Ari Levisohn: Welcome to Into the Verse, where we share new and unexpected insights about the parsha…diving deep into the verses to uncover the Torah’s own commentary on itself. In this week’s episode, Ami Silver and Daniel Loewenstein dive deep into Parshat Matot, exploring some intriguing implications from the parsha. Here they are.

Ami Silver: So, Daniel, I want to look at part of Parshat Matot here that's telling a familiar story, but I think hidden within it is a very unfamiliar story, a kind of hidden story if you will, in the Torah. So in chapter 32 in Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, we have this whole story of Gad and Reuven, these two tribes, and they say, “Hey Moshe, I know we want to all head into the Land of Israel, but the place we are in right now, it's great pasture land for our flocks, and we've got a lot of sheep, and we'd like to stay here instead of going into the land.”

Daniel Loewenstein: Right, and Moshe then has this major meltdown and starts yelling at them that they're going to sort of ruin everything that they've been working for in the desert. Pretty terrifying to be the representatives of Gad and Reuven there, having Moshe sort of accuse you of doing exactly what the spies did.

Ami: Right, so it seems like this request…it kind of retriggers some really bad memories for Moshe.

Daniel: Absolutely.

Ami: You're doing exactly what your ancestors did. You're going to ruin everything. No one is going to want to go into the land because of this request that you're making. Okay, so walk us through the story a little bit, what happens from there?

Daniel: Well, if I remember correctly, the representatives of Gad and Reuven then sort of explain to Moshe that they're happy to go into the land to fight with the rest of their brethren, and to even be the frontline soldiers in the conquest, and only when the land is conquered and divided will they go home. Then Moshe says, “Alright, sounds good. Let's do that.”

Ami: Right, so it's not only that they say, “No, no, no, Moshe, you got it wrong. We're going to go to the land too.” They even offer to go ahead of everybody else, right? “We're going to be on the front lines of the battle. Only after everyone's got their place and they're safe and sound, will we come back to this part of the land.”

Daniel: I think they even follow through on that, Ami. I think in the Book of Yehoshua (Joshua) it says that the B’nei Gad (the sons of Gad) and B’nei Reuven (the sons of Reuben) actually were the frontline soldiers in the battle, and they actually didn't go home until everyone had settled in their place in the land.

How To Approach Negotiations

Ami: Right, so there's a couple of things that I want to focus in on, on this story. One of them is something that Rabbi Fohrman dealt with at length in one of his previous parsha videos, and the other is kind of another sort of hidden wrinkle in there that I think is worth exploring. So I want you to look with me at verse 16. This is kind of the turning point. The tribes have just made their request. Moshe's just given them a really strong reprimand: “How could you be doing this? How could you be making the whole mistake all over again?” And read for me, if you don't mind, starting at verse 16 here what Reuven and Gad respond to Moshe.

Daniel: Okay:

וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמְרוּ גִּדְרֹת צֹאן נִבְנֶה לְמִקְנֵנוּ פֹּה וְעָרִים לְטַפֵּנוּ׃ וַאֲנַחְנוּ נֵחָלֵץ חֻשִׁים לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד אֲשֶׁר אִם־הֲבִיאֹנֻם אֶל־מְקוֹמָם וְיָשַׁב טַפֵּנוּ בְּעָרֵי הַמִּבְצָר מִפְּנֵי יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ׃ לֹא נָשׁוּב אֶל־בָּתֵּינוּ עַד הִתְנַחֵל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ נַחֲלָתוֹ׃כִּי לֹא נִנְחַל אִתָּם מֵעֵבֶר לַיַּרְדֵּן וָהָלְאָה כִּי בָאָה נַחֲלָתֵנוּ אֵלֵינוּ מֵעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן מִזְרָחָה:

(Numbers 32: 16-19)

The representatives of Reuven and Gad approached Moshe, and they say to him, “So we'll build pens for our cattle here in the place that they want to settle and cities for our children, and we will gird ourselves with weapons before the rest of the Children of Israel until we bring them to their place. And our children will dwell in these fortified cities in order to be protected from the other people who live around here. We will not return to our homes until all of the other Children of Israel inherit their inheritance, for we will not inherit with them from the other side of the Jordan, for our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Yarden (Jordan River).

