Parshat Shelach: The Ma'apilim by Rabbi Ari Kahn

so we know that the the larger story or the larger issue discussed in the para is the episode of you can decide what you want to call them the MIM the spies as uh as we've noted in the past that the the main reason not to call them spies is because they're never called spies nor they called them ragim in the paraa so you could decide what you want to call them but as I said that that concerns me much Le just as a bit of an introduction what I'm going to really focus is is is what happens towards the end of the story but just as a beginning we knowe that there is from the tribe of Yehuda there is kave so this is really the the outlier there's Yehuda there's K and and it's interesting to look at the names of all of the spies the names don't seem to be names that give us confidence even including cave I mean sounds a little bit like Kev and there's various names of animals of uh within the whole list but nonetheless there is something else in Yehuda that it's the kind of thing that we're not really sure what to do with because maybe you're over reading maybe you're over uh evaluating but that is that yuka's name is The Only Name over here either in tribe or in name of uh individuals that has at least least uh a large part of God's name of yud he he so yehud has yud he so it's the only one it's the only one of all of the tribes as I said the tribes or for that matter the mirim then we're told from the tribe of Ephraim is HOSA be careful is HOSA and again that keeps within the larger thing that he really is the only one and then there's this other thing which is a bit strange and that is imposs that I mean was we're told again if you want your animals there and but what's interesting about that is is that it should have said L and then you can choose now you want to FR manashe but only Masha is associated with Yosef while HOSA is assciated with aim without a mention of Yosef At All by the way there is a time in tanak where Y is spelled y so you also have the have this and the V which is interesting look the other thing that is uh that is or should be obvious to us is that we know that the two tribes that are going to succeed in this whole episode and and in different ways and maybe even in different degrees but the two will be yosf and Yehuda so therefore as much as we thought that the tension that the the ones who stood out throughout the the last third of braid the ones that emerg is first one that emerges obvious is Yosef and then the other one which emerges is Yehuda and those become our two leaders in very different types of uh of leadership so in the story of the Morlin that those two are the same two outliers it seems to be to some extent a continuation but again what is perhaps moving somewhat against that is why is mon then the one who's associated with Ys and not Aim so what exactly is going is going on there on the other hand what comes right afterwards which was whispered before as we continue yua and by calling him yahushua then also you now have taken three of the letters of God's name and you put it into it so therefore in a certain sense God is in C coming from Yehuda and God is in yosua coming from Ephraim and therefore this God quotient is a really interesting I don't know what to call it I mean I I don't know how much to say that this is uh is shot REM is dra so I've no idea how to evaluate this I'm just pointing out what's what's there because that's what's accomplished with that name change and again there's all the other questions that emerge why does he why does he change his name and not the others names what meaning the others seem to be still problematic and that would take us far astray from where we wanted to go the mirag come back and at first they say positive things about the land they admit that it is a land which flows with milk and honey and they have the evidence in their hands and then they give this evaluation in but it's it's not going to help at all interesting what gets your responses here like word okay and then it speaks about the cities which gives us a whole list of reasons why this will be difficult challenging or impossible it then makes mention as you continue which by the way all this shouldn't surprise us when we knew that there were people who were populating the land then we have the response of c and yes we've noted in the past only C and Yeshua does not respond to this point right going up we'll climb the mountain V rash that's a very strong word vi rashnu vashu means it's our inheritance and we will take our inheritance which means that we are the rightful owners there's a lot in that word vashu I mean there is something which is missing but the is really important we certainly can and it's very easy to focus on everything he says other than the focus on the Al and focus on I mean because there is something which which is missing at least in you know reading the words as they are presented and unless there's something under the surface which I suspect there is but what he does not mention is also what the others don't mention and that is God has been completely removed from this entire discussion so therefore if you take God out of the Jewish people's history or narrative so then what are we left with so therefore if God is not there so then their conclusion is that we can't do it his conclusion is that we can do it so now again is he speaking that we can do it because we have more military power than they are may maybe that we have better plans that we have whatever you like but I I'll just stress that word via rashnu that we will inherit it so it was actually never owned by any of our ancestors in the sense that they possessed it but it was promised it was something which was part of the portfolio which was given over by God to them so therefore I do have to wonder to what extent even though I'm pointing out that God has been completely absent in this narrative until this point I mean God is not here but when he uses the word vi is he actually saying something more and their response is we can't do it because they are stronger than us and I'll say it again that taking God out of the equation will lead one to all kinds of uh practical considerations so so again what is