Weekly Torah Portion Shelach (Sin of the Spies) Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

I wanted to talk tonight about the sin of the spies, which is the second big sin in the Torah. The Jewish people have plenty of different offenses throughout the Chumash. The Chumash is largely a record, at least the Book of Numbers, the Book of Bamidbar, is a record of the various failures of the Jewish people up and down. Uh but the two biggies are of course the sin of the golden calf, the chet ha'egel, and the chet of the meraglim. Uh the chet ha'egel of course is in the Book of Shemot. The chet of the meraglim is uh in this week's parashah. I just want to point out a preliminary observation, that in both cases Hashem wanted to destroy the Jewish people and make a covenant with Moshe. And in both cases Moshe prevented that from happening by his prayer and by his argumentation. But what's interesting is the argument he makes in the case of the golden calf is different Hi, hello. is different than the argument he makes with the chet ha'meraglim. In the chet ha'egel, Moshe Rabbeinu makes a two-pronged logical argument. One is called chillul Hashem, desecration of God's name. He says, "Hey, God, if you destroy the Jewish people, people will say you didn't have the power to bring them to the land of Israel. You were not strong enough to defeat the Canaanite gods, so you can you simply killed the Jewish people in the desert. Therefore, you have to bring כל ישראל to ארץ ישראל, because otherwise what will the say? Chillul Hashem, desecration of God's name. That's argument number one that he makes. Argument number two is he invokes the merits of the Avos. He says, "Remember the promise, the covenant that you made with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that you would give to their children, their descendants, the land of Israel. How can you abrogate the covenant of the patriarchs?" Right? That's called Zchus Avos. So, argument number one is called Chillul Hashem. And argument number two is called Zchus Avos or Bris Avos. Technically, they might be two different things. The covenant to the forefathers or the merits of the forefathers. Technically, they are a little bit different. Now, if you look at the aftermath of the Cheit HaMeraglim, Moshe Rabbeinu still uses the old Chillul Hashem argument. Hey, if you don't bring them to Israel, the are going to say you didn't have the power. But, fascinatingly enough, he omits any reference to remembering Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. He does not invoke the Zchus Avos trump card in making his arguments. And the Ramban actually asks the question, why is it that Zchus Avos was invoked with the Cheit HaEgel, but for the Cheit HaMeraglim, Moshe is stuck only with the Chillul Hashem? It happened to be enough. It happened to be a sufficient argument. But, maybe it wasn't so sufficient because after all, unlike the Cheit HaEgel, where the generation was forgiven in the Dor HaMidbar, that generation died. It was only the new generation that went in. So, the Ramban said a very interesting point. The Ramban basically says that in order to invoke the merits of the Avos, you have to affirm and live by the values that the Avos considered to be dear. For example, you know, the old there used to be an old joke that the definition of chutzpah is the person who kills his parents and then says to the judge, "You got to have mercy on me because I'm an orphan. I don't have my parents." By the way, that When I was growing up, that was a joke. Uh in truth, there are actually court cases where people have you know, used that as a defense, or at least a mitigation, not a defense, but a mitigation. There was a trial in California, the Menendez brothers who basically killed their pa- killed their father and then said, "You know, we're all alone in the world. We don't have a father." And then you you know, whatever it is. So, that just shows you that what at one point would be considered so preposterous that it would be an example of, you know, insanity, actually becomes reality. And there are many examples of that, that uh things that we think are absolutely crazy indeed become the new normal. But, the Ramban's he so is simply this. You want to ask Hashem to be kind to you because of your great patriarchs, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You have to live with what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob considered to be significant and important. Now, here's what the Ramban says. As heinous as heinous as grievous as as as the golden calf was, the golden calf was not truly idolatry. This is a well-known idea of the Ramban because it's clear from the verses that the Jewish people did not believe that the golden calf that Aaron created was the God of heaven and earth, but rather they had an erroneous philosophy that they needed an intermediary. They perceived of Moses our teacher as an intermediary between God and them. And Moses is gone. And right right it's the 40th day they miscalculated. It was the 40th day of his going up to Har Sinai, and he's not there yet, and therefore they figured Moses not coming back. How do we relate to God without a Moses? So, the ego, through a process that we don't really understand very well, was perceived as a form of spiritual channeling. And the Ramban has an old cabalistic explanation that on God's divine throne there are four faces that are engraved. There is the This is from Yechezkel. There is the face of the shore, the face of the ox, there is the face of the lion, there is the face of the eagle. And then there's the face of an Adam, of human being, that is said to be Yaakov Avinu, and the Ramban understands that these represent different forms of divine energy that are channeled to different environments. And the shore represents the divine energy that helps a person in a desert environment. So, it was not a golden calf. It was obviously a theological mistake. It was a great sin. But it was not a it it a repudiation of monotheism and belief in God. Therefore, uh Moshe Rabbeinu could invoke the zechut avot as as a source of mercy. But Shechem came, the Ramban says, the meraglim was a rejection of the gift of Eretz Yisrael. The avot cherished Eretz Yisrael. Avraham Avinu loved Eretz Yisrael. In fact, it's interesting, even before Hashem commanded him Lech Lecha at the age of 75 to come to Eretz Yisrael, Avraham Avinu came to Eretz Yisrael 5 years earlier on his own. This is not explicit in the Chumash, but if you study the chronology, you see very, very clearly that just like people who make aliyah have a