BS”D
Parashah Shelach – To send
Numbers Ch13 V 2
Send for yourself men, and have them scout/spy
(Hebrew=Tooroo) out the land.
We see from the above verse that Hashem did not himself want
the Israelites to go spy out the land, he had already told them it was a good
land, but if they liked, they were permitted to go out and spy the land, they had
seen Hashem come to their aid in Egypt and again in the desert with their needs,
this is why it says “send for yourself.”, (as if to say for yourself as
you desire to seek it out, but I know it is not necessary, for I have given the
land over to you.) The implication was already a lack of faith by some of the
leaders at the outset.
Moshe new this was not a good idea as we see he even
adds a yud to Joshua’s name to protect him prior to their departure, he foresaw
the spying out the land came with risk, especially with a focus on self or
physical aspects of the expedition without a spiritual faith or a good eye,
that eventually led to slandering Hashem and the promised land – Faith was
found wanting! My friend Martin also
pointed out that Joshua was from the tribe of Joseph who we see also spoke of
his brothers in an inappropriate way when he was young, thus Moshe new he may
of been susceptible to bringing an evil report due to his lineage.
http://ohr.edu/2224
The Biggest Bribe In The World
"These are their names" (13:4)
Look at the order in which the Torah lists the spies in
this weeks parsha. Calev is listed fourth and Yehoshua is listed fifth. The
Ramban says that the Torah lists the spies according to their greatness. In
other words, it cannot be that what saved Calev and Yehoshua from the mistake
of the other spies was their greatness, for at least two of the spies were
greater people than them, and they still failed. What was it then that allowed
Yehoshua and Calev to avoid the disastrous pitfall of the sin of the spies?
Calev was married to Miriam, and one of the best
protections that a man can have is a righteous wife. Yehoshua had the advantage
that Moshe prayed for him to be spared from the spies conspiracy. Moshe changed
Yehoshuas name from Hoshea by adding a yud at the beginning of his name. This
made the first two letters spell one of G-ds names. It also changed the meaning
of his name to "G-d will save." However, maybe Yehoshua and Calev had
more than just these advantages going for them.
One of lifes amazing facts is that that two people can
hold diametrically opposed opinions and yet cite the identical fact as proof to
their opposing opinions. How is it that we can look at the world so totally
differently from one another? How was it that Yehoshua and Calev saw a Land that
was "very, very good" (14:7) whereas the other spies saw a "Land
that devours its inhabitants"? Surely both cannot be true.
The Rambam says that the first mitzvah is to know and
believe that there is a G-d. How is it possible to command belief? To whom is
this mitzvah addressed? If someone already believes, then he doesn't need a
commandment, and if someone doesnt believe, all the commanding in the world
isnt going to make him believe. Another thing. Judaism expects every
13-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl to believe in G-d. How is it that, at
their tender ages and with their limited intellects, they are expected to
accomplish something that even Aristotle, one of the all-time brightest people
who ever lived, wasnt able to attain? The Rambam says that Aristotle was on
such a high intellectual level that he was just one step below being a prophet.
And yet, Aristotle, for all his brilliance, was not able to arrive at a belief
in G-d. So how can we expect the comparatively feeble mind of a teenager to
achieve belief in G-d?
The answer is that belief in G-d isnt something that
requires tremendous intellect. There once was an atheist who challenged Rabbi
Akiva: "Who created the world?" "G-d," replied Rabbi Akiva.
"Prove it!" said the atheist. "Who wove your cloak?" asked
Rabbi Akiva. Replied the other, "The weaver." "Prove it!"
said Rabbi Akiva. Just as the cloak testifies to the existence of the weaver,
so too the world testifies to the existence of G-d.
So if belief in G-d is something so obvious, what stops
so many people from believing?
Bribery.
The Torah tells us "a bribe blinds the eyes of the
wise". Even the wisest person loses his objectivity when faced with a
bribe. Obviously the degree of bias will vary depending on the intellect of the
person and the attractiveness of the bribe. However, even the smallest bribe
has some kind of influence on even the greatest intellect. Whats the biggest
bribe in the world? The biggest bribe in the world is to do what I want to do
when I want to do it without the slightest feeling of guilt. Judaism says that
your life isnt your own. You were born against your will and youll die against
your will. Our lives are not our own. Ah, but if I dont believe in G-d then my
life is mine! I can do exactly what I want! (Provided of course that I dont get
caught.) And I dont have to worry about some "Celestial Big Brother in the
Sky" watching every move I make and every step I take.
Atheism isnt logical. Its psychological.
If there were a mitzvah in Judaism that you had to
travel around the world eating at the best treif restaurants in the world, a
lot more people would be observant.