C saying is C really a secular Zionist or is right if you if you dream it it will be I mean is he or is he ultimately when it comes down to it what our rights to land and he's saying K rashnu it's something which is part of a promise from God to us and therefore this is ours so I'm saying is God within this or not and and stay with me on this for moment cuz their response because their response again is that we can't do it and I'm going to say it again in their whole analysis God is not part of anything and then they go to stage two even though earlier they'd spoke about how positive the land is in and now they start to malign the land as well that this land is a land which swallows up its inhabitants and again this whole thing is that they are strong they are powerful they are big and we are small and again in all of this chapter we don't see this obvious involvement of God there are many interpretations to it and many MIM which give descriptions of what it's like including a series of funerals they go by and uh is that and and that's part of the midash is that God wanted to do miracles for them so they they pre he preoccupied the people with other things is oh people keep dying here it's a land which you know has very low life expectancy I said that that's how some will read it but it seems to be a land which is formidable which does not really welcome inhabitants and and at that point we shift to peric yalid and again for us the chapter divisions are not something which are all that meaningful although there is a shift here and and I do want to note what the shift is and that is in peral God is going to enter into the narrative which means God is not there in peric G God is there inic and then the people cry we only died which means we're going to be slaughtered and then in and you see it's bolded so there's a couple of issues here one is they brought God in but they brought God not as a loving protector father um that we can count on but rather they describe over here what we can call a completely dysfunctional relationship with God that they see God as this powerful being who is the architect behind their destruction now of course in a certain logical level one could have asked well if God wanted to destroy them then why take them out of Egypt if God wants to destroy them then why split the sea if God wants to destroy them then why feed them mun every single day which means there's there's there's lot I mean the whole thing is a setup just to kill them now so I'm just saying is that this they do mention God the only question is are we better off now or we better off before which means that you have a uh a group of people who till now have mention God and that goes back and forth between the morim and then between KH and then you have the people's response God is in on their lips but not in a way that we very much like and then there's actually this conclusion and the conclusion is in let's go let's go anoint new leadership and go back and then that causes mosan Aon to fall most likely in prayer and then in Yeshua this is the first time Yeshua is uh is speaking although it's not a spoken word yet first there's going to be an action among those who the tourists if you will which is really the preferred term over here so both of them they tore their clothing and as far I mean why they tearing their clothing it sounds almost like a response to to blasphemy to see God in such a Mal malevolent way and saying all this negativity Vu and now they both speak and we wonder who's more dominant now in the speaking Yeshua now was mentioned first number one is they counter the claim this land is a very good land and all the negative things that were said about it are simply not true but then they comes to the second point which was missing in the previous chapter by the way note if God wants us if God again if this relationship with God is going to be a healthy one and God brings us there and God gives it to us a land which flows with milk and honey altim do not be guilty of rebelling against God which is really interesting because the Rebellion against God was by not seeing God in history again that's a very interesting Rebellion I'll say it again if you want the Rebellion against God was not seeing God in history the lack of God Consciousness was actually the Rebellion that they're speaking of and therefore if you take the god quotient out of the analysis you're going to come to a certain conclusion but over here they're saying do not rebell against God is indeed with us so I'm going to say it again that here God is suddenly manifest at least within the language and again who's speaking K and Yeshua are they both saying this in unison is one Speaking are they standing next to one another who just now brought God into this is this yahushua was God again was God placed in his name and now God comes out that's what that's why I was really paying attention to God initially or C coming from Yehuda and therefore that's you know where he's coming from but nonetheless there's a shift over here the land's a good land but God is with us and that was the major part of the analysis that was missing and now I'm skipping from to and a lot of bad things happen in that time including the decree which is given including the that all of these uh gotten rid of and let's read and all of these people who maligned really God and by by by not saying something and the land they all died again notice Hashem right go God is in this story they lived and now the people really were they heard the decree and now there's more morning which takes place and the main thing I want to focus on even though we've had our 15 minute or so Preamble is the next couple of verses and people get up early in the morning and you can't help but note of course unless you can help but note that it sounds like they're channeling their ainu right a man of Faith going towards you ainu but by the way even I want you to focus that we see that a V getting up early and going towards the AA that's probably far more interesting and important than we noticed you also have a climbing of a mountain over there but you're climbing a mountain towards a service of God but obviously it's it's I'm sorry for saying this it's horrific and