Not What We Bargained For
Friday, July 14, 2023 – כ״ה תַּמּוּז תשפ”ג
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה לִבְנֵי־גָ֖ד וְלִבְנֵ֣י רְאוּבֵ֑ן הַאַֽחֵיכֶ֗ם יָבֹ֙אוּ֙ לַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְאַתֶּ֖ם תֵּ֥שְׁבוּ פֹֽה׃ וְלָ֣מָּה (תנואון) [תְנִיא֔וּן] אֶת־לֵ֖ב בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל מֵֽעֲבֹר֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥ן לָהֶ֖ם יְהֹוָֽה׃ (במדבר לב:ו-ז)
Moses replied to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here? Why will you turn the minds of the Israelites from crossing into the land that יהוה has given them? (Numbers 32:6-7)
Moses was probably taken way off guard, maybe even shocked by the notice given to him by the two tribes of Reuven and Gad (and later by half of the tribe of Menasheh). How could it be that two of the 12 tribes would not cross the Jordan into the Promised Land and instead stay in the rich cattle-grazing lands on the east bank of the Jordan River? Moses became incensed at the possibility of them not crossing the Jordan River with the rest of the tribes and just didn’t understand their desire not to cross over.
Maybe we’re not hearing the Reubenites and Gadites correctly. Often, this story is understood as a polemic on Israel-Diaspora relations. Many people see Reuven and Gad as proto-typical Diaspora Jews. They chose not to come into the Land but were happy to send support from abroad. They preferred a higher standard of living and based their decision on material wealth rather than the fate of the Jewish people.
But what if that is not the whole story?
Reuven and Gad can be read in a larger context here. What if their decision was not based on the cattle-grazing opportunities but, rather, as a reaction to the behavior of Moses and his generals? Looking at this in context, Reuven and Gad resemble those officers, soldiers, and reservists now threatening not to show up for duty because of the Israeli government’s priorities, behaviors, and actions. The Reuven and Gad episode, while painful, comes mere verses after one of the most shocking and horrifying episodes in our biblical narrative. Take a minute to (re)read these 19 verses in the book of Numbers:
“יהוה spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.’ Moses spoke to the militia, saying, ‘Let troops be picked out from among you for a campaign and let them fall upon Midian to wreak יהוה’s vengeance on Midian. You shall dispatch for the campaign a thousand from every one of the tribes of Israel.’ So a thousand from each tribe were furnished from the divisions of Israel, 12 thousand were picked for the campaign.
Moses dispatched them on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Pinchas son of Eleazar serving as a priest on the campaign, equipped with the sacred utensils and the trumpets for sounding the blasts. They took the field against Midian, as יהוה had commanded Moses, and slew every male.”
Along with their other victims, they slew the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also put Balaam son of Beor to the sword.
The Israelites took the women and other noncombatants of the Midianites captive and seized as booty all their beasts, all their herds, and all their wealth. And they destroyed by fire all the towns in which they were settled and their encampments. They gathered all the spoil and all the booty, human and beast, and they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite community leadership, at the camp in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.
Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the chieftains of the community came out to meet them outside the camp. Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign.
Moses said to them, ’You have spared every female! Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against יהוה in the matter of Peor, so that יהוה’s community was struck by the plague.
Now, therefore, slay every male among the non-combatants, and slay also every woman who has known a man carnally; but spare every female noncombatant who has not had carnal relations with a man.
You shall then stay outside the camp seven days; every one among you or among your captives who has slain a person or touched a corpse shall purify himself on the third and seventh days.’” (Numbers 31:1-19)
Ok, that was hard.
The Children of Israel came together and carried out one of the worst and most heinous violent campaigns against other people. The account of this campaign would not hold up at the International Criminal Court nor would it align with the Geneva Conventions. Did they have to burn every village, take all of the spoils, and slay noncombatants?
Can we see a correlation between that terrible episode and the Reubenites’ and Gadites’ decision to stay back? In the end, after pressure, they agreed to send their troops to join and fight.
Since the beginning of the judicial overhaul effort of this radical Israeli government, groups of Israeli reservists, officers, and generals have been speaking out about the broken contract between the military and the current political echelon. Many who are key to providing Israel with its military edge – namely reservists – are looking at the removal of “reasonability,” at increased settler violence without repercussion from the security forces, and they are saying: “This is not what we bargained for.”
The stakes of their refusal to serve are incredibly high. First, if critical numbers of officers and reservists say that this is not what we bargained for, then there is an obvious security threat that weakens the ability of the IDF to defend the country. Second, as we say, one mitzvah leads to another, and the risk of growing the number of refuseniks is huge. Moses was deeply concerned that if two tribes stayed back, then the others might have said “How come they got to stay and we have to do the hard work of settling the Land?” He was right to be concerned.
Former Prime Minister and Israel’s most decorated solider Ehud Barak claimed that with the bill’s passage Israel will face the most severe crisis in its history. In a recent op-ed he called for civil disobedience:
“Nonviolent civil disobedience is a legitimate course of action that has been proven effective. The protest must adopt it without fear or hesitation. And if Netanyahu chooses to ‘dilute’ the law and sow hesitation, may we fight him using all the available tools? Our demand will be clear: No compromise and no idle talks until the coup is ended and all of the associated legislation is canceled or revoked. If Netanyahu insists on passing the reasonableness law within two weeks, we face a constitutional crisis. The military reservists will carry through on their plan to stop volunteering, the protest will surge, the High Court will overturn the law and the case will be put to the gatekeepers, who will stand the test.”
Significant voices strongly opposed Barak’s call for civil disobedience. They claim that an influential civilian is calling for mass insubordination and should be sanctioned for treason. I hear his call not as a threat, but as a warning that actions have consequences – a lesson that the Netanyahu government has yet to internalize (or possibly just doesn’t care). Jewish history judged Reuven and Gad.
Upon reflection, it is not difficult to understand Moses’s surprise and fury at the audacity of Gad’s and Reuven’s request. After all, they had experienced, the centrality of the Land of Israel should have been so clear as to make their request only slightly short of heresy. Moreover, the wording of their request, “Do not bring us over the Jordan” sounds as if they may well have been rejecting the Holy Land, and Moses’s raison d’être as God’s prophet.
The greatness of Moses – even after questionable behavior on the battlefield – was that he was able to hear the Reubenites and Gadites and come to a compromise. Sadly, Netanyahu has shown no demonstratable sign of listening to the plea of the reservists and those who say simply “Hey, this is not what we bargained for.” Like Moses, the nation is watching what is happening and they are increasingly not with you.
To those who voted for this government, is this what you committed to? If not, how far will you go to have your voice heard?