Ami: Okay thanks. So in short, this is the pledge that we mentioned before: “We're going to build homes for our children and flocks here, but we're going to go to the front lines of battle, right, and then only after will we return.” Now in a previous video, Rabbi Fohrman focused on the first words of verse 16, "וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמְרוּ" (they approached him and said), it wasn't just that they launched into a response to Moshe. Moshe has a pretty good fear here. We've seen the entire project of this nation go down the tubes because people didn't want to go to the land. They were afraid to, they were hesitant to, and here they are about to enter, and Moshe, he's got reason to be afraid, right? So, they make a good argument here by saying, “You don't understand, Moshe. We're going to go out on the vanguards. We’re going to go fight first.” But there's something they do before they even open their mouths, and that's וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו – they come close to Moshe (Numbers 32:16).

Daniel: It feels like they are trying to also maybe show how much they care about it by approaching...

Ami: Right. So Rabbi Fohrman's argument there was that "וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו" (they approached)... they are literally closing the gap between them and Moshe. They're not just standing there arguing, fighting over two sides of a table – “I'll give you a counter offer; I'll give you a counter offer” – but they in a sense put aside the language of arguments and just stepped forward and speak to him one person to another, relating to one another as human beings. In Rabbi Fohrman's words, they're building on the language of trust between them.

Daniel: Which is so interesting because it's such a great contrast to some of the other requests that B'nei Yisrael (Children of Israel) have made throughout the Book of Numbers. Right, it seems to be that they're not interested in making things personal or developing a close relationship with Moshe where they're asking for things in a real human way. They're sort of just treating him like a person they're going to hit with their complaints until he gives them what they want.

Ami: Right, that's a good point. The whole time Moshe is just sort of this person who fills a role for the nation. He's more a symbol than a person. They turn to him when they need him, but we don't see so much of this kind of human closeness between them.

Daniel: Really interesting.

Ami: So there's something else that "וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו" evokes for us though, Daniel. When you see those words, "וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו," what does it remind you of?

Daniel: Well, I do think that we have a similar language in Sefer Bereishit (the Book of Genesis). It's the first thing that pops into my head, where Yehudah (Judah) approaches Yosef (Joseph), who at that point did not know was his brother, Yosef. וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה – Yehudah drew close to him to explain to him the dire situation in his family, where if he didn't return home to his father with his brother Binyamin (Benjamin), then his father might die (Genesis 44:18). 

It's interesting because it does sort of evoke also the same sort of human aspects to a negotiation. I don't know if that's where you're going with this, but that is really interesting. Yosef was this powerful viceroy, this leader figure and Yehudah, and his brothers needed something from him, and when they made their request to get Binyamin back, Yehudah was doing it in a way that seems like it was very much on, you know, human terms and appealing to someone's emotional side, rather than a negotiation.

Ami: So, Daniel, if we look back in Bereishit (Genesis) 44, when Yehudah comes close to Yosef – וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה, he actually says something that might not be so different from what the tribes of Reuven and Gad are saying to Moshe right now. Because what are they saying to Moshe? They're saying, “Moshe, we're going to go ahead of our brothers. We're going to, in a sense, protect them, go to the front lines, fight before them. We're going to take the responsibility for the rest of the nation on our shoulders.”

Remember what Yehudah was basically saying to Yosef. Yosef had taken Binyamin as captive, as a prisoner, and Yehudah told their father Yaakov (Jacob), “Binyamin will come back to you. I'm going to take responsibility for him.” The words he uses when he says it to Yosef are: כִּי עַבְדְּךָ עָרַב אֶת־הַנַּעַר מֵעִם אָבִי לֵאמֹר אִם־לֹא אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָ וְחָטָאתִי לְאָבִי כׇּל־הַיָּמִים – your servant has pledged himself for the boy to my father…(Genesis 44:32). An areiv is somebody who is a guarantor. They take full responsibility for another person.

Daniel: You're saying that, similarly, the tribes of Reuven and Gad are offering to somehow be a guarantor for the rest of their brethren.

Ami: Even though they don't use that language, that's the offer they're making to Moshe. There's the וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו – they come close to him, and they say, “We're going to take responsibility for our brothers by going out to battle before them.” As we're talking about it, something else that kind of pops into my mind is, what is Moshe accusing them of here right now?

Daniel: Well, he seems to be accusing them of being insensitive to how the rest of their brethren will react to what they say.

Ami: Right! And he's comparing them to who?

Daniel: I think he's comparing them to the spies.

Ami: He's comparing them to the spies. What was it that Yosef accused his brothers of when they first came to Egypt? What did he call them?

