Chazal describe the dialogue between Moshe and the tribes of Bnei Gad and Reuven in the following manner. First they asked for sheep enclosures. Afterward, they requested cities for their children. Moshe corrected them by saying, “Do not turn the unimportant into the essential and the essential into the secondary. First you must provide for your children, and then for your possessions.” Chazal explain that their obsession with their material needs caused these tribes to be the first to be exiled. How true this has been throughout history. As soon as there is a modest improvement in our material sustenance,…