pilot trip, Avraham Avinu had a pilot trip in Eretz Yisrael on his own without God even telling him. And that's because he felt drawn to this land like a like a piece of metal is drawn to a magnet. He felt the kedusha, he felt the presence of Hashem, he wanted to be here. Yitzchak Avinu never left Eretz Yisrael, even in time of famine. And Yaakov Avinu, for the 20 years he was in the house of Lavan, we are told every single day he was thinking and yearning, "When will he be able to come back?" So, the Avos represented the epitome of what is called chibas ha'aretz, the love of the land, an appreciation not for the physical attributes of the land, but for the idea that this is God's home, and therefore this is where a person can feel the Shechinah. Now, what happens with the meraglim is they basically took the attitude or the people took the attitude, "We don't need it. We don't want it. We're better off without it." They're rejecting the chibas ha'aretz of the Avos. So, the Ramban says, "When you reject the primary value of the Avos, you're not in a position where you then say to Hashem, 'Give me mercy because of the Avos.' So, chillul Hashem as a backup argument you still have. 'Hey, God, if you destroy us, you know, the will say you don't have the power.' So, Moshe always had that argument. But the Ramban says, he loses this zechus Avos argument. Now, this is an important thing for us to think about because in truth we invoke zechus Avos in our tefilos. If you daven three times a day, it's three times a day. Every Every Shmoneh Esrei. What do we say? We say in the first bracha, "V'zocher chasdei Avos." "Hashem, you perpetually remember the loving kindness of the Avos." Again, it's a little bit of a machlokes. Even the translation of that phrase is not so simple. What do you mean the loving kindness of the Avos? Do you mean the loving kindnesses that the Avos performed? Or do you mean the loving kindness that you, God, showed the Avos? Even basic translation, "Chasdei Avos" is an ambiguous term. But we invoke the memory of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov every single time we pray to Hashem. Now, based on the Ramban, the Ramban is teaching us the importance of self. You want to ask Hashem, "Show us mercy. Show us compassion. Show us kindness because of the great ancestors that the Jewish people have." That's only going to work if you live and you will firm the values that the Avos held dear. Belief in Hashem, of course. Uh the loving kindness of Abraham, the divine service of Yitzchak, the learning of Torah of Yaakov, and for all three of them, the love of Eretz Yisrael and the appreciation of Eretz Yisrael. Right? So, the Ramban's lesson is a lesson that's very important for us. That's the "chose Avos" depends on your connection to the Avos. And indeed, uh the the Mekubalim emphasize, before you daven, like the famous Sefer Tomer Devorah, one of the one of the most beautiful uh Kabbalistic Mussar Sefarim ever written. Many, many people learn. It's not uh heavy Kabbalah, but it is it is a a book of ethics based on Kabbalah. Uh he points out, whenever you daven to Hashem, before you daven, you need to be mekushar. You need to tie yourself to the neshamos of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and and Leah, because it is through our connection to the Avos that we open up gates of mercy and and compassion in Hashamayim. So, this is actually a whole meditation of connecting yourself to the to the to the Avos. Okay. But now, let's look at the issue of the spies because it's interesting to discuss what exactly was the so-called sin of the spies. So, let's start with the preliminary question. Was it a sin to send spies? Meaning, God God gave us a promise that we will conquer the land and we will settle the land. Why are we sending spies? So, here is a big machlokes, Rashi and the Ramban. According to Rashi, it is not only the response to the meraglim that was sinful. Meaning the response that they gave, "We don't want it. No, we can't succeed." According to Rashi, it was the sending of the spies itself that was sinful. Because had the people had true faith in Hashem, they would not have needed to spy out the land. They should have been confident that Hashem will take care of them. Ramban says that can't be true. And the Ramban has two very excellent proofs. The Ramban says, "Wait a second. Later in the Torah itself, when we're fighting the Sichon and Og, the Amorites, east bank of the Yarden, the land that eventually went to Reuven, Gad, and half of Shevet Menashe, it says, matter of fact, the Torah doesn't make a big story about it. Moshe sent two spies to check out the best way to attack. And we attacked." So, after the chet ha-meraglim, Moshe sent spies. And the second proof is Yehoshua, who knew firsthand of the catastrophe of the chet ha-meraglim, because he was one of the two good ones. He sent two spies to check out Yericho. So, the Ramban's argument is, there is no chet in sending out spies. That is not inconsistent with emunah. Yes, I have perfect faith that God will give give Klal Yisrael victory. I believe in it. But nevertheless, it's not going to happen through a supernatural thing. We have to have an army. We have to have a strategy. And when an army is developing a strategy, it needs to have information. Where is the best place to attack? Where is the weak point? Where is the strong point? So, the Rambam says, the same way with all parnassa, right? Your sustenance comes from Hashem. Right? No question about it. But, that doesn't mean you can stay in bed and the money is going to just go into your bank account. Right? You have to work. I mean, that's part of the condition. What do they say? Uh people look for segulos, segulos, some type of talisman for parnassa. It's a segula, a red string, uh holy water, a million different different uh sticks. So, somebody said, "I have a segula for parnassa." And, you know, which rebbe he gave you the segula, this goes back to Adam Harishon, the beginning of human history. The segula for parnassa, that is get a job. That's a great segula for parnassa. And Hashem gave the segula when Hashem said, "B'zei'as apecha, by the sweat of your brow tochal lechem." That's the best segula. It reminds me a little bit of the other way. You know, the Brisker Rav was not a great fan of Chassidim usually. But, there was one Chassidish rebbe that the Brisker Rav liked very much. Even though this Chassidish rebbe wasn't very popular, he didn't have a lot of Chassidim. So, he says, so somebody asked the Brisker, "Why do you like this rebbe so much?" He says, "Uh