Spying out the Land - Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb

is a very famous pressure sending out the spies I'm going to tell you at the malum sis now not everybody agrees with the mob them but as usual the mob has I think very strong indications from the verses which support is one of you and I'm really interested in what you can see in the verses not what you'd have to bring for supper cells and there's a lot to learn about what the buttons it is about and what lessons are in the incident so first of all I want to read you through the basic incident keep in mind let's see if you can figure out what is the purpose of sending these spies what is the purpose let's read through it let's read through it some of the words will be relevant some of the Hebrew which I'll fill in later is also relevant chair Moses spoke to Moses saying send forth men if you please and let them spy out the land of Canaan that I give to the children of Israel one man each from his father's tribe shall you send everyone a leader among them Moses sent them forth from the wilderness of piranha Shems command they were all distinguished men heads of the children of Israel were they these are their names now you get the whole list of names which I'm not going to go through 16 these are the names of the men Moses synthase at the land Moses called or called to host Shia son of nun because that's the name that's given the list 799 oshare sunderland he called to him Joshua whatever that means Moses enter to spy out the land of Canaan he said to them ascend here in the south climb the mountains see the land how is it and the people that dwells in it is it stronger week is if you were numerous and how is the land in which it dwells is it good or bad and how are the cities in which it swells are they open or are they fortify and how is the land is it fertile or is it lean other trees in it or not you shall strengthen yourselves and take from the fruit of the land days were the season of the first ripe grapes what are you here in this description was the purpose of sending the spies what's the purpose see how beautiful into all of the instructions that Moses gave to them obviously serve that purpose I mean I'm how good I wish I see how beautiful how good is all all of his instructions serve that purpose how about whether the people are strong or weak whether the cities are fortified why not yes the people so those dozen excellent while the vehicle stronger we can see the peoples are reading for not pushing event become strong from being a fortunate line as always and the fortified city never lost Romania so you're taking position which in fact the model takes that this assignment is not a military assignment it is not a military assignment the purpose of this exercise is not to discover where the enemy is weak or strong once at 87 99 week are strong and where it's good to attack and what kind of response you should expect it is to evaluate the land let's look at the instructions and I'm going to use some of the ideas that you mentioned back in seven ninety nine 70 ascend here in the south of climb the mountain see the land how is it delay it that's very vague he says to several times and the people that dwells in it is a stronger week now you might think that that's a military valuation you're going in to conquer the land it could be military but it doesn't have to be military as he says what kind of people grow on this land is a land have enough nourishment does it have become but tempered enough whether this is a forge room for physical activity that makes people strong or weak is if you innumerous two people multiplied here but it is too little food to feed people and they starve to death and the population is strictly limited and how is the land in which it dwells is good or bad that does not sound like a military instruction the city's widget wells are they open or they fortified that can be an index of the confidence of the people who live in it which again is an indication of their strength you only build fortifications around your city if you're afraid of attack and you're afraid that you can't simply defeat the other side in battle so you want to have walls to protect you there is I think a very naive type of argument that is made quite widespread lien and the cure of world to show that the tour is with by God look at commandments which would be foolish self-defeating ideas if they were committed created by people so God who could heart order something foolish and self-defeating must be God who did it but as human beings wouldn't do that and one of them is illegal irregular times a year the whole male population leaves its residences and comes to Jerusalem and the critique is well that anybody can attack so obviously no you were being what make up a law like that only God would make up a law like that uh-huh I hear you let me ask you a question why are there no fortifications on the border between the United States and Canada are the Americans afraid the Canadians are going to attack no actually you're not because the Canadians are a non-player Sammy you know all 22 million of them no you can leave your borders unfortified if the other side is frightened to death of your retaliation that you don't need to worry that's the kind of attack because when you come back you'll adopt a scorched earth policy and wipe them out so here too if they fortifying the city's it means their own strength is minimal and that's why they have to build walls to protect them if they're open then they're more confident how is the land fertile or lean that doesn't sound like I military instruction are the trees in it that doesn't sound like a military instruction and you shall strengthen us how to take back to the fruit of the land how would that apply to military spies who are supposed to give you a strategy for conquering the land