grotesque the service of God which is expected at that point so as I said I apologize for that but let let me continue nonetheless right they get up early and they climb the mountain Layar saying even though it says that they get up early and climb the mountain I don't think this should be understood that they've already climbed this is talking about intention they get up early and that is their where they are planning to go and they say right we're going to go to the place that God had told us to go for we have sinned so over here really important is that there's an acknowledgement of sin there's an acknowledgement that something has been wrong and now apparently what they are trying to do is to create some kind of a tikun some kind of a fixing some kind of a healing really let's not that the healing which they're speaking of is a healing in terms of the relationship with God that's all that we're told yet right now right now there's a group of people who get up and they say yes we can right we we're going to gohe and do it but it's even more than that they get up and they're ready now to climb the mountain and they say that we are going to go we're going to the place that God wants us to go to why because you know until this point we have been mistaken and we have sinned there's all kinds of questions that need to be asked at this point but let's just read a little bit more Moshe says why are you going against the word of God very quite literal interpretation over here and you will not be successful don't go up for God God is not with you which by the way I want to go back to the point about God being with or not being with is exactly the issue and now Moshe is essentially saying well that opportunity has been lost and that's too late continue it seems to be emphasis added on PK me and don't be massacred in front of your enemies which by the way very much is what the the said earlier you know be careful over here but what's the difference that's exactly the difference is is god with you or not which means the analysis the Morag them oh amik is here that's a true analysis if God is not with you but if God is with you then it's a bad analysis so I'm G to add it again that that this emphasis on God is really quite important is god with us or not is God has God decreed this is what we should do or not and that's the whole discussion over here which means these couple verses actually do shed a lot of light based upon what was said beforehand but then meid continues and there's going to be some debate what the wordu means if you noticed in the sources I sent out for this year I included the the street sign a roah and they nonetheless Forge ah head and they go to climb the mountain but in a more tangible way the both the Aon and the the ark and and mosha is not within this Camp of theirs and then these nations come down they go and they and they attack them until destruction which means again that the the the main issue over here seems to be one of uh is god with us or not but I I do want to try to delve a little bit further and as I said there's all kinds of questions who are these people what exactly was their motivation what were they trying to accomplish and we hear mosha telling them not to now in saarim which is generally the way to learn the the morlum here they're actually called morlum and safe ver in the very beginning where we have mosha recounting the various failures there is again information which is added over here including it's going to help us perhaps with one of the words that we were not that clear abouto we're also see something about that so in Source number two which by the way note that that's exactly and over here they say just in case you're not clear about this the these people say we've sinned against God but continue now it adds a military side to it which was not heard as clearly beforehand we're going to fight as God has commanded now this is very interesting because they have decided that they've actually have received an instruction from God that God has told them it's it's time for the conquest and I'm going to stress this again the military aspect of this is very clear in devarim which we were not exactly sure what was being told earlier meaning for what purpose are they going up the way that it's presented by midbar we're going to go we're going to each person's going to take their weapons and we're going to climb up the mountain and God said to me which by the way was not as clear in by no God is in this narrative and when Moses speaks it was not Moses speaking by himself God says to Moshe and tell them again by the way direct order from God L if you want to see where that was in the previous section it was in so on what basis is mosha saying this on the basis of source to again the one main thing which is added or if you want two things one is God is speaking and secondly it is not not to fight and don't get wiped out from your enemies and I spoke to you didn't listen now the word v over here that is from the word it's from the word rebel that is in place of the word that we had difficulty with before here it's you you deliberately you deliberately went and climbed the mountain in defiance of what God had said now now all of this is much more interesting for the following reason is that as much as I've stressed that in peric gimmel God was absent within The Narrative of going back and forth God was not there and and and completely in in a in a way which again you absolutely cannot and should not ignore when we get to peric adalot God is very much a part of the back and forth over here but now especially with a little bit of help from savm we've come to this realization that there's actually now a debate as far as what is the will of God because as far as they're concerned they are the ones who are following God's Will and this is what God had said even though God has essentially withdrawn from that by saying that you've lost that right you've uh you have not behaved in the way that you need to behave and therefore this is not the time now you've missed that opportunity and on the other hand you have mosa saying no the God said no or even better in ver God said I'm saying no and therefore their Defiance is described in terms of a rebellion