Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: As You Believe in G-d, So Too You Need to Believe in Yourself

Okay, again, thank you all for coming. I know it's a difficult time and uh maybe the extra Sierra Nevada to go and learn and hear the way Torah perhaps will be a little bit of an incremental extra host uh for quality Israel in this difficult time. A lot of things have happened since last week's year Tuesday. We were not aware that this would be coming last Tuesday. And yet Thursday night uh we were in for a very big surprise. The world was in for a very big surprise. A very, very interestingly, uh the bombing occurred uh the morning of uh the early morning of Friday Parshat Balak and I am I I assume that you figured this out 44 years earlier in 1981 uh that was the same at least not calendar date but the same Parsha date as uh the Iraq the bombing of the Iraqi reactors. It was Arab Shabbat Kodesh Parshat Balak. So it mamesh was uh the same day of the Parsha. And uh perhaps that you know we don't we we're not in the VM but perhaps that should be a siman tov that just as that was largely successful and it led uh over time to the downfall of uh the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein uh so too may this uh not only destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities but perhaps there may be an overthrow of the whole regime. I mean this is ultimately Netanyahu's goal. And uh the world itself would be a lot better uh if somehow this could be replaced and the Iraqi people themselves. Uh there may very well be many people feel there is a a large silent majority that just wants to replace the whole government and create a more democratic state which in turn might have a a good a good relationship with Arab to sell. So many, many things could happen. It's a confusing time. And again, I want to just read the dedications. We are praying for the victory of our soldiers in all fronts of the war and we have to add including the newest one. Uh the lasting unity of the people of Israel, all of those whose health has been affected by the war and we still have to think of course for the return of the hostages. In addition, uh uh someone is sponsoring in support of the outstanding work of Rabbi Posner and Rabbi Breitowitz by the Jewish Family Forever Foundation. Thank you. Thank you, Gary. And the refuah shleimah Yehuda Yitzchak Akerman ben Yudel by Pesha Aftel. Aliyat neshama Yonatan Yisrael ben David Moshe, the brother of Chaya Feingold Alexander Moshe ben Yehoshua David by Malki Einhorn and Chava bas Hoshaya Gavri I'm not sure if it's Gabriella or Gavri, mother of Leib Yakov Rigler and Yibaneh has so far raised half of the money to purchase 15 more sets of tefillin for our courageous soldiers who have requested them. Thanks to those who have already donated. One can contribute via the website and send a memo that the donation is for the army tefillin fund. Uh remember that the Torah itself says the ra'u kol amei ha'aretz ki shem Hashem nikra alecha veyaru mimecha that the nations of the world shall see that the name of God is upon you and they will be afraid of you. So the Gemara has a braisa in the name of Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol, Rabbi Eliezer the Great that that refers to the tefillin she barosh the head tefillin have the name of God. Now granted it doesn't mean in our context that the will see the tefillin they're going to run away but it means that when the Jewish people wear tefillin they are embraced with the divine presence of God and that creates a fear in their enemies. And the b'ezrat Hashem therefore, as we uh increase the number of Jews who are wearing tefillin we are bringing the Shechinah into the midst of Klal Yisrael. We are creating a fear and trepidation on the part of the enemies. Um I am not going to speak give the whole shear devoted to the particular crisis that we're facing but I think a few words uh would be would be appropriate. Um obviously uh this is a dangerous time in a sense. We're all weary with war. We've been in a state of war. Well, truth, we've been in a state of war since 1948 but but just in terms of the immediate matzav uh we've been in a state of war since October 7th, uh 2023 uh more than a year and a half and in a sense this is just another war within a war. There's Hamas and there's Hezbollah and there's the Houthis and now we have Iran but the truth is obviously this is an escalation that's kind of above. You're dealing with a major power in the region and a power that has a nuclear capability and it is very, very frightening. Uh I don't want to frighten you but to frighten you a little bit more I've mentioned a number of times that we know that the messia the pre-messianic wars that are called the chevlei Mashiach, the birth pains of Mashiach in the nevu'os of Yechezkel these are called the wars of Gog and Magog. And who is Gog and Magog? Very difficult to define etc. Uh but it does indicate that before the Mashiach comes, well actually it's an interesting machlokes. The Rambam actually seems to indicate that the wars of Gog and Magog are going to be fought after Mashiach comes. Uh that's not the way most people understand it. Most people understands that the wars of Gog and Magog are pre-messianic at the least in the sense of being pre-messianic to Mashiach ben David although a Mashiach ben Yosef is said to be die in the wars of Gog and Magog although he hasn't been identified yet yet either. Uh but there is a a tradition from the Vilna Gaon that says that the last war of Gog and Magog will only last 12 minutes. And that will be the apocalyptic war of Gog and Magog before the coming of Mashiach. Now for 200 years no one understood exactly what type of war could be over in 12 minutes. A conventional war uh cannot be completed in 12 minutes. But unfortunately, as technology has developed, we now do understand that uh there are certain wars that can be literally over in 12 minutes and God forbid that would be a nuclear holocaust. Now this is a very, very scary type of prediction because it's basically saying, yeah, I got good news and bad news. The good news is that right after this will come Mashiach but the bad news is there'll be a nuclear uh calamity first as part of the wars of Gog and Magog