The Sin of the Spies | Rabbi Neil Winkler | June 5th 2025

my class over the uh oh couple of years now. I remember three years of the thi this class I been giving classes really even before I met Aliyah when I would come here I would give classes in the um the late great in Israel center and um but this class started with a um learn lunch and learn which was um supported and by um I see Roseanne is not here. She's my regular um is entitled the trailblazing through the text of Tanakh. And besides the fact that I play played around with the tease, um it really expresses the approach that I take which is as opposed to most who uh let us know the mim, the ramb said this and the said that and so on and so forth. Um I focus upon the text itself. Yes, there are times I'll say this text is explained by the Ibenezra or by the Ramban or by Rashi. But the point that I make is there's so much that we learn that we think we know about the stories in the Torah that actually are not are not in the Torah. They aren't in the text. And then we have to understand, well, what does the text say? And then why did the rabbi say this? I I give examples the famous one that I tell with the kids all the time. Everybody knows that um Rishkov was three years old and when married her it's no way around found in the Torah. It's no way I took it's a midrash that spread very nicely and every kid in about second grade knows all about that doesn't tell them the midash that says another midash that says she was 16 years old that they didn't tell so that was never except people never know that they oh she was three years old but you go through the test it's not there two weeks ago I gave a um class here about the sin of the um golden calf. And I pointed out there just as an example um that the knowledge that everybody had that Israel as terrible it was but they made the state because Moshe was supposed to return in 40 days. They miscounted the kazal say and that's what why the whole sin came about because they didn't wait for Moshe to come down and I point out when I open the Torah that is absolutely nowhere anywhere in the Torah or it said that Moshe was supposed to come back after 40 days never when he went up to Hari even before the had broke he went up for half a day because God was saying tell the people this and then he came down and this now he went up after he had gone up for a couple of hours last time. say he goes up a couple of days later and he goes up not to the usual Hareni but a heni that is thunderous almost volcano like uh with terrible things and with with thunder and lightning and thick clouds and darkness and he walks into that with God's voice and he doesn't come back not in a few hours not in a few days He doesn't come back for almost 6 weeks, 40 days. He's not back. Right? And now you start to think, well, wait a minute. If I were there and my leader who had led me out of Egypt, he was there to give us the um miracles, the plagues, splitting the sea, who had gave us the man, who had given us the slav who had done everything, the water when we had none. and and God had said before this time I'm sending you an agent my messenger mal the angel who's going to lead you into the land so who doesn't think that well we have the ang the agent and the angel Moshe who's leading us as he has been the whole time into and he'll lead us into the land and now he ain't here so that whole then we have to then proce proceed to say well what was this about and why my second is coming the second one. Um so that so that I said so we go through the text and see what did the text say why do say this that's what we're doing well I'm doing the same thing now in the story of the sin of the spies what we call the miralin ah I knew it I saw you coming so I said and start yeah I'm looking at the window so you're walking down so I just was um explaining since she's hadn't been to our classes before, just wanted to explain what we usually do. And uh so it's just about time I said that this week we're going to be discussing the famous the sin of the spies. Let me give you a source sheet. Okay? Even though you usually don't have it, but you know, all the work I do to put it out, I figure somebody has to take it, right? um you know about end of the sin of the spies and they came back and I I don't have to give you the basic story but but when we focus upon the text and that's what we do as I told you let's so what really was their sin we're not talking about a sin that you know they're going to they're going to be you know suspended for two days for the it's a sin that says says, "Okay, you're all going to die in the desert. You're not going to go into the land that I promised you and that is the only reason you were leaving Egypt. It's it's a it's a rough." So, what was the sin that was so terrible that God had to punish in such a way? So, that's what we want to do. What was so destructive about their actions that wanted that warranted them to have capital punishment which would happen and um so that's what that what's going to try and touch and furthermore even if we do uncover the sin of the nation um if it was a nation that seemed to have been only 10 spies who really sinned Right. Um well, we also read how they admitted their sin. They did suite. They admitted their sin at the end of this with the spies and they heard their punish punishment. They said, "You're right, God. We were terrible. We did a terrible thing. God usually gives some kind of okay, I'll give you some type of mercy here." And um they went even went and said, "You're right." and we'll prove that you're right. And these spies convinced us that we'll never be able to conquer the land. We're going to go in and