vor 1 Woche
Heaven on Earth or Turning Earth into Heaven - Shelach
Seeking Heaven on Earth or Turning Earth into Heaven
Having spent a week studying the portionof the Meraglim, end delving into the additional support given to Joshua and Caleb, and learning that the neshamot of the original Shevatim joined each of the ten other meraglim to boost (although unsuccessfully) their spiritual awareness, I am trying to understand the mindset of the ten. I endeavor to put myself in their shoes and figure out why they did what they did.
We read the various explanations discussing their intent, but something was still missing for me. If we look at Rashi, we see that at first, he praises the Meraglim quoting the Torah’s description of them as anashim - men and telling how important each and everyone of them in fact was. The rabbis tell us that the Torah lists their names inorder of importance, and we don’t find Joshua or Caleb until the middle of thelist. We have to ask, if these guys were so special, how did they mess up?
But then Rashi tells us that they wentin as they came out and with that, he explains that just as they came out withan evil intention, they went in with an evil intention.
So, when did they go from important,honorable, righteous people to people who went in with this evil intent?
I think we can also get a feel for wherethey went wrong or what the thought process which led to their miscalculationwas by looking at the responses to them by Joshua and Caleb.
I don’t think that anyone goes in withthe intent to derail a mission unless they think that they are totallyjustified and righteous in what they are doing. These ten must have thoughtthat they were doing the most beneficial thing for Benai Yisrael.
Many of our rabbi suggest that themeraglim thought it best to stay in the desert under the leadership of Moseswhere they could eat the maan, drink from the well of Miriam, dwell in theprotection of the divine clouds and study the Torah firsthand within a life ofperfection rather than leaving that Heaven on Earth and connecting themselvesto a land, to a battle and to farming to work, where the torah might beforgotten.
Caleb tells them that we can surely goup and inherit the land because Hashem gives us the ability. We explained inthe class based on the Talmud in Sotah that he saying that even if you gave usladders, we could climb into heaven provided we have Hashem‘s assistance. Whenthey are afraid and the strength of those in the land. Joshua tells them:'Have no fear of the people of the country, for they are our prey: theirprotection has departed from them, but the Lord is with us' (14:9).
Ibelieve we have a reasonable clue as to what was on the minds of the 10 spies.
If we say that they were righteous andsuddenly everything changed when they were ready to go into the land, thensomething happens at the time of their appointment. Perhaps until then theydidn’t feel a responsibility for the nation as a whole, but at this point, asleaders, they became responsible and with that responsibility, tremendous feartakes hold.
At this point in the story, we are abouta year and a few months after the exodus. In that time, we left Egypt, we cameto Mount Sinai, we heard and were present at the revelation. 40 days later,Moses returns with the first tablets to find us worshiping a golden calf. 80days after that, Moses returns with the second set of tablets on Yom Kippur. Afew days later, we begin the construction of the mishkan - tabernacle which iscompleted in the winter, but is not dedicated until the first of Nissan. We gothrough a second Pesach and the Pesach Sheni. The next step is to go andconquer the land.
In our class on Shabbat, we quoted abeautiful thought of the Shvilei Pinchas who suggests that the first luchot -tablets were associated with the Etz HaChaim – The tree of life in the gardenof Eden. Those tablets were pure and the Torah within them was pure. Thosetables relate to Adam HaRishon before the sin. The Torah relating to the Etz HaChaim is described as the Shivim Panim –the 70 faces of the Torah.
Just as Adam fell, we fell through theegel hazah, the golden calf, and the second tablets relate to the tree ofknowledge of good and evil which Adam ate from. Within the second set of luchotare good and evil. There is a mixture and with that the confusion it brings.
About these tablets, we describe a Torahwhere each law is taught by Hashem to Moses in 49 ways to prove something ispure and 49 ways to prove something is impure. And when Moses asks what thedecision is, Hashem tells him that the decision is up to man below.
After man’s fall through the calf, thismixture of good and evil requires man to delve through and struggle in theTorah to bring out the truth relative to us.
These spies now have this job of delvingin and being commissioned in some way at least in their own minds to make adecision between right and left, good and bad, right and wrong, all relative totheir specific situation.
They could have and should have simplyrelied on Moses. Moses sent them as we discussed in the last class and it wasto Moses whom they should’ve reported to and Moses could have shown them theerror of their ways. Moses still had the direct connect. Perhaps theirappointments changed them. We say that power corrupts, and perhaps at the timeof the appointment, pride went to their heads and they felt that they couldindependently make decisions without Moses
But what was the thought process whichbrought them to a decision which they must have felt was the correct decisionto be made for the people?
There are those that suggest that theydidn’t want to lose their position. But let us not forget, that with theirtestimony, they not only quickly lose their position, they also lose theirlives in a most horrendous manner.
Again, I am forced to consider that theyhad to believe deep down inside that what they were suggesting was proper.