and one which is B amazed and doing something deliberately against what uh what God had said so as I said that that certainly does strengthen things a bit and then afterwards it says that and then the conclusion is is that you have this uh attempt it fails and then the people again are full of remorse and they cry and then they end up many many years are going to go by until an opper inly will rise again now just a little bit of background as we try to fill in the the the elements over here one Rashi tells us Source three and this is back Rashi commenting on midbar that they go up this is the going up which means that why they're going to the mountain because they're on the way to Israel meaning that that that was the destination and therefore that is where they need to go next again very very clear Israel which had previously been maligned by the by the spies the scouts however you want to call them now the time has come that they're on the way to Israel again God is going to give us it's our inheritance we're going to go we have sin now what was the sin so the sin over here is where they made the analysis that it's better to leave in Egypt so again I'm just going to stress where what is that analysis based on it's based on God not being part of the narrative if God is not part of the narrative we may as well just go back to Egypt because there is no future for us without God With Us the rashbam focuses a little bit differently and again elar is clearly the place and he has the word L again we we note The Inheritance is quite important but that what was the sin the sin was believing the morum and ultimately it's really believing the morlum against all of Jewish tradition I want to stress that which means the morlam are really countering the tradition they should have received from Ab and from is and from yov and it's the tradition that they should have received from Moshe and it's what Moshe should have been should have told them from the burning bush and all along the way this has been the focus who want the land of Israel and so oh Israel is not such a good place why are you believing these people that it's not a good place this counters the tradition again if I exaggerate it we've been praying in that direction three times a day so don't say oh yeah but that was kind of just a historical mistake no it's not a historical mistake so over here the as I said the rashbam he will emphasize it ever so differently the palel and he has a lot to say we're not going to say anything one of the things that he does is and again this is not for us for today at least he analy is the difference between the response of the people here versus the response of the people after the golden calf but what's more valuable to me if you turn the page where he describes what they did so what did he just now give us he said there gesture didn't work because it was filled with and here he gave us a new word based upon the tarum we could have just looked in the tarum but this made it a little bit more dramatic the wordu he says is the word wickedness is they behaved with wickedness but you acted in a wicked way and therefore what's the wickedness here you defied the the word of God so you have on the one hand but by the way if you want you can take all this down to Simon says is that God says to go to land and the spies said we not going to go so they fail on the other hand God says you're not going now and they said we are going to go but God said you're not going now which means it is the right destination but the timing is off the timing is off then you can't do this at this point but I I again I just want you to stress that he brought into this this concept of uh of the wickedness and that something which correct but ultim going against the word of God is wicked okay motives are very interesting but motives are very fine motives are very we'll come back to the fixing motives are very interesting but nonetheless uh you can claim but I'm following God's word Are You When God said that's not what you should be doing right now so you can't claim that you're doing God's word what it comes down to is selective hearing right it's uh right mean you tell me your children ever did this right in terms yeah I'm doing what you said no that's not what I said or you just took that completely out of context in terms of when and how and everything else about doing it yeah the volum in six has some interesting comments regarding the geography of all of this which probably could be a whole separate class I'm just alerting you to it which means we're exactly as a mik is a Malik in the valley or is a mik up on the hill there's all kinds of information to be looking at that we probably need some maps and so on but uh again this is uh this is not the time for us to look at this in in Source number seven aak that's in case you never heard of aakar not pass away I mean he was born a very long time ago but he died at the age of hundred and something and uh was born in brisk I mean he I believe he they certainly learned there and um and he has a real interest interesting comment which by the way I think what he wants to say is really good I I I could debate with him a little bit of conclusion if you want I can show you why Al one needs to analyze Why didn't it not say that you cannot do it by the way if you look he he's focusing on me what did meet say it said Al right don't do it I don't know before said sounds pretty much like do not do it so it's it's a little hard to understand why he's saying that it doesn't say you can do it actually did say you can't do it so I think he's a little bit overstating his point that you will not have God you will not have help from heaven generally when you have non-mystical writers quoting mystical sources they'll just say and in the books it says without going any further it's not that God and by the way there's a lot to debate on this theologically it's not that God micromanages and gives punishments but God removes his protection and then punishment comes so over here by saying that God is not with you means that you are going to fail because God is not with you so it's not that you're going to be punished that God's not with you but God not being with you is actually the issue