uh which is you know interesting. On the other hand, you need to balance this teaching of the Gra, the Vilna Gaon with another teaching of the Vilna Gaon in which the Vilna Gaon says that all of the statements in the psukim about the wars of Gog and Magog and the chevlei Mashiach. And by the way, let me just add a little textual support to the Vilna Gaon's hypothesis. In the Navi Zecharya the two prophets who describe Gog and Magog are Yechezkel and Zecharya. They are the Gog and Magog prophets. And in Yechezkel when it talks about the nations turning against Jerusalem it speaks about their flesh shall melt from their faces. That's an actual description. Their flesh shall melt. Again, um there was no particularly conventional warfare that in which you'd have that description but in terms of nuclear, yeah, uh that that that is one of the things that could happen. Literally that the heat is so intense. But you have to count your balances with another teaching of the Gra where the Gra says that all of the apocalyptic prophecies of Gog and Magog chevlei Mashiach the birth pains of Mashiach these are what we call negative prophecies. These are prophecies of punishment, retribution, catastrophe. The Gra says there's a well-known klal that all prophecies for evil can be annulled. You know when you're testing a prophet right? Some guy claims, some person claims he's a prophet of God so in order for him to be certified as a navi the Sanhedrin would make him make a bunch of predictions and if they became true to 100% degree of accuracy, 100%, he could get his navi license and then there's a mitzvah to listen to him. If there was any deviation from what he predicted, he is then treated as a false prophet and you're not allowed to listen to him, right? That's navi certification. So the Rambam lays down a principle that in order to discredit a Novi, he had to have said something good was going to happen and it didn't happen. Ah, that proves he's not a a valid Novi. But, if he said something bad was going to happen and it didn't happen, that doesn't prove he is a Novi, but it doesn't prove he's not, simply because even a true Nevuah that's negative can always be changed in a positive direction because of the nature of God's Rachamim. This is what the Rambam lays down. Now, the Gra says we can apply this even to the Nevuos in Tanakh itself. Not just private Nevuos that a Novi tells me on the certification level, the pre-licensing level, but even the Nevuos that are recorded in Tanakh, if a Novi says that these tragedies are going to happen, they can be bypassed, they can be annulled, they can be mitigated, they can even be eliminated. And therefore, it is true that there is a Gog uMagog scenario that would involve nuclear war. But, it is possible that we could avert that with Teshuvah and Maasim Tovim and Ahavas Yisrael. And then, we'll have alternative scenarios for redemption that are not going to involve all of that pain and all of that devastation. So, this is an important uh turning point uh in our own lives because we are facing different types of dangers, but we have to recognize that Hashem in his Rachamim can switch everything around. But, to some degree, it also depends on us whether we step up to the challenge and try to do a Teshuvah and Maasim Tovim. And the Gemara indeed says in a number of places that there are things that a person can do to be Ne'etzaul, to be saved from the Chevlei Moshiach, from the birth pains of Moshiach, uh even something like keeping the three meals of Shabbos when is Ne'etzaul me Chevlei me Chevlei Moshiach, uh Ahavas Yisrael, and generally Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah Ma'avirin es Ra HaGezeirah, repentance, prayer, and charity can cancel even the most evil, the most negative, the the most catastrophic of of of evil uh evil decrees. So, we have to hope. We have to hope. Uh again, the notion of Emunah, one has to be very careful about this. Emunah, Bitachon, faith, trust in God is not necessarily a Pollyannaish idea. It doesn't mean difficult things are not going to happen. In the long run, the Jewish people will survive. In the long run, there will be redemption. In the long run, everything is going to be good. But, that is not that does not translate into an individual promise for any given person. Any given person, God forbid, things can happen. I mean, we had a Holocaust where 6 million people suffered. So, you do have to differentiate perhaps between what you might call the wholesale picture versus the retail picture. The wholesale picture, Am Yisrael Chai, is certainly a reality, but individual people may suffer, but even those individual people will ultimately be redeemed and resurrected, and at the end, things will be good. But, that doesn't mean things aren't going to be rocky as we're going through it. I I think people make a mistake sometimes when they talk about Emunah as some type of guarantee. You know, just to give you an example of things can be a little foolish sometimes. Um different cities in Eretz Yisrael, some some very Chareidi cities, uh Kiryat Sefer, I will I will I will say it. I mean, they they they were not uh the Rav of Kiryat Sefer said uh that nobody needs to go into a shelter in that city because they were guaranteed the Bracha of Tzaddikim that no harm would happen in that city, and uh therefore, the whole city is one big Miklat. Spiritually, Kiryat Sefer is a Miklat. Is a shelter. Now, they said reputedly they got a Bracha from Rav Chaim Kanievsky that Kiryat Sefer will never be harmed. Now, Rav Chaim Kanievsky himself lived in Bnei Brak. In Bnei Brak itself, there was an 80-year-old man who died. And the Rabbanim of Bnei Brak, who are Chareidi Chareidi Chareidi, issued a Psak Halacha. Now, I'm I'm not sure if it was before the fact or after the fact, that people are obligated to go into shelters and they cannot rely on anecdotes or Brachos or whatever it is because we don't even know the details of that, and we don't know exactly what was said and when. And what can I tell you? Uh you can't argue with facts. I mean, facts are facts. To say nobody's going to be harmed when in fact a person died uh not going into a Miklat. Now, the Mesi'as says that you don't rely on these types of types of miracles. So, I think it's