In Parshas Matos (perek 32) the Torah relays the story of the two shevatim, Reuven and Gad, who seek and are given land on the eastern side of the Jordan which had previously been owned by Sichon and Og. The two tribes come to Moshe and inform him that they are blessed with an abundance of sheep and this land is appropriate for livestock, and therefore they request, "do not bring us across the Jordan." Moshe then reproves them for following in the evil ways of the meraglim who thirty-nine years ago dissuaded the Jewish nation from entering the Promised Land and he was fearful that their request would once again undermine the national desire for their homeland. They respond to Moshe and declare (32:16), "Corrals for the flock we will build here for our livestock, and cities for our small children. We shall arm ourselves and join our brethren in their conquest of the land and stay with them till the land of Canaan is settled and our small children will stay in the fortified cities here."
Rashi cites from the Tanchuma that Moshe chastises the two tribes and accusing them of having faulty priorities, i.e. for their prioritizing their financial concerns over the welfare of their children, as we can see in their request wherein they stated, "We will build corrals for our sheep and cities for our children". Moshe taught them this is improper, rather let the primary values be primary and the secondary values be secondary; build cities for your children first and then take care of the needs of the sheep.
The Be'er Yosef (Rev Yosef Salant zt"l) comments that at first glance, this is most difficult to understand. How could the dor deah, which was raised in an aura of spirituality, make such a glaring mistake of putting their material concerns before the welfare of their families? He then proceeds to give the following fascinating explanation, as follows: note that when the Jewish nation asked the two kings, first Sichon then Og, to pass through their lands (see Parshas Chukas) they were not only rebuffed, but each of these kings brought their armies to the desert and attacked the Jewish people, and the young Jewish nation was victorious over both kings and defeated them. It is interesting to note that since the battles occurred in the desert the cities of Sichon and Og were not in any way war-torn or disturbed. Perhaps a screen door here and a broken window there needed replacement, but for the most part Reuven and Gad believed that these cities were open, available, and ready for their families to move in. It is here, the Be'er Yosef explains, that Moshe disagrees with the two tribes. Don't think, Moshe said, that you can simply take the wreath off the door, put a Mezuzah up, and then you can move your families in. Since these homes were steeped in idolatry they cannot be used for raising a Jewish family. Moshe Therefore instructs them (32:24) "Build for yourselves cities for your small children and tents for the flocks". Indeed, the two tribes listen to Moshe, and therefore we are taught (32:34-38) that the children of Gad and Reuven built many cities in that area.
Is this really the halacha, that before one moves into a home that was inhabited by non-Jews that they have to make some significant structural change to the home? Indeed, this is the halacha regarding the conversion of a church into a synagogue. Many poskim were against this practice including the Chasam Sofer (Orach Chaim 42) and Maharam Shik (Yoreh Deah 142). The late Reb Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe, Orach Chaim (1:49) writes that he is not comfortable with the converting of a church to a synagogue, however if it was done with panim chadashos, meaning structural changes within the building, then he could agree to its usage as a synagogue. Why, then, did Moshe insist upon this more rigid application of the law where we are talking about homes for the tribes of Reuven and Gad and not synagogues? I'd like to suggest two possibilities.
Firstly, I believe we can understand this by utilizing a halachic principle found in Hilchos Channukah. The Pnei Yehoshua (Shabbos 21b) asks why did the Chashmonaim insist on finding pure oil to light the menorah when there is the halachic principle (as found in Pesachim 77a) that the laws of tumah are hutra b'tzibbur, i.e. the laws of impurity are suspended in a situation when we are dealing with the majority of the Jewish nation? His question, therefore, is: why did we need a miracle and why make a fuss over the one cruse of oil when they could have used the impure oil? Reb Yosef Engel (Gilyonai Hashas, Shabbos 21b) answers that the principle of tumah hutra is applicable when we have a functioning Beis HaMikdash. However, to initiate and start a Beis HaMikdash anew requires a stronger foundation of total purity, and therefore they insisted on using pure oil.
Hashem said (Vayikra 14:34) that when Klal Yisrael would enter the Land of Canaan, He will place a tzara'as affliction houses in the land. The Medrash Rabbah (Vayikra 17:6) teaches that this was a good tiding for the Jewish nation because Amori people hid their treasured possessions in the walls of their homes so that the Jewish people would not find them, and as a result of the process of dealing with tzara'as in a house which includes opening the wall, the Jews were enriched with these hidden possessions. The Zohar (Parshas Tazria 50a) asks that if the purpose of the tzara'as was to benefit the Jewish nation, why could they not replace the stones they removed from the wall to find the treasure? Why did they have to remove the stones to outside their cities? The Zohar answers that the tzara'as was Divinely sent because the homes of the Amorites were spiritually contaminated by the idolatry worshipped therein, and this would prevent a foundation of kedusha from being laid for a Jewish home. Therefore, it was necessary to remove the stones and have them replaced, and oftentimes demolish the house, in order to facilitate and construct a Jewish home.