well, here's what happened. When people come to the rebbe and they want a segula for getting married, the rebbe says, 'Learn Maseches Kiddushin be'ein and chazur it five times.' Uh when they want a segula for parnassa, he says, 'Learn all of the business laws of Choshen Mishpat.' Now, obviously, this rebbe didn't have a lot of Chassidim because he wasn't giving people quick fixes. He was giving them things that took a lot of time and effort. He wasn't that popular, so to speak. But, the Brisker Rav says, 'That's my type of Chassidisha rebbe in which you don't use segulos as shortcuts, but you use them as springboards for for avodas Hashem.' Uh but, be it as it be it as it may. Uh what was the So the Ramban says, sending Meraglim is the same idea as getting a job, meaning yes, Hashem made me a promise, but I need to do things through the normal normal channels. So therefore the Ramban says it's a double parshas that the sin of the Meraglim was not the sin in sending the Meraglim. It was a sin in the way they reported back and in the way the people responded. This was of course the night of Tisha B'Av and the like. So we have this machlokes. Rashi learns the etzem shiluach Meraglim was a cheit. But then you have the kashe from Yehoshua and the Ramban says the etzem shiluach Meraglim was not a cheit. So I just want to point out a very interesting observation of the Netziv. The Netziv has a middle position. The Netziv says like this. The Netziv really is based on a passage in Chovos Halevavos, the famous Duties of the Heart. And the Chovos Halevavos ponders the relationship. This is a very difficult question. This is a fundamental life question for which we don't have an absolutely clear answer. And the fundamental life question is how do you balance the need for human effort with the belief in divine providence? If I believe Okay, thank you. If I believe everything comes from God, I am. In a sense, my work really doesn't do anything. It's kind of an illusion. It's kind of an act I got to go through to get God's blessing. So how much should I go through? Meaning how much should I basically say God will take care of me and how much do I need to be mishtadel? So the Chovos Halevavos comes up with what you might call an interesting catch 22. Chofetz Chaim says the stronger your belief that Hashem will take care of all of your needs, the less you will have to engage in the world to get them those needs. The stronger your emunah, the less your hishtadlus. On the other hand, if you're weaker in your emunah, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe God is not going to provide, you will have to do a lot more in the world in order of course that will confirm you in your prejudice. You will have to do a lot more to get your parnassah. Just like the man, people who had great faith, their manna was right next to them. People who were not so strong in their emunah, they had to look for their manna. Same thing in parnassah. The greater the bitachon and emunah, the lesser the hishtadlus. The greater the lesser the emunah, the greater the hishtadlus. So, the Netziv he doesn't quote the Chofetz Chaim, but he has his his interpretation is based on this idea. He says the following, as a result, it may be sinful to lack a certain degree of emunah, but once you lack that degree of emunah, you must do certain things that perhaps you shouldn't have had to do had you been at a higher level. So, says the Netziv, it was a sin for the people Remember, the people asked for the spies. Now, that's not in this parshah per se, but if you look in parshas Devarim, when Moshe is reviewing to the new generation the story of the spies, he actually says, "People came to me and they said, 'We need to send spies.'" So, here's what the Netziv says. It was a sinful lack of emunah that they felt they needed the security of a military strategy. But once they showed that they were afraid sending the spies becomes mandatory. So the sending of the spies becomes necessary even though the attitude that precipitated it represented a weakness of faith. And that is why later Moshe Rabbeinu said, and that's why Yehoshua said, because of that matter they know they needed it. Then the Netziv brings an interesting proof from a story in Shmuel. When Shmuel the Navi was commanded by Hashem in the lifetime of Shaul after Shaul was rejected "Go and anoint one of Yishai's sons to be a successor." So Shmuel then said to God "Eich elech? How can I go and anoint uh he didn't know who David but anoint the man that would be David. Shaul will hear about it and Shaul will kill me. I'm afraid." So Hashem said, "Oh, okay. If you're afraid what you should do is when you go to Beit Lechem take along an animal, bring it as a public offering cuz this is before the Beit Hamikdash, so korbanos could be brought everywhere, and that way people will think you're just making the circuit to bring korbanos, and then you can surreptitiously anoint David or the son of Yishai when nobody's looking." So the Netziv asks a kasha. If Hashem wants to give Shaul Shmuel practical advice to protect himself from danger then why doesn't he give him that idea until Shmuel says, "I'm afraid"? Hashem should have said, "Go and anoint David and to protect yourself do so and so." So So, is what the Netziv said. Had Shmuel not experienced fear, he wouldn't have needed to do anything. He would have been protected. Once he's afraid, once he's vulnerable, once where for whatever reason his emunah is not at the highest possible level, God says, "Oh, you're afraid? You're living in the world of nature. If you're living in the world of nature, in the world of natural cause and effect, jealous king is going to hear about you, he's going to kill you. You got to do something that works within the universe, so to speak, of natural cause and effect, uh because you are no longer holding at that level of emunah." And the Netziv says, "The meraglim was a phenomenon that was very, very similar. Had they not asked for it, there would have been no need to send them." See, that's how he reconciles the contradiction. In the book of Devarim, the people asked for the spies. In this week's parashah, Hashem is telling Moshe to send the spies. Which is it? Does it come from God? Does it come from the people? The Netziv says, "It's both. Because the people demanded it, God says, 'It is now mandatory.' But had the people not demanded it, it would have been more desirable not to have it." Like he even says the same thing by monarchy. Because you know, on one hand the Torah says there's a mitzvah to have a king, and yet when the people asked