Daniel: He accused them of being spies.

Ami: He accused them of being spies. If you just kind of glance at some of the language that Moshe uses – his first response to them, I'm going back now to pasuk vav, verse 6. וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה לִבְנֵי־גָד וְלִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן הַאַחֵיכֶם יָבֹאוּ לַמִּלְחָמָה וְאַתֶּם תֵּשְׁבוּ פֹה – Your brothers to go to war while you stay here? He's accusing them of abandoning their brothers, which is basically what Yosef's brothers did to him.

Who Mentioned Manasseh?

Now, there's another really odd thing that goes on here because, as we said, Moshe reconsiders Rueben and Gad's offer, and he says, “Yes, you know we're going to agree to do this.” But Moshe also adds another sort of unspoken condition to the deal. Would you mind reading it inside, Daniel?

Daniel: Yes, sure. וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם  מֹשֶׁה – So Moshe gave to them, לִבְנֵי־גָד וְלִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְלַחֲצִי  שֵׁבֶט  מְנַשֶּׁה בֶן־יוֹסֵף – So he gave to the children of Gad and the children Reuven, and also to half of the tribe of Menashe (Manasseh) ben Yosef, אֶת־מַמְלֶכֶת סִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ הָאֱמֹרִי – the kingdom of Sichon, וְאֶת־מַמְלֶכֶת עוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן – and also the kingdom of Og, הָאָרֶץ לְעָרֶיהָ בִּגְבֻלֹת עָרֵי הָאָרֶץ סָבִיב –basically all of the land and its borders (Numbers 32:33). 

Ami: So what did Moshe do here that's really weird?

Daniel: Moshe seems to be adding in half of shevet Menashe (the tribe of Manasseh) into the equation.

Ami: So yes. He says, “Reuven and Gad, you're not going to be the only tribes on this side of the Jordan. There's going to be half of the tribe of Menashe here on this side with you too.” He sets the other half of Menashe's plot in the Land of Israel, on the Western side of the Jordan. So effectively, Reuven and Gad make this request, Moshe agrees to it, and then he just slips in there half of another tribe onto their plot of land.

Daniel: Ami, it's fascinating you're pointing this out. If you would've asked me to recount this story for you, I would've thought that the story said that half of the tribe of Menashe also asked to inherit land on the other side of the Yarden, but they actually don't show up in the story until this point, and we don't even have any record of them asking for anything. Is that really true?

Ami: That is true, Daniel. Read all the verses in between that we skipped, from... we started 16, 17 and we ended up down here at 33. This is the first time we hear about this half tribe show up.

Daniel: It's fascinating.

Ami: It's bizarre, right? And what's even stranger is look at how the tribes are named here in verse 33: וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם  מֹשֶׁה לִבְנֵי־גָד – the children of Gad, וְלִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן – the children of Reuven, וְלַחֲצִי  שֵׁבֶט  מְנַשֶּׁה בֶן־יוֹסֵף – and to half of the tribe of Menashe, son of Yosef. Now, it might make sense that Menashe is called “son of Yosef” because, as we know, Yosef split into two tribes, but I think that there's something telling in the fact that he's called Menashe, son of Yosef. Because think about this whole kind of meta-context were looking at here – there's וַיִּגַּשׁ (vayigash), there's brothers coming close to take care of brothers, there's an accusation that the brothers are abandoning brothers, and there's a show of solidarity between the tribes that otherwise seems like it might lead to breakdown. Now, do you remember, Daniel, where Menashe was born, and why he was given the name he was given?

Daniel: I'm pretty sure that Menashe was born in the land of Egypt and that his name has something to do with the fact that Yosef was abandoned.

Ami: So yes, Menashe was born in Egypt, but let's just look at the verse when he's born and why Yosef gives him the name he does. I'm reading to you now from Bereishit chapter 41. It says that Yosef has two sons and in verse 51. וַיִּקְרָא יוֹסֵף אֶת־שֵׁם הַבְּכוֹר מְנַשֶּׁה – He calls his first born son Menashe, כִּי־נַשַּׁנִי אֱלֹהִים אֶת־כׇּל־עֲמָלִי וְאֵת כׇּל־בֵּית אָבִי – because God has…nashani, which Biblically means has allowed me to forget or made me forget all of my toil and all of my father’s home. In a sense Yosef is naming his firstborn son in Egypt "the child through whom God has allowed me to forget all the pain of my family and my father's home."

Daniel: Wow.

