The Sin of the Spies is Not What Your Think - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

and so I want to address Ari's question the question is what exactly was the sin of the spies and so this year I I feel like I'm I'm going to attack it from a different angle I'm not going to say the two things that Ari said it wasn't about their complaining and it wasn't only about their kind of refusing or being disgusted with the land or just being fed up with the land there was something deeper that was happening here so the people that were chosen it says they were of a very high spiritual caliber they weren't just regular people these were the leaders in their character in their because they were the leaders of Israel each tribe sort of elected their own representation these weren't just simple people and when they came back there is an idea that their argument was a very spiritual argument and the midrash says that when they came back they said listen we don't really want to go into the land of Israel if we go into the land of Israel we're going to have to work the land we're gonna have to fight all these enemies we're gonna have to till the soil harvest the thing right now we can can just keep the Torah we can just learn the Torah we are in the Clouds Of Glory here we are just receiving Manna From Heaven why would we want to leave that and then have to go into the land we'll be so distracted with Conquering the land and building a country and doing all that needs to be done much better that we just stay in the Clouds Of Glory here in the desert it will be a spiritual descent if we go into the land of Israel that's what the midrash says and I think that that's a very unique kind of reading of the of the of the scripture because that's I mean the shot really leads towards what Ari was saying but you know you want to take the me Josh and you're like what are the sages of Israel teaching us here in that story what is that Paradigm because when you look at Israel it's shocking they come out of slavery and God says I want to give you the Torah and Israel says we will do it and then we'll listen and then we'll understand we're committed we're going to do it and then God says well we want to go into the land of Israel I would have expected them to say not seven ishma we're going to do it don't even show us we don't need to send people into the land God if you're telling us to go into land we're going to go into the land we believe you if it's a good land you said it's good it's good we're gonna go they don't do that though and it seems like out of character because on one hand they were so committed to God that they would say we're gonna do whatever you tell us to do God we don't know what's in the Torah you want us to wear fringes on the ends of our Corners you want us to wear funny furry hats whatever you want us to do we're going to do it but then when it comes to Israel why don't they have that same fervor what's changed or did they have that same fervor and maybe that's the lesson and so maybe what happened here is that the spies the nation of Israel the leader the spiritual leadership of Israel sort of lost their Direction and how did they lose their Direction they said well listen we have a religion now we have this Judaism thing we have this Torah life that we have to live and if you take us into the land of Israel the religion we won't be able to live the religion as as good as we're living it here here in the desert it's perfect we can learn Torah all day we can it's absolutely kosher Manna From Heaven we have all of the religion that we you gave us the Torah we are able to live the Torah out in the most pristine way here this is the best way we can live out our religion and then that was the gravest sin because Judaism isn't a religion the Torah was never meant to be a religion we have a mission in the world we have a mandate we have a mandate to be a light unto the Nations we have a mission of tikkun Olam to fix this world through the kingdom of God we have a mission to build God's Kingdom on Earth we have a mission to build up a country that will be a light to All Nations and the people of Israel the leadership the spiritual leadership lost the vision of the mission and then they started worshiping the religion because they were like now seven Ishmael we will do and then we will understand we are committed to the Torah we are committed to Judaism we want to fulfill the Commandments as best as we possibly can and this religion actually if we go into the land of Israel it's going to take away from the Torah it's going to take away from our time of study it's going to take away from our level of kashrut because Manna is the ultimate kosher food who knows maybe it'll be shmita maybe the kosher maybe the animal maybe this maybe that here we are in a pristine Opera opportunity a place that we can fulfill our religion as best as possible and it was there that the spiritual leadership actually led the people of Israel in the wrong direction by making them be obsessed compelled by the religion and not by the mission of Israel there's a religion and then there's the mission Israel is not a religion Israel was gifted with a mission the Torah is the vehicle through which we accomplish our mission but once we start to worship the Torah as a means and an end of itself it's arguable to say that that's actually idolatry that you're worshiping the Torah and not worshiping God that you're worshiping a religion and not actually what the Torah is pointing us to and that was the gravest of all sins and that says okay you've lost you've lost the vision of the mission well what did they complain about they said we don't want to go into the land of Israel so God said fine I don't really see it so much as a punishment as you you get what you ask for you don't want you want to you want to live in a religion here live out your religion in the desert and then you're gonna die and hopefully the next generation will grow up with the vision that Joshua and Caleb will bring them forward into the land with and so I think that that speaks to us very powerfully in this generation I would say that among Believers in the world the thing that divides people the most is a lack of a unified vision and arguing about the religion and so right now this is the calling of Our Generation in so many ways is to rally the troops behind the calling of Israel that we have a mission to build a country we have a mission to build a kingdom it's in the land of Israel and everyone should be unified like one organism working to build that Vision on earth and the Torah as a religion is there to help us become who we were created to be to help us build the kingdom in the best way possible but to never get lost in the religion itself as the ends it's just a means toward the ends and that I think is the sin that many of us in this final generation have fallen right back into and so maybe we take a little bit of inspiration not only to love the land of Israel but to remember the mission of Israel and that can only be accomplished through the land and so that's what I took away this week and I hope that um you should all be blessed with Shalom bite and if you wake up in the morning and you're annoyed at your husband or wife because of a dream that you had remember it's not their fault they love you and so have a wonderful week my friends talk to you soon