They reported to him and said, “We arrived at the land to which you sent us, and indeed it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But – the people that dwells in the land is powerful, the cities are fortified and very great, and we also saw there the offspring of the giant.
On the surface, it seems that the Meraglim did nothing wrong in describing what they had seen. They had been sent to make their own observations – whether the land was good or bad and if the people that dwell in it are strong or weak; and that is exactly what they had reported back. It seems that they could not be faulted for reporting the truth as they had seen it. What then was the reason for their punishment?
You get a phone call about a certain boy for a potential shidduch. The boy is slightly overweight and has no teeth. Your phraseology in your response will make or break the shidduch. If your response is, “The boy is extremely intelligent, very kind, and very social, but he is overweight and has no teeth”. You are implying that his negative qualities outweigh all of his good attributes. The term “but” negates all that which was previously stated. However, if your response is, “Listen, this guy is slightly overweight and has no teeth, but he is extremely intelligent
But My servant Caleb, because a different spirit was with him and he followed Me wholeheartedly, I shall bring him into the land to which he came, and his offspring shall possess it" (Numbers 14:24).
This part of the Parsha delegates the reward that Calev received for his opposition to the spies defamatory report about Eretz Yisrael. He will inherit the city of Chevron, the location of the M'arat HaMachpelah where the Ovos and Imahos are buried. During the meraglims' tour of the land of Israel, Calev had visited Chevron in order to daven to Hashem at the graves of his righteous ancestors for help in overcoming the evil plan of the spies.
Upon considering this information, three questions come to mind. Firstly, why does the above-possuk mention a specific reward only for Caleb, while not making any mention of a special reward for the other righteous spy, Yehoshua, who fulfilled the exact same mitzvah? Secondly, what is the "different spirit" that was with Calev? And finally, exactly what mitzvah did Calev fulfill to warrant such a tremendous reward?
"And what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is a tree (wood) therein or not .................................." (13;20)
At this point Mosha is instructing the spies concerning their mission to evaluate the land of Israel. Rashi comments that when the verse is referring to "a tree" (wood), it means an honorable man who will protect the land by his merit. A tree is often synonymous with a person. A question can be asked, we know that when Abraham beseeched G-d on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah he asked that the city be rescued on behalf of 10 righteous men.(Genesis 18:32) Yet, here it seems that Mosha was only concerned about 1 righteous man that could potentially be a merit for the land. It appears to be a contradiction. Why 10 regarding Sodom and Gomorra, and 1 regarding the land of Israel ? I would like to propose, Bezrat Hashem, the following original answer: There is no contradiction. The answer can be found in the wording of the verse when it says ,"whether there is a tree or not". A tree provides shade and sustenance (fruits, ect.) to multitudes of people, similarly must a righteous man be a beacon of G-dly teachings to the people around him
The pasuk tells us that the techeiles string on the tzitzis is central to the reminding function of the tzitzis. How? For the gemarra (Menachos 43b, cited by the Ibn Ezra here 15:38) writes that the techeiles colour is to remind us of the sea, which, in turn reminds us of the sky, which in turn reminds us of HaShem’s throne - which means we remember to do the mitzvos! Rav Leuchter pointed out from here that the Torah expects one to exhibit joined-up thinking/thinking via association. We are supposed to associate the techeiles with the sea, etc. to get to an increased awareness of HaShem. The same goes for Rashi’s explanation (15:39) that the gematria of ‘tzitzis’ plus the knots and strings add up to 613 - we are supposed to use such mental exercises to spur us on in our avodas HaShem.
You’ll notice that twice in the psukim which deal with tzitzis does it say that the tzitzis are so that we remember HaShem’s mitzvos. In perek 15 pasuk 39 the words are ‘and you’ll see it (the tzitzis) and remember all the mitzvos of HaShem,’ whilst the very next pasuk says ‘in order that you will remember and do all My mitzvos.’ What are these two reminders? The Sforno answers that the first remembering is after one has initially glanced at the tzitzis; the fact that one wears clothes which HaShem dictates reminds us that we are His servants - it instils a feeling of yirah. The second remembering is after we have internalised the concept of tzitzis, which leads us to serve HaShem with ahava and yirah. This is also perhaps why the psukim regarding tzitzis open with the command ‘speak (daber) to Bnei Yisrael and say (amarta) to them.’ Why two expressions for speech here? For daber means a harsher form of speech, which is a reference to the initial glancing at the tzitzis which emanate yiras HaShem. Whilst the softer amira form is for the next part - the internalising of the concept of tzitzis which causes (the softer) ahavas HaShem.
One of the claims the spies made upon returning back to base was that the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael were ‘anshei middos’ (13:32), which is normally translated as ‘of giant proportions,’ I.e. they were giants. However, Rav Eliyahu Lopian is said to have explained this spies claim in the following way. The spies claimed that the inhabitants of the Land were refined, charming people - that they were people of good middos (character traits). The spies thought that the residents of Eretz Yisrael were such good people that HaShem would not remove them from their Land in favour of the Bnei Yisrael. But the spies were gravely mistaken. Even if these inhabitants looked like they had good middos, they were paper-thin. As has been the case with many ‘developed societies’ in the modern age, when push comes to shove these refined characters are shown to be fake and just being on the surface of the person, as opposed to being part of their character. Just because someone puts on a fake smile and says ‘please’ does not necessarily mean that they are charming on the inside at all.
Parashas Shelach – I Spy...
This week we have Parashas Shelach which contains the famous incident of the spies who were the first people to cross into Israel and bring back a report on the land following our exodus from Egypt. Last week we saw the nation indulge in the three sins of speedily fleeing from mount Sinai, complaining about having to venture into the wilderness and the dissatisfaction with the manna... in this week's sedra we see that things got even worst with the incident of the meraglim/spies which culminated with the decree from Hashem that the nation will wander the desert for forty years whilst the sinful generation perished and only then would we be able to enter Eretz Yisrael. The chapter of the spies follows on immediately after the incident of Miriam being struck with tzaraas for her criticism of Moshe [12:10]
We are all aware of the grave error committed by the spies when they spoke negatively about our Holy Land. Of course, there are many explanations regarding the motive or cause for their actions, yet the Midrash seems to underscore a very basic flaw in their approach to their mission.
The Midrash states that there is nothing more beloved to Hashem than an agent on a mission to perform a mitzvah who is selflessly and totally dedicated to his task. Agents of mitzvot who are completely consumed with the carrying out of Hashem's will and whose every action is dictated by His word are the ones who are so dear to Hashem. The chachomim explain that it was this ingredient of selfless dedication that was, in some way, lacking amongst the members of the delegation
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Moshe Shlomo ben R'Shmuel | Shlomo ben R'Chaim | Aryeh Leib ben Pinchas Tzvi
