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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier
יעקב אבינו, our patriarch Jacob, before his death, blessed his sons. To ראובן he said, “Reuven, you were to have superior positions, that of kingship and priesthood. But due to water-like impetuosity, you forfeited both of them.” Though Reuven had thought he was acting virtuously in justifying his mother’s honor and had subsequently sincerely repented, nevertheless a leader can not ever be impetuous.
This idea was the core teaching of the אלטר מקלם, the Kelm Yeshiva – not to have בהלה , impulsiveness, rather one must be deliberate at all times. HaRav Nosson Wachtfogel זצ“ל related that the first time he entered the Kelm Yeshiva for מעריב , when the חזן said a ברכה , he immediately shouted אמן! Whereupon, the whole yeshiva turned around, looked at him, and then after 1 or 2 seconds, all said Amen, in perfect harmony. The lesson, he learned, was to relax, think, contemplate, and patiently react in unison with others.
The Medrash teaches; “וילך ראובן בימי קציר חטים”. (in מדרש רבה ע“ב:א) And Reuven went out in the time of the harvest ( בראשית ס“ל:י“ד ) and he found “dudaim”… This is to teach us the noble character of Reuven: he was so determined to only take something that he was positive that it was ownerless, not to possess an item that there was the slightest chance of dishonesty.
The Medrash continues with the verse in Proverbs,משלי כ“ב:י,n“ חנוך לנער על פי דרכו , Train a child according to his natural tendency, if so, even when he ages, it will not leave him.” Leah recognized that even in Reuven’s earliest, formative years that he possessed a relentless disposition to acute honesty and trained him accordingly. Therefore, all his life’s actions would be predicated on this innate gift endowed by Hashem.
Continues the Medrash; at the end of the 40 years in the desert, the tribe of Reuven (and גד ), beseeched משה רבינו , Moshe Rabeinu, “Please give us this land, that was conquered in the Eastern side of the Jordan River as our place of dwelling due to our abundance of cattle. They needed a place where they could be certain that their animals would not graze in another’s field. Due to the expansive amount of pasture that was on that side of the Jordan, their needs would be satisfied.
Though for forty years all of Klal Yisroel had been studying Torah, and had anticipated to enter the land of Israel where the Divine Presence was at its peak; they accepted that their manner of “sanctifying Hashem’s name”, their responsibility to do so required them to choose this land. Reuven from his earliest years was creating the paradigm of integrity; this was his task, to be the tribe that would engender honesty throughout KlalYisroel by example. (see (מכתב מאליהו ב‘ פ‘ מטות
Moshe Rabeinu didn’t argue with their conviction. Rather, he remonstrated them for not offering to join the rest of Klal Yisroel in the conquest of the land of Canaan and furthermore for mentioning their cattle before their families. It’s true that they were selflessly dedicating themselves to do Hashem’s will, but their approach was not perfect; it wasn’t deliberate enough with an understanding of the total scope of the situation. Despite their total spiritual, enthusiastic commitment to their designated role, they were still slightly impulsive.
What is the connection between Reuven being gifted with the hallmark of honesty and the negative trait of impetuosity that had to be overridden?
Impulsiveness is a reaction to a situation where one allows their emotions to dictate their behavior, essentially robbing one of the ability to intellectually view a situation from every angle and possibility. His challenge was to overcome his inherent tendency to ‘quickly’ do what is ‘correct’. If Reuven was to be the leader of Klal Yisroel, being impulsive would disallow the correct evaluation of situations and preclude patient, deliberate decisions. This in effect is a direct contradiction to unequivocal integrity. He was therefore relieved of his eminent position by Yaakov Avinu. Yehuda, on the other hand, when challenged by Tamar to recognize that he was the one who impregnated her, immediately, intellectually understood that he absolutely must acknowledge that it’s him. He was therefore chosen to be the monarch of Klal Yisroel.
This same idea applies to the halacha that if one drinks a certain measure of wine, one is disqualified from rendering a complex decision or to adjudicate a case. One is required to have intellectual acuity, coupled with thoughtful emotional sensitivity which is compromised by a slight amount of alcohol.
A pure intellectual process has to be balanced with emotional observation as we are taught that a judge who is childless cannot adjudicate a case of “capital punishment” due to his lack of acquired sensitivity, that is gained through child-raising.
In our daily lives our actions are often predicated on needs of desires, jealousy, and aggrandizement. , הקנאה והתאוה, והכבוד מוציאין אדם מן העולם . They can totally ruin a life of relentless accomplishment and true, steady intellectual focus. Yaakov Avinu taught us how extremely careful one must be to examine the true source of one’s thoughts and actions.
