These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1297 – Oh Oh Some-one Took My Tallis by Accident and Left His; Can I Use His Tallis? Good Shabbos!
There is a Medrash in Parshas Shelach that quotes a pasuk in Mishlei in connection with the meraglim. The pasuk in Mishlei says, “Like what vinegar does to a person’s teeth and like smoke getting into a person’s eyes, this is what a lazy messenger does to the person who sent him.” (10:26) The Gaon, in his commentary to Mishlei, explains that when a person wishes to stimulate his appetite, he usually drinks something. However, if by mistake he drinks vinegar, not only will that not stimulate his desire to eat something, but on the contrary, it ruins his appetite (because it ruins his teeth). Similarly, if a person wants light to read by, or if he needs a source of illumination for any reason, but he lights wood that is still moist, it will cause a lot of smoke and make it even more difficult for him to read or see anything. The Gaon explains that a lazy messenger is similar, vis-a-vis his sender: Contrary to his expectation and hope, the lazy messenger not only does not accomplish his mission, but also causes disappointment and aggravation that is even worse than if he had never been sent in the first place. The Medrash is pointing out that the meraglim were lazy, and this caused great aggravation and disappointment to Moshe Rabbeinu, who sent them on their mission.
The meforshim provide a lengthy indictment of what the meraglim did wrong. They had ulterior motives, they were seekers of honor, they were haughty, etc., etc. The list of what they did wrong goes on and on. However, laziness does not seem to be among the list of accusations. So why then does the Medrash accuse them of laziness? How was their laziness manifest? On the contrary, the Rashbam says that the meraglim volunteered for this mission. A spy mission is a dangerous venture. It involves heading into enemy territory. If a spy is caught, he will likely be killed. Lazy people do not volunteer for life-threatening jobs.
Rav Chaim Dov Keller addresses this question with a vort from Rav Shneur Kotler. His insight is based on another pasuk in Mishlei and on another Gaon. The pasuk in Mishlei (6:9) reads, “How long will you be lazy, one who sleeps? When will you arise from your sleep?” This pasuk seems to contain a redundancy of expression. However, the Gaon says that there is no redundancy here. Just as there is laziness in action, there is also laziness in thought. The first part of the pasuk is speaking about physical laziness (not getting out of bed). The second part of the pasuk is referring to laziness of thought. The laziness that we usually think about is when someone is too lazy to get up and do something. However, there is a much more subtle form of laziness: Laziness of thought, for example, failing to expend the effort to think things through. Laziness of thought is characterized by jumping to conclusions and being satisfied with the most facile or superficial explanation of the facts.
This is what the Medrash means that the meraglim were lazy. They were not lazy in their actions. They volunteered for this mission. They traveled throughout the country for forty days. These were not lazy people. But their laziness manifested itself in how they viewed and how they perceived Eretz Yisrael.
One of the complaints of the meraglim was that Eretz Yisrael was “a land that consumes those who dwell there.” How did they come to that conclusion? When they arrived, the whole country was involved with funerals. Their immediate conclusion was “People are dropping dead here like flies.” Granted, that was one way of explaining what they witnessed. But there was another way to view this phenomenon.
From my house, I happen to have a view of the corner of Mt. Wilson Lane and Reisterstown Road, on which stands a funeral home – Sol Levinson and Brothers. I have a good idea what happens at funeral homes. Some days, there are no funerals, some days there are two or three funerals, and some days there are four or five funerals. Even though Baltimore is a large city, and this is a major funeral parlor, it is very rare, if ever, that I see seven or eight funerals on the same day. And here we have an entire country involved in funerals. What does that mean? If the meraglim would have taken the time to think about the matter, they would not have immediately concluded “this is a land that consumes its inhabitants.” Maybe it was a sign of Divine providence that the Ribono shel Olam wanted the inhabitants to be preoccupied with burials and mourning so that they would not notice the meraglim passing through their land. However, coming to that conclusion required thought and brainpower. Anything that requires depth of perception will not be considered by someone who manifests laziness in thought.
The mistakes that the meraglim made were all along these lines. It is possible to come to more than one conclusion. Their conclusions were caused by laziness, not traditional laziness, but rather laziness of thought. This is what the Medrash means that the meraglim were lazy and caused aggravation to their sender.