for a king, Shmuel gives them mussar and Shmuel criticizes them. The answer once again is, "Ideally, if everybody keeps the Torah, we don't need a king. But when we have a lack that we need, we feel we need a king, then we must have one. So, things that you must have when you're at a certain level of weakness, are actually undesirable had you been able to function at a higher level." Like that's kind of the overall idea of sending the meraglim. But now, let's focus on the primary faith. The primary faith uh as we record it, the one that happened the night of Tisha B'Av is not the sending of the miraglim, but number one, the evil report the miraglim gave, and the response of the people crying all night, "How could this be?" Now, Rashi has a comment that Moshe Rabbeinu had a foreshadowing that there would be problems here. That's why he tried to choose great great tzaddikim. The people he chose were tzaddikim. So, how could they sin? So, here too, we have a beautiful interesting insights from the Netziv and the Malbim. They both say the same idea. That the cheit of the miraglim was actually a cheit l'shem shamayim. It was a miscalculation. But, they had a very noble purpose in what they were saying. And to understand this, you have to compare existence in the desert with existence in Eretz Yisrael. In the midbar, it is a spiritual cocoon. The hand of God is seen in a very obvious, clear, supernatural way. Every single day, except on Shabbos and Yom Tov, they get their bread from heaven. And the way the manna fell, the manna number one, could taste like whatever you wanted it to taste like, and the way they did it they said before, if you were righteous, it fell right next to you. If you were not so righteous, you had to look for it. And people ask the question, "Well, let's say I'm next to a tzaddik. I'm living next to you. You're a tzaddik. Why do I have to look for it? I'll just take your manna. I see the manna." But, you know the way it worked? If you weren't righteous, you didn't see it. You didn't see it. In other words, if you're a tzaddik and I'm not, you saw the manna right outside your door, and I could be right next to you, I didn't see it. I kept on having to walk around. So, the man is such a miracle. The traveling well of water in the merit of Miriam. The clouds of glory that surrounded us. The of course, this was also the generation that saw the 10 macos and kriyas yam suph. The yad Hashem is apparent. It's clear. It's obvious. And the man didn't even give you the illusion that you're able to save up your parnassa because the man couldn't be stored for the next day. Every single day you're vulnerable and dependent on God. Now, of course, that's true and that's true for us, too. But we live under certain illusions. We have bank accounts, we have savings. Hopefully, you know, we don't look at the idea that every minute we depend on God. Now, not only that, of course that is a downside, by the way, because when you're living in such intimate proximity to the divine, every misstep can have devastating consequences. That's why we do an aveira under those conditions. There's an immediate divine punishment. Thousands of people could die, etc. Now, when we come to Eretz Yisrael, things are going to be different. In Eretz Yisrael, we are going to be living a much more natural world. There's not going to be man. We're going to have to plant fields. There's not going to be a traveling well of water. We're going to have to dig wells or look for sources of water. We're going to need armies. We're going to need accountants, lawyers, doctors, business people. There's going to be, although Eretz Yisrael, of course, is holier than any other place, but as compared to the midbar, there's going to be hester panim, concealment of the divine. That is why the Torah warns again and again, when you get to Eretz Yisrael and you are successful, do not attribute your victories to your success. Kochi the ocean Yami. Now, in the midbar, there's no Hava Mina we would attribute victories to our success. We know we have nothing without Hashem. But in Eretz Israel, God is concealing his presence in a relative sense. And therefore, there's a great nisyana that you will forget about that. Yeah. In fact, I don't I don't want to editorialize about the Six-Day War, but again, to some degree, you know, the Six-Day War, we just had Yom Yerushalayim, the 50th anniversary of Yerushalayim of the Six-Day War, and uh it was miraculous. It was you know, on some on some level supernatural, and in some ways it aroused a great great spirit of repentance because people saw the hand of God. But on the other side, it also created a certain amount of arrogance and smugness and invincibility. You know, we Israelis are the greatest. We could defeat armies that are 10 times our size. They're so incompetent and we're so great. And unfortunately, although we're not in the VM, so we can't trace it directly, but some have posited that the you know, relatively devastating defeats of Yom Kippur were God's reminder that when you don't really understand Hashem is the source of victory, and you think you're in control of the situation, things can go can go wrong in in in many in many many ways. Now, there's something else about the midbar as well. The midbar freed us from having to be concerned about our materialistic needs. So, what did a Jew do in the midbar? What was there to do? Now, we weren't traveling around all the time, even after the 40 years and even during the 40 years. If you look at the different stops, there were places that we stayed for 19 years. It's not like every day we were going to a different a different place. So, basically, you're learning Torah. You don't have to worry about Parnassa. You don't have to worry about any of these things. In fact, the Gemara tells us that the ideal way to learn Torah is to be like the generation that's eating the manna. You don't have to worry about economic details. So, on one level, the Midbar was a life where the presence of Hashem was so vivid, so apparent, so obvious. On another level, the Midbar was a place where you had time and luxury to learn Torah and contemplate Hashem. Now, a third thing, it was known by the Jewish people even at this point that Moshe would die before they enter the land of Israel. So, that is This is interesting from a philosophical question. Because we know that the reason why it was decreed that Moshe could not enter the land of Israel was because of his sin in hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. And that did not happen until the 40th year of the desert, way later. But, in