which all of this is quite interesting when you go back to the beginning because what was the argument of the morum the very beginning again they didn't say it but that's their narrative God is not with us and what is the response of the maim now again we're skipping the whole middle the MIM is that no we're going to do what God Said and therefore God will be with us and motion's responses but God did not say to do it now so God is not with you which is why I keep coming back to this point of the god quotient within this entire episode over here again mosha is agreeing with the maragam that if God's not with you it's not going to work and why because God is not with you so so again I I I think the rabar pointed this out in a really interesting manner Rashi who's really going to take us through sources 8 9 10 11 12 all all of them are going to take us to this again just explaining this Rashia he gives us various interpretations what the word vilu actually means and it could be one of being strong it could be one of uh again taram was wickedness but it could be it could be hoty as well proud and again Rashi brought a whole bunch of sukim which I gave you and you can look them all up and I even gave you the English to look at and decide which one you like one of the most interesting things that Rashi does is towards the right look at Rashi in 8 one of the things he writes is so that that is one of being very uh of aut as of somebody being very stronge headed in what they're doing but he also towards the end writes Darkness right that comes from the T which is down there in Source number 12 which essentially it made believe what was written instead of with an it was written with an Al of a they've brought darkness and and I know that none of you are ever convinced when we start switching letters around and saying you know that sounds much more of of interpretive but not necessarily shot but but it's something which is interesting and I'll tell you part of the problem that the word vapu is not obvious to us and once you have a word which isn't obvious it gets a little a little bit more difficult when you bring Darkness into it then you that should conjure up a memory of the plague of Darkness especially the part of this that there were Jews who may have died during the plague of darkness and that goes back to kushim that four fifths died so how did four fifths die well that was during the plague of darkness and now the plague of Darkness so now this is going to be a plague of darkness and people are going to die so realized that it just created this interesting connection which we're not going to go into more than I just now did Source 13 takes us in an unexpected Direction but maybe we should have expected it it actually takes us to the other tribe of Yosef which is mas and it takes us to somebody else who's going to show up sooner rather than later and he points outa that's the other that's the other thing you don't like the other thing you don't the other thing you don't like is uh when you start with gatria but uh he says over here that because there is an opin because there is an opinion in the in Shabbat so by the way that is a little strange because say he didn't die with this he didn't die with this he died of his own sin but his own sin should not be a sin with others he's not the only one to do this but we'll see if we can possibly uh try to make sense yeah it's a it's a very good question and in a certain sense that's what the that's what the malum was really trying to get towards so what happened over here but it sounds as if that the sin was too extreme it actually the sin May indicate a lack which is within them and that needs to be educated out it's not just oh I see the consequences so I'm going to do better no you're not really ready to go into the land right now and therefore what you started with a new generation is going to need to emerge that will be ready to go in because they really weren't I mean it the fact that they were able to go and see what they saw which is land with flows and milk and honey and somehow see through John D eyes whereby everything is terrible right and if you if everything is terrible then you see oh there's a punishment okay everything is good but that that flip was a little too quick and therefore it would actually sound like the apology may be an insincere apology but but all of that helps a lot in terms of what now this group is doing and again it's an identified group we don't know exactly who they are we only had as of this point now the first hint about maybe who one of the people are and that is and and by the way ju just notice at least whenever you have a midash at least you need something that it's not just the gatria there's something else that sl's daughters very much want to be they're part of Israel by the way even though you can argue with that you can say no they just wanted uh they want yeah it's it's much more economic than anything else but let's be nice so by associating the daughters of with or with the MIM here he has this desire to go to the land despite everything and the daughters therefore would inherit that similar type of Desire so I'm saying it's not just that there's a gatri over here it's actually pointing out something which is a bit a bit deeper this farno he takes vapu in a different way and he actually has has it as a stubbornness which is almost beyond their control which is he Compares this to the hardening of the heart of parro which is really interesting they made themselves stubborn why in what Manner moosha says it's not going to work they seem to be incapable of uh dealing with it and to this point we're going to get towards the main sources that I wanted to get to today and that's going to be really the and and because all of them are going to try to take us towards the tikun which is hopefully happening over here and let's look at let's start with tells us again he's starting on on the verse Al right don't go and two reasons are given the first one God is not with you again that should be enough again that takes us back to this whole God quotient which means God needs to be with you to go in so the sin of the morum is believing God was with them and now the sin of the MIM is the