There is a section in this week’s Parashah, as we come to the end of the Fourth of the Five Books of the Torah. They are coming to the land of Israel, and they are about to enter it. Devarim is not chronological, but it’s a recap. This week they are at the borders of the land of Israel.

The Zohar tells us something very interesting. We know there were 12 tribes. Two tribes, Gad and Rueben, had a lot of cattle. They came to Moshe and said, “We know in the land of Israel there is a lot of Light, but we have a lot of cattle. We would rather stay here on the other side of the Jordon. The cattle will have more places to graze. Let the other 10 tribes go into the land of Israel.”

If you look at this simply, maybe they got angry and lost some of their wisdom. They know in the land of Israel the true connection will occur. Suddenly these two tribes say we have too many cattle. Let us stay on this side of the Jordan and it will be easier for us.

The Zohar says there are three great gifts that come in our world. Each one of these three gifts holds within it, when truly received, all the Light, all of the beauty of our world. When a person gains true wisdom, he has everything else. If he has true strength, not physical, but spiritual, he receives everything. If a person has wealth, true wealth, he has received everything. The Midrash says these three gifts given in our world–of strength, wisdom, and wealth–when these are truly as they should be, they are gifts from heaven, from the Creator.

But the strength and the wealth of a human being, of a person, is nothing. As the Midrash says, wisdom and wealth and strength that are manmade do not remain. A wise person should not be proud of his person; a strong person should not be proud of his strength; a wealthy person should not be proud of his wealth. A person can only appreciate his wisdom, his strength, and his wealth when he knows they are gifts of the Creator. When these gifts are not of the Creator, they will certainly end.

And this is what we find in this week’s Parashah. The two tribes, Gad and Rueben, were very wealthy. They loved their wealth so much they remained outside of the land. Therefore, they were the first of the twelve tribes to be sent into exile.

What does it mean when the Midrash says these are two types: man-given and Creator-given? Man-given must end; Creator-given will remain forever. The simple answer is that this is a person understanding of the gift. Many people begin gaining wisdom, wealth, and strength. The question we need to ask consistently is: Whose gifts are they? Are they mine or the Creators? This is not simply a spiritual question. It is a question that will determine if I can sustain and grow with these gifts, or if they will end.

If we have a true understanding that they are not ours, only of the Creator, then they will remain. The second we begin to think we own them, that they are ours, then they must end.

What is the Midrash is making clear about Gad and Reuben? We know the only thing that sustains anything in our world is the constant flow of the Light of the Creator. This table could not be here without the Light. The Light of the Creator is not inanimate, it is constantly flowing. If the Light leaves physicality, it ends.

If a person has these three things, and is not constantly reconnecting it to its source, he has blocked the flow. It’s not a punishment; it is the effect of his disconnection from the source. When we receive gifts, and are aware they are not ours, what we are doing is continuing the flow and the connection of those gifts to their source. Therefore, they can remain; they can be sustained and grow. Once we are of the consciousness that they are ours, we are not going to be punished that they will end, but that is the consequence of our action.

Through our consciousness, we have disconnected them from their source, and they cannot be sustained, they will never be able to last. The only way they can last is when we are constantly clear about whose they are, where they are connected. Everyone of us, either consciously or subconsciously, has fallen from this understanding.

What happened to Gad and Reuben? They got caught up in thinking they owned the gifts, and completely disconnected from the Light. Therefore, the gifts needed to end.

There is a story from the Apte Rebbe. He had a very wealthy student. When someone came to the Apte Rebbe for help, he said, “Go to this wealthy student and he will help.” After maybe 15 or 20 years, the student was having some difficulties. A person came to say, “I need help, and the Apte Rebbe said, go to my student and he will help.” The student said, “It’s difficult for me right now, please come back in a few weeks.” Then the person went to the Apte Rebbe, and told him what the wealthy student said. He asked the Apte Rebbe, “Can someone else help?” The Apte Rebbe sent him to another student. He was not wealthy, but when he heard the Apte Rebbe sent this person, he did everything he could to help.

As time went on, the roles of these two students, both close to the Apte Rebbe, began to change. The wealthy one lost his wealth, and the one not wealthy began gaining. After a while, the student who had been wealthy began to understand things had changed. He had not listened and he was being punished.

He went to the master, the Apte Rebbe, and asked, “What can I do to correct the damage I have done? I am being punished for it.” The Apte Rebbe said, “You don’t understand. It wasn’t a punishment. Let me tell you the story.

“Before I came to this world, they knew my soul, what I was going to be, and they wanted to give me the ability to help others. They gave me wisdom, strength, and wanted to give me wealth. I said, I don’t want that wealth, it will take too much for me to manage it. The Creator said, I’ll give the money that is yours to help others, and give it to those close to you. You can send them to this person, and he will help.” The Apte Rebbe said, “Because you were the closest, you were chosen to receive my money. But once you thought it was your money, you were not being punished, but because it was my money, I had to be able to have the ability to use it as I wanted. When you thought it was yours, it had to be given to someone else.”

This is a lesson for all the gifts we have. None of them are ours. They are of the Creator, given to us for a specific purpose. We are given wisdom, strength, and wealth for one reason: to assist others to help other people. If we want more wealth, we have to keep them connected to the Light of the Creator.

How do you know? What’s the simplest way to ask if you are connected to the source? Are you using what you have to help other people? If the answer is yes, they will grow, you will be sustained because you are keeping them connected to their source. The second we think they are ours, they cannot be sustained because we are disconnecting them from their source.

On this Shabbat we have the ability to reconnect our gifts to their source, but we must remember they are connected to the source. They are not ours. They are given to us for the specific purpose of assistance. If we keep this consciousness, and use them to assist other people, then they will grow and grow