spite of the fact that the sin which precluded his entry didn't occur yet, we have a clear proof from Chazal that people already knew it. If you remember in last week's parsha, when Moshe assembles the 70 elders who are to relieve him of some of his responsibilities, so there were two elders who were prophesying in the camp, Eldad and Medad. And Yehoshua gets very upset. And Yehoshua goes to Moshe and says, "Moshe, put them in jail. Arrest them." Now, what's so bad? And Moshe Rabbeinu gave the very immortal words, "Why should I arrest them? How would I that all of the Jewish people would be prophets who speak for words from Hashem. I don't need to be the only prophet. But Rashi has a comment. What what what were Eldad and Medad saying that made Joshua so upset? They were saying Moshe mates. Moshe will die. Be Joshua mates. And Joshua will bring them to Eretz Israel. This is what upset Moshe. I'm sorry. This is what upset Joshua. Now, this raises a fascinating philosophical problem which I am not going to address, but I'll just throw it out for you to cogitate over. That is the the issue of free will. Because on one hand, we are being told right now that Moshe will die and not enter Eretz Israel. On the other hand, if the reason Moshe doesn't enter Eretz Israel is because of a sin that he's going to commit later. And our assumption is that at the time he committed the sin, he had free will not to hit the rock and to speak to the rock. Then how can it be said as a prophecy ahead of time that he is going to die if he has the free will not to commit that that sin. Okay, question. I'll leave it. But the point I just want to make is as a practical matter therefore, it was already public knowledge that Moshe would die. Rashi is the prophecy where God says to Moshe, "Go. You'll see what You'll see what Pharaoh will happen to Pharaoh." And Rashi says there that yeah, he'll see what happens to Pharaoh, but he won't see what happens to 31 kings. There's already a decree. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but there there there might be a difference. Meaning to say, that type of interpretation is offering the hidden meanings of God's words cuz God knows God knows the future, that's for sure, but that's not necessarily a message that's communicated to human beings yet. Even Mosha Mosha may not have understood that message yet. But it sounds from Mosha there's already a decree in the world being Yeah. Well, this is actually a profound idea. The profundity is that the reason why Mosha Rabenu didn't enter the land of Israel is not because of his sin. The sin was God's excuse. Uh there was an inherent structural reason. And again, it's somewhat similar to maybe trivializing it a little bit to the notion of an adolescent needs to grow up and move away from the parents. Meaning the Jewish people were entering a new stage of life and they needed independence from the overwhelming presence of Mosha. The only thing is had Mosha not sinned Hashem Kavyakhol his hands would have been tied. He couldn't have stopped Mosha. So, the sin was kind of the mechanism. It was not the reason. It was the mechanism that permitted the Almighty to allow the Jewish people to progress to a certain stage of independence. Isn't that a terrible hillul Hashem to imagine that Hashem needs excuses or that he does? Well, I wouldn't call it a hillul Hashem, but but again, keep in mind any any any limitation on God is a self-created limitation. Meaning God himself has created limits on when and how he will exercise his power. And one of the limits is he will not deprive a righteous man of his entitlements even if that ruins the system in other ways. So, therefore God needs the sin to be able to carry out the agenda. Yeah, it's it's a complicated issue. Uh not theoretically God could just say I'm God and I'll do what I want. and if I think it's better you don't go, you're not going to go." But, that would be unjust, and God has bound himself to considerations of justice. Remember, that's Abraham's argument. What's Abraham's argument with Sodom? Right? This goes back to Abraham saying to God, "God, how can you kill the righteous? You know, that would be unjust." Now, God could have just said, "Who says I have to be just? I'm God. I will do what I want." I mean, You see, you see throughout the Tanakh, there's kind of an antecedent authority to which God is subject. Now, obviously, that's God's own decision to be subject, to be sure. Okay, but that's a very interesting idea. But, this is the argument that there's a famous saying, "Derech Eretz Kadma LaTorah." Which basically means good moral character that precedes the Torah. And what that means exactly is is is subject to debate, but one of the meanings is that the Torah itself is bound. Hashem is bound by what is called morality. Morality is an antecedent idea to the Torah itself. But again, I I want to emphasize, this is self-imposed. God could do whatever he wants, but Hashem has chosen to be bound to postulates of morality and ethics. And that's an important lesson to us, because that reminds us nobody is above the law. That that's really the the point of it. A human being might say, "I'm a king. I'm a dictator." Well, Hashem binds himself to these postulates, how can you say you don't have to keep them? So, really, it's it's it's God is teaching us a lesson that's very relevant to our moral moral behaviors. So now, think about this analogy. You know, I remember I don't know if you remember the old cartoon Doonesbury. I I I think it's Is it still on? I don't know if it's still on. Yeah. So, in January there was a character. I just remember I don't remember that much about it, but there was a character who was perpetually trying to enroll in every type of graduate program a university offered. He had done medical school and law school and PhDs in biology, chemistry, physics, philosophy, music because he really had this this great fear of getting into the work world. So, he just wanted to stay in school as much as he could. So, he went best educated guy in the world. He went through every PhD program. And at some point he finished the last one. There was literally no other doctorate to get. And he was panicking. He says, "What am I going to do? I have to work now, you know?" And then and then and then and the like. So, in some ways and to take a more religious example, when people are in Yeshiva, when people are in Kollel and at some point they may have to they may have to and some people stay in Kollel, but they may have to get a job. And there is a legitimate fear. Again, I I know we we criticize sometimes