a mistake uh in Emunah to to look at Emunah as somehow guaranteeing every individual is going to be protected. But, it is true that number one, Hashem has Rachamim and compassion if we do the proper Hishtadlus including uh the necessary steps for protection, and it's also true that Am Yisrael Chai, that the Jewish nation shall endure. The Jewish nation will not be will not be destroyed. And I hope I hope that give gives us some encouragement that even if times are going to be difficult, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. There will be wonderful wonderful redemption at the end of this process, whenever this process whenever this process ends. So far, uh B'ezras Hashem, Bli Ayin Hara, Yerushalayim has been relatively safe. I'd give it a clock that in Yerushalayim itself, I don't want to get into the controversies of Psak Halacha, but many many Rabbanim have said that there's no need to close Minyanim down, although many Rabbanim have closed Minyanim down indeed uh under the home uh was it the home commi- was it the home What is the Home Front Command. Home Front Command, yeah. Under Home Front Command, I believe Minyanim were declared uh illegal, but but you know, a lot of people are not following that, but a lot of people are following that. But, as I say, this is very situation-dependent. You know, if you live in areas that are experiencing a lot of activity, you have to be a more careful than places that are less activity. And if you're going to Shul, uh the Beit Knesset has a responsibility to have a Miklat or be near a Miklat. Uh and so again, uh if you were to ask me personally, not that you need to ask me personally, um I would advise people that provided the Shul itself has access to a Miklat, I would not discourage people from going to Shul, nor would I discourage parents from even sending their children to Cheder or Yeshiva. I think overall, the benefits are greater than the risks. And particularly at a time of war, at a time of danger, um it's best not to uh cut down on your Talmud Torah and Tefillah Betzibur unless there's a clear and present Sakana. And as I say, Yerushalayim, I think, Baruch Hashem, at least at this particular juncture, and God willing, may it continue, I I I think that people can, as it were, uh go to Shul, kids can go to school, as long as the Shuls and the schools have arrangements for appropriate safety if that becomes necessary. Uh many many Shailos, people ask me about carrying phones to get notification of Home Front uh instructions on Shabbos and the like. And Halacha is, yeah, you can do that. Uh people talked about asked about leaving radios on or leaving a television on. Again, uh Rabbanim have said uh you can leave it on uh a low volume in a side room, etc., to be able to check on things. So, we understand that uh the Halacha itself accommodates the information that people need need to know. But, on the other hand, we also believe that Shmiras Shabbos itself uh what what is the What is the Zemer go uh Ki Yishmereni Shabbos Kel Yishmereni. When I observe the Shabbos, Hashem will guard me. Hashem will protect me. So, once again, it's not wise to compromise on Shabbos unless you you actually you actually have to. So, again, along with all of us, all I can say is I just want to um Many people ask if you wake up children in the middle of the night to take them down. Yeah, so uh this is a little a little controversial. Um I I believe in Yerushalayim, um it's less necessary. I I I wouldn't do it or I wouldn't say you have to do it. Uh in other places, uh maybe you do have to do it because it is a more dangerous situation. Because at the end of the day, yeah, and I I don't want to get hate mail or controversy. I mean, at the end of the day, if you simply ask yourself just a brutally honest question. What are the chances that I will get hit or my house will get hit by a missile? It is small. I mean my say it is small. And at least in usual life. And if that's the case, you have to ask yourself, well, if I go on the naked bus or whatever the new buses, what are the chances we'll get into an accident? What are the chances they'll be an automobile accident? Well, you might be very surprised to learn that the chances might be greater than getting hit by a missile. So, it's an interesting question that when it comes to the missile, we are so hyper conscious of security concerns when we commonly do engage in activities that are even more dangerous and we don't think about it. Right? So, if it's difficult to wake up children, if it's hard for them, if it causes them a lot of distress, at least in usual life, I I would tend to be makeo. But as I say, I don't I don't want to give up stock because I'm not a navi and I certainly cannot take responsibility for the for the consequences. But but as I say, I think parents can make reasonable decisions of assessment of risks. I think that's No, every you know, it's it's a similar type of problem to COVID vaccines and other types of things in which you know, a person has to assess the risks versus the benefits and what are the dangers of the other way and you got to make a judgment and it's not always the role of rabbonim necessarily to micromanage the individual the myriad individual decisions that parents have to make in protecting their family. So, I would kind of leave it to parents to kind of make their make the decision. No, I can tell you this. I mean, from the emails that I get, people have very different psychological reactions to this. I mean, there are people who are absolutely terrified. They're absolutely in a state of terror every moment. And then there are people that kind of they'll go out after an alarm sounds, they want to see the missiles get intercepted in the sky. They they want to go out and see it. It's like a sound and light the 4th of July or Yom Ha'atzmaut show in the in the sky. So, psychologically people react very very different and I think that's going to affect how they're going to respond even vis-a-vis their own their own children. It's a very very interesting a very interesting phenomenon the way people react to these dangerous dangerous situations. I mean, someone called me up and they complained or some mayor Friday night. I wasn't there. Uh when there was an alarm uh all the boys