Ami: That's his firstborn son – the child who allows us to forget the pain of our family's past. And look who Moshe chooses to live on the two sides of the border of the Land of Israel. Menashe seems to be the tribe that somehow is able to bridge between the brothers, but somehow what the tribe of Menashe embodies is an ability to not be stuck and hung up on all of the fights of our past, but to somehow move into a new stage where that's not defining how were moving forward into the future.

Daniel: Interesting. You're saying that even though Menashe, for Yosef, symbolized his ability to move on without his family, and here Manasseh is symbolizing the ability to forget… something?

Ami: Well, I would say that for Yosef, Menashe isn't just symbolizing his ability to move on without his family. He's symbolizing for Yosef the ability to live a life that's not defined by all of the pain of what his brothers did to him. Here, when Reuven and Gad are threatening to arouse that same breakdown within the nation, and it's that same breakdown between brothers that Moshe is afraid of, and they are somehow showing that same move towards closeness that Yehudah exhibited towards Yosef, that vayigash, that move towards closing the gap that was created between the tribes…Menashe becomes the perfect tribe who can fill in that space. Menashe is going to be able to remind all the tribes of the nation that, you know what, those people on the other side of the Jordan, they haven't left you, they haven't abandoned you. And all of you in the Land of Israel, you don't have to hold this grudge against Reuven and Gad, we're all part of one family. The pain of the past – עֲמָלִי וְאֵת כׇּל־בֵּית אָבִי, the sale of Yosef, all of the fights and jealousy between brothers, we don't need to live in that same story anymore.

Daniel: Fascinating. Ami, I hear what you're saying. I'm a little bit on the fence because I think also part of what Yosef's intention was in naming Menashe what he named him was that he was sort of moving on and letting go of his family, but I do hear what you're saying that there's an element of also finding peace and letting go of brotherly animosity and family animosity. If what's going on here is that Moshe is concerned that there will be this animosity because people are separating, then having Menashe be the bridge that's sort of a symbol of letting go of animosity; it's an intriguing idea.

A Familiar Location

Ami: So there's one other thing that I think is going on here in the text that I think tends to go unnoticed, and it has to do with the exact locations and area of land that Reuven, Gad, and this half tribe of Menashe are settling.

If you remember, Daniel, these plots of land that they're all sitting in, these are the lands that they conquered from Sichon and Og, from the King of the Emorites and Og Melech HaBashan (the King of Bashan), and it's these lands that the Torah, in the previous parshiyot, especially Chukat, the Torah goes through this whole history of these lands: They used to belong to Moav, they were taken over by the Emorites, now, as the nation is on their way to the land, they conquer it from Sichon.

I want to look with you at some of the names, specifically – there's a lot here to unpack – but one of the names of the places that were settled here by Reuven, and go with me where else that location comes up. I'm looking now at verse 37, again we're in the Bamidbar, chapter 32, verse 37. It says, וּבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן בָּנוּ אֶת־חֶשְׁבּוֹן וְאֶת־אֶלְעָלֵא וְאֵת קִרְיָתָיִם – the children of Reuven rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim. Then in the next verse, וְאֶת־נְבוֹ וְאֶת־בַּעַל מְעוֹן – they also built up Nevo (Nebo) and Ba'al Me'on, and then there's a whole other slew of cities that were built up. Daniel, Nevo, what do you know about Nevo?

Daniel: Well it sounds like the mountain where Moshe dies, Har Nevo [Mount Nebo].

Ami: Right, so in Devarim (Deuteronomy), we hear about this mountain, Mount Nevo where Moshe dies, and before we go to the way end of the Torah where Moshe actually ascends Mount Nevo, I want to look at a few pesukim (verses) in the beginning of the Book of Devarim in chapter 3, where Moshe is actually retelling this whole scene of Reuven and Gad and the request that they made.

Basically, in chapter 3 of Deuteronomy, starting in verse 16, Moshe starts talking about how these tribes made a request to settle these other lands, and he retells the whole story, the deal they made, et cetera. What's really interesting is that when Moshe is retelling this story of Reuven's and Gad's request, it goes right from there into verse 23: וָאֶתְחַנַּן אֶל־יקוה בָּעֵת הַהִוא לֵאמֹר – Moshe says then at that time I started begging God. Now, Daniel, I'm not going to read all the verses here, but when Moshe starts saying "וָאֶתְחַנַּן" (and I begged), what's he referring to? What's he begging God for?