inverse but it's thinking that God is with them when he's not with them which means this is a reverse of the same problem the second one is that you're going to be massacred it's not going to work so if that's the case so then what are they thinking let's look at the let's look at the and then in right that's three lines in he writes I'm going to the next line it says sear that they discerned that the sin of the spies was not having enough Faith so therefore they need exaggerated faith and the way that you by the way you can bring some quotes from R cook if you want at this point and say that the way to deal with lack of faith is to increase Faith so therefore what do you do in the face of people who have no faith they say we will have faith now again what is faith is Faith by you declaring unilaterally that God will be with you well what if God didn't declare that that he's going to be with you is that really Faith but but again what he's doing here which is really to the point is that he is looking at their response not just oh you know we missed the opportunity let's go run to Israel no there was a sin and let's try to fix that sin and the sin was the lack of God Consciousness we're going to have extreme God Consciousness but Moshe points out to them that having God Consciousness is actually dependent on what God told you to do and if God said no that means you can't just go ahead and decide that you're following the will of God when he said no because that's no longer the will of God and he continues and he says and they thought this would be fixed but now this goes back actually to your question that God was not did not accept this because this was too soon and this decree was already given which means you want to uh get roll you have to wait a little bit you have to you have to sit in for a little bit so he's saying it's it's too quick it's as if saying to the judge right afterwards I know you compared it to a parent instead of a judge which then moves the whole thing in One Direction but if it's a judge instead it gives a decree and then okay they got 40 years so maybe after a year you can start saying hold it what about good behavior what about you know we but immediately that's his point it's too soon and then he says and take a look what I wrote In darim and uh inim he uh he goes in the same D Direction but let's look at uh let's look at source number 16 but over here he actually moves away from I think the more positive spin he put in 15 and he's going to claim that because here it sounds like there's a lack of faith in the world we need to to increase Faith over here he's saying is that they also had ulterior motives it wasn't so much like let's increase faith in the world it's oh look how bad we're being punished we better do something about this but there's something else and again let's take a look a little bit the first part is he does note look at all the Miracles that took place in the desert and they completely ignored them that was from polam bet we're skipping a little bit further down right here you have not believed that God is actually with you sufficiently again go to the next page second line they did not do this really because of the depth and an incredible amount of belief in God they weren't doing this exclusively because they have great faith in face of that limited faith that was displayed by the now we use the word badon which is a good word to use why is it a good word to use because it's over here in the text that you did this deliberately you really didn't do this with with with a sufficient or even an authentic desire to really fix the relationship with God but rather this was done deliberately against the will of God and you understand why he's doing this essentially because to the language that was used and then he says at the very end of the section that after they were either punished Beat hit killed then there seems to be a second level of remorse that takes place and that EV eventually will have an impact but again there's a longterm process the the nav is going to go down the same kind of line and that and that or the same path and that is seeing all this as a the they wanted to do things again with Precision to try to fix the sin that took place now this is much more chilling what he's saying over here because he saying that they decide that the group who refused to go went with their ulterior motives that they want they didn't want to fight for this they wanted to sit outside they did not want to have any kind of of Confrontation and therefore there was a lack of Bravery involved in this and there's a lack of M neish involved and they said that we're going to go and fight with the acknowledgment of what mosha said that that mosha is not with them and the and the Ark is not with them and God is not with them why because we sined you remember Rashi talking about what the sin was and the rasham talking about what the sin was so then says what was the sin that which we sinned with we need to fix so when moshe's warning oh this is to dangerous their response is perfect this is just so different from what we've seen till now but but it's again it's an attempt to bring about a tikun to fix it but it's again it's understanding what the sin is they see the sin of the spies as being people who are afraid and not willing to fight and not willing to be mfish for what God wants of them now you could obviously argue do they have a clear understanding of what what God wants of them but the warnings over here that this is not going to succeed doesn't stop them because they seem to have this understanding well no that's what we need to do at this point and then we can continue because now you realize that the direction that he's going over here is really quite frightening don't go up to the mountain that's where the danger is because God is not with you and moshe's response is maybe you think that by the way think I'm getting a little ahead of myself right now who are these people we we we we have 12 tribes to pick from it could be a whole group of people although there are two tribes that maybe are the most likely that it could be from and that is from K and from epim from KH from Yehuda and from afraim now just go with me for a second let's