DEUT1673 [Continued from [[DEUT918]] Deuteronomy 18:1 portion TAMARI 30-1] Although it is necessary and legitimate for man to devote himself to the accumulation of material goods, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavich taught, “Even with the greatest efforts a man cannot increase his wealth above that which the Almighty has allocated to him. A man has to do what is necessary for his livelihood but has to understand that these efforts are only marginal and that the real source of his wealth is God’s blessings.” Hayom Yom-Lubavitch (Kfar Chabad, 1972), entry for 4th of Av. It was quite obvious to the rabbis that excessive concern for material goods distorted man's spiritual priorities, and often in subtle and ingenious ways. Consider Rashi’s commentary on the biblical story of the request by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh for an inheritance in Transjordan. “The tribes of Gad and Reuben, because of their vast wealth and cattle, separated themselves from the tribes of Israel and settled outside of the Promised Land [the lands in Transjordan being better suited to large-scale ranching than the Land of Israel]. Therefore, they were exiled before all the other tribes [as they opted out, as it were, of their Divine inheritance]. They made the primary concern [their children] a marginal one and the secondary consideration [their wealth] of major importance. They said to Moses, ‘we will build stables for our flocks and cities for our children.’ (Rashi on Deut. 32:6) As will be shown in the following section, both the achievement of economic wealth and the use thereof are very strictly limited and channeled by Judaism over and above the restraint imposed by the study of the Torah. These limitations do not flow from an exalted view of poverty, however, or from an “otherworldly” philosophy. Rather, all of man's actions, including those involved in the accumulation of material goods, are to be subjected to the ethical, moral, and religious demands of the Torah, so that the individual and society can attain a state of sanctity even while carrying out the most mundane acts.