bring back you know grapes and pomegranates and so forth and so on on the contrary the majority instruction sound like they are for the sake of evaluating the land and the couple that could have sounded like military can be interpreted as valuation now let me show you how the mob one really proves this go back to the beginning of the passage who are these people are being sent one from each tribe leaders of the tribes distinguished people in each tribe why is that what has that got to do with a military operation when Joshua who actually conquer the land division sent out spies he sets out to spice with some of the people who knew how to make military evaluations and two rather than 12 not to attract attention you know this for us a military spying mission is absolutely no reason whatsoever to send out one leader of each tribe each one a respected man in his dry before furthermore as the malbon points out the word to spy here is one of three Hebrew words for that purpose and it never is used military operations this is left or for the tough a spy for military operations is a miracle Jonathan Pollard is a Mara Gale and as they're not Mountain points outlet or in Hebrew with a tough means to evaluate and i will show you something of which i'm not sure you're aware what is the very end of this parsha in the Torah that's a very last element dispassionate are an 817 the last paragraph of this parsha is the paragraph of kisses and in the paragraphs it says it says the very bottom line at age 17 and not explore after your heart in the Hebrew filk in the Hebrew two lines from the bottom second line from the bottom last three words below so tsuru operate above Clem that's the same verb latour with that tough so it's the link in vocabulary to the beginning of the party which speaks of the spice who are the tarim asuras tolosa sue and it's telling you that the partial citizen means don't evaluate after your heart just as it means in the beginning that's where the marble urns okay so they are sent on a evaluation mission now that's why you have one from each tribe a respected man each leader the tribe because what you're investigating other things is is there a place for my tribe the tribes are different they had different strengths a weakness is there different foci and what say what they want to accomplish able to accomplish so is their place for me I love the mountains and I love hunting I'm a farmer I like fishing are there places to do these things will the land support varying lifestyles so each one sends I represented of its tribe to see and evaluate bring back and report whether it's appropriate for his group now you bring back fruits does the samples of what the proof layin produces all of that fits into a single coherent picture I were together okay now let's see what they come back and say and skip yourself in which i'll come back to insertion so they come back and they bring back the fruit 27 they reported to him the most i said we arrived in the land to which you sent us and indeed it flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit skip the next word i'll come back to it the people that dwells on the land is powerful the cities are greatly fortified and we also saw their the offspring of the giant amolik dwells in the south hittite the other side am i right well on the mountain can deny 12 osc in the bank of the Jordan that report does it fulfill the purpose for which they were sent why not is there anything in that report which is outside the scope of the charge where somebody should say hey stop irrelevant you know why are you putting that in your just offering you know any things that we didn't ask you to check out this is good check the land you know check the peoples that are on it are they stronger they we get any information about their locust you can see you can read this as consistent with the instructions that were given however the top of 803 the very middle is the word i skipped but now in the hebrew this is a unique wordsworth is very very very rarely used but in Hebrews is either about or Ella this is FS FS means 00 so what they're saying is nad is flows with milk and honey this is its fruit zero meaning yes it's beautiful fruitful wonderful valuable land but worth nothing to us within to us because the people as powerful the cities are fortified this children the Giants are there and we'll never be able to conquer it that one word efes changes the character of what follows it into a military assessment they were not sent to make a military system there said only to make an assessment of the values olean that's what is the expression of the failure of their report and the proof of it is look what happens immediately upon their statement 30 colors sounds to people toward Moses said we shall surely ascend the concrete for we can surely do it who's he talking to what's he talking about how did that get on the table because they said FS it's worthless because we can't counter it College silence and I said no you're wrong we can to conquer it and the men who ascended let me just make sure the but isn't a fantasy of the translator is the man was sent with him and said we cannot ascend to that he was too strong for us so you see what their initial statement it implied and was intended to imply it's impossible for us to conquer and that was not what they were sent to do that's an indication of the initial failure that they that they let they made ok Oh now that's something else and seven ninety-nine look at verse 8 for the tribe of a frien oh sure son of nun 16 these are the names of em most of sense out of the limo share called to in the Hebrew o'shea asunder done Joshua how I supposed to understand this is this Moses renaming ho Shia giving him a new name that was going on here the ebu doesn't sound like it though some want to see possibly that it could be read that way but