went out to to watch the missiles. You know, somebody said, you know, is that the Yeshiva's policy? I said, well, no, the Yeshiva has instructions on the wall in several places indicating where the shelters are and instructing people to go to the shelters. But what are you going to do? I mean, I'm not there 24/7. I mean, guys make their own decisions and this is what they do and thank thank God. I mean, there's no guarantee the next time, but thank God everybody was everybody was okay. Okay. So, again as I say, this is was not really the subject of of the shear, but I think in light of the extraordinary circumstance that we're in, some words were were in order. The role of the US in all of this is very very fascinating as well. Uh you know, there are two basic shotem here. Some say Netanyahu went over Trump's head that Trump was trying to negotiate a deal and the CEO went over Trump's head. But on the other hand, if he if he really would have gone over Trump's head, you know, Trump does have pretty nasty reactions whenever that is done and Trump doesn't seem to have a nasty reaction to this. He kind of supports it. So, other people say this was part of Trump's deliberate what do they call it? Four-dimensional chess in which he was lulling Iran into a sense of security so they could be hit by this surprise. And of course, he did give Iran 60 days to agree to some type of nuclear disarmament and the bombing was day 62 from the time that proposal was made. So, it's obvious it's an open I mean, technically it's not openly acknowledged, but it's a pretty open secret that what Netanyahu did was with the haskama of the US which is from my perspective is is a good thing that Israel is not acting alone and although once again, ultimately as the missioner says, ain lonu li shayin ela al avinu shebashamayim, our only support ultimately is Hakadosh Baruchu. But we do live in a world where we do have to make alliances sometimes and it's good to have the United States on on Israel's side. That's part of our hishtadlus. So anyway, this parsha is of course again kind of relevant to the situation as well. It is the parsha of the meraglim. And um I just want to point out that Reb Tzadok makes an observation that the book of Bamidbar really has multiple parts. The beginning of the book of Bamidbar represents what you might call the ideal society. We have the flags, we have the camps, we have the Mishkan in the middle, we have the Kohanim, we have the Leviim kind of creating the world as it should be. A world of holiness, a world of sanctity, a world where the godliness of the Mishkan is the focal point and the center of all of the endeavors of society. But the second half of Bamidbar is really a lost world. All of that potential gets squandered. We have sin after sin, failure after failure. Last week we read about the sin of the people who despised the manna and they complained and God sent them the quail. And then there were other complaints and there was a burning fever that destroyed them. And this week we read about the spies and next week we're going to have Korach. Right? So, a lot of things go wrong. Meaning there is the ideal and there is the reality. Part one of the book is the ideal world. Part two of the book is the sordid reality. And the truth of the matter is though, it's been pointed out quite a lot. If you ever read uh Reb Avigdor Miller for example, he points out that the Dor Hamidbar you know, there's a saying in America that the generation that fought World War II was called the greatest generation. Like the most heroic generation. Well, Reb Avigdor Miller not not not borrowing it from the from that designation, always calls the Dor Hamidbar our greatest generation. This was the generation that saw the miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim and experienced the Red Sea and ultimately were there at Har Sinai to receive the Torah. And for 40 years had the manna and the traveling well of Miriam and the clouds of glory. There was never a generation that experienced godliness in such an open and obvious way as the Dor Hamidbar. So, by definition in terms of their perception of God, it was great, it was sublime, it was open. It was clear. So, that makes every departure from righteousness very problematical. I mean, every single aveira you're going to essentially ask the same question. How could the generation that left Mitzrayim and saw Mattan Torah build the golden calf? Yeah, I'm not going to answer that tonight cuz I'm not going to go through every single aveira, but that's going to be the same thing. How could they sin with the spies? So, first let me start let me just start with a preliminary question. Obviously, something was wrong here because number one, God killed the spies, 10 of the 12 spies except for Yehoshua and Calev. And number two, the consequence of the cheit Hamaraglim was that the Jewish people wandered in the desert for 40 years instead of going straight to Eretz Yisrael. So, something went wrong. But it's not entirely clear what exactly was the sin of the spies. So, there is a very big machlokes. According to Rashi, the actual sending of the spies was sinful. Meaning, why are you sending spies to scout out the land? If God told you that you will be successful, why do you need to develop strategies to win militarily? Should you not have bitachon and emunah in God? So, according to Rashi, it's not just the report of the spies that was sinful. It was the actual sending of the spies that was sinful. And even though the parsha begins with the words God says to Moshe, send spies, Rashi says that was in response to the people's demand. So, God said, if that's what they want, give them what they want. But they shouldn't have wanted it. So, that's Rashi's shita, the etzem shiluach Hamaraglim. shows a lack of emunah and bitachon. Ramban takes very strong issue with Rashi. Ramban says there is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever in sending spies, even if you have a divine promise that you'll be successful, you still have to develop a military strategy, you have to develop a battle plan. You have to look at the weak points and the strong points and the best places to attack. That's not a contradiction to faith in God. Faith in God necessitates human