There are currently more than 100,000 Israelis abroad, stranded in dozens of countries ever since this current war closed the airspace above Israel. Yet the overriding concern of all these Israelis abroad is how to come home despite the missiles from Iran.
What was the sin of the spies?
When Moshe despatched them on their mission, he gave them a clear brief:
“Ascend here through the Negev, and ascend the mountain; see how the Land is, and the nation that dwells upon it: Whether it is strong or weak, if it is numerous or few. And how is the Land upon which it dwells: Is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they dwell – are they open or fortified? And how is the Land? Is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Strengthen yourselves, and take of the fruit of the land” (Numbers 13:17-20).
And when they completed their 40-day mission and delivered their report, they ostensibly did no more and no less than fulfil this brief:
“When they returned from spying out the Land at the end of forty days, they…came to Moshe, to Aaron, and to the entire congregation of the Children of Israel…and they said: We came to the Land which you sent us to, it is indeed milk and honey – and this is its fruit! However – the nation which wells there is fierce, the cities are mightily fortified, and we also saw children of the giant there. Amalek dwells in the southland, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highland, and the Canaanites dwell by the coast and the River Jordan” (vs. 25-29).
The question remains: What was their sin? Did they not give an accurate description of the Land? Did they not do exactly as Moshe had instructed?
– Evidently not; because the Torah itself calls their debriefing דִּבַּת הָאָרֶץ, “slander of the Land” (Numbers 13:32 and 14:37).
1. First, and maybe most obviously, they had no business whatsoever giving their report to “the entire congregation of the Children of Israel”: they were supposed to return to the Israelite Camp to be debriefed by Moshe.
2. But there is more. Rabbi Yitzchak Arama (Spain & Italy, c.1420-1494), in his Torah-commentary Akeidat Yitzchak (Chapter 77), explains with a parable:
“This is like a man who told his agent: Go to the wholesaler and find me a tallit that he has in store, and check the quality of the wool and linen, its length, breadth, appearance, and price, and report back to me…
“If this agent returns and says: ‘I saw it; the wool is clean, this is its length and breadth, and its appearance is greenish or reddish, and it costs a thousand gold coins’ – he has thereby fulfilled his mission faithfully…
“But if he says: ‘I saw it; it is good and wide, and its wool is good and clean – but its appearance is greenish or reddish, and it is expensively priced at a thousand gold coins’ – then he is no longer acting as an agent, he has made himself an advisor”.
The spies used the qualifying word אֶפֶס, which I have translated above as “However” (“However – the nation which wells there is fierce…). It literally means “nothing”, as if to say: All the good qualities of the Land are as nothing, because the inhabitants are too mighty for us.
And indeed they rapidly dropped even the pretence of being objective agents for Moshe: when Calev attempted to silence the nation, attempting to inspire with his words “We can certainly go up and inherit it, because we can certainly overcome it!” (Numbers 13:30), they responded:
“We cannot go up against the nation, because it is stronger than us!” (v. 31).
It is even worse than it reads in English translation. The Hebrew word מִמֶּנּוּ, which I translated here as “than us”, as do almost all translations, is ambiguous: it can also mean “than him”. Hence the spies’ blasphemous warning: “We cannot go up against the nation, because it is stronger than Him!” – suggesting that the Canaanite nations were stronger than G-d Himself!
This is how both Rabbi Chanina bar Papa (Sotah 35a, Menachot 53b, Arachin 15a et al.) and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish (Yerushalmi Ta’anit 4:5, Bamidbar Rabbah 16:11, Tanhuma Shelach Lecha 11 et al.) interpreted the spies’ words.
Both Rabbi Chanina bar Papa and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish (“Reish Lakish”) were disciples of Rabbi Yochanan (Yerushalmi Bava Kamma 10:5 & Ta’anit 8a), who was in turn a disciple of both Hizkiyah (Eiruvin 21a) and of Rabbi Yannai (Bava Batra 154b), both of whom were disciples of Rabbi Yehudah the Nasi (“Prince”, meaning Head of the Sanhedrin) (Sanhedrin 38a & Bava Batra 84b), who was in turn a disciple of Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua (Eiruvin 53a), who was in turn among the last disciples of Rabbi Akiva (Yevamot 62b).