we'll fight it, God. They were willing to go. And they did go to go up to try and conquer the land even though they were told they won't be able to. And then even though they were told that God said they'll do it, which is a typical problem that we Jews have. Um, but at any rate, it does seem to cry out from God. Okay, God, calm down a little bit. It doesn't have to be that severe. There'll be some kind of mercy that should help. Why wasn't there? And um if God doesn't accept this chuva of them, so we have to really try and unravel the inherent problems problems that are found in the story and in the text itself that we ordinarily would necessarily see and clarify first of all what was their mission that they seemingly did not fulfill. Right. And let's see if that's true. Now, in the text, I give the um opening source, which basically is the beginning of of the para of which we'll be reading, please God, two weeks from um this Shabbat. And um let's re let's see exactly what it was that Moshe or that God had said told Moshe what he wanted the people to do. He said and God tells Mosha Rabenu send agents to scout the land of Kanan which I'm going to give to the Israelite people one participant from each of the tribes. one chieftain among them. Each one should be a chieftain. And so Moshe sent them from the wood from Pan. All of them being men men of consequence. It's a good re I think a nice um uh translation that they made here. They were all leaders of Israel and these were their names. And I actually it was nice enough not to give their names because I won't make you memorize them. Uh so but there were 12 who went right from each of the tribes by the way which tribe I said 12 tribes and there were 12 tribes was there any tribe that wasn't have sending a a spy le right the Levites did not we'll get up to why in a second and not in a second but later on um uh these were the names of the participants and Moshe changed the name of Hosa bin kn to Yahosua. Um and when Moshe sent them to scout this land of Cananan, he said to them, "Go up there into the neg into the hill country and see what type of country it is. Are the people who dwell there in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? Hates literally means are there trees in there? It's a wooded or not. And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land to us. Okay. Um and all this happened during the season of the first ripe grapes the ripe okay which takes place clearly um in the mid mid end of the spring and beginning actually this in the summer. Okay, that's what they're told. So, first of all, we ask the question, who sent the spies? What does the Torah say? Who sent the spies? Says, right? Hashem, Hashem says, Moshe. God said that to Moshe. Good. Um, and so it would seem even though it was Moshe who chose the people and send them out, it was by God's command that he did so. And if that's the case, I begin with number one. Number one is if God sent them to do this, yeah, why blame them? Why not blame God but putting them on such a a submission in which they could fall? So is there not some blame here? Not they didn't have to send and they sent them knowing that this be a a problem. So that's one of them. But um if we look at the next source that is a source that sort of reviews the um story that we read in Schlak and this is in uh Dvarim reviewed by Moshe some 38 and a half years 39 years after it's happens. It's in year 40 of the desert. You were here last week when I discussed about what the book of is about. That was the review. Anyway, um and there we read this is all Moshe speaking. That's his you see you complain about your rabbis have long speeches. This is Moshe speech and it took him you know how long you know all sar don't complain. Um it's only a rabbi saying that. So anyway, um so Moses says the following. So you all came to me and said, "Let us send agents ahead to record the um land for us and bring back a word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to." Um I approved of the plan and so I selected among you 12 participants one representative from each tribe. Uh not the story that we learned in schlah is it? So first of all we find out that according to who was it who sent the people of Israel? It was their request. It was mo it was their request. They came to said please we want you to do it. So it was Moshe who sent them but only at the behest of the people. They wanted it and uh and Moses said good idea that's fine. God doesn't seem to have been involved in this at all. In Slack we find out and God said to Moshe send them to and here it says the people came and said we should send us right. Um so so we know I I'll touch upon as you probably heard um that Rashi says both are true. It was actually God said send them but that's after the people asked we should send people agents God I'm sorry Moshe asked God and God said send these things. So that's how we get around it and that's fine. The reason why it changes in Dvarim as I've told you last week Dvarim was Moshe's ideas of giving them lessons and he will tweak here and there something that happened because he's trying to indicate look at what you did is a wonderful a wonderful lesson to said it's a 40 years here you could have been here in a year and a half look what you is all of the tr troubles you've gone through in the desert was because of your sins and I'm telling you that so that when you go into the land you don't mess up again like you did here that's the whole purpose of suareim which is why he'll change a little bit and he'll go out the fact that God can he mentions it right after that hits but he does say that you're the ones who wanted it in the first place which is true