planning and hishtadlus. Same thing here. Right? The fact that we have um the IDF and the Mossad and and and and and all of the organizations that are working here, that's not something that we should bemoan, oh why are you attacking Iran if Hashem wants Iran to fall, Hashem will do it. Well, yeah, Hashem gives you victory, but you're still mechuyav to engage in your hishtadlus and your planning. And the Ramban brings two excellent proofs for this. Proof number one is remember that the two spies, who were the good spies, who survived and entered Eretz Yisrael, was number one Yehoshua bin Nun, who was Moshe's successor, and his companion Calev ben Yefuneh. And the first thing Yehoshua did when he crossed the Yarden was he sent two spies, Calev, who was a very old man, and Pinchas was also an old man, to check out Yericho. Cuz Yericho was going to be the first city they conquered. Now, who knows more than Yehoshua the tragic consequence of the Meraglim? And yet Yehoshua himself sends Meraglim. Ele mai, sending Meraglim is not the problem. The problem is how are they going to report? But we'll get to that in a moment. And then the Ramban brings even a better proof, although it's less known, and that is in the Torah itself, the Torah doesn't make a big story about it. It mentions Moshe Rabbeinu sent Meraglim ever the Yarden, when we conquered the lands of Sichon and Og. So, one of the cities there was Yazer. So, the Torah says Moshe sends Meraglim to check out Yazer and they conquered it. That's all. That's the only reference. So, after the Cheit haMeraglim, Moshe used Meraglim. So, the Ramban says in contradistinction to Rashi, there is obviously nothing wrong with Meraglim per se. They are a legitimate hishtadlus as part of military planning, which in Judaism is never a contradiction to emunah. The same way God gives you parnassah, but you got to get a job or some alternative, God will give you healing, but you need to go to a doctor and follow medical advice. God gives you victory, but you need to develop a strategy. Now, that's a very good kasha on Rashi, right? So, the Rashi is a very difficult Rashi. Rashi is telling me what? Rashi is telling me that if they really had faith, they wouldn't have even sent Meraglim. So, why did Yehoshua send Meraglim? And why did Moshe Rabbeinu send Meraglim? So, the Netziv in his Peirush haMekor offers a very interesting idea based on the Chovos Halevavos, who says that the nature of emunah is that the greater and deeper your emunah, the less human effort you need to put in. It's kind of a catch-22. The less you think that God is running your life, the less he will be running your life in an open way. So, the Netziv learns this way. Had the Jewish people been on the madreiga that they should have been, because they saw Yetzi'as Mitzrayim, they saw Keri'as Yam Suf, they saw Mattan Torah, they saw the man, they saw open miracles every day, on their madreiga, they shouldn't have asked for spies. Because God could give them victory, that's very similar to the miracles of the desert itself. But, says the Netziv, once they demonstrate that they don't have that emunah and they need spies, they need a military strategy, then what would have been preferable to avoid now becomes mandatory and necessary. Meaning, if you're weaker in your emunah, you must take steps that perhaps in an idealized society you wouldn't have had to take. Therefore, it's no contradiction to say they shouldn't have asked for the Meraglim, but once they demonstrate their fear, then you have to do it. The Netziv brings an interesting proof to this idea from a very great person, the Navi Shmuel. Hashem tells the Navi Shmuel uh when Shaul haMelech is king, but is no longer deserving of the monarchy, that uh Shmuel should go and anoint the sons of one of the sons of Yishai, who'll be David, to be king. And he gives him no further instruction, but Shmuel asks Hashem, "How can I do this? If Shaul hears that I'm anointing a successor, Shaul will kill me. How can I go? I'm putting my life in danger." So, Hashem then responded, "Take an offering, in those days there was no Beit HaMikdash, so you could bring korbanos anywhere, and go to Beit Lechem with the pretense of offering a korban, and then surreptitiously you could visit Yishai and anoint David, and Shaul would not realize what you're doing." Now, the Netziv says, "Why didn't Hashem give Shmuel that information before Shmuel asked the question?" So, the Netziv says that this was a momentary lapse of emunah on Shmuel's part. Had Shmuel had total trust that God would protect him, he wouldn't have needed to take precautions. But once he demonstrates that he's afraid, precautions now become mandatory. So, in a sense, was it correct to take precautions? Yes, only because one is afraid. Again, as I say, this indirectly connects to going into the bomb shelters as well, but but as they say uh I don't want to get into the specifics of that right now. Yeah. Yeah, so that would also fall under a similar idea that Yaakov engaged in hishtadlus. Again, it's hard to say there's a lack of emunah, but you but it's a good it's a good point. Uh seemingly it might be a little bit negative, but maybe it's a little different, because you see the Dor haMidbar had already experienced supernatural miracles every day. So, maybe maybe for them this would be less necessary, maybe for Yaakov it would be more necessary. Okay. So, this is a big machlokes, is the Shiluach haMeraglim a cheit? Right? Rashi, Ramban, Netziv. But the one thing that everybody agrees upon is that the sin was certainly in the report of the Meraglim and in the response of the people. Remember, the Meraglim came back on the 8th of Av. They gave their report, and that night everybody cried, and this is the night of Tisha B'Av, and Chazal say that God declared, "This night was a weeping for nothing, bechiya shel chinam, this will become the night of churban." The the root of the churban Beit HaMikdash was in the cheit haMeraglim. Uh so, the now, what is the point here? Because the Meraglim, I mean, on some level their job was to report the truth, but they're not supposed to editorialize. They said things that uh we are like grasshoppers, uh they are stronger than us. That wasn't their mission. Report. Give your objective