For sports fans, especially basketball fans, tonight is a very special night. For tonight, at 9pm-prime time-an extremely gifted and talented basketball phenom, known as "King James" to his loyal fans, will end the suspense and finally announce which team will have the privilege of paying him millions upon millions of dollars, as he signs the most lucrative basketball free agent contract ever. In one short moment, there will be partying and celebration like it’s never been seen before at the site of the lucky winning team and city. It will be as though the messiah has arrived. And for those diehard basketball fans, perhaps he will be their messiah and lead them to the promised land.

But what does that have to do with us? Even assuming we’re one of those avid basketball fans, surely (hopefully) we realize that the true messiah he is not, and that we still have to go to work the next day, pay the bills, drive carpool and get stuck in traffic...So if you're a fan of the lucky team for whom he signs, you can start daydreaming of all the championship titles he will (better) deliver. But then again, what about the rest of us? What do we stand to gain?

Perhaps we all can gain a very valuable lesson. We can learn a lesson in priorities and values. We can glean an insight into human nature. When something is important and meaningful to us, we relate to it. Not only do we relate to it, but we invest of ourselves to it. Sometimes this investment is financial, other times it's a commitment of time and effort, yet other times there's an emotional investment and bond that's created. And we then begin to see ourselves through it. If it's successful, we feel successful. And if it's a failure, then we too see ourselves that way as well. Basketball fans will feel a certain degree of success when they learn that they have won the Lebron James sweepstakes. For they identify and relate to their favorite team, and so the team’s success is also their success.

 Interestingly enough, we find a lesson on priorities values and an insight into human nature in this week’s Torah portion as well. The Torah tells us that the tribes of Reuven and Gad approach Moshe (Moses) with a request. The Jews are about to enter into the Promised Land (the real one, not the NBA title). These tribes wanted to enter and join their brethren in the conquest that would was about to take place. However, they wanted that their ancestral land to be the lush rich fields, located in the lands of Sichon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan, outside of Israel proper. They come to Moshe and said,

“Pens for the flock shall we build here for our livestock and cities for our small children" (Numbers 32, 16).

Notice how they phrased their request. They first mentioned their financial assets, their livestock, and only then did they mention their very own children. Of course, if you were to ask them to list their priorities, they would have mentioned their children first, but in their every day "natural" conduct there was obviously some degree of placing more emphasis on their financial assets than their children. The lesson is obvious. We all need to stop paying lip service to the fact that our families and children are our number one priority. We need to live our everyday lives that way as well. It’s not enough to know that our children come first, but rather we must behave that way as well. Sometimes, this can be much more challenging than it sounds. but then again, the rewards are priceless. May we all merit Heavenly assistance and see true nachas from our beautiful children.  Wishing everyone a wonderful Shabbos.