Today we finished the sixth chapter of massechet (tractate)
Berachot. Our daf TB Berachot 44 opens with a Mishna that teaches a very
important life principle.
MISHNA: If they
brought salted food before him to eat first and bread with it, he
recites a blessing over the salted food and thereby exempts the
bread, because the salted food is primary while the bread is secondary
to it. This is the principle: Any food that is primary and a secondary
food is with it, one recites a blessing over the primary and, in so
doing, exempts the secondary from its own blessing. (Sefaria.org translation)
In this case a person is only eating bread to chase down
very salty food that otherwise would be hard to swallow. The salty food is
primary and the bread is secondary. The principle is clear. One recites the
blessing over what’s primary and in doing so does not need to bless the
secondary food.
What’s primary and what secondary in life is not always so
clear to people as the Mishnah’s example. The Torah (Numbers 32 1:42) gives us
an example that resonates for us moderns. After the Israelites defeated Sichon
and Og, two Kings, the tribes of Reuvan and Gad saw the land they had just
conquered was suitable for cattle and they owned cattle in very great number.
They requested to remain on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Moses was angry
at them thinking once again some Israelites did not want to cross over into the
Promised Land and thus disobey God’s command to conquer it. A very interesting
conversation between Moses and these tribes ensued.
“Then they stepped up to him and said, ‘We will build here
sheep-folds for flocks and towns for our children. And we will hasten as shock
troops in the van of the Israelites until we have established them in their
homes, 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 the territory beyond the Jordan, for we have received our share on the
east side of the Jordan.”
“Moses said to them, ‘If you do this, if you go to battle as
shock troops, at the insistence of the Lord, and every shock fighter among you
crosses the Jordan, at the insistence of the Lord, until He has displaced His enemies
before Him, and the land has been subdued, at the instance of the Lord, and
then you return-you shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel; and this
land shall be your holding under the Lord. But if you do not do so, you will
have sinned against the Lord; and know that your sin will overtake you. Build towns
for your children and sheep-folds for your flocks, but do what you have
promised.” (Numbers 32:16-24)
The Midrash Bemidbar Rabbah 22:9 reading Moses’ response
very closely and carefully makes a point about what’s truly important and what
is only secondary. Explicating the verse “a wise man’s mind tends toward the
right hand, and a fool’s toward the left.” (Ecclesiastes 10:2) “A wise man is
Moses and the fools are Reuvan and Gad for they made the primary secondary and
the secondary primary. They loved their money more than their families for they
said to Moses, ‘We will build here sheep-folds
for flocks and towns for our children.’ Moses said to them that they should
make the primary value first and secondary value second saying, Build towns for your children and then sheep-folds
for your flocks” (My translation and emphasis)
Notice that Moses reverses the order telling them to take care
of their families first and then worry about their livelihood. That’s good
advice for many of us today. A lot of us become so involved in our work that we
neglect our families by never being home. Work becomes its own end and not a means
to benefit our family. I have to admit that I am just as guilty at times as
anybody else. Our spouses and significant others needs us to be with them now. Our
children and grandchildren grow up so quickly that if we lose the opportunity
to spend quality time with them now because of work, we will never get that
time back to see them take the first step or play ball on their Little League
team or accomplish any other wonderful feat in the lives.
The Mishnah is correct when teaches us to look at what’s
primary and what secondary in our lives.
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