Daniel: I believe he was begging God to be allowed into the land that he was forbidden to enter.

Ami: Exactly. He was begging God: אֶעְבְּרָה־נָּא וְאֶרְאֶה אֶת־הָאָרֶץ הַטּוֹבָה – Let me pass into the Land, אֲשֶׁר בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן – on the other side of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 3:25). So here it's really strange. Moshe is telling the story of the tribes who settled on one side of Jordan, and then he says, “And at that very moment, I started begging God to allow me to cross the river and enter into the land.”

Daniel: You'd expect that to happen earlier, because in the chronology we have in Sefer Bamidbar, it seems like first Moshe hit the rock, and then only after that did he go through all the battles and all the conquering and then the request was made from Gad and Reuven. And you'd expect Moshe to start praying for the decree to be reversed right after it was given.

Ami: Exactly. It's kind of strange, I wonder if there's an implication here that somehow the whole affair of Reuven and Gad and Menashe and people who are willing to settle on the other side of the land…I wonder if somehow that evoked in Moshe that last final plea of, “I really want to go in. Please, God, these people are going to stay on this side of the Jordan, but can You allow me to cross that river? Can You allow me in?” 

Daniel: Interesting, what would the connection be?

Connecting the Dots

Ami: So I'm not really sure, but there is something really strange that ends up happening. Right, because we all know Moshe doesn't budge from that place. He stays in that plot of land. If we go to the very last chapter of the whole Torah, Devarim 34: וַיַּעַל מֹשֶׁה מֵעַרְבֹת מוֹאָב – Moshe ascends from the plains of Moab. Again, Moab's lands are all of these lands of Sihon and Og that the people had conquered right there on the Eastern side of the Jordan, those were the lands that Reuven and Gad settled. אֶל־הַר נְבוֹ רֹאשׁ הַפִּסְגָּה – He climbs up Mount Nevo, to the mountain top, אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי יְרֵחוֹ – and God shows him a whole landscape, he gets to see where all of the tribes are going to settle. God says to him, זֹאת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב לֵאמֹר לְזַרְעֲךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה – this is the land I promised the forefathers to give to their descendants, הֶרְאִיתִיךָ בְעֵינֶיךָ וְשָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲבֹר – but Moshe you’re going to look at it with your eyes, you’re not going to pass into that land (Deuteronomy 34:1). Moshe dies there in the land of Moav, and he's buried in the land of Moav. It says nobody knows Moshe' burial place, but we know the general region where Moshe was buried. Where was that region?

Daniel: It sounds like it's in the land that was given to Reuven.

Ami: It sounds like it's in Reuven’s plot. Now there's a discussion, maybe it was in Gad's land. There seems to be some verse a little bit earlier in [Parshat] V'zot Habracha that implies that Moshe is somehow buried in Gad's plot, but this land that Reuven and Gad and the half tribe of Menashe settled on the other side of the Yarden…this plot of land that was somehow an extension of the Land of Israel…it becomes the burial place of Moshe. So I want to ask you something, Daniel, did Moshe get buried in the land or not?

Daniel: Well, I mean it seems pretty clear from the fact that God denied Moshe's request that where he is, is not considered to be part of the Land of Israel, but it's also not some random place either. It's not like he got buried in Spain. He's buried in a land that is inhabited by the Children of Israel, even if it's not in the borders of the Land of Israel.

Ami: It's really kind of strange. Moshe ends up being buried in sort of “Israel Heights” – the extension of the Land of Israel, the part that's not the inheritance of the forefathers, but it's the part that was settled by these two tribes who wanted to stay there and who God agreed to give that land to and who Moshe agreed to give that land to.

What To Make of All This?

Daniel: So, Ami, these are really fascinating things that we've been talking about. We talked about the connection between the request of B’nei Gad and B’nei Reuven to the request of Yehudah of Yosef to return Binyamin. We spoke about the connection between Menashe's role in Yosef's life as the thing that let him put aside his animosity with his family and Menashe's role bridging the gap of Reuven and Gad and the rest of the Children of Israel as a way to sort of make sure there is no animosity there either. And now we're also talking about how Moshe is actually buried in a sort of middle ground that's not the Eretz Yisrael [Land of Israel], but it's also not completely separate either. So what do you make of all this?

Ami: So, Daniel, I think that there's a lot here that's sort of the beginnings of a theory. Here are some of the things that I am noticing. There were these tribes, who as they were about to enter the Land of Israel, they say you know what, we want to stay right here on this side of the Jordan. Moshe agrees, God agrees, and they prove that they’re remaining connected to their brothers on the other side.