people who are wanting to get a job, but truth is there is a legitimate fear that when I'm in a spiritual environment of Kedusha I have a certain I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I'll go out to secular environments. I'll go out to places in which the morality is not the highest. I'll go out to places where Tzniut is not observed. And I'm afraid I'll be affected. So, a person might legitimately say sometimes it's an excuse, but a person might say, "I need more time. I need more time to absorb Kedusha. I need to learn more Torah. I need more inspiration. I need more Chizuk because that will prepare me." So, then it Seif says, I mean I've added you know examples and things, but then it Seif says this is what is going through the head of the Meraglim. The Meraglim know that once we get to Eretz Yisrael God's presence is going to be concealed behind the veils of nature. That there's a great, great danger that we will not see the presence of Hashem. They know that in building up a state we will not be able to learn the Torah that we learned in the midbar. And they know above all that we're going to lose Moshe Rabbeinu. So, they came back with this negative report in the sense to say we are not ready and we are not worthy for this challenge right now. We need more time. We need more Torah. We need more kedusha. We need more connection to Moshe Rabbeinu. We need the man and the ananei hakavod and the water to be Elisha Miriam to be mashpish, to inculcate and internalize within us more and more and more that God is in charge of everything. And similarly when the people are crying, that's the same idea. So, in a sense the Netziv says the sin of the miraglim and the sin of the people was not so much a rebellion against God but a sense that we are inadequate to fulfill the mission that God has given us. We need more time. Now, of course it's a sin. But in some ways it's fascinating. The so-called punishment is actually giving them allowing what they want. They wanted more time, you know. They got Moshe Rabbeinu 38 and 1/2 years more than they would have because had there not been a sin of the spies, Moshe Rabbeinu would have died very shortly like that if it was known that he would die. So they had the mind, they had everything. They had the desert experience for 38 and a half more years, a total of 40 years. How do we assimilate them in the light of what you just shared with us? The fear that the spies expressed about how how how spectacular the inhabitants of Israel are. Yes, no, no, so that's really part of it. Meaning to say, if we feel we're unworthy and we will not see the presence of God, then we will indeed be vulnerable to enemies who will destroy us. It becomes It then becomes the idea that we're not on the level to have this challenge. We have to be greater in faith and greater in stature and greater in Torah and then we will be able to. Again, it's exactly like the covel person saying, I got to be in covel five more years before I can get a job because I'm not I'm too weak. I'm not strong enough. I'm not good enough. Now, this idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy is actually very, very significant. There's a famous word from the Kotsker Rebbe that when the spies were reporting about the fearsome strength and even height of the people, the Canaanites. So their language was we were the neeya ba'einenu. We were in our eyes kechagavim, like grasshoppers. Meaning we looked at these giants and we looked at ourselves and we were in our eyes like grasshoppers. Vachein hayinu b'eineihem, and so we were in their eyes. The Kotsker Rebbe he out, when you look at yourself as a grasshopper, that is how others will see you. But it starts from your own self-perception. If you feel you're a failure, you feel you're inadequate, you feel that you're weak and ineffectual, you become a failure, you become weak and ineffectual. You have to have faith in yourself as well as God, and you have to have faith in the following idea, that if Hashem gave you a mission, he gave you the tools and the power to do that mission. Because otherwise you are betraying Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and you are betraying yourself. You know, we say every morning Modeh Ani, I thank you Hashem that you returned my soul to me. And we end it with the two words, Rabbah Emunasecha, your faith is very great. This is actually uh taken from Megillas Eichah. Rabbah Emunasecha. So, the Chassidish Seforim ask a question, if I mean to say that my faith in Hashem is very great, I ought to say Rabbah Emunasi, my faith is great. Why do I say your faith is great, talking to Hashem? So, the Chassidish Seforim answer, it's a declaration, Hashem's faith in me is very great. Because a person often goes through life rather, you know, we don't get all the support, perhaps, that we need, the pat on the back, the chizuk, uh whether it's from parents, from teachers, from spouses, uh yeah, whatever whatever it is, you know, we we sometimes go through without acknowledgement, without uh being appreciated. And as a result, we, you know, we don't get the hisor, we don't always get the hisor that we need. But a person has to know every single morning that you open your eyes and you check the obituaries and you're still around Hashem has given you a vote of confidence. He said you have things to do in this world. You have a reason to live. You have a reason to be here. There's good that you can accomplish. Because if there wouldn't be good that I could accomplish then why did I come back? So you're getting all of us are getting a pat on the back from the Bore Olam that we are worth it. That we're doing good things or at least we can do good things. So at that point who cares what other people say? Now easier than easier said than done, but you know, Hashem said he has trusted me. He has confidence in me. He believes in me. So why should I be affected? I mean again, I'm not putting myself under my train here that I don't get affected either, but why should I be affected by what people say? Right? So in a sense the Meraglim became a self-defeating prophecy. They felt they weren't worthy. Hashem said, "You're right. That's how you feel. Then indeed you're not worthy of this challenge. You'll be the new generation." Now I want to point out that there's a fascinating textual implication that even Yehoshua was on the verge of falling prey to this mindset. Because if you look at the Chumash, you see a very interesting thing. 