report. Your job, just the facts. Your job is not to editorialize, your job is not to affect the morale of the people. So, there is the cheit of the spies and how they reported, and then there's the cheit of the people in not having emunah, and because of that they died over the next 40, actually 38 and a half years, cuz a year and a half had already passed. Uh and uh there are some people who were not nichshal. Chazal say women did not sin in the cheit haMeraglim. Women had faith in Hashem's promises, and there's also uh passages in Rashi that say Shevet Levi did not sin in the cheit haMeraglim either, but everybody else from age 20 up was involved, and uh the only people who entered Eretz Yisrael, they were elderly women, elderly living, Yehoshua and Calev, and anyone who was under 20 at the time of the Exodus or born in the desert. They were able to enter Eretz Yisrael. So, putting all of this together, we're still left with the fundamental problem of how could they lack emunah? How could they lack faith? Didn't they see every single day that God was protecting them? How could they say we have no way of winning? We have no way of succeeding? So, there's a very interesting Mahara very interesting approach that is given by the Malbim, by the Netziv, by Rav Hirsch, by by a number of Meforshim you know, in in slightly different ways, but the overall approach is very similar. That the Meraglim were actually righteous on some level. And their kavana was l'shem shamayim. It was mistaken. It was wrong. And because of that it was sinful. But it had a certain spiritual justification. And that is the Meraglim realized that the relationship of God to the Jewish people in the desert is going to be very different than the relationship he's going to have with the Jewish people once they come into the land of Israel. In the desert we kind of lived a hermetically sealed existence of spirituality. We saw the open presence of Hashem really every minute. We had the man. We had the water. We had the clouds of glory. Uh we had seen the makos and the krias Yam Suf. And Matan Torah. We were hermetically sealed in holiness in kedusha. The presence of God is open, apparent, obvious. Now, that can have a cost. That's why when they did aveiros the punishments were so immediate because when you're living in the proximity of Hashem then everything you know, Hashem's revelation can even be in the direction of punishment, be open and and before some. When they come into Eretz Yisrael there's going to be a tremendous change in that relationship. There's no longer going to be man. They're going to have to plant and harvest. They're going to have to dig for wells. They're going to have armies that fight wars. They're going to have to build infrastructures. They're going to have to have lawyers, doctors, accountants, businesses. Of course, Hashem is still running the world. But it's going to be much less apparent. There's going to be much more hester panim, concealment of the divine. Yes, of course it's true that there's much less hester panim in Eretz Yisrael than in chutz la'aretz. That's true even today. But vis-a-vis the midbar Eretz Yisrael is a tremendous hester, concealment, as compared to the midbar. Moreover, the Meraglim realized, too, that it's already known that Moshe Rabbeinu was not going to make it. Even though he did not yet commit the sin of hitting the rock. That doesn't happen until the 40th year. He didn't commit the aveira yet. But it was already known that he was not going to enter Eretz Yisrael. How do I know this? We know this from last week's parsha. If you remember, uh we we read in last week's parsha about the elders, Eldad u'Meidad, who were prophesying, and Yehoshua ran to Moshe and said, "Put them in jail." Now, why is Yehoshua so upset? Just because they're prophesying? So, Rashi explains, what was the prophecy of Eldad u'Meidad? Moshe meis. Moshe will die in the desert. V'Yehoshua machnis. And Yehoshua will bring them in. Yehoshua in his humility could not bear to even hear that. He said, "Put them away." And Moshe responded, "Halvai that all of the Jewish people would be prophets, etc." But this is very important. This actually means it was already known by prophecy that Moshe would die. Now, here is the Meraglim's cheshbon. When we come into a society where the hand of God is not going to be so visible. It's not going to be so obvious. And much of what we accomplish is going to be through our efforts of planting, harvesting, army, whatever it's going to be. There are two problems with that. Problem number one is kochi v'otzem yadi. We will attribute our success to our abilities. The Torah itself warns the Jewish people of this in the book of Devarim. You will come to the land and you will be successful and you will attribute your victories to your strength and your arrogance. Right? So, the Meraglim are afraid if we take them to Eretz Yisrael number one, they will have the attitude of kochi v'otzem yadi. But number two, given the fact that we're going to lose Moshe Rabbeinu, we will not have the merit to meet the challenges that we're going to face. So, it's kind of a double whammy, meaning if we're successful kochi v'otzem yadi, which can destroy us. That itself will destroy us spiritually. And perchance without Moshe Rabbeinu, we don't have the zechus to be successful. Who are we without Moshe? You have to remember, it's hard for us to imagine that this was a generation that Moshe Rabbeinu was everything to them. Everything, everything. How could there be life without a Moshe Rabbeinu? In fact, Meforshim actually say that although Moshe Rabbeinu technically did not enter Eretz Yisrael because of sin, but there's kind of a deeper reason. That we needed to learn independence in our spiritual growth. Meaning, just as a child has to leave the parent. We we couldn't become individualized under Moshe Rabbeinu. We needed to be able to develop a certain independence. So, l'maiseh, it was nachon that Moshe Rabbeinu did not enter Eretz Yisrael with us. But had Moshe Rabbeinu not sinned, Hashem wouldn't have had a justification just to deprive him. So, he needed the sin as the excuse for this type of individuation. So, the Meraglim faced these two problems. One is the hester panim, the concealment of