They understood that in the desert theylived under a divine light and divine protection. Everything about theirexistence, from the moment the first plague descended on the waters of Egyptthrough the death of the first born was an entire year of miracles. Thiscontinued in an even greater revelation through the Exodus, the splitting ofthe sea and the Revelation at Har Sinai. The entire year in the desert was oneof miracles as we noted, maan, water, clouds, Moses and even defendingthemselves from attack.
In contrast to this, they felt thatgoing into the land would put them in a place where they were subject tonature. It would put them in a place where they no longer would live amiraculous life. Let me suggest that they believed that they would have tophysically fight the battle against the 31 kings dependant on their ownmanpower, skills and weapons. They believed that it would be totally incumbentupon them to earn a living subject to the whims of the rains and the earth andthe efforts they made. They believed that upon entering the land, Hashem mightwish the adieu and that the only way they would succeed would would be throughtheir own strength and the effort of their own hands. They believed that oncethey entered the land, Divine intervention would cease.
And I believe this was their fear. Theywere afraid that not only would they no longer be living a miraculous life, butthey would be completely on their own
To this Caleb responds that even if wewere told to climb to heaven, we could do so, as long as Hashem is with us. Totheir fear that they would have to fight a physical battle with the nations ofthe land, who are certainly strong, Joshua tells them you can surely defeatthem provided Hashem is with us
I believe their misunderstanding couldbe compared to the misunderstanding of the generation of Enoch. After creation,man knew Hashem was the Boreh, the creator, but they assumed he stepped backand did not realize Hashem is also the manhig – the one constantly running theshow. The meraglim appear to have assumed that Hashem would step back once theycrossed the border and they would have to deal with things on their own.
The mistake is part of the illusion thatwe all face when we start to believekochi VeOsem Yadi, that we are really doing things on our own. We too have toremember that Hashem promises us that a blessing will be on the work of ourhands. We have to make an effort, we have to turn on the switch below, but wehave to remember that there is no success without Hashem joining us.
Their mistake was in thinking thatHashem would simply say goodbye and good luck And they were hoping to protectthe people by remaining in the desert within a miraculous existence underHashem. They believed that in the desert, they found heaven on earth. And whyshould they give that up for what they perceived to be an earth without heaven?
I think the big lesson of the spies isthat Hashem puts us here to work the land as he told Adam and the illusion isthat we are doing things on our own, but the lesson is that without Hashem wecannot succeed. We must have Emunah and Bitachon and partner with Hashem andknow that if we reach out, Hashem is never abandoning us. We see this allthroughout history. All of our victories are miraculous because Hashem is withus
Right after the failure of the spies, wesee another tragic mistake. The error of the spies is compounded by those whorespond to the failure by saying, we will go up. They too think they arerighteous, but one cannot go up alone. Without Hashem’s help, we are doomed tofail.
And this concept of partnership isexpressed throughout the rest of the commandments in the portion as if toreinforce the concept. The mitsva to separate challah, reminds us again toelevate the physical with the spiritual; we are planting, we are making flour,we are baking, but all that is provided Hashem is with us. We learn of a kahaland an individual who sin with avoda zara by mistake reminding us that when wethink Hashem has rescinded into the background, the next step is placing ourtrust in ourselves or in other outside forces. We are taught about the personwho collects wood on Shabbat which reminds that even in a physical world,Shabbat is a testimony that Hashem is in charge. He is not only the Boreh, thecreator, He is the manhig, the one who keeps the world in motion. Finally, downto the last paragraph of Shelach, which teaches the misvah of sisit, we aretold to look at them in order to remember always that Hashem is there andHashem is with us.
The failure of the spies was not beingable to see that their job was to take the physical and raise it to aspiritual. When later after entering the land an encountering our first battle,we circled Jericho, we blew horns, we were dressed for battle, when in fact, itwas Hashem who went in front of us and led us to a miraculous victory.
The meraglim believed that everythingwas up to the farmer, and everything was up to the worker. They believed thatsuccess of failure was put completely into our hands. Perhaps when we crossedthe sea and everyone knew G-d was with us, namogu kol yoshvei Canaan, those inCanaan trembled with fear, but on our own they feared, who will tremble?
They forgot the avot who made the rffortbut realized they were junior partners and it was Hashem who did the real work.
How important this is to us in our ownlives. We live in the physical. We work in the physical. We live in an illusionthat allows some to error and say, “That it’s my own strength. It’s my ownpower. It’s my own effort that brings me reward.” But that person is a foolbecause everything we have comes from Hashem. We may be driving the car, butthe car we are driving is sitting in on a track on the kiddie rides at NellyBly in Coney Island. We press the gas, we turn the wheel, we hit the brakes,and we honk the horn, but in essence all of that is an illusion because there’sreally a man standing on the side, pressing the button.
May we all learn the lesson of thespies. May we remember Lo Yanum VeLo Yishan – Hashem neither slumbers norsleeps. Hashem watches over us and is with us. If we believe in hashem, Hashemwill believe in us!
Shabbat Shalom,
David Bibi
