Shlach

Parshat Shlach The Spies Rabbi Ari Kahn "G-d spoke to Moshe saying; Send for you men to tour the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Children of Israel (13:1,2) Moshe is called upon to send a reconnaissance mission, ostensibly to assess the lay of the land in advance of the upcoming conquest. Moshe is told to send one person from each tribe. The text attests to the greatness of this select group: "All of them were leaders of the People" (13:3) The mission ends in failure: The men return, but instead of planning a means of conquest, they conclude that entering the Land is an unattainable goal: "However, the people of the land are strong and the cities are fortified..." Of course the question, "What went wrong?" is immediately posed. After all, it seems to have been G-d's idea to send the spies, and Moshe handpicked the people. What accounted for the failure? We should note that this indiscretion had greater implications than the other episodes in the desert, such as the Golden Calf or the various incidents when the People demanded food or drink. The Zohar takes up this question: Moshe sent them; - they were all men, they were righteous prominent leaders of Israel, but their words caused terrible calamity. What made them do this? Rather, they said; 'If Israel enter the land, Moshe will cause us to be replaced, for we can only lead in the desert, but in the Land we will not lead" (Zohar Sh'lach 158a). The Zohar paints a picture of leaders who are more concerned with their own position of power than the good of their constituents. In a move that would have made Machiavelli proud, they guarantee their own standing by preventing the situation that would have caused their removal from power. It is hard to imagine that such people are the elite, the men hand-picked by Moshe to lead the Chosen People. What could have caused such a myopic outlook, such a breakdown in leadership? Of the twelve spies, two men-- Yehoshua and Calev--rejected the nefarious plot. Of the two, Yehoshua is more familiar to us; he was Moshe's "right-hand man", and was the one who eventually took the reigns of leadership from Moshe. However, upon analysis of the text, we are somewhat surprised to find that Yehoshua remained silent when the other spies gave their report. It was Calev, and Calev alone, who spoke up:

And Calev silenced the People before Moshe, and he (Calev) said, ‘We shall surely go up and inherit the Land, for we can indeed take her.' And the people, who had entered with him said, "We will not be able to go up against the nation (living there) for they are stronger than we are.” (13:3031) Calev's heroism is striking. He stands up against the crowd, silences the rabble, and attempts to sway public opinion toward Moshe and away from the naysayers. Yehoshua's silence, on the other hand, is equally striking. Surely, when the verse refers to the other spies, Yehoshua is not included, despite the implications of a literal reading of the text. It is only later in the narrative that we hear Yehoshua's voice: And the People said to one another, 'Let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt.' Moshe and Aharon prostrated themselves in front of the community...and Yehoshua bin Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh, from those who had toured the Land, tore their clothes and they said to the assembled Congregation of Israel, 'The land which we traveled...is indeed a very fine land.' (14:5-7). Here, finally, Yehoshua speaks. He follows the lead of Moshe, Aharon and Calev. The question remains: Why was Yehoshua silent up to this point? This question, as well as our earlier query regarding the breakdown of leadership among the spies, can both be answered by a comment of the Sh"lah HaKadosh (Rabbi Yeshayahu Horowitz). He explains that, indeed, all the spies were great men, but the consideration of the ten errant spies was that they wished to remain in the desert with their beloved leader Moshe. They did not reject the Land of Israel, but preferred to learn Torah from Moshe in exile. They appreciated that the Land was, indeed, a Holy Land, a special land, but they believed that the Jews needed to earn their entry into the Land. They knew that the Land of Israel would "vomit out" any who were undeserving1. This would explain the passage from the Zohar cited above: Their choice to remain in the desert was not a cynical misuse of power; rather, it was an earnest, well thought-out strategy. They felt the People were simply unready to enter the Land, and that they needed the old generation of leadership, of the type represented by Moshe. Their mandate, of course, was fact-finding; they were not asked to draw conclusions. Perhaps power, which is often intoxicating, clouded their judgment and brought them to the conclusion that the generation still needed them as leaders and Moshe as teacher. This understanding of the spies' intent is entirely contingent on the knowledge that Moshe would not be entering the Land, that Moshe would not be leading the Jews across the Jordan to Israel. But why would they have suspected that this would be the case? If we follow the chronology of the narrative, Moshe had not yet sinned by striking the rock, and it had not yet been decreed that he would die and be buried in the desert.