and God said okay so I sent it to you so That's one of the reasons he said it changes. But anyway, um and um the question still stands. Okay, God, if you said it's okay, and they asked it, but God and Moshe said fine, go ahead, do it. Uh we still should be troubled by the fact that you told them to do it. Okay, they sinned, but it was on your okay that they went. So why isn't there some sort of understanding that yeah maybe we were we were you know we would say we were wrong I'm sorry maybe we shouldn't have sent her but you did something wrong but there's a butt there you know and so there's a rashi that goes on to say that um why is it uh that it says oh I have it in the the in the second in the second page it's a sec continuation of the second um source where I oh I did not translate it and I uh apologize but I will translate so that it says that Moshe said I thought it was a good idea and um Rashi says yeah he says I thought it was a good idea but God never thought it was a good idea but if Moshe thought it was a good idea and um why does he now condemn Israel and criticize him for having done it. You gave the okay, you know, you gave the there was an ow you on what you said. You said it's okay, do it. So now you're blaming us. So he gives a wonderful masal and he says imagine a man is went to a as it says here uh a um a donkey um you know salesman. Okay. Donkey salesman and the guy wants to try try out the donkey. Just take car instead and you understand this whole thing. This one wants to have and he says uh oh he said can uh looks like a good donkey to me. He said um you'll sell it to me? Yeah, sure I will. Will you let me try have a try out? Let me go, you know, drive around. see if it's okay. Said, "Sure, no problem. You can take it." Uh, "Can you can I go up on the high and bring the donkey onto mountains and see if he can climb?" Well, says, "Sure, absolutely. No problem. Um, can I go down to, you know, see if there he says, "Wherever you want to go, you can have it. It's a great donkey. I've had a long conversation with him. We're fine." So, he says, "All right." Um, when the when the purchaser saw that he was so sure that the donkey was good, he said, "You know what? I don't even have to test it. Test it. Don't need a test drive. Fine. I'll buy the donkey." Good. And um that's exactly what happened. God and Moshe have told Israel what a wonderful, wonderful land it is, how beautiful it was. It's everything that you need. And you're worried about conquering it. God promises you will. Wherever you go, I will be there and I will help you. You got everything you want. Any questions? You got it. You got it. The assumption now would be so they say, "Thank you. Terrific. We'll go in." What happens rather than being a good donkey purchaser, you end up says, "Well, we want to see if it's good." Really, you questioned God's promises and Mosha's promises. And Moshe said, "What am I going to do if they say, "We want to see if it's really good." And I said, "No, you can't go in." So, what are they going to say? "Sure, you can't go in. You're afraid to have us look at this land that you claim is so good. If it's so good, why don't good? Why don't you let me go in and see it? So Moshe was a excuse the expression, damned if you do, damned if you don't. If I say yes, you might very well sin. If I say no, you're going to for sure rebel against me and you won't go into that. So I had no choice. That's how Rashi sets up the thing. And that's a very good way of saying that Moshe said I saw it was a good idea because I had no choice between you and me. I'm not completely I think it's a very good thing but it's not I'm not completely because the words say it was a good idea. He could have said and and and Moshe agreed to say that it was a good idea. Moshe thought it was good. But either way that's what he says. Rashi says at any rate um we can actually when you think about this um understand really a basic concept in the Torah and in Yiddish kite generally gives us opportunities. He gives us opportunities to do wonderful things. He gives us opportunities to help the poor and he gives us opportunities to visit the sick. He gives us opportunities to give to zaka and to be a good person. It doesn't mean you're going to be. You can pass by the guy who's asking you for money and ignore him. You could not visit a neighbor who is sick because I'm too busy. You cannot do the opportunities that God has given you. It doesn't mean it's God's fault. Why'd you give me the opportunity? It's because you failed in all the potential that you had. When you're looking in those cases, that's what was happening here. God said, "Sure, I'm giving you the potential to come back with a a mitzvah, to come back with the fruit, show everybody how wonderful the land is. You have that potential. Are you going to live up to that potential?" And basically the answer was nope. They didn't. Do I blame it Moshe? Do I blame God? We were giving you a chance. You didn't take that chance. You didn't take that opportunity. So that I think is a very important way of seeing why we don't blame God or on uh you know why they sinned. They're to blame too. No, they're not to blame. The only one to blame are the people who sinned. Okay, good. So, that's um and I should say lesson number one for us today. When things go wrong, don't blame God. That's all. That's really very true. I recall my parents loved the American musicals and there was a musical 1965, I believe. Um I wasn't born yet. Uh anyway, 1965 uh there was a musical called Land of Milk and Honey. It was all about Israel. It's very exciting. That's when you know most of the people liked Israel and and anyway, so there was a um the