EXOD227 Another disadvantage of money and wealth is that it often keeps Jews from getting to or for living in Israel. This phenomenon, which has kept millions of Jews from leaving the Diaspora and settling in the State of Israel after 1948, is not new. There are three allusions to this idea in the Torah. When Jacob crossed over the Yabok River on the night before meeting his brother Esau, Genesis 32:35, Rashi says that the reason he went back was to get some jars that he did not want to leave behind. According to many commentaries, this river was the border between Israel and the Diaspora. Thus, for monetary reasons, Jacob left Israel and, consequently, met up with the angel that made him fight for his life. Later on in the Torah, when the Jews finally defeated the Egyptians after the miracle of the Red Sea, it says [this verse] that Moses brought the Jews into the wilderness on a march that was supposed to lead them, within a short time, to the land of Israel. But the word for "he brought" is vayasa, and not the usual form of verb, vayisa, implying that Moses had to force the Jews to travel. Noting this change of usage, Rashi, based on the Mechilta, says that the people did indeed refuse to travel, insisting on staying to retrieve all the gold and silver of the Egyptians that washed up on the beach. Thus, Moses had to force them to travel and abandon these riches. This is another example how the possibility of gold and silver held back Jews from traveling towards the land of Israel. Perhaps the most clear example of this is the story of the two and one-half tribes (Reuven, Gad, and one half of Menasheh), Numbers, chap. 32, who requested not to enter and live in Israel proper in order to have ample grazing room for their cattle, which was the measure of wealth in that desert society. After lengthy negotiations, they were granted the request on certain conditions. Once again, the wealth of Jews prevented them from entering the land of Israel. Historically, these were also the first tribes that were defeated in conquest and disappeared forever.