Friday, July 6, 2012
We cannot know better than Hashem
1:21 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
Submitting to the will of Hashem
Send
men that that they may spy out the land of Canaan
The medrash
quoted by Rashi seems difficult to understand, since the spies spoke
slanderously about a country, not about a person.
In fact,
the main thrust of their argument was that although Eretz Yisroel was a
wonderful country, the nation was not on a high enough level to live there in a
natural fashion, and, as for living miraculously, it would be difficult to
maintain a consistently high level of conduct that would make the nation worthy
of direct constant divine protection. They therefore concluded that it would
not be worthwhile to conquer the country, notwithstanding its superior
qualities.
Similarly,
Miriam had the highest respect and was in awe of Moshe Rabbeinu, but she felt
that even though her brother had come as close as possible to becoming an angelic
being, since he was after all human, and the ultimate greatness of a human
being is to sanctify his physical aspects rather than negate them, he should
not have separated altogether from his wife.
The
mistake made both by Miriam and the meraglim was that they should have
submitted themselves totally to the will of Hashem, and disregarded any
theories of their own that contradicted that express Will, however reasonable they
might seem.
Fighting for our principles
And Moshe
called Hoshea the son of Nun Yehoshua (13:16). Rashi: He prayed on his behalf, “May
Hashem save you from the counsel of the spies”.
The Targum
Yonoson says that it was
when Moshe saw his modesty that he called Hoshea Yehoshua. What is the
connection between Yehoshua’s modesty and Moshe Rabbeinu’s prayers stemming
from his fear that Yehoshua would be influenced by the counsel of the spies?
Moshe
Rabbeinu realized that someone with excessive modesty is likely to reach a compromise
with those who seek to go against the Will of Hashem. He therefore changed Hoshea’s
name to Yehoshua in the hope that
this would grant him the required fortitude to fight the majority view of the meragalim.
This teaches us that even though we must be aware that the results of
our actions depend on Hashem, it is His desire that we should do whatever is
within our power to stand up for Torah principles, and when we have to fight
for such principles, we have to shed any inappropriate modesty.
Relying on Hashem
And the
people wept on that night (14:1)
This
episode is difficult to understand. How could the entire congregation have said,
"If only we had died in the land
of Egypt
Although they were gedolei yisroel the meraglim
did not trust in
Hashem's promises and wanted to live a natural existence. When we distance
ourselves from Hashem, he distances Himself from us, leaving us to our own
devices. The more we trust Hashem, the more does He protect us: “He who trusts
in Hashem is surrounded by mercy”.
On the
national level, if we live with the realization that Hashem rules the world
down to the last detail, we will merit siyata dishmaya, but if we think
that everything is dependent on natural causes, that siyata dishmaya
will be removed. On the personal level, chazal tell us that were it not
for Hashem's assistance, we would not be able to withstand our daily struggles
with the evil inclination. It is only when our fortitude is coupled with an
awareness of the indispensability of divine assistance that we can vanquish the
yetzer horo.
Miraculous bread
But you
shall not rebel against Hashem, and you should not fear the people of that land
for they are [as] our bread (14:9)
Why did
Yehoshua and Kolev choose to use the simile of bread?
The “bread”
in the wilderness was mon, and Yehoshua and Kolev were telling the
nation that just as their basic sustenance came in the form of a miracle, so
too Hashem would surely allow them to enter Eretz Yisroel with miracles,
and they must not be disheartened by the statements made by the meraglim.
Palace of the King
They
arose early in the morning and ascended to the mountain top, saying, "We
are ready to go up to the place of which Hashem spoke, for we have sinned” (14:40)
On the
face of it, the ma’apilim who tried to forcibly enter Eretz Yisroel
merely intended to rectify the sin of the mergalim. Why, then, were they
killed by the amoleikim and the Canaanites who came down and smote them?
Their
mistake lay in thinking that Hashem had given us Eretz Yisroel for the
sake of ruling over it, whereas in reality Hashem wanted us to enter the
country which enjoys special divine providence only if we would be imbued with
complete faith and emuno. The ma’apilim felt that the overriding
priority was for us to have our own country at all costs. Moshe warned them: "Why
do you transgress the word of Hashem? It will not succeed”, but they would not
listen. We had to spend another forty years in the desert before reaching the
level required to live in the Palace of the King.
Those of
us fortunate enough to live here must never lose sight of the elevated behavior
which we are expected to maintain in this country, which Hashem cares for, and
Whose eyes are always upon it from the beginning of the year until the end of
the year.
Heretical thoughts
And if
you should err and not fulfill all these commandments (15:22)
Rashi
brings that the transgression involved is that of idolatry. The parsha
goes on to enumerate that first a korbon olo has to be brought, followed
by a korbon chatos. Normally a chatos precedes an olo. Why
is the order different here?
A korbon
olo atones for sinful thoughts, and the general rule is that a thought is
not considered a sinful act requiring atonement. Idolatry, however, is
different. It is considered so severe that even an idolatrous thought is deemed
to be the equivalent of a punishable act (see Maseches Kiddushin 39b).
Therefore, for all other aveiros a chatos is brought before an olo, since a chatos atones for actions, but in the case of avodo zoro since sinful thoughts are already sins in and of themselves so that an
olo has to be brought first to atone for them, and only then a chatos to atone for the additional sin of physical acts of avodo zoro.
This teaches us how careful we have to be to avoid any material containing
heretical ideas, which are so prevalent nowadays.
Sinning for the sake of heaven
They
found a man gathering sticks on Shabbos (15:32)
Chazal
tell us that Zlofchod’s motives were leshem shomayim. He was willing to
die in order to demonstrate to the rest of the nation that even though they
were due to die in the desert anyway following the sin of the meraglim,
they still had to keep the whole Torah. Due to his worthy motive, his name is
omitted from the parasha, unlike the megadef. However, Zlofchod
did not consult with Moshe Rabbeinu, and was punishable by death like any other
mechalel Shabbos. So-called zealousness that goes against the halocho
or daas Torah is sinful, irrespective of any worthy motives.
Holiness not a prerequisite for commencing observance
You shall remember all the commandments of Hashem and perform
them, and you shall not go after your hearts and after your eyes after which
you are going astray… and you shall be holy to Hashem (15:39-40)
On the
personal level, the possuk tells us not to go after our hearts and eyes,
and only then to be "holy to Hashem". Holiness cannot be attained
unless we first divest ourselves of heretical thoughts and immoral behavior and
thoughts.
On the
other hand, for those engaging in outreach the correct approach is to first
encourage the not-yet observant to observe practical mitzvos, even if
they still suffer from a lack of emuno and kedusho, and then
instruct them to improve in those areas until they eventually become
"holy". For this reason, the Torah first says "and you shall
remember the commandments of Hashem, and perform them”, and only then "and
you shall not go after your hearts and your eyes", and finally: “and you
shall be holy to Hashem”.
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