Sins That Come Without Any Pangs of Guilt or Regret
Virtually all the meforshim comment on the name change Moshe Rabbeinu implemented for his talmid Hoshea prior to sending him out on the mission to spy out the land. The pasuk says, “And Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun, Yehoshua” (Bamidbar 13:16). Rashi says, “He prayed for him: May Hashem save you from the plan of the meraglim.” The question is, if Moshe suspected that the meraglim were planning a conspiracy that might corrupt his faithful disciple, why did he not cancel the mission? Alternatively, why didn’t Moshe daven (pray) for the other meraglim? Furthermore, the Targum Yonosan ben Uziel interprets this pasuk as saying: “When Moshe saw the humility of Hoshea, he changed his name to Yehoshua.” The question is: What does Hoshea’s humility have to do with the fear of his being ensnared in the scheme of the meraglim?
Rabbeinu Yaakov Yosef (the one and only Chief Rabbi of the City of New York) gives a beautiful interpretation. There are two types of aveiros, “standard aveiros” and “subtle aveiros“. A standard aveira is when a person knows something is wrong, but he does it anyway. “I know I am not supposed to do this, but my Yetzer HaRah is too strong and I am going to do it regardless!” However, a subtle aveira is a much more difficult aveira to overcome. That is when you think what you are doing is a mitzvah. There are no regrets or pangs of guilt associated with such an action. It is very difficult for me to believe that I shouldn’t be doing such an action: “What are you talking about? I’m doing a mitzvah!”
According to the Zohar, the rest of the meraglim did not want to go into Eretz Yisrael because they were aware that if and when Klal Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, there would be a new regime of leadership. The leadership of the wilderness (of whom they were all a part) would be retired or replaced. The Zohar says that they wished to retain their positions of power and prestige. Therefore, they tried to sabotage the national entry into Eretz Yisrael.
Yehoshua’s challenge was entirely different. Yehoshua was not, chas v’shalom, worried about his position This is the first category of aveira – “a grobba aveira“. They knew it was wrong to put their personal honor above the welfare of the entire nation, but they went ahead with the plan anyhow.
. As Chazal say, if there was any reason for Yehoshua to have hesitated about going into Eretz Yisrael, it was because “Eldad and Meidad prophesized in the camp.” (Bamidbar 11:27) Rashi explains that their prophecy, which so concerned Yehoshua, was that “Moshe will die and Yehoshua will take the nation into the Land.”
Yehoshua, the talmid protégé of Moshe Rabbeinu did not want his master to die. “What is Klal Yisrael going to do without a Moshe Rabbeinu?” So if Yehoshua would have any “negiyus” (ulterior motive) not to go into Eretz Yisrael, it would be the furthest thing from a personal agenda. He had no interest in preserving his own honor. His motivation would have been totally for the Sake of Heaven, a talmid being devoted to his Rebbe. So, if Yehoshua would have tried to sabotage the mission, it would definitely have been an aveira, but it would have been an aveira of the second category – that he perceives as a mitzvah!
So, says Rav Yaakov Yosef, everything is understood: Moshe Rabbeinu assumed that somewhere along the line the meraglim would say to one another “Hey! Wait a minute! We should sabotage the plan of the Ribono shel Olam because of our own honor? We can’t do such a thing! How low can someone be?” In other words, guilt would eventually get to them. Moshe, therefore, felt that he did not need to daven for the other eleven spies. They would come around and decide not to sabotage the mission on their own. However, when Moshe saw the great humility of Yehoshua, and that Yehoshua did not want to be the leader, Moshe recognized that this was a much more difficult aveira to overcome because it was disguised in the form of a mitzvah. Therefore, Moshe felt that Yehoshua needed s’yata d’shmaya more than any of the others, so Moshe davened specifically that Yehoshua be saved from the scheme of the meraglim.
Values Trickle Down – For Better and For Worse
With so many things to talk about in Parshas Shelach, there is an incident in the parsha that is often overlooked: The day after the Divine decree that this generation would not enter Eretz Yisrael and that they would die out in the wilderness, there was a group that decided on their own to make an abortive attempt to enter the land in an ostensible show of remorse and repentance for having accepted the negative report of the meraglim. Moshe immediately chastised them and warned them that their efforts would not be successful. This group of rebels did not listen to Moshe Rabbeinu.