whole there was one funny musical. It wasn't funny. It was nice song and it says I'm sorry I I was wrong. I got the wrong musical. The musical was ethyl merman. Anyway, so in that musical it was about the I think um I think it was about the Titanic. I'm only call but anyway uh it's about a woman that goes and says uh who says you have to have faith in God. It says uh uh to stop complaining about things. And I think the line in the musical was something like that. Uh when you ask for things and it don't go, don't go don't go around say, "Well, I told you so." God heard your your your God heard your request. But uh God gave you an answer, but the answer was no. But that's God doesn't always say or give you what you want cuz you want it. So that's also the idea. Don't blame God things. Sometimes he'll say no. Sometimes he gives you opportunities and you don't do them. Anyway, um not too what we call this. Correct. So what do we call these people who went on this tour, this mission? We call them the of course there's only one problem. They're never called that in the whole in the Torah. They're never referred to asim in the Torah. You know where we find the word maggleim? We do find it in in um little I think. Yeah. Um but it's found when sends. What does he send? It says he sends what is told here? What does God say? It says here in the first so God says send me vuru at what does vaturu and the translation was very well done. He said to scout the land tell them to scout the land to look at land. Vatu is very close to the English word to tour to tour the land. That was their mission. What was one thing clearly missing? Okay, we'll go through exactly what it is. Um, but they weren't moraglin. They weren't sent to be spies. They weren't even sent to be infiltrators or or or moles or secret agents. That wasn't why they were sent. They were called anashim. They were simply men, outstanding men. Um, but um, never miracle. So, we're not referring to people who came to be spies. If that were true, we would understand more what their report was, but that wasn't their mission. Okay. And number three, what was the mission? If we go through the specifics, we find the following. Again, I point to the usage of the word to tour or to to scout it out. Um and uh but not to spy. Check out the land. How and what's specifics? See what is the land? What is the land that you see? Then we come back with a report about that and understand and the people who populate that land. By the way, and this will come important here. The term ha very often in Tanak will refer to not simply the people the nation but often this refers to the army. So this might be a little bit hinting hinting to that as we'll see. So go and look at the the army or the people the nation that dwells there. Are they are they strong or weak? See, that's why I say, how you going to tell people are strong? But you went into some kind of a um you know, a gym to see how many how much weights they can pick up. They're strong or they're weak. They look weak. That's difficulty. That's why I think that could also include the armies, the army and who likewise you could say is it a large population or not or is the army big or not? Both are I think. Okay. So that's something also I have to go. Um Maha Arats what about um the the land meaning of the soil itself in in in that land uh is it good or bad? Um, and the cities. What about the cities? You know, besides finding out if it's a fertile land or not, what about the cities themselves? If we're going to try and conquer the land, are the cities um uh a fortress or they're open cities or not? Right. And again, we're back to the land itself. We said, is it fertile? And it says, is it a rich or poor? You know it could be a fertile here and there but rich or poor does it have trees or not? That's something very important mean coming into to war but just find out is there fruit there may be just you know grain bar there fruits there which is very good for shade and other things you know. So when that and given the fact he says bring back the fruit my first experience I suppose when I visited Israel again before I was born anyway. So uh it was 1967 was a month not I it was a full month after the end of the war. It was therefore I was going to come their fault I was going to come early and they and they finished the war too early anyway. So I come there in July and um I was blown away by many things. I but I went and I saw the fruit said what it mean grapes this big. I know grapes. I lived in New York. We had grapes like this. I saw pizzas like this. You know, they didn't shave them, so it was still fuzzy, but they were. But and we had this big. And I I was said, "Wow, given this is a land that has no water that much, you know, the only so, oh my god, it was the first thing that hit me." And that's exactly what Moshe knew. So he said, "Bring back the fruit. They'll they'll see what they have there. That was the mission. Those things um it's not a simple spy mission. What's the best way we can uh attack and what you know it doesn't say that information about the the land if it's good or bad? If the soil is rich or poor, if it's fruitful and tra trees and was the enemy strong or weak uh fortified or not. Fine. That's military but not uh what a spy would do, what where who should we attack and from where just I basic general information, right? And um that clearly shows it's it wasn't a a spying a military thing. Go in there, sneak, and find what we could do and what's the best way of going in. By the way, uh Yoshua's spies were called spies. And indeed, part of the things he said he pl he planned is that find out since we're going to attack Eureo first, you know, what's