1

See comments by Rav Tzaddok Hakohen in “Pri Tzaddik”

An enigmatic passage in last week's Parsha provides the key to unraveling this mystery. We are told that Moshe gathered seventy elders and the Divine Spirit rested on them, and they began to prophesize. In the aftermath, we are told: Two men remained in the camp. One was named Eldad and the other Medad, and the Spirit rested upon them...and they prophesized in the camp...and Yehoshua bin Nun, the servant of Moshe since his youth, said: 'My master Moshe, arrest them, stop them.' And Moshe said to him, "Are you jealous for me? Would that all the nation were prophets, and that G-d will rest His Spirit upon them. (11:26-29) Here, Yehoshua speaks. Moshe's honor is his foremost concern. But what was it that evinced such a strong response from Yehoshua? Seventy elders had just prophesized; what was it about these two prophets in the camp that so upset Yehoshua? Perhaps the content of their prophecy is what concerned him: And what did they prophesize? They said, 'Moshe dies, and Yehoshua leads to the Land. (Sanhedrin 17a) Yehoshua's outburst is understandable. This terrible prophecy must be false, he thinks. He calls upon Moshe to silence them. Moshe's response is all the more poignant, for at this point Moshe understands that he is not to enter the Land2. Yet Moshe instructs Yehoshua not to be jealous for him. The Zohar explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, in effect said to him: On every such occasion you wish to die, so “I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them”. Observe that Moshe was here made to know that he would die [in the wilderness] and not enter into the Land, as, in fact, Eldad and Medad announced. This is a lesson that in time of wrath a man ought not to utter anything in the nature of a curse against himself, inasmuch as ever so many malignant powers are standing by, ready to take up that utterance. On the other occasion, when Moshe prayed for death to himself his request was not taken up, for the reason that Moshe meant it all for the benefit of Israel. Here, on the other hand, Moshe only gave vent to his anger and anguish of heart; his words, therefore, were taken up, and Eldad and Medad, who remained in the camp, announced, “Moshe will be gathered in and Yehoshua will bring Israel into the Land”. This made Yehoshua jealous for the sake of Moshe, and so he came to him and said, “My lord Moshe, restrain them”, or, as we might also render, “withhold from them these words”. But Moshe, regardless of his own glory, did not consent. Observe the meekness evinced in the reply of Moshe: “Are you jealous for my sake?” Happy is the portion of Moshe, who rose high above the highest prophets. 2

Zohar, Bemidbar, Section 3, Page 157a: ‘For Moses already knew at this time that he was not to enter the land, and since he wanted to know of it before he departed, he sent the spies. When they failed to bring him back a proper report, he did not send again, but waited till God showed him the land.’

