In one of my favorite scenes in the original Star Wars
movie, and I’m sorry if I’m spoiling it for anyone, Han Solo returns to save
Luke Skywalker as they’re attacking the Death Star. Earlier in the film, Han had left, taking the
money he’d received and seemingly not caring or feeling any responsibility to
help Luke or the rest of the rebels as they battled against the Evil
Empire. But we see that Han really is
the hero we hoped he would be as he comes back recognizing that he is
responsible for others and that there is more to life than just money.
In this week’s Torah portion we see potentially a similar occurrence
as the Reubenites and the Gaddites come to the land of Jazer and Gilead and
realize that this would be a perfect region for them to raise their
cattle.
They then go to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the
chieftains of the community and ask, “Can we stay on this side of the Jordan,
in this land, and have this as our holding, as our inheritance.” And, Moses' response is “are your brothers to
go to war while you stay here?”
The response of the Reubenites and Gaddites is unequivocal,
they respond and say “we will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and towns
for our children and then we will hasten as shock troops in the van of the Israelites
until we’ve established them in their home.
While our children stay in the fortified towns because of the
inhabitants of the land. We will not
return to our homes until every one of the Israelites is in possession of his
portion, but we will not have a share with them in the territory beyond the
Jordan, for we have received our share on the east side of the Jordan.”
In this moment, those two tribes pledged themselves to be
responsible for the other tribes as they cross over the Jordan and conquer the
Promised Land. What’s striking is that
Moses says to them “are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?” And, while originally, the tribal leaders
were brothers when it was the sons of Jacob; Reuben, Shimon, Levy, Judah and so
on. Many many generations have passed
since then. And so, at best now, we’re
talking about very distant cousins and yet, Moses still uses the term “brothers”
and the response is “we are responsible for our brothers”.
When we consider that we are all descended from Adam and Eve
and then again from Noah, we might recognize that in many ways, we are brothers
with all of humanity, and, as such, this episode serves as an indication that
we are responsible for everyone. Not just
our immediate family, but even if they were brothers or sisters hundreds of
thousands of years ago, as we are all descended from Adam and Eve and Noah, we
are all brothers and sisters with all of humanity.
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