Precisely from this meticulous, incisive, and constant reading and rereading, the teachers of the Jewish people have developed the exercise of systematically studying the Torah. Week after week we face the biblical text, eager to discover new teachings and renewed meanings in the stories already known, allowing us to guide and direct our lives.

We find an example of this conscientious analysis of the sacred text, so as to build from a minimal detail a great lesson, near the end of parashat Mattot.

The Torah, in chapter 32 of the book of Numbers, tells us that Reuben and Gad’s tribes possessed plentiful livestock and saw that the land east of Jordan (that is, before entering the Promised Land), was ideal for their animals. Thus, they suggested to Moses that they stay there. The leader’s answer was a categorical no: “Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?” (vs.6).

Then, both tribes presented a new proposal; that the men march to war with the rest of the people but first “We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones” (vs.16). Moses accepts the suggestion and replies: “Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth” (vs.24).

Let us read the text carefully. The leader’s answer is subtly different to the offer of the tribes of Reuben and Gad. They proposed to build the corrals first and later on the cities, while Moses gave priority to the cities for the children.

Stemming from this, in principle faint difference, the Midrash (Bemidvar Rabba 22:5) perceives a noteworthy qualitative discrepancy between both perspectives, criticizing the materialism of the two unruly tribes:

“The heart of the wise leans towards his right”, referring to Moses, “while the heart of the fool leans towards his left” (Ecl. 10:2 being the Reubenites and Gadites, who transformed the secondary into principal and the principal into secondary, for they preferred their belongings over their families).