The settling of the two tribes in eiver haYarden was the beginning of the settlement of the Jewish nation, albeit in the "annex" of the Land of Israel. Just as reinaugurating the Beis HaMikdash required a strong foundation of total purity, so too this settlement of the land had to be al pi taharas hakodesh, in the most pure and pristine manner, and therefore they had to re-construct the homes to facilitate them being imbued with the highest levels of kedusha.
A second possibility as to why Moshe adopted a stringent standard for the homes of the tribes of Reuven and Gad was to intimate that each and every Jewish home is really a mikdash me'at (a miniature Temple) and therefore he applied the halacha that is afforded a synagogue, namely to reconstruct the building. An interesting proof of the spiritual potential of each home may be found in the Talmud (Brachos 16b) which brings many examples of the personal prayer that different Amoraim recited at the conclusion of their Shemoneh Esrei. Aside from the Torah, avodah and gemilas chasadim that each Jew must bring to their home, Rebbe Elazar added the following prayer to his amidah: "May it be Your will Hashem our G-d, that You cause to dwell in our lot, love brotherhood, peace and companionship." We see that in addition to man's initiative and actions, he has to pray to Hashem that he be successful in this holy endeavor.
I'm going to give an example of the beautiful chessed that emerges from a sensitive Jewish home. The Vishnitzer Rebbe would ordinarily spend but a few moments each night at the many weddings he was invited to. He once made an exception, stayed for a long time and before he left he said to the father of the chassan, "Please call me whenever you get home". The man insisted it could be very late, perhaps one or two in the morning. The rebbe said, "I don't care. Make sure you call me when you get home." The man reluctantly called the Rebbe after two in the morning and the Rebbe started to ask him many, of what seemed to be mundane questions, especially from a most holy rav. He asked how the food was, was it plentiful, was it served nicely? He asked how the music was, was it too loud? The rebbe engaged him in very down to earth questions regarding the evening's proceedings. When the call was over his shamash, who had answered the call and was privy to this entire conversation, asked the rebbe at the end "What's going on here? Since when are you concerned with such trivial issues?" The rebbe answered that the man had lost his wife only a few months prior to the wedding. "Ordinarily, when the parents of the kallah or chassan get home from the wedding they go over each and every detail of the wedding. What was it like on your side? How was the food? How was the music? This man, unfortunately, came home to an empty home. He had no one to rehash the events of the evening with. I, therefore, called him to give him that opportunity and experience." WOW! That is an example of generating a creative house of chessed.
In the period of the three weeks that we find ourselves in, the tefillah with which we conclude every Shemoneh Esrei is sheyiboneh Beis haMikdash bimhayra biyamaynu. This is usually translated as "Please rebuild the Beis haMikdash speedily in our days". The Rav Naftali of Rupchitz zt"l interpreted this alternatively in the following way: "May you speedily rebuild the Temple with our days", that is to say that the positive actions, Torah and mitzvos, performed in our homes each day, contribute another brick to the building of the Beis haMikdash on high.
In reality, each individual is a living Beis haMikdash, as the Torah teaches (Shemos 25:9) "They shall make a Sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell in each and every one of them." Therefore, it is most significant that we do some serious introspection regarding the personal Beis haMikdash within ourselves. It is not sufficient to resolve to no longer speak lashon hara, rather, this is the time to ask, why do I have the tendency to be jealous of others and to knock others? It is a time for deep constructive criticism to reconstruct the Mikdash within ourselves. There are so many factors that divide the Jewish people from one another, and when we think about and analyze these factors, we see that in reality they are, for the most part, inconsequential. Maybe there are differences in hashkafa but these differences are certainly no excuse nor license to hate another. If we look to the giants of the previous generation, such as the late Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l, the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l, they had a neshama that embraced all Jews. Reb Aryeh Levin zt"l visited, and extended love to, Jewish criminals and prisoners. It is purported that Reb Tzvi Yehuda Kook zt"l said that he heard from his father that he did not hate anybody except for Ben Yehuda as they had studied together in Volozhin and he became an apikores. However, he added, that he was working on it. The message, I believe, is very clear. We have to learn from what Moshe told the tribes of Reuven and Gad, i.e. that we all need to accept constructive criticism and ensure that our foundations are laid al pi taharas haKodesh.