This means that ultimately, it was Rabbi Akiva’s teaching that inspired Rabbi Chanina bar Papa and Reish Lakish to suggested that the spies believed that the Canaanites were more powerful than G-d Himself.
Rabbi Akiva, the greatest Master of the Talmud; the hero who took up arms against the Roman Empire, who led 24,000 warrior-disciples against this mightiest empire the world had even seen, in a desperate effort to liberate Israel and bring the Redemption.
Rabbi Akiva, the scholar-warrior, who was eventually arrested by the Romans and was tortured to death, and who died with “Shema Yisrael” on his lips (Berachot 61b).
Rabbi Akiva, who inspired generations to fight for the Land of Israel, and who infused them with the understanding that denying the Land of Israel was equivalent to denying G-d Himself.
Little wonder, then, that Rabbi Chanina bar Papa and Reish Lakish taught us that the ten spies’ rejection of the Land of Israel was a rejection of G-d Himself.
The Torah does not tell us exactly when the spies delivered their evil and blasphemous report, but we can calculate easily enough:
They left Mount Sinai on the 20th of Iyyar in the second year after the Exodus (Numbers 10:11), and travelled for three days (v. 33), reaching Kivrot ha-Ta’avah on the 22nd of Iyyar, where they remained for 30 days (11:20) until the 21st of Sivan. From there they travelled to Hazerot, where they were delayed for 7 days (12:15), until the 27th of Sivan. From there they travelled to the Paran Desert, which they reached on the 28th of Sivan, and the next day, the 29th of Sivan, Moshe sent forth the twelve spies on their 40-day reconnaissance mission (Seder Olam Rabbah Chapter 8).
They delivered their evil report 40 days later on the 8th of Av, and that night, the 9th of Av, the Children of Israel, utterly demoralised by the faithlessness of their leaders, wept in despair.
This day, the 9th of Av, has remained a day of disaster ever since.
But our generation has demonstrated…is in the process of demonstrating at this very time, that they have finally rejected the sin of the spies.
I write these words as Israel is under missile-attack from Iran and from Yemen. We are in the midst of a war for our very survival. Since last Thursday night/Friday morning we haven’t slept a single night uninterrupted by the wailing sirens and missile-attacks.
We all have to remain at all times within a few minutes of a reinforced concrete shelter. The sirens may begin their wailing at any moment.
And the people of Israel?
– There are currently more than 100,000 Israelis abroad, stranded in dozens of countries ever since this current war closed the airspace above Israel. No civilian aircraft are flying to or from Israel.
Yet the overriding concern of all these Israelis abroad is how to come home. With missiles flying, with hundreds of thousands of men and women drafted into milu’im (Army Reserve Duty), with heavy property damage throughout the country, with some 24 Israelis killed (at the time of writing: be’ezrat Hashem may that number not rise) –
Israelis are determined to come home to Israel.
This is a resounding rejection of the sin of the spies. The spies no doubt feared that entering the Land of Israel and conquering it would involve war. No doubt part of their rationale was pikuach nefesh, saving lives. In the desert they were safe, they had no need of weapons, they had no enemies – so remaining in the desert would save lives.
But that wasn’t G-d’s plan for His nation. His plan was for the nation of Israel to dwell in the Land of Israel; securely if possible, but a war of conquest was inevitable.
Our generation has shown unequivocally that it is loyal to its nation and to its Land.
This coming Wednesday will be the 29th of Sivan, the day that Moshe dispatched the spies on their ill-fated mission.
This generation is in the process of spurning everything that the ten spies represented. Jews are flowing to Israel in greater numbers than ever before.
Maybe – just maybe – the curse of the spies has at last run its course.
Maybe – just maybe – this year the Three Weeks, beginning just over three weeks from now, and culminating on the 9th of Av, can at last change from a time of mourning to a time of celebration, and the 9th of Av itself from a time of destruction to the time of redemption that it was always destined to be.