R. Yehudah remarked, ‘All the prophets were to Moses like the moon to the sun.’ (Zohar 155b)3 Our earlier questions are thus resolved: The spies were aware of the dreadful prophecy that Moshe would not lead the People into the Land of Israel. The "spies" knew that the path which would lead to the Land would be one fraught with spiritual and physical perils, and they felt that the People were not yet wellenough prepared to face the challenges ahead. They sought to "buy time", time in which the entire nation, and the leaders in particular, could benefit from Moshe's teaching and become ready for the tasks they would face. In a word, they felt the people were not ready to enter the Land, nor leave Moshe behind. Yehoshua was effectively placed in an impossible position. Had he spoken out and expressed any desire to enter the Land, he would have been accused of seeking power. Had he expressed faith, in the face of the other spies' message of despair, he would have been called treacherous, faithless, and megalomaniacal. Yehoshua had no choice but to remain silent4. The other ten spies did not account for Calev's bravery, but when we consider who Calev was and where he came from, we can gain insight into his strength. The two dissident spies, Calev and Yehoshua, were from the tribes of Yehuda and Yosef respectively, the two tribes which will one day produce the two Messiahs, Son of David and Son of Yosef. Yehoshua served as the prototype for the Messiah Son of Yosef, whose role focuses on the physical deliverance of the Nation of Israel, just as Yosef himself was the great provider, "HaMashbir", for his entire generation. Calev, though, from the Tribe of Yehuda, is an essential link in the chain leading to the Davidic Dynasty, which culminates in Messiah Son of David. While the other spies outmaneuvered Yehoshua, forcing him into silence, they did not anticipate the profundity of Calev's spirit. Calev, from the Tribe of Yehuda, is the prototype of Davidic leadership which brought the Temple to fruition. Calev's spirit is foreshadowed in the text, when we are told: They entered in the Negev and he came up to Hevron (13:22) Here, Rashi notes the peculiarity in the text: The first half of the verse is plural, the second singular, which leads Rashi to state, based on a Talmudic teaching, that Calev went to Hevron alone, in order to pray over the graves of his ancestors. As a reward for Calev's later actions, he is allotted Hevron as his inheritance (see Devarim 1:36 and Shoftim 1:20). There is another aspect of Hevron; not only did Calev pray at the graves of his ancestors, he also effectively established the spiritual antecedents of the reign of King David: And the years that David ruled over Israel were forty years. In Hevron, he ruled seven years, and in Yerushalayim thirty-three years (Kings I, 2:11).

3 4

For a discussion on the other occasions when Moshe wished to die see Parshat Bahalotcha, and Parshat Titzaveh. See the comments of the Alshich Hakadosh, where he offers two possible reasons for Yehosha’s silence, the first is as I suggested, the other is in deference to his teacher Moshe.

The beginning of David's monarchy is in Hevron, in the portion of Calev. If the foundation of the Davidic Dynasty lies in the greatness of Yehuda, the infrastructure for that Dynasty lies in Calev5. This was something the spies never anticipated. The error of the spies, placing their devotion to Moshe (and their own jobs) over their love for the Land, was justified in their minds as "true dedication to Torah". This error is mirrored in another episode later in the Parsha: And the Children of Israel were in the desert, and they found a man gathering wood (literally, trees) on the Sabbath. (15:32) Tosefot (Baba Batra 119b) explains that this episode immediately follows the incident of the spies. The entire generation, with the exception of Yehoshua and Calev, has just been sentenced to perish in the desert. The man who gathered the wood on Shabbat felt the People may have given up on Jewish practice, feeling that their actions were no longer relevant. He deliberately desecrated the Sabbath in order to force the issue, to demonstrate that they would still be held responsible for their actions. In the words of the Targum Yonatan (Yerushalmi), the wood-gatherer desecrated the Sabbath in order to illustrate what the punishment for this sin would be. The common denominator between the explanations of the Tosefot and the Targum is that the wood-gatherer gives up his life for Torah. He certainly saw his own behavior as heroic; like the spies, he had placed Torah on a pedestal, in conflict with the Word of G-d and the teachings of Moshe. The spies, and the wood-gatherer soon after, distorted Torah. The spies were sent to inspect the Land: "And to see if the Land is fat or thin, if it has a tree or not... (13:20) According to the Zohar, Moshe is asking about a specific tree, the Tree of Life.

5

See Zohar, Shemoth, Section 2, Page 31a: “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully...” (Num. XIV, 24). “Another spirit” signifies that Caleb separated himself from the other spies and went alone to Hevron in order to prostrate himself at the Cave of Machpelah before the graves of the Patriarchs; and Hevron was allotted to him as his inheritance, as it is written: “To him will I give the land that he has trodden upon” (Deut. I, 36). And why was Hevron given to him? There is an esoteric reason for this, the same which also underlies David's connection with Hevron. For we find that when Shaul died and David enquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?”, the answer was that he should go up into Hevron (2 Sam. II, 1). Now, since Saul was dead and David already the rightful king, why did he not at once proclaim his rule over the whole land? Why was it necessary for him to go to Hevron and there become anointed as king over Judah only for seven years, not being declared monarch over the whole of Israel until after the death of Ish-Boshet? Truly, the Holy One, blessed be His Name, had a deep purpose in this. The holy kingdom could not be fully established without first attaching itself to the patriarchs in Hevron. When that contact was established the kingdom was firmly erected with support from the world above, whose symbol, in David's case, was “seven years,” seven being the number of perfection, because it contains all. So when it is said of the Temple, “And he built it seven years”, the same perfection is suggested. Now, David desired to build the perfect kingdom here below as a counterpart of the Kingdom above; but before he could achieve his desire he had to acquire power for the task by attaching himself to the patriarchs for “seven” years. Only thus was he enabled to establish his kingdom in perfection, in the fashion of the Kingdom of supernal light: a kingdom never to be shaken. And, guided by a similar inspiration, Calev also went to Hevron.’

