israelites defeated the kings of the Canaanites. The expression חלוצים לפני ה' includes reference to both of these “weapons.” This is why they said (32,32) ואתנו אחוזת נחלתנו, “the heritage of our forefathers is with us.” They meant that in spite of their settling relatively far from the main body of the nation they had reason not to be afraid. Commenting on Joshua 6,13 והחלוץ עובר לפניהם, our sages in Shir Hashirim Rabbah 4,6 explain that that verse refers to the two and a half tribes Reuven, Gad, and half of Menasheh who lived up to their commitment seeing they were full of confidence both in the merit of their mitzvah performance and their physiques. Our sages have also described the words in Deut. 33,20 וטרף זרוע as a reference to the merit of the phylacteries they wore on the arm, and the word אף קדקד as a reference to the phylacteries they wore on their heads.

ויקרא לה נבח בשמו, “He called it (the district) Novach just like himself.” The letter ה in the word לה is “weak,” i.e. without the customary dagesh. Ruth Rabbah 5,5 claims that the reason is that this name did not endure, i.e. the word is almost equivalent to having been spelled לא, “not.” We find other examples of the same defective spelling in Zecharyah 5,11: לבנות לה בית בארץ שנער, “to build a house for her (it) in the land of Shinar.” The subject there is the prophet being shown a measuring device known as eyfah which the angel transported away and the prophet wanted to know its significance. The prophet is informed that those who remain in Babylonia although the Temple was being reconstructed in Jerusalem would not have much of a future, as there is no future for untruth. The missing dagesh in the word לה in that verse alludes to the transience of people who decided to remain in a kingdom built on lies. Solomon expressed himself similarly when speaking about lies in Proverbs 12,19: “Truthful lips will be established forever; but a lying tongue endures only for a moment.” They will soon be tested and found to be lies. This is why man must love truth and hate lies. This is also what Zecharyah 8,19 said: “Love truth and peace!”