the divine, that generates the kochi v'otzem yadi attitude, which is very very destructive. And two, without a Moshe Rabbeinu, how are we going to survive? How are we going to meet the challenges? We don't have that merit. We don't have that zechus. So, what was their solution? Their solution was let's prolong the desert experience. Keep in mind that the 40 years that God gave them, although it is a punishment, it actually gave them what they wanted. They wanted a life of pure spirituality that they got in the desert. And they wanted a life under the guidance of Moshe Rabbeinu. God gave them 40 or 38 and a half more years of exactly what they wanted. It's kind of reminiscent, if I could take a maybe a a trivial, it's not trivial, but a less significant example. Let's say somebody's learning in kollel. Someone's in kollel. And the time has come where they need to leave kollel to make a living to support their family. But leaving kollel is very very hard. Because kollel, at least ideally, is this spiritual existence of holiness and Torah learning. And then in the big bad world I got to go to the office or I got to do this or I got to do that. And I'm no longer experiencing kedusha. So, the kollel guy will look for every excuse. Well, maybe let me stay another year. Maybe it'll build me up more spiritually. Every year I'm in the desert I'll grow in my emunah, in my bitachon, in my awareness of the divine. And I'll get stronger and stronger and I'll have more and more time with Moshe Rabbeinu. And then I'll be able to meet the challenges of creating a society in the world. So, in a sense, the cheit of Meraglim was they were the kollel people who wanted to stay in kailal too long when it was time to go to work. So, the cheshbon was a noble cheshbon. They actually felt we're not ready, we're inadequate. We need more ruchniyus, we need more spirituality, we need more kedusha, we need more Moshe Rabbeinu. We need more to see God's presence in a tangible way to prepare us for a life in which we're not always going to see it in that open way. And this was their kavana. The kavana was lishem shamayim. So, what was wrong with it? Well, a few things were wrong with it. Number one, all of our chochmot, all of our calculations, all of our logic cannot override a divine command. When Hashem tells you go, you can't start making calculations, it makes more sense for us if we don't go. Number two, the second mistake is that they viewed their encounter with the material aspects of life as undermining their kedusha. They wanted pure spiritual kedusha. They didn't want to be involved in the dirty work of creating a physical society, an army, and a society, and an infrastructure. Cuz they viewed spirituality and material activity as being in tension and being in contradict contradiction when in fact it is the ultimate purpose of the Torah to take spiritual ideals and translate them into the tangible activities of human society. We don't always realize that and sometimes in the Yeshiva world it's not articulated in that way, but one has to understand that the Torah ultimately has a goal. Now, we have not realized that goal to this day. The Torah's goal is to create a society, a political society, that is premised on the spiritual values of the Torah. Now, as I say, the state of Israel has not done that yet and indeed it would be very, very difficult simply because not everybody is is religious and we're not advocating coercion or to fear that's it. That's not the issue. But the ultimate messianic goal, certainly, is to take the theoretical religious spiritual teachings of the Torah and to translate them into societal norms, creating a Torah society. If the Meraglim say we prefer the desert, the Meraglim are looking at kedusha as withdrawing from the world as opposed to kedusha meaning transforming the world and elevating the world. Okay, that's uh an aspect of the cheit Meraglim. Number one, they were circumventing God's commandment. Number two, uh they were creating a dichotomy between the material and the spiritual when in fact the two are supposed to be merged. And number three, there was also a lack of confidence in themselves. They thought without Moshe Rabbeinu we're nothing. They thought they could not rise to the challenge. And that was a sin against recognizing their own worth, their own value, their own potential. There is a famous thought from the Kotsker Rebbe. At one point the Meraglim said, "We were in our eyes like grasshoppers." V'niya v'eineinu k'chagavim v'chein hayinu b'eineihem. And so we were in their eyes. So, the Kotsker Rebbe says, it all starts from your own self-perception. You perceive yourself as insignificant, then that's what you will become in the eyes of others. You see your worth, your value, and your potential, others will see it as well. And Rav Tzadok Hakohen writes in the Tzidkas HaTzaddik, K'shem shechayav adam l'ha'amin b'Kodesh Baruch Hu, just as a person must believe in Hashem, kachu muchuyav l'ha'amin b'atzmo. He must believe in himself. So, the cheit Meraglim was not just a cheit against God. It was a cheit in not believing in yourself. They thought we need the crutch of the midbar. We need the crutch of Moshe Rabbeinu. When in fact Hashem gave them all the tools that they need to be able to achieve their goal. So, what about the great the greatest generation did the greatest blunder? What they didn't think of was a success cuz they had a choice, they weighed it up. And here in the month they were such a level which is sublime. Maybe they said, "You know, I do prefer the sublime level." So, according to them at the end of it when they passed away, they feel like it was a success or they realized this was this was a blunder. I think they realized it was a mistake. In in a sense God gave them a compensation by make giving them what they wanted, but I think they realized it was a mistake and the proof of the matter is cuz right afterwards it says they they they said, "Oh, we were you know, let's go conquer the land." And they the ma'apilim and they got they got they got destroyed. Okay, so these are some perspectives that we think about as we look as as look at the the cheit Meraglim. Uh and this notion that part of the cheit was not thinking you were strong enough or good enough to