let's let's just entertain the possibility that it's from Yehuda so can you Channel now a little bit of Yehuda a little n right now that you go and jump in first and it's dangerous and you do something which is absolutely crazy and but spectacular and then it that then you're ready to be most sfish for CLA Israel and then what happens next the next thing that happens is the miraculous takes place and what does mosha say over here no no no no that's not going to happen over here but do you see just now how before we got using the NV aing in a little piece that wasn't here eaing another little piece and saying No this if this is if this is the are they continuing the C hold it C never mentioned God maybe it was there as a hint yusha or these the cave followers who are saying you know we can do it and we're going to do it and we're not going to be afraid and now channel in that whole Yehuda you know uh bravado and and and Leadership and willing to fight and we're going to go and you know you know Over My Dead Body what what second and mosha says no no this this is not the same it's not that you dip your toe in the sea and suddenly it's going to split and you may think that you have to go be mo neish and then it's going to happen and that's going to fix what happened before of they're being afraid and they're being spoiled and they're not willing to feel God in their lives and this is an exaggeration of feeling God in life so much so that I just know that God I just know I have to start and God is going to be there for me so this is a really interesting back and forth which the NV is reading into it by the way there's a larger issue that some of us may remember and that is throughout the Book of bamidbar how the nitv always will go back and forth this fascinating dance between or things supposed to be miraculous or are we going to move at some point to Dera to things being natural so I'm just saying that's a meta issue for the NV but I'm not even so concerned about the meta issue I'm much more concerned about the more micro issue over here which is being utilized o over here as as he's moving forward in P he you can't be doing chuva as you're going against the word of God chuva means not that you're going to do now what God told you to do before truva means you return to God it can't possibly be that you are fixing the relationship with God as you're ignoring with God had actually had actually said again it just simply doesn't work that way good so if you want instead we can read the whole thing into a rebellion against uh against Moshe which is which is also not great if you want we'll wait if you want we'll wait for the next Source Who who'll actually uh he'll actually say that but let's just go a little bit further in the na they thought the whole thing that was they did not follow God following God is the issue and by not seeing God in the picture not following God that created a desecration of God's name which goes back to the point again that a desecration of God's name is something which is very heavy and that's why you know even you want to say like a parent that does not create an immediate ability to fix it but if they did something which didn't have an immediate danger to it they would not have this would not have happened immediately which means their decision to go jump in the water yes and I'm deliberately using that metaphor so it would not have had such disastrous result they should not have thought that when they're doing this that they're going to somehow have a miraculous response and God is suddenly going to micromanage and and save them he moves over to the word right he quotes rash they should have listened to M we saw reference to that before their hearts got stronger they again they're so into their concept that what is needed here is m nees so by Moshe telling them God's not going to be with you perfect that makes the M even greater that that that is going to actually facilitate the tikun that they're trying to do which by the way now you realize that once someone has like some tunnel vision and is going down a path you know all evidence to the contr and all warnings to the contrary are not going to help but what's interesting and really what's tragic now is you have the morum sinning because they don't feel God in their lives and you have people who have perhaps exaggerated sense of faith and therefore you have a feel a failing which is taking place as then and they go and he makes a reference to kanar and jumping into the into the furnace and so on that they believe that the is going to save them that is what it really means to to have this exaggerated sense that God is going to help them and then he quotes the he quotes Rashi and the and we have enough let's read one more H this is really crazy right let's get to this end yeah I'm on the last three lines of the NV now right end of the third line a lot of MIM knew that they were not going to be successful by the way they just have the sense we need to uh self-sacrifice suicide suicide mission and then he writes and they knew that they're going to fall in war nonetheless it was worthwhile it's okay better to be in prison in Israel to the rest of the Jews get there Orel or to be killed in land of Israel jel and midbar better to be better to die and be buried in the land of Israel than look at I mean there's not no but look at no the this is the look at the Zionist look at the Zionist expression of the NV over here he's saying that they are absolutely they know it's not going to work it doesn't make a difference they had a lack of Love of Israel we going to have an exaggerated love of very Israel so you can say okay it's not going to work okay so what's going to happen they're going to kill us in Israel at least we'll be killed in Israel they're going to arrest us and we'll sit in prison good the rest of the Jews going to get here soon they're going to break us out but it's better for us to do that then to go back to the desert so therefore if you want but by the way just in case you're you're getting excited about the Zionist values over here the nav is nonetheless saying but God said no that's not what I want this is not the right time this is not the right way but it's nonetheless completely