The first instruction that Moshe gave to the spies was to inquire “whether there were trees in it or no”. In fact, Moshe knew already, and what he really referred to was the Tree of Life, of which the proper place is the terrestrial Garden of Eden. He said: If this tree is in it, I shall enter, but if not, I shall not be able to enter. Observe that there are two Trees, one higher and one lower, in the one of which is life and in the other death, and he who confuses them brings death upon himself in this world and has no portion in the world to come.’ Said R. Isaac: ‘Moshe took to himself the Tree of Life, and therefore he wished to know whether it was in the land or not. (Zohar 157a). The wood-gatherer, on the other hand, gathers the trees together, effectively confusing the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life – causing death. The Torah is compared to the Tree of Life; this is what Moshe is seeking. The spies' confusion begins when they do not find the Tree of Life and the Garden of Eden in Israel. They think that Moshe seeks life for himself at all costs. Their actions, despite their good intentions, had a disastrous effect on the community, who were quickly frightened and lost faith. The wood-gatherer confused the different types of trees, symbolically represented by his gathering the trees together, thereby allowing him to sacrifice his life in order to teach an idea, or perhaps a nuance of an idea6. Both the spies and the wood-gatherer were well intentioned, but neither consulted with Moshe. Instead, they distorted the teachings of Torah, and the results were disastrous. The spies chose Torah in exile over inheriting the Land without Moshe; the wood-gatherer hoped to illustrate that there was no goal for the Jewish People other than Torah, in its narrowest application - which was suicidal. But both of these trends of thought are deviations. True Torah is a Tree of Life for all who embrace her, a way of life and a way of living in this world. Neither the spies nor the wood-gatherer understood that. The Parsha concludes with the instructions regarding tzitzit. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying. Speak to the people of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a thread of blue. And it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, which incline you to go astray. That you may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord your God. (15:37-41)

6

Zohar 205b – Zeloph’had was one of the principal men of the sons of Joseph, but because he did not know the ways of the Torah sufficiently he did not become their prince.

The Torah uses the term “seek” Taturu – it is fascinating that this term has been used numerous times in the Parsha describing the mandate of the spies. Tzitit is a tool designed to remind us to adhere to all the commandments. The linguistic parallel with the spies who decompartmentalized their religious experience and allowed concern for their roles to seduce their thoughts, and create a worldview based on a warped view of their task. Here the torah warns And it shall be to you for a all the commandments of after your own heart and That you may remember, your God.

fringe, that you may look upon it, and remember the Lord, and do them; and that you seek not your own eyes, which incline you to go astray. and do all my commandments, and be holy to

Man is often guilty of subjective thinking, tzitzit work to keep the commandments together as an organic whole. The tool which the torah suggests to keep in mind all the commandments, is the tzitzit with the blue and white strings. The blue indicating the heavenly, the divine, and the white, the earthly, the logical. Only when the two are bound together can man make the proper choices. And defeat the subjectivism inherent within man.7 The spies where guilty of being a too “logical”, using a bit too much “white”. On the other hand the woodgatherer was guilty of using too much blue, sacrificing himself misguidedly for a greater goal. Had any of these people consulted with Moshe, all the mistakes in this Parsha could have been avoided. For posterity, man is instructed via the tzitzit, to recall all the commandments, and to merge the logical with the metalogical, thereby creating a holistic relationship with G-d.

7

See the discussion in Parshat Vayetze, where I expand on the symbolism of blue and white.