take on this awesome responsibility without Moshe. I think we can actually see from an interesting point vantage point that even Yehoshua had this problem. If you look at the narrative, so Yehoshua and Kalev were the two spies who didn't collaborate with the other Meraglim. But if you notice, uh when the Meraglim gave their bad report, the only one that spoke out against them was actually Kalev. Kalev is doing all the talking. Yehoshua is not doing any talking. Why not? Why is Yehoshua strangely silent? One answer might be if if you're a political person, one answer might be that Yehoshua felt people wouldn't listen to him because after all Yehoshua is slated to be the leader that succeeds Moshe. So, if Yehoshua keeps on pushing, "Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go." People might interpret Yehoshua as simply jockeying for his position of power. So, Yehoshua felt it's better that I don't carry the ball on this one and I leave it to Kalev. That's a political explanation that I think may have some validity. But there's a deeper explanation that if the Meraglim are playing on the insecurities of the people who feel they're inadequate to rise to the challenge, who more than Yehoshua might be prone to that insecurity? Talk about filling shoes. There was no man in history who had to fill shoes as big as those of Moshe Rabbeinu. Which means I'm actually suggesting other people say this, that Yehoshua was wavering. Yehoshua He's hearing all of this speech, "You're not good enough, you're not strong enough, you don't have the merits." That's affecting Yehoshua in scary ways. And therefore Kalev was the voice of reassurance. And that's why Yehoshua was silent because Yehoshua is almost on the verge of giving in. And this explains another thing. You'll recall that Yehoshua bin Nun's original name is Hoshea, but God changed his name I'm sorry, not God, Moshe changed his name to Yehoshua because Yud and Hey is God's name, "May God save you from the evil counsel of the Meraglim." Moshe had a premonition this would end bad and he prayed that Yehoshua shouldn't be swept along. Now, why didn't he pray for Kalev? You see, the answer is because Mosha anticipated the type of narrative the Maragolem would try to create. And Mosha understood that it's precisely Yehoshua who is most susceptible to that narrative. See, it's very different than let's say modern politics. In modern politics, maybe I shouldn't talk this way, but you know, a vice president is not so upset if the president gets a heart attack and dies. Uh again, I'm again, I'm not going to say God forbid the vice president hopes the president will die, but whatever it is, you know, the vice president is kind of eager to take over. Right? That's what they say. They they say actually if who knows, but that if Biden would have won the election, that effectively would have made uh Kamala Harris Hashem uh president of the United States because it would be likely. You know, I don't wish bad on anyone, but it would be fairly likely that Biden would die over the next 4 years. On the other hand, but by Yehoshua, it's the opposite. Yehoshua doesn't want the job, just as Mosha didn't want the job. Yehoshua doesn't want the job. So, Mosha understands that it's Yehoshua that's the most vulnerable. Because if he's hearing you're not good enough, you're not talented enough, you can't replace Mosha, we need more time in the desert. It's Yehoshua that is most vulnerable to that. And that is why Yehoshua needed that that feeling. So, these are important lessons for us to have a moon and a sham, have a moon in ourselves, to understand that the building of a society based on Torah is a good thing, that we don't have this dichotomy between materialism and spirituality. And that we recognize, particularly in Eretz Yisrael, that even the physical aspects of building a state have sanctity, have kedusha, have significance. Of course, that should translate into gratitude hakarat hatov for those who are involved in those endeavors. I've said many, many, many, many times, probably at ad infinitum for sure, maybe ad nauseam as well, that, you know, I'm not going to address the debate of Benei Yeshiva in the army, Charedim in the army. This is a debate and there are arguments on all sides of it, but the one thing I will say is whatever your position on the army is in terms of Charedi or Benei Yeshiva, uh one has to be meuchas to the IDF with gratitude and appreciation for their sacrifices and for what they have done for Am Yisrael. Meaning, when opposition to the draft turns into denigration of Chayalim, it then becomes a very treif pasul invalid type of emotion that a a Torah Jew should have no part of. Uh hakarat hatov for the sacrifices that people make is very, very fundamental to Jewish identity and one cannot allow their religious fervor to take away those feelings of hakarat hatov. And if we recognize that sanctifying the physical, even the physical activities also have kedusha, then this has kedusha as well. I've mentioned before the story with Zalman Auerbach. He once met a talmid who was going to Tzfat to daven at the Arizal's kever, you know, the kivrei tzaddikim. So, Zalman Auerbach said this is in Bayit Vegan near Mount Herzl. He said, you know, I don't know why you have to schlepp to Tzfat to daven by the kever of a righteous person when I need to daven by the kever of a righteous person, I just go to the military cemetery in Har Herzl and I daven by the kever of a Chayal who gave his life for the Jewish people. And that's also the kever of a tzaddik uh that Hashem will have mercy for Am Yisrael. Now, there are two versions of the story. I don't know which is correct. Some say this was even if the Chayal was not dati, others say only dati. Whatever it is, but the overall idea of hakarat hatov is very, very fundamental. And the fact that in some segments we we see that this has turned into a disparagement or or and the like is of something that I would certainly very much, very much denounce. So, be'ezrat Hashem, may we be zocheh to shalom and geulah. May this be a very, very short uh encounter. Uh may the Benei Yisrael be safe, may Eretz Yisrael be safe, may the world itself be brought to a better place, and may it be very, very quick. Thank you. Thank you.