the story over there? That's really more of a a military or polit or or an idea of how the best for us to attack. But Mosha never says that. It's not a military mission. Um that's why Yeshua sends two men. That's all, not 12. Um, and they're sent secretly and not uh openly Moshe does. And they report not to everybody. They report back to camp and they report to Moshe and the leaders. And that's all. However, the Morag uh um these spies, the 12 do the exact opposite. First of all, whereas in Yoshua it says, right? It says it says it says, it says he sent it very quietly. Um, no one knows it secretly. Here it was publicly. Moshe is told to to um choose 12 outstanding leaders of the tribes. He does so and everybody knows who they are. So that's publicly um and these are people they know obviously exceptional people and their mission was not as that those whom um Yoshua sent this mission as we clarified here was just information about the land the nature of the land and when they come back. To whom do they report? If we look here in the Torah, they go Ahmed says they report to everybody. Do you ever know a spy who was sent by the general to find out how they're going to attack the enemy? And he says, "All right, wait. Let me get the whole army also. They're reporters also, just not BC BBC, but anyway, have them over here and let's tell them what we're going to do." It's unheard of. They They were not spies. They were they were not though we call them that they were and that is a difference and a crucial difference to help us understand then what was their sin after all. Okay. And um we can ask the question and it is more or less reflected um in what we said before of why. So what was the mission for? What was the mission for? Look at the realities at the time. Israel had left with time about a year and a half earlier, right? Uh the nation would number about two and a half to three million individuals. If you had over 600,000 adult males between 20, you know, so you had women also, you had children too about two and a half, three million is the estimate, right? And they'd been living aware in a camp basically and in camp formation too uh for about know a year a year and a half. Um and they survived they survived difficult desert conditions all through the gifts of who gave them mana and gave them may the mana and the water. Um but and this is what's crucial that was and they knew that this was a temporary face. God let them know uh we find out in Schmo for example that the man is not going to go on you know for the next 100,000 years they're going to have man in the morning. No that's not what it was meant to be. Israel told him shalak after the after the uh man is given to them that god tells the Torah tells us that they ate the man only for the next 40 years until they were going come to their the settled land meaning the land they would settle also um until it's say eritz Canai until they reach the edges of Cannai. So that wasn't the idea. The point is that once they would enter the land, they got to start working. Once they were they would enter the land that they would have the the responsibility um to provide water to find water to provide work till the soil says right we see that all over the place especially. So they would also come in and yeah there were going to be and God tells them that even back in that they are going to face enemies the Arab uh the aboriges those who live there right and they're going to have to fight them to settle the land and the foreign enemies who are going to say that no you can't cover it's ours I know it sounds crazy but believe it or not Some people actually think that they your own stand. Anyway, um that all of this was going to be done with God's help, but it had to be done by you. That's the difference between before the splitting of the sea where God tells Moshe and Moshe tells the people, "God will fight for you and you just keep quiet and stop howling and complaining. and God to take care of it. And then just a few perkim later when they fight with Amale. God doesn't tell them, "Okay, I'll fight." God tells them that. And Moshe gets up and says, "Here comes Yoshua." took him out of the Kle and said to him, "Okay, you've got to now gather an army and you've got to fight." Why? Because Moshe, remember in those days is before the Moragim. They were planning on coming in just a few months later. He said, "You got to learn it's not a a a world of miracles. God will help you. We have to realize when the miracles are there. Some people don't even see it when it's in front of their eyes. That's why in every day we say every day and day all times of days there are miracles. Do I do we see them? Do we recognize them? Do we appreciate them? All too often we don't. But the but life will be a natural life. It's not mashiach. There's going to be a a regular life where you're going to have to do what has to be done to function as a real country. And you got to start that. He starts that with a mal. He doesn't say you I'll do it like he did before. He had to start. So there it was. when they're going to going into the land now and they're planning to remember it's a year and a half after after they leave Mitrah and now God's telling them you have to fight natural ways you I will help but you've got to have the army you've got to go know when we take beginning of a midbar elsewhere whenever God takes a population census whenever Moshe does it's sensed by Sav is all of military age there is acceptance and the assumption that they're going to be armies they had to fight at any rate um and although God promised that he um would help them they had to undertake all of these tasks through their own initiative if