The tribes of Reuven and Gad were blessed with abundant livestock but did that cause them to misplace priorities? And don’t we all occasionally get blinded by the glitter of wealth and success hoping the really important things in life will somehow coast along on their own?

Our current parshah suggests that we have a talk about money. About careers and distorted priorities and the dangers inherent in both.

In Parshas Mattos (read this week outside Eretz Yisrael) we encounter — at least on the pshat level of understanding — the craving for wealth that came over a part of Bnei Yisrael just as they were about to enter  the Promised Land.

If we’re honest with ourselves the words of Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven sound comfortably familiar. They’re speaking our language — the language of money.

Let us look at what they say:

“The descendants of Reuven and Gad had an abundance of livestock very numerous and they saw the land… and behold the place was a place for livestock… and they spoke to Moshe and to Elazar the Kohein and to the princes of the community saying ‘… the land that Hashem struck down before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock and your servants have livestock.’ ” (Bamidbar 32:1-4)

The pesukim clearly convey that the subject of livestock was foremost in their minds and it was their chief motivator. They go on to make an explicit request of Moshe to have their portions of the Land on the east side of theJordan.

“Do not bring us across theJordan.”

If we read the rest of the passage attentively we find that Moshe immediately perceived just how tragic this was that money could sway the human mind to this extent (the chassidic masters offer other mystical approaches to their surprising request but a straightforward reading of the text is clearly negative). They were on the very threshold of realizing their vision of entering the Promised Land with all of its special physical and spiritual attributes. And now two tribes come before Moshe Rabbeinu and say they’re ready to give up that vision for the sake of wealth. They made business their chief goal. They would follow after their flocks the main source of wealth in those days. Moshe is upset and gives them mussar attempting to make them see how they are distancing themselves from Hashem. Again and again he uses the expression “lifnei Hashem ” until they get the point and see that their wealth has caused them to forget their Creator and put business first in their lives not just business before pleasure but business before ideals.

That tune sounds familiar doesn’t it?

But something more shocking comes next and it teaches us the destructive power of greed for money:

“They approached him and said ‘We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here and cities for our children’ ”(ibid. 16).

Moshe answers them: “Build for yourselves cities for your children and sheepfolds for your flocks.”

Rashi explains:

“They were more concerned about their wealth than about their sons and daughters for they mentioned their livestock before their children. But Moshe said to them ‘Not so. Put first things first and secondary things afterward. First build yourselves cities and after that build sheepfolds for your flocks.’ ”

Their livestock had so gone to their heads that their priority had become “business before children.”

Greed for wealth can skew an entire system of values. In extreme cases concern for one’s children can sink to the bottom of the scale of priorities as profit rises to the top. The prevalent phenomenon of latchkey kids — children of two working parents who come home to an empty house and a note explaining how to warm up the food left for them in the fridge — comes to mind.

InEuropetoday there is a trend not to have children at all lest they get in the way of the adults’ personal aspirations. Rav Eliyahu Dessler in his Michtav MeEliyahu described this common view — that children are a burden rather than a blessing — as the ultimate in egoism. (And today Europeis paying a heavy price for this egoism as many states on the continent are gradually turning into Muslim nations due to the wide disparity in the birth rates between the native European populations and the Muslim immigrant populations.)

And isn’t it common in some of our own religious circles to put off marriage lest it disrupt the pursuit of an academic degree and a secure parnassah so that there should be plenty of money on which to raise the one or two children such couples will bring into the world? In fact some rabbanim in these circles have taken on the task of turning around the trend which has given rise to serious religious moral and social problems. May these yerei Shamayim be successful in their efforts.

But why look outside of our own circles? Do we ourselves always put the good of our children first? Do we always have patience for them when their needs clash with other interests of ours such as careers askanus on behalf of the community and so on? Recently I was shown a video clip showing a frum American boy trying to get his father’s attention for a moment. The father is preoccupied with business with nonstop phone calls with back-to-back meetings… and the teenager’s attempts to get his attention are met with impatient rebuffs. Finally the son gets the father to answer one question: How much is an hour of his business time worth? Two hundred dollars the father answers reluctantly. The boy offers him a hundred-dollar bill asking if he can please buy half an hour of his father’s time.

But honestly don’t we all or many of us at least act like that father to some degree? Don’t many of us go in the way of Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven putting livestock money business or careers ahead of what ought to come first — the family growth in our own middos raising our children in the way of the Torah? I must confess to having fallen prey to this sin many a time myself.

The words of Rav Yitzchak Arama a great parshan who lived 500 years ago come to mind. On the pasuk “You shall have no other gods before Me ” he comments:

“And included in this is the great avodah zarah that is so prevalent in the world today and that is the focusing of all one’s thoughts and activities on the accumulation of wealth and success in business. These are the mighty gods many rely on and place their faith in and in sanctification of their name they deny G-d above… and that is avodah zarah itself.”

If these words were written 500 years ago what can we say of ourselves today?

The story is told of Rav Chaim Kreiswirth ztz”l the famous rav ofAntwerp who while still living inChicago appeared before a judge as part of his application for American citizenship. Due to his imposing character the judge waived the requirement of answering test questions about Federal law and instead he asked the Rav what his impressions were ofAmerica.

“I am impressed” the Rav replied “by the fact that on every dollar the words ‘In G-d we trust’ appear. The only trouble is that many Americans seem to think that the dollar is G-d.”

Looking back in history we see that for the tribes of Gad and Reuven the rich pastureland they chose for themselves did not ultimately bring them peace and prosperity.

And yes this lesson of misplaced priorities is applicable to us. But lest I be misunderstood I would like to go on record as saying that money is a good thing. It is a gift from G-d. A person has the choice of turning his money into something harmful to its owner or of making it a blessing which is true wealth. That is up to us.