there's a much worse problem where's father means that in the shower look at page 391 there is an attack this is right after the exodus from Egypt right after the parting of the sea yeah I'm out I'm all like attacks the Jewish people and verse 8 at the very bottom of the page a mullet came battled Israel defeat him Moses said to Joshua choose people etc side and go fight John she will who Joshua Schwartz from down the street Joshua was called Joshua on 799 that's way after the parting of the sea so it's hard to say that on 799 Josh was being given his name one way out whether she says that yeah we should be Joshua Joshua yahushua yeah that's that's the yeah because the you didn't hang this is a.j for whatever reason so he's now calling to him to wish him well Moses knows there's going to be a terrible challenge for the spice and this is a like an acronym saying God should save you to play on his name and he says God should save you and the way to understand what happened over there in Peshawar is that he is Hosea that's what he's called in verse 8 here but he has a kind of nickname with an extra letter yud adding a letter of God's name to someone's name is something that happens often Abraham added when when it became aramta Avraham there is a hey editor Joseph's name you host you host safe in one place here they add a letter yards to charge to o'sheas name and called me oh sure but here is especially especially relevant because Moses knows that he is going to be under they're all going to be under pressure now having said that look on page 8 01 this is what I skipped you for so Moses sent it to go up and evaluate the land 21 they said it inspired at the land the wilderness of sin they ascended inspired out the land with a silly Spence puzzle I'm us they ascended the south and he arrived in her bro where there were etcetera etc the offspring they arrived at Valley Vesco they cut down and cut down for a while yeah boy right they named the place what pronoun sticks out like a sore thumb here no try to listen again I read it as deadpan as possible so that you can't forget her for my tone of voice they assented they and then a second time they ascended and he arrived at clever they arrived right they did they did right they named it's all days except for one when is he obviously this is describing what the twelve spies did except for one thing one thing is he went to heaven that means one of the did obviously those all days except for that one who went to high from doesn't say but it's calling later in the talk see he gets a special gift of heaven now color in your shoe are the only two who survived the challenge the other ten become corrupt who is the star between college and Yahshua who is the star given what we read so far when they make this wrong report when they say that crucial word FS when they're projecting despair it's kool aid who shuts them up its colleague who says we can conquer it your shoe is silent and you'll see that color takes the lead of the two of them call it place the stronger rope if these two are the ones who succeeded in with thinning the the pressure I'll tell you what the pressures in a few minutes a musician and they were singled out well Joshua by being given that address of the word Joshua and call it going to two hebrone presumably that has something to do with it so there is a very i would say ironical and somewhat bitter Hasidic story that there was a traveler from Eretz Israel who came to Poland to collect money which happened very often he came to the city of gore where the Gare house anymore and garibi what talk to him privately said privately with his advices but I've not in public and he said howard leight i was life in her to Sara Harvey fairy what do they need to over the so on and then the garibi asked this representative are it's israel why are they know Rebbe scenario so no rubbers local city rivers so this traveler said to him if you will promise me that you will not respond will not penalize me punish me out tell you the answer so the gary promised did and he said remember the story of sending the spies two of them survived how do they survive Moses prayed for Joshua may Hashem save you Joshua was Moses disciple was his disciple you could put it that Moses was his personal Rebbe he took over for Moses in the end kool aid went to have room what's in rebro the patriarchs are buried at chevron patriarchs appeared in session you need a rep you need him we live in a thrill we can go to heaven tell you by the paychecks wait I need to read you didn't have it so you guys are outside of the Land of Israel you need a river no rivers in their circles we don't eat it nothing sir but that's what he was doing he went there fevre he wasn't said to have room they all went various places but are only mentions where he went individually he got the febrile to pray there for help and both of them were saying in college became the stronger the two so by that they're there I'm not recommending the chin dear rose enters as well today they definitely have to remember remember we don't our selves know how to access and and connect to the patriarchs in such a way that I could subdue them for that but there is a very strong element here okay we're together okay now watch what happens this was the body read to you was the disagreement where they talking to Moses like 80 3 i'm not doing this in a continuous manner because i want to get the ID sensor 32 up to 32 is the interaction of the 10 spice with Moses 32 they brought forth to the children is an evil report the lid they spied out say the land which we pass through despite out the land that devours its inhabitants what happened to milk and honey no now they're pushing full-scale to kill the project and the people who is so do a huge they were there we saw them if you leave the Sun to the giant from among the if you leave whatever