The spies knew that they would very possibly lose their
positions as leaders when the Jewish People entered the Eretz Yisrael. It was
this unconscious bias that caused them to speak unfavorably about the Land.
Rather than say what they saw in the Land, their eyes saw the subconscious
prior agenda that they had already dictated for themselves. Their eyes saw the
agenda of their mouths, for a bribe blinds the eyes of even the wisest and the
greatest.
It is interesting to note that when Hashem asks Moshe to
send leaders to spy out the land the word used is “Tooroo”, Rabbi Aurbach
points out this word is mentioned at the end of the Parashah again in the
Passuk dealing with the commandment of Tzizit refer to Numbers ch 15 V 39
“And it will be for you fringes and you will look upon
it and you will remember all of Hashem’s commandments and you will perform
them; and you will not search (TaTooroo) after your hearts and your eyes
which cause you to go astray!
We see that Hashem is giving us all a very important
message about the dangers of spying and searching out, and this is the theme I
would like to highlight today.
In Shema we say do not follow after your heart and eyes
that lead you astray. It is important to
reflect on one’s own biases. Rabbi
Taback’s Rebbetzin pointed out that in the book of Ruth when Ruth is gleaning
from the field of Boaz he tells her to follow her heart and eyes, the difference she
stated, was Ruth was coming from a place of unselfishness and purity, she was a
true follower of Hashem.
The spies start out saying the land is good, and Rashi states this was mixing truth with their own untrue perceptions, I read on the Ohr Somayach website that we see the Hebrew word Emet (truth in English) starts with an Aleph; then has a Mem a letter from the middle of the Hebrew alphabet; and ends with a Tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet – Truth is not truth unless every aspect is taken into account, start, middle and end. The spy’s had their own interests at play, also they forgot, due to their own agenda that Hashem was all powerful and had assured them they would succeed, this lack of faith, the not listening was a serious sin, made even worse is that after the sin, G-d said due to the lack of faith, they are not to go up any longer... and some people further disobeyed and this misplaced faith and non- adherence to commands ended in tragedy. Later an account of the Sabbath breaker also speaks about this denial of G-d and his power and the importance of adherence to an all knowing’s Kings words’ once revealed.
Rabbi Taback stated that the Chasom Sofer points out
the root of the sin of the 10 men who brought back evil reports was they
focussed on the physical aspects of what they saw, instead on what G-d had done
for them and had told them in the past, they had experienced magnificent miracles,
thus the expectations of them were very high, we all have a physical eye, this eye
see’s this world alone, what the eyes see the heart desires and what the heart desires the eyes seek out, and evil actions may follow. On the other hand we also all have a
spiritual eye, a pure eye, rooted in the holy soul, this is the eye that recognises the divine hand in
the world, the miracles and unexplained “coincidents” in our lives, with these
we recognise G-d, and this leads to faith, we could not have been redeemed from
Egypt had it not been for miraculous divine intervention, it is the eye of
looking to the past, present and belief in the future, reflecting on the fact that there is in fact a G-d in this
world guiding us and protecting us, saving us and shielding us (in the
beginning of the Amidah we recognise our G-d the G-d of Abraham as Ozer
(helper);Umoshia (saviour) O Magen (shield) and with this faith, doubt
disappears and fear is subdued knowing G-d is on our side, hence the next
Passuk Ch 15 V 40 states we wear the fringes “In order to remember and perform my commandments and you will
be holy to G-d, I am Hashem your G-d who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, to be your G-d, I am Hashem your G-d.” He is reminding us not to forget, if we do we
may just lose that divine protection. If the spies had reflected on all that
G-d had done, they may not have fallen, having pure eyes is what saved Joshua
and Calev – their spiritual eye remained intact hence their good reports.
I was thinking when we lust after the world be it wealth
or when we look at the world's immodesty with impure eyes, running after our
own desires we then allow ourselves to be led by animalistic drives, we are thus
forgetting G-d in the world, we lower ourselves to the drives of base animals debasing
the holy soul and letting the physical body override our holy selves (G-d forbid)
we should always be shielded from such things. Prior to the original sin with Adam and Eve,
the couple saw only the spiritual souls of each other, only after the sin did
they realise they were naked. Rabbi Tatz
compares them to a lit light bulb prior to the sin, the soul's light shone so bright, you
do not see the glass bulb (body) just light.
After the sin they saw the naked bodies, and G-d then gives them clothes
due to the embarrassment they felt.
In ch 13 verse three, Hashem refers to all the spies as
Anashim – i.e. men of distinction Roshey (leaders) of their tribes, before the
spying out these were distinguished men, leaders!
