Matos Essay

“And Moshe spoke to the Heads of the Tribes (Matos) saying; this is the word that HaShem commanded”
The parsha then goes on to discuss the laws of making vows. What is the connection and the significance of the heads of the tribes?
The Sfas Emes explains that the word Matos is connected to the word מטין lean or tilt. (For example Brachos 33b אֲמַר לֵיהּ: לָאו ״הֲלָכָה״ אִתְּמַר, אֶלָּא ״מַטִּין״ אִתְּמַר. It is not the Halacha but inclined in favor of this opinion.)
The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 22) explains the severity of making a vow, essentially using HaShem’s name. When using the method of a vow for personal gain which is not a mitzvah there is an element of desecration of the sanctity of the vow. However, when a person is completely focused not on personal gain but on his inner mission, and nullifies himself to the service of HaShem, then even his ‘mundane’ actions have become elevated to the status of a mitzvah. This therefore is the connection to the heads of the tribes – matos. As the twelve heads of the tribes report to Moshe, they are the force that is able to incline (מטין) each and every one of Bnei Yisrael to bring out their inner light and guide them to their mission.
Even when we no longer have the tribal system, we still need to be aware that our external desires and gains always need to be inclined to the inner source.
This perhaps is the connection to the continuation of the parsha which discusses the war with Midyan and lengthily describes the booty taken, and then the continuation with the Tribes of Gad and Reuven who wanted to live on the other side of the Jordan. In the story with Midyan, the entire booty is written in the Torah. This teaches us how everything, even something as mundane as clothing of the Midianites could be elevated and mentioned in the Torah, drawn into the realm of holiness. So too with the story of Gad and Reuven, the Torah stresses Moshe’s double condition of first going to battle and then living there. If they were moving just for the gain of more land to pasture, they are missing the point. It is only when the focus is on taking one’s physical gifts and elevating them and using them for holiness.