Nephilim are we would like grasshopper in our eyes and so we were in their eyes now this just requires two short comes how would they know how they were in the eyes of the local inhabitants how would they know the reaction of a local inhabitants so here the tradition says they overheard them talking dismissing them as of no account you know pygmies then people who is image trivial but why would they why are they heading we like grasshoppers on our own eyes that means that we looked at them we felt intimidated right some of the deeper commentators make a link between the two you know why your grasshoppers in their eyes because you perceived yourself that way and you projected yourself as people without any self-confidence without any hope and that's why they perceive received you that way that's a very bitter but I think psychologically and socially realistic is praising you will be perceived in terms of how you present yourself and that's something which which is important okay so now this is the report that they gave to the assembly chapter 14 entire salary raised up an issue its voice people whipped that night all the children's murmured against Moses and Aaron tire assembly said themselves only we had died land of Egypt owner died the wilderness why is he shipped at bringing us to this land to die by the sword I wives and children be taken captive it is not better for us return to Egypt she said to one another let's appoint a leader unless return to Egypt Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire congregation of the Assembly of the children of Israel Joshua son of Luna collate son of a fuller the spies of the land tour their garments I heard from Nairobi and I think he took it from awesome from one of the gear Rebbe is a very very important idea here based on what says in the Talmud what's the difference between falling on your face and tearing your garments falling on your faces prostration is as well as it is a way in which you pray that's only ways you pray to God tearing your garments you do when a person has died it's all over prayer can't help it's over so the fundamental difference of response here to this disaster color than you funa give up in a certain sense I'll show you a moment that that's not her percent true / they give up Mose and I are praying who's right anyway she shows the color than your shoe are right and Moses an errand roll prayer won't do it prayer isn't going to save them and this they comment there's a sleep in the Talmud that the Land of Israel that the heir of the Land of Israel makes one wise I virar there at this realm asking and the question is raised does that mean when you go to Israel and dwell there you have an extra measure of wisdom or it doesn't even include going there and dwelling there temporarily and then leaving do you retain that extra wisdom or do you not well the Joshua and college went to the land it isn't for 40 days and came back and interpreting this event Josh you wouldn't call you by still superior to Moses on an errand that indicates that the extra measure was that you get the individual does not desert you when you legal and division now of course no one here is going back to America or Britain you're all staying here Messiah's coming and though he's gonna have to go home but if in the odd unexpected eventualities that the Messiah doesn't come then you have to know that the time is you spent here has a positive a positive effect that will last you when you go back now having said all of that look at the next verse 8 okay you don't you hear me 140 days it's even better right so Joshua and and call it tore the two other clothes seven they spoke to the entire children children assembly of Israel say the land that we passed through the spy out the land is very good something which the other spies omitted when they torture into the people if I Shem desires us he will bring us into this land and give it to us Elena flows with milk and honey it's not up to us is that our military ability that counts or outcomes it to the guy but do not repel against the chef you should not feel the people who land for they are our bread their protection is the part of them a share was with us do not fear that now given what I just told you that Moses and Aaron made a mistake in thinking that prayer was relevant and Joshua and college said it's over but aren't they trying to recover here aren't they pleading with the people to go back and what they said change their minds answer pretty obviously is prayer can't save it prayer can't save but doing chuvakin saving almost always if the people will change their minds and reform that can take off what was what was decreed not always that true but almost always this room so they say to cut emotion iron prayer is not it don't do that we wasting your time go to the people and try to plead with them to get them to change and they themselves do that but of course they're unsuccessful and that's when the disaster takes place God says okay then it's over and they're going to die in the wilderness and their their children their descendants are going to go into Lana be okay that's just some background on the story now I want to take looks as we looked at it very end the last paragraph ishma i mentioned to you in 39 where it says the very bottom of the page don't they write explore i'm offering the translation evaluate which i've taken for the mob don't evaluate after your heart after your eyes after what you straight now there is some question here about the order your heart and your eyes and indeed Rashi who links the burbs by the way in his commentary the tour he says the heart and the eyes are the brokers of the their spies for the body brokers for transgressions the eye sees the heart desires and the body carries out the transgression symmetric measure stuff will trouble is that in the order of the verse is