[Tal
Chermon]
On
the way to Eretz Yisrael, traveling through the vast threatening desert, the
Nation of Israel continued to experience crisis after crisis. These crises taught them the values of the
Torah and what it means to belong to the Nation of Israel. The greatest crisis was that of the Spies: their
failure revealed Israel's rejection of the Promised Land. The severity of the sin may be deduced from
the severity of the punishment: "Your carcasses shall fall in this
wilderness" (Bemidbar. 14:29). All
adults who accepted the evil report of the spies were to die in the desert.
But
that was not the end. This sin has haunted us throughout the centuries. The maxim, "The deeds of the fathers are
a precedent for the sons" (see commentary of Ramban to Bereshit 12:6)
holds in both positive and negative cases. It is not merely a case of formal precedent-setting;
the deeds of the fathers set a precedent for us because we are their
continuation, cut from the same cloth.
We have inherited their character traits, and our deeds therefore reflect
and repeat theirs, both positively and negatively. The sin of the spies revealed a certain
spiritual flaw, a lack of faith and of love for the Land, of indifference,
emotional distance, and even rejection.
This flaw has passed from one generation to the next, infecting the sons
and their sons after them.
Historically,
the phenomenon of the rejection of Eretz Yisrael repeated itself during the
Second Temple Period, when only a small fraction of the Nation chose to return
to Eretz Yisrael. In general it was the
poor and underprivileged who followed Ezra.
The scholars, the wealthy, and the Levi'im chose to remain in Babylonia,
a prosperous, flourishing Jewish community (See Ezra 2 with Rashi. See Ketubot 25, Kiddushin 69a with Rashi). According to the Kuzari (2:24): "Only a
few of them responded to Ezra's call, most, including the important people,
remained in Babylonia."
A
similar phenomenon occurred in the past century when many great rabbis and
leaders ignored the national revival and preferred to remain in the Exile. Sadly, just as the spiritual flaw and the sin
repeat themselves in history, so too does the punishment. The weeping which
occurred that night, the eve of Tisha B'Av, has become "a weeping for all
generations." (Ta'anit 29a).
Both
the First and the Second Temples were destroyed on Tisha B'av. The exile from Spain and World War I, among
other catastrophes, began on Tisha B'Av. Only partial punishment was meted out to the
Generation of the Wilderness. We have
been receiving the remainder bit by bit ever since.
Who
were the men who spoke evil of Eretz Yisrael? "And Moshe sent them from the wilderness
of Paran according to the word of G-d, all of them important personages, the
leaders of the Children of Israel" (Bemidbar 13:3). "They were
important men, and the righteous ones at that time" (Rashi ibid.). There was no sudden change in their
personalities. The weakness which had existed in potential simply now found its
expression: "And they went ... and they came" (ibid. 13:26). "Just
as they returned with bad intent, so too did they start out with bad
intent" (Sotah 35a). Were they
wicked or were they righteous?
The
answer is that there are different kinds of righteousness. There are people who are personally Torah
observant, but when it comes to national concerns, their behavior leaves much
to be desired. In contrast, there are
those who are devoted with all their hearts to their Land and Nation, but are
not personally devout. King Shaul, for
example, was more righteous in his personal life than King David (Yoma 22b and
Moed Katan 22b), but he failed as a King when it came to leading the Nation in
the war against Amalek.
This
also explains the conclusion of the Chesed L'Avraham (Ma'ayan 3, Nahar 12) that
anyone who lives in Eretz Yisrael may be considered righteous - otherwise the
Land would expel him.
Superficially,
this is hard to comprehend. However, if
this refers NOT to the righteousness of his private life - how observant he is
of the 613 Mitzvot - but rather to how devoted he is to his Land and Nation,
then it is quite reasonable. Both types
of righteousness are needed, and the Redemption will come when each type of
person perfects himself by becoming wholly righteous (Orot of Maran Ha-Rav
Kook, p.84).
The
Spies, like many other righteous men, did not behave in such an admirable fashion
in their public lives. The Zohar tells us about the special evil impulse
reserved for the very (personally) righteous: "The Serpent nests in the
highest mountain tops - i.e. the sages and the righteous" (Tikunei Zohar,
end of Tikkun 13 and commentaries). This
evil impulse feeds on spiritual motivation. Defense of Torah observance and the need to
combat evil practices among those who build the Land become excuses for not
supporting our national redemption. This
is the evil impulse disguised as Torah observance. "And the great leaders
of Israel will have to stand trial in the Heavenly Court for this matter. G-d will hold them responsible for
humiliating His House" (Or Ha-Chaim Ha-Kadosh, Vayikra 25:25).
How
could such great men commit such a sin? What were the spiritual and
psychological elements which led them to do it?
An
important factor in any sin is personal interest. When a man imagines that he will suffer some
personal setback, it is difficult for him to remain objective. As Mesilat Yesharim teaches in chapter 11:
"The heart may be deceived, and if we investigate, we discover that it had
some slight unworthy desire…for man is by nature weak and it is easy to deceive
him into permitting things in which he has a personal interest." According
to our sages, the Spies had reason to believe that once they entered the Promised
Land, they would no longer be the leaders of the Nation, as they had been in
Egypt and in the desert.
There
is another explanation: it was not personal wealth or honor which the spies
sought, but rather spiritual wealth. They did not share the vision of "Malchut
Israel" [the Kingdom of Israel], as the only way to bring about the
greatest sanctification of G-d's Name and the means by which G-d's rule in this
world evidences itself, as we pray every day in "Aleinu". According to the Kuzari (2, 24), the Holy One
rebukes the righteous of each generation, saying: "You righteous! Although the words of my Torah are dear to
you, it is unseemly that you yearned for My Torah and not for My
Kingship."
The
Spies panicked at the idea of the Nation of Israel settling the Land. They worried that preoccupation with politics,
military and economic affairs would estrange them from the Torah. It was the "Eidah," the Sanhedrin,
who were responsible for the spiritual welfare of the Nation, who wanted to
stone Moshe Rabeinu. They claimed Eretz Yisrael
was "a Land that devours its inhabitants," that the temptations there
would spoil their character (Chidushei Ha-Rim). This same claim reappears at the beginning of
the Second Temple Period, when many of the great leaders of the Nation refused
to leave Babylonia and go to Eretz Yisrael because Jewish life in Babylonia was
much more established and secure (see Kuzari 2:22-24). This is a negative phenomenon, even if
motivated by spiritual considerations, as our Sages taught: "One should
always try to live in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city where the majority are
idol-worshippers, rather than live outside of Israel, even in a city where the
majority are Jews (Ketubot 110b).
There
is no doubt that it is difficult to sustain a spiritual existence while
concurrently leading a public life, however, it is not impossible (see Rav Kook's
introduction to Shabbat Ha-Aretz). Although
the spies, "the heretic Tzadikim" (see Sotah 48b), warned: "We
cannot go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than us"
(Bemidbar 13:31), Calev and Yehoshua were adamant that "We shall surely go
up and possess it, for we are certainly able to" - Even if Eretz Yisrael
were in the sky, and G-d had commanded us to build ladders and climb up, we
would be able to do it! (ibid. v. 30, and Rashi's commentary there). Eretz Yisrael is the ladder by which we reach
heaven. It is precisely the
"earthly" preoccupation with settling the Land which raises us to the
highest spiritual heights, by virtue of the sanctity of the Promised Land.