When Moshe retells that story, in the wake of their request, Moshe is saying that he started to beg God at that moment, “Please let me go into the land with the rest of this nation. Please let me cross that river and enter the land that You've promised us.” God does not fulfill that request. But Moshe is not ultimately lost either, because Moshe gets somehow taken in by those tribes who show their commitment to their brothers and still live outside the land.

It's almost as if, in some crazy way, the whole requests of Gad and Reuven and the whole placement of half the tribe of Menashe there, maybe it was all some kind of pretext for Moshe to not be lost to this nation for all of eternity. I almost think that perhaps that kind of brotherly devotion and commitment that we were seeing from Reuven and Gad was extended to Moshe himself. Although he didn't enter the land in his lifetime, his burial place, his eternal legacy, so to speak, exists among his people, and exists specifically with those people who made a special request to stay outside the land and remain connected to the rest of the nation at the same time.

Daniel: Ami, that's really interesting. What I think I'm hearing you say is that Reuven and Gad had this moment where it looked like they're going to be abandoning their brothers. They're going to be separated in some way, going to be completely disconnected from the rest of the Children of Israel, but that ended up being an illusion, and they ended up being able to be connected through this bridge of Menashe. And Moshe was also faced with this potential complete separation from his nation. He wasn't going to be allowed into Israel, and he wasn't going to even be allowed to be buried in Israel. Somehow because of the devotion that the B’nei Gad and B’nei Reuven express towards the rest of their brethren, which allows them to reunite even through a kind of separation, they also are able to house Moshe in their territory, allowing for a kind of reuniting of Moshe with his people, even though he was supposed to be separate as well.

Ami: You know, Daniel, I really like the way that you framed that because it kind of makes it clearer to me that Reuven and Gad had a devotion to brotherhood, had a devotion to the nation, that somehow superseded their devotion to the land itself. As much as Moshe wanted to enter the land, that devotion to the land was not fulfilled, but the devotion to brotherhood was ultimately fulfilled. Somehow the tribe's devotion to each other that transcended physical location was also able to be a devotion that included Moshe with them as well.

Daniel: Ami, I also wonder if the reason Moshe decided to try and pray again to be allowed to enter the land, specifically after the whole episode with B’nei Gad and B’nei Reuven, was because Moshe was inspired by their expression of love and connection?

Ami: Perhaps that gave him hope, right? Perhaps that made him feel, “Oh, there's an opportunity for things to change”?

Daniel: Right. There was this moment of feared separation and that was able to be turned around and maybe he thought that his feared separation could be turned around too.

Ami: And whether or not Moshe realized it...

Daniel: It kind of was.

Ami: Because even though he didn't enter the land, he was ultimately buried with his nation.

Implications for Our Lives

Daniel: Ami, what do you take away from this for your personal life? I'm thinking already of a lot of interesting implications for my life. What do you think?

Ami: I feel like it's hard to compare my own life goals to those of Moshe Rabeinu, you know. But one thing that's kind of modeled here is it's possible to long for something your entire life, and you may not get that particular thing that you've been longing for. But even if you don't receive it in its most pristine, specific way, it's possible that there is still some kind of fulfillment that can come to you, even if it's not the exact thing you've been wanting. I see Moshe as somebody who until his last breath was wanting to enter the land, and again, he may not have even realized that he was receiving a plot with his nation, instead of a plot in the land, but that is ultimately what came from it.

Daniel: I really like that idea, Ami. I was thinking about the connection and the devotion that you were talking about between the B’nei Gad and B’nei Reuven and how even though they didn't sort of fit the mold of the rest of the B’nei Yisrael, and they decided to sort of do their own thing, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a devotion and there wasn't a connection. I think there are always a lot of people in our lives who maybe we find hard to be close to because they look different or they seem different, but when you get down to their core commitments, you know, really we're really more similar than we think, and we're more connected than we think. Maybe the B’nei Gad and B’nei Reuven are a good reminder of that.

Credits

This episode was recorded by Ami Silver together with Daniel Loewenstein. 

When this episode originally aired on Aleph Beta, it was edited by Rivky Stern. 

Into the Verse editing was done by Evan Weiner.

Our audio editor is Hillary Guttman.

Our managing producer is Adina Blaustein.

Our senior editor is me, Ari Levisohn. 

Thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you next week.