reverse art it's hard first and I second now I think it was Moshe pinterest here who pointed out to me that sometimes in Hebrew when you have a and B it means a is caused by be the course comes second that can be so it could be consistent that way others are and point out that the relationship between heart and eyes is mutual it's an interaction yes if you don't see something if you're not aware of something then the idea the heart desiring it and getting the trouble is not going to happen but also true that the heart determines what the eye sees as we well know people can look at the same scene and you as to what they remember or what they notice and you get very different reports because of what they're interested in because of what their sensitivities are but that's the points out there is you have 10 people read a newspaper from cover to cover and as to what they remember you'll get different reports not because I'll disagree but when will tell you every detail of the sports session and when it comes to the stocks you know what Star Jones up again don't remember because he doesn't have any stocks we love sports as evidence on the heart determines what the eye sees and that being the case is the heart has an impact on the eyes not just the other way around that's important thing to know about about psychology when the Baal Shem Tov died the last thing there they have this some of his clothes disciples said to him revenue leaving us how will we know if they're going whom to follow how will we know who is a genuine Rebbe and he said ask him whether he knows the secret of controlling thoughts and if he says yes he's not a Rebbe it's not a ready I take that to mean that absolute control of thought is something that's impossible healthy to control foot or not official not oh let's see let's see but is any show possible some sounds farm you'll read you can't control what things occur to you these occur to you out of the blue you what what you have controllers what you do about it you dwell on it you'll sink yourself into it and analyze it where do you turn your attention to something else but there is at least some sort of temporary protection imagine you're watching the last two minutes to the Super Bowl and imagine that you're a football fan which I hope is not true for just an imagination and imagine that one team is ahead by two points the other team is pushing up a field trying to get the position to make a field goal so and so on yeah there was a time now do you think that someone who starts a political discussion over in the corner is going to catch your attention I doubt it I think when we plug the into the Super Bowl and political discussion you won't even hear them you want him here suppose the air conditioner breaks especially at heart in the room you probably won't feel that because the drama such as it is on the screen is something that will just grip you can report to you a piece of history it used to be that way when people read books but of course library's books anything literature majors google the book and they get snips out of it in order to write their papers literature majors don't be o generations of evokes what does anybody else to say okay now when you will someday come to the point of learning Talmud on your own with a study partner with LaRussa you will experience the same thing you will not be distracted by anything because he's reciting and explaining the passage your job is to shoot him down you are a faithful study partner if you shoot him down that's okay because tomorrow you're going to read he's gonna shoot to death right that's how it goes you are on your toes every moment every nuance of his translation you know do you want to accept it or do you want them for some children to qualify it or retract it I think you search you no no no suddenly have your mind straight of politics it doesn't happen because so now if you fill your mind or something positive you can close off the access of nothing negative you can get in if your mind is drifting if you're watching the scenery if you're strolling down the down the path and the bearing sunshine then indeed so control of thought can be exercised by filling your mind with certain positive thoughts and I would call that positive not negative which I think that that was ever that was a problem okay so that's you know sort of focusing the heart and then what you see won't have won't have that effect let's say these two or thoughts I just want to point out one other thing here it says here in verse 39 it shall constitute it is for you that you may see it remember all the commandments of a sham to perform them not it's not died of it after your heart in your eyes after which is straight 40 so that you remember before my Commandments let me hold it to you go okay don't we have a member and perform twice couldn't the text event more economical by not repeating that why might I have to repeat it so some one of the kind there's I forget who likes it I think an important observation here 30-9 says it's a constant assistance for you that you may see it and remember all the commandments purpose of is to be seen and thereby to jog your memory and to remember all the commandments so now let's ask a Jewish type question do blind people have to put on cestus the verse says to see it and remember a blind person can see it and by the way does this mean oh that's exactly as I say does this mean that you wear them under your clothes you're not fulfilling the commandment that's what 40s 240 is saying that you are committed to remember it even if you can't see 40 tells you that blind people also are obligated seeing it to remember it is a virtue it's good it's the best way to perform the mitzvot the myth supplies that people who can't see it also and that's why you can wear it inside where it doesn't have to be shown doesn't have to be sure you