fascinating what the NV did with all of this and how he turned all of this around that I don't know what to say the P the p and that's pitz one of the teachers of the um he's the one we're not going enough time to go through this he's the one in Source 18 who's going to start playing with the idea that maybe each tribe listen to their spy or their Mel or and therefore he's the one who starts looking and thinking about okay what a k what would C's people have thought or what would yosua and he ends up moving much more towards aim he thinks Arham is really the ones who this and by the way there is good evidence to think that they were all from epim and what is the evidence the evidence is very simply the the count the count there are 8,000 people missing from Ephraim with no very good reason for between the the census that was done in the beginning say he does not bring that as his evidence rather he brings about the Aron Hashem in front of them he says that in terms of the marching formation Yehuda was before the Aon Hashem Aon was in the center while Ephraim was behind the Iron by the way whether that is correct or not when we would actually go to war I don't know what to tell you I know that we have times where the Aron seems to go in front but nonetheless he based upon the marching formations he believes that that's the case one last thing that we'll get to which will be again particularly disturbing today and and I just before I get to the last thing there are when it comes to Ephraim there's a whole another episode with aim that we're not getting to that's why you had Pages five and six but the there's also another episode of a frim perhaps leaving Egypt early and uh and deciding it's just time to go to Israel and they go on their way and therefore you have a premum story which which by the way that itself would be fascinating because if and that does not affect the census at all because the sensus is in the desert so if you have a preop therefore again it's Yosef who says take me to Israel then afraim want to go to Israel manasha wants to go to Israel and arim is saying H by the way this goes back to the 400 years the 430 years 30 years earlier it's time for us to leave mosha doesn't show up yet nobody's over here we're going anyway and they go and it doesn't work out but that then becomes a precursor for what happens over here and there is a whole bunch of interesting literature about that so that's your homework to look at uh sources on throughout Pages five and six there is one more thing here in that's Source 20 rakov ketki Torah look at the various commentaries and then right into the second what is what is the it's like Darkness it's cloudy what is it he says wrote that they dug tunnels in order to try to get into the land of Israel I know that all of that is just you say hold what you say what and and and that's right that they went and they started digging tunnels in order to try to get into the land of Israel to get there surreptitiously and therefore what Yakov ketki writes this so as I said that you know I I just could not ignore that but let's but let's no but there but let's go back to then to to the beginning we have over here as I said mainly in pericet gimmel God is not there as part of the story you take God is out of the story so then what chances do we have then you the shift takes place when the people say oh God is against us that's also not very good right that that's their conclusion of history that God is against us You know despite all of the evidence to the contrary again God took us this particular place and in a certain way for a reason but no God's not with us that continues to K and Yeshua bringing God back into the narrative nonetheless God gives his decree and these people this generation is not going in and then you have a group of people who are really interesting the MIM now on the one hand they're going against what mosha says that's one of the things which is stressed in uh in Source by the by the P yod that they went against Moses's Prophecy they went against the word of God and again from darar you see God said no now is not the time don't do it nonetheless the way the NV takes it yeah that's exactly the reason to do it is in order to us to indicate how much trust we have in God but again you get to this logical absurdity you can't have trust in God by doing what God tells you not to do having trust in God is what God tells you to do but they were hyperfocused on the M neish aspect of this we need to do something dramatic and again what's interesting then is the other part of the Pim yo trying to explore so who would this have been so I have reason to say again and that this part is ours we reason say maybe it's a frim because there is an earlier time that a frim tries to make their way to Israel and that's this earlier mum story or you can say that no this is Yehuda being dramatic and being a leader and saying know sometimes you have to jump in and once you do it then God is going to respond they said no it's not going to happen and then you had that conclusion of the NV which is absolutely frightening and they said okay we understand that this may not work out but amuso still needs this and we have such a love of the land of Israel we'd rather be captured there and we'll wait for the rest of you guys to catch up with us we'd rather live in the prison there again that's also something you tell me not to say this here and the other thing is that if that's not the case they say we'd rather die and be buried in the land of Israel than just die in the desert like everyone else is going to die in the desert because of our love of Israel and that they may think is a TI anyway just fite again you can say hold the mum doesn't does not work but uh it it is certainly a really interesting and I'm not sure to call it a postcript of the morum story because I think it's part of the morum story and I think it's something that that more often than not we don't get there like we kind of end before we get to that point but there's just so much interesting information over here that I think that uh it's worthwhile thinking but ultimately following the word of God is really simple at least in theory and that's actually following What God Says