you look at Alaf I believe it's the third source that I have for you and I serve for you. Um yeah, in the English that I it says God promises the following actually through Mosha's words, but he says the following. If then you faithfully keep all this instruction I command you, loving your God, walking in all God's ways, holding fast to Hashem, then Hashem will dislodge before you all these nations. You will dispossess nations greater and more numerous than you. Every spot on upon which your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall extend from the wilderness of to Leban uh to Lebanon and from the river the Euphrates until the western sea. So that's the promise. So wherever you go but but I'll help you promise but you got to do it. That's the whole point. Um so this the this is the reality that Israel now stood in the desert and uh they had going to confront now military um war and they had to therefore establish what we would call a national homeland. Yeah, dirty word. That's what it was. National T. So they needed the information. They needed regarding military options. Fine. But economic conditions um agricultural realities. So when I ask so what do they want to go? That's why God said okay send them. It's a good idea. Let them know what the it is. Okay. And to amidst certainly full uh uh logic that what we would call this is I suppose a national factf finding mission. That's what it was. It was a factf finding mission and um to better better understand the land and how to prepare for their entry. Um you know to establish the borders they also had to consider by the way the partitioning of the tribes. Why do I say that? That's why Moshe chooses one per tribe. Check out the land that you like. Which land you think is best for your your tribe. That's one of the reasons. And that's the reason why which tribe was not one of those who sent a uh agent Ley. Ley. Why? Mr. Hashem would No. Well, yes and no. They never got a piece of a a section of land. The they had yeah cities here and there for no 42 of them, right? But they never had a portion of the land that the tribe should say, well, should we should we build here or there? It's God who would give them these sentences. That's why labor wasn't there. That's one of the proofs that the whole point of this was to re prepare for the taking over the land. Yeah. But not militarily to rather know that where we will different tribes will dwell. That's why it was not a war mission or even so much of a military mission. It was a factf finding mission. And um actually if we go later on later on in the end of Mas when they do give out the portions of land then you see that it's very very very different there you see in the fourth um again here I didn't give the English but it's simple there you see in the fourth source that um these were the people who who for will will will I guess inherit for you. You the these um uh these are the agents of you each tribe who will in effect take on the and and give over you this section. Um the ones in in charge are Elazar, Cohen and Yeshua and Nia again one leader for a tribe and these are the people and it goes on through the names so all of them without Ley and these are the people that who would give over these portions and it goes through which the portions were that's who did it but they first had gone in to see what the lamb was like but that was of course 38 years earlier But at the time when they thought they were going in. So that was a logical reason why. Okay. And um that's what Moshe actually does here. Go and see the land to scout the land. Tell us how what the land is. And that's why he sent one person per tribe. And that's why he sends them publicly all the land. All the people should see, oh, good land and this and that. And they may come back and say, "Look, I looked at the area of Iselia. It's terrific. We should have that. Oh, look at the area over there by the seas. We'll be able to have boats." That's the whole reason for it. Okay. Um, and uh, in the final analysis, that's a proof that it was never meant to be a military mission or a spying mission even, right? Um, so I actually have here which I don't know if I want to spend a time doing it, but uh just to show you the differences between the mission sent by Moshe and those that one sent by Yoshua. I touched upon it already, so I'll just put it away. So, uh, basically the the, uh, people sent, the agents sent by Yoshua, the two of them. By the way, who are they? Very good. How do you know? The text says there. It does not. It does. Text does not say who they were. Oh, okay. When I go through when I start Yoshua, we'll talk about that. But again, one of the things the text doesn't know see it do it. They share that, but the text doesn't say that at all. Okay. Um, that's why I take the text. Anyway, um, clearly they did have a military reason. Uh these were military spies to plan the military um conquest of Uho because they knew the first city that it says the first city they would see would be the city of Uho. And that's why that's what they did. They just went into Uho. And um it was uh there for military reasons. It wasn't to say should we go in or shouldn't we go in. we're going in and we're going to invade but we're going to start with what's the mood over there that's basically what Yoshua told these two spies whereas Moshe did not talk about that way for him it was an inquiry uh commission I feel like I'm you know in the in the government and they found good names for this um to provide the people with the information to help them plan how to divide the land to uh to establish in I guess institutions and so on and so forth. uh that was what his thing now understanding all