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.