10 of the spies gave this very negative report. They said "The land will consume you. The inhabitants are giants. Uh they will destroy us. We have no way of succeeding based on our spiritual level, the way they look at the thing. So, if you notice, the spy who tried to dissuade them was Caleb. Caleb did all the talking. Caleb said, "No, actually after I'll be talking to them all." Where was Yehoshua in this? Now, granted, we do know Yehoshua did not say anything bad about the land. That we know. But, you don't find Yehoshua taking any initiative in trying to combat the Meraglim. So, Yehoshua's silence is a bit peculiar here. Why is Yehoshua so not involved? Now, there are two theories that I'll give you. One theory is, and this is from a political standpoint it makes a lot of sense, Yehoshua thought his intervention would be ineffectual. Why? Because who is going to take over as leader when Moshe dies? Yehoshua. So, if Yehoshua makes the case, "Let's go to Eretz Yisrael." people will say, "You're not objective. You're acting out of your own self-interest because you'll get the job." So, Yehoshua kept quiet simply because he felt that his defense of the land would lack credibility and would be seen as a pitch for self-interest. That, I think, is actually very interesting uh plausible interpretation. But, there's another interpretation that moves in the opposite direction. If we understand that the Meraglim are generating the fear that without a Moshe Rabbenu we will fail. We will not see the hand of God. We will be we will be blinded by the appearance of the political and military realities. Who more than anyone else would feel the the omission of the absence of Moshe Rabbenu more than Yehoshua? Yehoshua is the one that has the awesome burden of leadership filling the greatest shoes that ever had to be filled. And one might say Yehoshua himself was experiencing qualms of fear and trepidation. Which would have led him perhaps to go along with the spies had not Caleb given him the chizuk. And we say In fact, this may explain another interesting thing. Remember Yehoshua's original name his name is Hoshea. Moshe changed it to Yehoshua. And Yoshua Yud and Hey is God's name. And he says because Moshe prayed, Moshe wanted to put a prayer in his name called Yoshiyahu. May God save you from the evil counsel of the spies. Why does Yehoshua need a prayer? I mean, he didn't change Caleb's name. I think the intimation is Moshe sensed that Yehoshua had a vulnerability. Because in his humility, see Jewish leadership is very different than secular leadership. Secular leaders tend to go with it get where they go based on arrogance, drive, and conceit. And the most conceited wins the prize as we see of course in the United States at at a minimum. Jewish leadership is exactly the opposite. The people who become the leaders of Am Yisrael are specifically the people who don't want to be the leaders. If you want that means you really shouldn't have it. How many times does Moshe Rabbeinu argue with Hashem? And one one can even ask, what gives you the right to argue with Hashem? But whatever it is, how many times does he beg Hashem, I can't do this. But so Yehoshua is in the same model. Yehoshua is not like the vice president who might be hoping the president gets a heart attack so they may take over. Yehoshua doesn't want this responsibility because he feels as Moshe felt that he was unworthy. So Moshe understands when the Meraglim start bringing up, we're not worthy, we're not deserving, we need Moshe. Moshe understood. Yehoshua would resonate with that. And therefore he gave him a special prayer. Don't make the mistake. I understand your feelings. Don't go there. And that's why Kalev was the one who gave Yehoshua the scissors. So we see this idea of a very very important idea. That's you can have all the hishbonos in the world. I'm not worthy, I'm not ready. When Hashem gives you the responsibility, you have to assume you have the tools. Maybe you don't know where they are, but they're there. You got to discover them. Um you know, sometimes you have to discover them from an internal introspection. I I heard a wonderful story. I the rabbi I know who's the uh the uh he's the former executive director of the OU, Rabbi Yisroel Weinberger. mind but maybe some of you may have known him or listened to some shiurim he pitched. He's a very very popular uh writer and uh speaker. Uh he was a rabbi in Baltimore many years, so I know him from from Baltimore. Is it Weinberger? Weinreb. Weinreb. Yisroel Weinreb. Uh so he tells a beautiful story, a very neat story. He says that he he uses a psycha- he was trained as a psychologist. He's a doctor in psychology. And so before he became a rav, he was a um he had a practice in clinical psychology. So, he was debating a career change. Should he become a full-time rub or stay in psychology? So, he didn't know what to do. So, although he was not a Chabad chassid, he thought this like 1970, he thought he would call the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ask for advice. Now, many people would call the Rebbe for advice. So, he called, uh, the Rebbe's office. And of course he doesn't get the Rebbe. The Rebbe didn't pick up. He gets the secretary, Rabbi Chadakov at that time was the secretary. And Rabbi Rabbi Weingerb was talking in Yiddish about his problem. And then he hears in the background the Rebbe's voice. Who's calling? So, Rabbi Chadakov said, "It's somebody from Maryland who wants to know, uh, should he change, uh, careers?" So, the Rebbe said, "Tell him to talk to Weingerb in Maryland. So, Weingerb in Maryland can give good advice." Somehow the Rebbe like knew everybody in the world. Did you know? Like he knew he knew what everybody did. So, so Chadakov said, "The Rebbe says, 'Call Weingerb in Maryland.'" So, Weingerb, Rabbi Weingerb says, "Well, I am Weingerb in Maryland." So, Rabbi Chadakov says to the Rebbe, "He is Weingerb." The Rebbe says, "So, tell him to ask himself." So, the lesson, the lesson of that message is that you know, there is deep wisdom within our neshamos. Sometimes we think everything has to be somebody else telling us, you know, what we need to do. And of course, a human being needs guidance, needs hadracha, needs a rebbe, needs teachers, needs role models. We all need that. But ultimately, ultimately, ultimately, there is, the possuk says in Mishlei, mayim amukim eitzah beleiv ish, that the counsel and wisdom within a person's soul is like very deep water. Meaning it may be very deep within us, but we will be able to draw it out. And therefore, contrary to what you might think, the Maradonna is not so much a rebellion against Hashem as it is not realizing the potential that Hashem gave us to