of this what was a sin that's how I started this what was their sin so let's see if we can do it quickly if you look at um their return so there we find out uh in the fifth and did I forget the English here too yeah in the fifth uh uh source look it says this is what they told him. These they came back and they told the people, "We came to the land and you sent us to and it does indeed flow with milk and honey and yeah, here here are the fruits you told us to bring back. However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful. The cities are fortified. They're very large. Moreover, we saw the Amalachites there. Now, so far, was that so terrible? Didn't Moshe asked tell us is the nation powerful or not? Many or not? So, you know, I don't feel so terrible, right? Um, let's go. Let's see how and um, you know, that's you asked about the land. You asked about the people and where they live. And so we they told them that and I told them, "Oh, is this anything terrible about what they said?" Yes. What they were sowing despair. We can't do it. When did they say that? They Where did they say the people are powerful? The cities. Did they say But didn't Moshe ask them to tell Amalikites are there? Their experience with the Amalachites was Oh, that's excellent. by the way. Um, but God did ask is it a stronger uh and they they were telling you that what you said is very good because the fact that it says okay but what crucial thing did they say that undermined everything and it's one word ES however in other words everything is good but that's what did it fs That seems strong. What's ever Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. However, they're strong. What they should have said is huh? FS means however. Oh, all they had to say is and the people there are strong and they live over here. And that that would have changed the entire tone which by the way you were correct about the entire tone of the report. All they say and by the way they did this and they shouldn't have but they didn't say and they said ah but it ain't so good because they didn't say it but that's exactly what they refer refer to what they imply so that and that few thing is exactly the sin but there's one more and then correct the other thing you said why would they even mention no one because that was the one experience they had with war wasn't the Malikites, these wild crazies who attacked people, who attacked the killed the children, killed the women, they attacked the weak people because today nobody ever does that. Um, so they had fear. The fact that he purposely they they purposely include that also reflects what their real feelings were. Yes. But it says this is what they told him. We came to the land that you sent us to. Very good. We requested it. It was their initial request. Okay. So that's where the seeds of despair have was sewed. That's a very nice the fact that um God had promised they would go to and that they asked you and yet they couch it in terms of the land that you sent us to. Not that God has promised us. It's all over the Torah. It says the heart doesn't say the land that God had promised to our forefathers. It says that land that you sent us to. I like that very much. Thank you. Said the same thing. The one you sent me. Yeah. Very good. Yes. In the beginning. Correct. Correct. That was true. All right. So the the the conclusion reflected the opinion of 83% of the of the people who went there. Right? The commission 10 out of the 12 said that the two were disagree with the majority. But let's face it, if you get 10 out of 12 of the of the finest people who are doing and they say one thing, would you say well the two are right, you don't do that. Yeah. They they were arguing what it was but but um okay have a few minutes. So although and they are somewhat objective in the report I did point out the however and you did on my leg and that that would be okay where the rest of it that ends the sec the 12th chapter per you bet and per gimmel that's when finally Khal and eventually speak out against it and said no that's not true everything's okay um So if I would pre present to you this thing, the poor people come and hear the report. They're told how wonderful the land is going to be and they're going to come in. They're going to and then they're told we're not strong enough and it's awful and terrible. They were they all had to be did they all have to be punished? They it was the people that God and that Moshe appointed and they're the ones who came to the report and so he went to the people and the people listened to the report of pe of Mosha's choice people and they said it's awful that what did the people say? Oh Mosha would you know they chose the wrong people. These are innocent, you know, former slaves who say, "Oh my god." Again, like I did with the of of the golden calf. Why? Well, let's take a a step back and see if you were living at the time. What would you do? You promise a wonderful land just to get out of the, you know, get the to the sand out of between your toes and get out get into a land that has places. And now your representative is chosen by your leader who is telling us how good the land is tells us that there's no way we're going to conquer. But I would us to to see the land. They had they did they sell they spent 20 to 40 days looking at the land. They were the agents. They were sent they were the outstanding people but they were and they come back huh they request I wouldn't have requested to see I would have what can I tell you're you're sad so the most people would be not be if you came in as a former slave and this is what you told you know I I we have to stop here but Hashem I'll try and finish this up you Okay.