In ch13 verse 20 Moshe says something very strange “how
is the land is it fat, or lean does it have a tree or not”, Rashi brings down
that the word used for Tree is Eitz (in the singular i.e. a tree not trees),
why would Moshe say to them does the land have a tree, surely they knew there
were trees, they had been told it was a good land flowing with Milk and date
honey, and why a tree in the singular!
Rashi informs us that Moses was saying to them a tree refers to a well rooted
and righteous person, for when going to war with G-d on your side, the biggest
threat comes from the protection of righteous individuals within the enemies cities. As
King David states in Psalm 20 v 8“Some rely on chariots and with horses, but we
in the name of Hashem our G-d call out” the king and prophet is telling us, we
should not rely on the physical alone, but rather on our faith, once we have Hashem
on our side we will not be defeated, this was the mistake of the ten spies. G-d
knows man needs security and his faith is often lacking so he gave the go ahead
for the spies activity, but they failed because they had said 'We were like
grasshoppers in our and their eyes'. This
angered Hashem how could they know what the “giants” thought of them, the spies
were projecting their own fears, and forgetting G-d’s promise to them.
In Ch 13 V25 says “They returned from spying the land
and then V26 says again “They went and came to Moshe and Aharon” there is not a
wasted word in the Torah so Rashi explains why is repeats they went (which we
already know from prior words that they had gone), it could have just said they
returned, he states this verse teaches us, that even at the outset of
the spying trip their attitudes were already negative.
Ch13 v 33
There we saw giants… and we were like grasshoppers in
our eyes, and so we appeared in their eyes”
We also learn out from this whole episode, that Hashem
is held back from destroying the people through Moses heartfelt appeal, he uses
parts of the prayer we use during the high holy days to arouse the Mercy of our
only King Master of heaven and earth G-d Almighty. Ch 14 V18-20.
Ch 14 v 27 Until when will this wicked congregation
provoke me. We learn from this verse
that Hashem considers a group of 10 a congregation, and from here our rabbis
learnt out the best way to pray is in a congregation of ten men coming
together. (A group of ten men i.e. over Barmitzvah.) Psalm 82 v 1 states “A Psalm of Asaph.G-d standeth
in the congregation of G-d” we learn from here the divine presence rests amongst
10 who come together to worship him and him alone.
Rabbi Aurbach taught us why the severity of the
punishment was so extreme: the evil spies all died and Bnei Yisrael had to
traverse the desert 40 years, why because, Hashem knows a person may be in
spiritual decline on a personal level.
He even knows people have doubts, but this nation had seen the
miraculous redemption out of Egypt, G-d revealing his Torah on Sinai, the
spiritual existence of the desert, they had just seen Miriam struck with a
spiritual disease for talking against Moses.
Despite whatever negativity they felt, they caused others in their
environment to doubt G-d as well, a lesson: if time’s are tough, you may
suffer, but if you start taking it out on those around you, those close to you
and then even demotivate the wider community the retribution will be very harsh!
We learn in Ch14 V 29
That the punishment fell on men of 20 years and older. The rabbi’s learnt from this that G-d withholds punishments from
children until the age of 20. Though we also learn a child is accountable for
their sins from the age of Bar and Bas Mitzvah.
Ch 14 v 32
Your corpses – yours, shall fall in this desert. Your
children, they shall be wanderers for forty years.
V34 According to the days you scouted out the land forty
days a day for a year, you will bear the burden of your iniquity for forty
years and you will know my displeasure.
V37 Those men died, who spread the slander against the
Land in a plague before G-d.
In consolation in the final chapters of Shelach Hashem
shows us he still loves us and gives us commandments and principles and antidotes to the flaws
of the spies, who lost faith in him these include: laws of offerings when we
will finally enter the land, as well as the mitzvahs, of challah (A mitzvah
reminding us the G-d is control of our livelihoods, and we thank him by offering the first of our
sustenance – the bread we eat); Tzitzit a reminder not to let our heart and eyes stray
and to have faith and follow all the laws that were given to us.
I was at a wedding last week and the groom Justin Swaine suggested
if the implication of slandering our holy land (stone and trees) prevented us
from entering into the land of Israel, as a fix, in order to hasten the
redemption and to hasten our return to the land we should all build the faith
of those around us, we should rather motivate those around us as Joshua and
Calieb tried to do, and fix the error of the evil ten others reported, we should
show those in despair, G-d’s hand in the world where possible, and in so doing
may we all be worthy of seeing the ingathering of the exiles speedily in our
days. Amen!
HAVE A GOOD WEEK
MICHAEL
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