Shtika #4

Rabbi Frand

When we read Parshas Bamidbar, we find something peculiar. Sometimes the Prince of the Tribe of Gad is referred to as Elyasaf son of Reu’el and sometimes he is referred to as Elyasaf son of Deu’el. The Chidah (Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai) [1724-1806] the prolific Sephardic posek who authored sixty or seventy volumes, writes in one of his sefarim (Chomas Anoch), the following explanation in the name of a Sefer Imrei Noam:

The reason the Tribe of Gad merited that Moshe Rabbeinu was buried on Har Nevo, in their portion of Eretz Yisrael (i.e. – Transjordan), was that Gad could have advanced a claim to Moshe Rabbeinu: Listen, I am the Bechor [firstborn] of Zilpah and Dan is the Bechor of Bilhah. Dan was made the leader of a whole three-Tribe configuration in the Wilderness travels (“Machane Dan“) while I am just an add-on to some other Tribe’s “Machane“. What am I – a second-class citizen? Yet, Gad did not make such a protest. Because of that, says the Chidah, Gad merited two privileges: First, his Prince (who real name was Elyasaf ben Deu’el) was called Elyasaf ben Reu’el, which means the friend (Reya) of G-d (E-l) (i.e. – friend of Hashem or of Moshe Rabbeinu for not complaining to him with a valid complaint). Secondly, for the same reason, he merited that Moshe Rabbeinu was buried in his portion of Eretz Yisrael. Those are the words of the Chidah.

I saw an interesting observation in a sefer, Otzros HaTorah. What would have happened if the Tribe of Gad would have spoken up and advanced a claim against Moshe Rabbeinu: How is it fair that Dan leads a whole three-Tribe configuration and we are just followers?

We do not know if such a claim would have been accepted or not. However, one thing is certain – today it does not really make a difference if there had been a Degel Machane Gad (A Leadership Role in the Wilderness Camp Configuration for the Tribe of Gad) or not. However, the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu is buried in his portion and the fact that he is called Reu’el – “the friend of G-d” – is something that is eternal. Why did he merit that? It is because he kept his mouth shut when it came to a matter that was very transitory in nature.

“I have found nothing better in life than silence.” [Avos 1:17]. Because he had the ability to silently accept a situation that could have been seen as unfair to him, and be quiet – which we all know is sometimes very difficult – for that he merited having the greatest leader in the history of the Nation of Israel buried in his portion.

The Sdei Chemed is an encyclopedia of Halacha which comprises 9 volumes, and it covers from “Alef” through “Taf” in Halacha. The author lived before computers and before Encyclopedia Talmudis, before any of these super indexes of halachic literature. He wrote this all on his own. To say the author had a photographic memory is a gross understatement. He knew the entire Torah.

The Sdei Chemed once told his family that as a young man he had no special memory and no special intellectual talents. However, he did something in his life, and after that incident, he felt that he became elevated and developed somehow superhuman powers of intellect. What happened?

He was learning in a Kollel and another member of the Kollel was jealous of him and wanted to do him in. There was an Arab woman who came to clean up the Beis Medrash and the other Kollel member bribed this woman to say that the Sdei Chemed engaged in inappropriate behavior with her. She accepted the bribe and made the claim. Everybody believed her, and the Sdei Chemed suffered such shame and abuse that he had to leave the Kollel and run away. The truth of the matter is that the head of the Kollel did not believe the woman and fired her, but that did not help the Sdei Chemed because his reputation was already ruined, and his name was mud.

A short time later, the bribe money ran out, and this housekeeper had no more money, so she came back to the Sdei Chemed and said, “Chatasi, Aveesi, Pa’shati l’fanecha…” I did this terrible thing; please forgive me and I will go and publicly say that the whole thing was a sham and it was not true. I will go back to the Kollel and tell everyone the truth that the story was a fabrication, and I will restore your reputation. I only ask that you go back to the Rosh Yeshiva and get my job back for me, because I literally have nothing to eat.”

The Sdei Chemed said he was tempted to take her up on this offer and reclaim his reputation. However, he then realized that if he goes back to the Kollel now, and this woman confesses the full story, then not only will there have been one Chillul Hashem, there would be two Chillul Hashems. The first Chillul Hashem was that he was accused of having an illicit affair with the housekeeper. But now people would also say: “Do you know how bad this was? There was another member of the Kollel that was so low that he paid money to slander a fellow Torah student with a total fabrication!” That would be a double Chilul Hashem.

So, he told his family, he decided to do nothing. He would merely return and go to the Rosh Kollel and quietly try to get the Arab women her job back, but on the condition that she not confess anything and not let the story get out about the bribe and the Chilul Hashem involved in that side of the incident.

That is what happened. The Sdei Chemed wrote that after that incident, he became a different person. From that day forward, he merited super intellectual prowess. He indeed had such intellectual prowess. Imagine one person, sitting down – l’havdil – and single-handedly writing the entire Encyclopedia Britannica! That is the equivalent of what the Sdei Chemed did. He wrote an encyclopedia! Why did he merit this gift? It is because he kept his mouth shut.

This is the attribute that Elyasaf ben Deu’el / ben Reu’el had as well. He kept his mouth shut and he merited eternal reward: The name “Friend of G-d” (Reyah shel Kel) and having Moshe Rabbeinu buried in his portion of Eretz Yisrael.