The pasuk says, “va’ya’apilu” (They defiantly ascended…to the mountaintop…) (Bamidbar 14:44). On this basis, this group was known as the m’apilim. The Torah says that Amalek and the Canaanim who dwelt on the mountain descended and beat them back to Charmah. (Bamidbar 14:45). The m’apilim were wiped out for refusing to accept the Divine decree.
The Baal HaTurim notes that the Gematria value of va’ya’apilu is Tzelafchad, implying that Tzelafchad was one of the m’apilim (as mentioned in Maseches Shabbos 96b). It is interesting that despite being wrong, Tzelafchad had his heart in the right place. Of course, when Hashem says “Don’t go,” you don’t go. When Moshe Rabbeinu says “Don’t go,” you don’t go. However, Tzelafchad had his heart in the right place in that he loved Eretz Yisrael. He wanted to go into Eretz Yisrael. In this particular instance, his chibas ha’aretz caused him to make a misguided, bad decision, but it was still chibas ha’aretz.
Later on, at the end of Sefer Bamidbar, who came to Moshe Rabbeinu manifesting a love for Eretz Yisrael? It is none other than Tzelafchad’s daughters! They protest “Our father died in the dessert! What is going to be with us? We want a portion in Eretz Yisrael!” Where did they get that love of the land? Obviously, it came from their father. Tzelafchad had a chibas ha’aretz. He must have talked about Eretz Yisrael with his family. His daughters were raised hearing about the beauty and richness of the land and were instilled with a love of Eretz Yisrael.
The lesson is that our values trickle down to our children. Children pick these things up. If we have ahavas haTorah, they see that. If we have ahavas Eretz Yisrael, they see that. If we have a sense of kavod for rabbonim and Torah scholars, they see that. But if we have a love of money and things like that, they see that as well. If we perpetually have an attitude of cynicism, they see that too. It all trickles down. So, although Tzelafchad did something which was obviously wrong, his love of the land trickled down to his children to the extent that they later said, “We want our portion in the Land of Israel!”
Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]
Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]
This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Sh’lach is provided below:
- 016 Mixed Seating at Weddings
- 061 – The Minyan: Who Counts?
- 105 – Tallis: Does it Cover Only Married Men?
- 150 – Tzitzis: Must They Be Worn?
- 197 – Carrying Medicine on Shabbos
- 243 – The Concept of Prison in Jewish Law
- 287 – Women and Tzitzis
- 333 – Techeiles Today
- 377 – Tzitzis: Must They Be Seen?
- 421 – The Issur of Histaklus
- 465 – Donning a Tallis for The Amud
- 509 – Ain Ma’averin Al Hamitzvos
- 553 – Women and Tzitzis Revisited
- 597 – Davening at the Graves of Tzadikim
- 641 – K’rias Shema and K’eil Melech Ne’eman
- 685 – Art Museums
- 729 – Making Tzitzis
- 773 – Kavanah When Wearing Tzitzis
- 817 – Davening for a Rasha to Change – Does It Work?
- 861 – Do We Knead Challah in America?
- 905 – The Tallis Over Your Head
- 949 – The Shul’s Tallis−Bracha or No Bracha?
- 992 – Your Talis Katan: Is it Big Enough?
- 1036 – Our Tallis – Should It Be Beautiful? Is It Really Chayav in Tzitzis?
- 1080 – Doing An Aveira for the Best Reasons?
- 1123 – Taking Off Your Tallis – Must You Make A New Bracha?
- 1165 – Tallis Falling off During Davening / Cleaning Glasses With Your Tallis?
- 1208 – Going to Daven at a Cemetery – Not As Simple As You Think.
- 1253 – Carrying Nitroglycerin on Shabbos for Heart Patient / Candy for Diabetic? Mutar or Asur
- 1297 – Oh Oh Some-one Took My Tallis by Accident and Left His; Can I Use His Tallis
- 1341 – A Beautiful Talis: Is That Called Hidur Mitzvah and Other Talis Issues
- 1385 – Techeiles Today-Why Not?
- 1429 – Must You Wear Tzitzis When Exercising or Playing Sports?
- 1473 – Must You Check the Tzitzis of Your Talis Every Morning?
- 1517 – Should You Wear a Wool Talis Katan in the Summer?
- 1559 – A Silver Atara for Your Talis: Is It a Good Idea?
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