deal with very, very difficult challenges. And of course, on a more basic lesson, the base lesson of the Maradonna is that if Hashem gives us gifts and we don't appreciate those gifts and God forbid they could be taken away. You know, Eretz Yisrael is is such a gift. And to look at that gift and say it's too hard, it's too difficult. So, Hashem says, "You don't want it? I'll take it away." I mean, in many, many ways even things like uh when we give up territories, you know, for peace or whatever it is, because we never we never get peace with that. I mean, that's that's the the empirical reality. Hashem really is testing us. Again, I'm not I'm not I'm not I don't I don't mean to intimate that giving up land is halachically the answer. As a matter of fact, that that is another big machlokes and that deserves a shiur of its own. Most Gedolim actually took the position that if territorial concession would bring peace. Of course, it never does, but if it would bring peace and save Jewish lives, it is actually uh justifiable to do so. Most Gedolim took that position. Uh some Gedolim took the position that we're not allowed to surrender Eretz Yisrael. Now, the Rebbe took an interesting position. The Rebbe also agreed that if giving up land would save lives, it would be a good thing to do. But, the Rebbe argued, and I mean, this is 100 with 100% correct, that giving up land will never save lives. It will only endanger lives. So, the point I want to make, just uh it's not our subject, is that the Rebbe's position in not giving land back is not the same as the Gush Emunim position in not giving land back. The Gush Emunim position of not giving land back is even if many Jews will die, the land must be kept no matter what. That was not the Rebbe's position. The Rebbe said in the hierarchy of values, Jewish life is more important than Jewish land. In the hierarchy of values. But, the Rebbe said as a realistic matter, giving up land is not going to save Jewish lives. Giving up land is going to endanger Jewish lives. So, the Rebbe was totally pragmatic in this. He was not saying land is more important than anything. But, nevertheless, nevertheless, whatever the the issue on that is, but Hashem is testing us by how much do we love Eretz Yisrael, how much do we appreciate Eretz Yisrael. And the more we appreciate, the more Hashem will give us give us those those those brachos. Okay, so that's kind of the limit uh from the cheit hamaraglim. Uh let me just mention one interesting thing. Uh we know, of course, that the maraglim came back the 8th of Av, and they gave their report on the day of the 8th of Av, and the people's response that they cried throughout the entire night was the night of Tisha B'Av, the night of Tisha B'Av. And according to Chazal, the Almighty decreed that tonight you cried tears for no reason at all, I will make this night a night of tears for real tragedies that will happen. And that is why Tisha B'Av became the night of the Churban Bayis Hamikdash. But, what's interesting is that uh the Talmud Yerushalmi says the way the Jews died over the 40 years was quite an amazing thing. Nobody died before the age of 60. In other words, the gazer was on people between the men men women didn't sin. Men between 20 and 60. So, nobody died before the age of 60, meaning the 20-year-olds didn't die until the 40th year. Now, there's some real questions on this because you didn't have 40 years, you only had 38 and 1/2 years. Those are very very I mean I every year I try to work out a chart on this. I never get it. Uh I I can't figure this out, but the the overall theory is that the younger people died much later when they reached their 60th birthday, the older people died earlier. But, the way it's worked according to the Usha me is everybody died on the 9th of Av. Every Tisha B'Av or the 8th of Av, they would dig a man they would dig graves. They would sleep in their graves the night of Tisha B'Av. And anybody who had reached their 60th birthday in the preceding year would not get up the next morning. And anybody that had not reached their 60th birthday got up. So, they all experienced sleeping in the graves, but nobody died. The only people who died on Tisha B'Av were the people who reached their 60th birthday. And this went over 38 Tisha B'Avs in the desert. Why was what? Well, uh because uh that's what we said. That's God didn't want to take away their life, but we say whenever Hashem decrees death in the hands of heaven, uh that allows you to live until 60. Hashem didn't want to take away their life. Now, what's interesting is it is recorded according to one of you in the Usha me, which is very difficult, that the last Tisha B'Av, the 40th year in the desert, so there's only 15,000 people left. If assuming assuming you know every you know, assuming uh that's say I'm just going with an average cuz 600,000 / 40 is 15,000. They went into their graves. These are the people who turned 60 the past year and they didn't die. They didn't die the next morning. So, they figured maybe we have the wrong day. Maybe it's not Tisha B'Av. So, they went in the next night, the next night, the next night. But by the 15th of Av, they saw a full moon. Yes. So, they knew that Tisha B'Av passed and what did God do? God gave them a free pass for the last generation in the desert. Now, this is what a Yerushalmi says, but this is very, very difficult because according to this, the Torah says explicitly that the only men of that generation who entered Eretz Yisrael was Yehoshua and Caleb. According to this, Yehoshua and Caleb and 15,000 people who should have died in the last year. But based on this Yerushalmi, Rashi says in Maseches Taanis, this is one of the main reasons why the 15th of Av became such a joyous day in Klal Yisrael because that was the day that God spared the last group of Jews who otherwise would have died. Now, Tosafos gives another pshat to avoid this question. Tosafos says, "No, it doesn't mean that 15,000 people didn't die. We assume the last group of people did die. But then, Klal Yisrael sat a collective shiva for the Dor Hamidbar. And if you sit shiva starting from the 9th of Av, the 15th of Av, you get up from shiva. So, in other words, Tosafos learns differently. It's not that the 15th of Av meant that 15,000 people were spared. Rather, it means the 15th of Av was the end of the mourning because that was getting up from shiva for the last group of people that died. That's what's my focus. Rashi and Tosis, how do I understand that passage in the Talmud Yerushalmi. Okay? Wish you all well. Have a good Shabbos. We'll see you next week.