From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 3:11
AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Shelach,
5765
Raid!!!
By
Rabbi Joshua (entomologically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
This week's parsha relates the mission of the twelve meraglim
- spies, or scouts - who were sent to scout the land of Cana'an before the
nation entered it. Ten of the meraglim came back and told the people they would
not be able to conquer the land. Only two of those sent - Yehoshua and Caleiv -
insisted that they would be able to conquer it. How were they able to withstand
the pressure of the other meraglim, and act independently? Rashi mentions a
midrash which says that Moshe prayed that Yehoshua should not be influenced by
the evil plans of the other meraglim. Caleiv, however, managed, on his own, to
withstand the mergalim's plans. The rabbis tell us that during the mission,
Caleiv went to Chevron and prostrated himself at the graves of the nation's
forefathers. We need to understand why Moshe felt a need to pray for Yehoshua,
and, also, in what way the preventative measure of Caleiv related to the
challenge that the meraglim posed to the success of the entire mission.
When the meraglim returned with their report, they referred to
the inhabitants of their land as giants, and added, "We were like grasshoppers
in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes" (Bamidbar 13:33). How did the
meraglim know what these giants thought of them? Rashi, citing the Talmud (Sotah
35a), says that they heard them saying to each other that there were ants in the
vineyards that looked like men. Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski noted the change in
the identity of the insect between the remark of the giants and the report of
the meraglim, and explained that a certain psychological process had occurred.
The meraglim, seeing the size of the inhabitants of the land, viewed themselves,
in comparison, as grasshoppers, and thus projected their inner sense of low
self-esteem. As a result, the giants saw them as being even smaller, and said
that they were ants. We thus learn that if someone projects a sense of low
self-esteem, others will see him as even lower than he sees himself. This
explanation is somewhat difficult, because it assumes that ants are on a lower
level of existence than grasshoppers, simply because they are smaller. One could
argue, however, that ants are more productive, and, thus, on a higher level than
grasshoppers, which can be quite destructive, as the Egyptians at the time of
the exodus learned. I would, therefore, like to present a different explanation
of the verse, and of the switch in the description of the meraglim from
grasshoppers to ants, as mentioned in the Talmud.
My
teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, zt"l, explained the remark of the meraglim that
they viewed themselves as grasshoppers in a way that is exactly the opposite of
the way in which Rabbi Twerski explained it. He said that the meraglim viewed
themselves as grasshoppers because of the way that they were viewed by the
giants. From this self-perception, he added, we can derive the general principle
that a person views himself the way others view him. Rav Aharon, however, did
not comment on the Talmudic explanation, which says that the giants referred to
the meraglim as ants. I believe that a comment of Rav Levi Yitzchak of
Berditchev can help us understand this change, from ants to grasshoppers, in a
way that is consistent with the explanation of the verse given by Rav Aharon.
Rav Levi Yitzchak, in his Kedushas Levi, explains the imagery of
the ants in a very interesting way. He mentions the statement of the rabbis
that, had the Torah not been given, we could have learned various character
traits and moral standards from the animals, and even from insects. For example,
we could have learned from the ants that it is wrong to steal, because ants are
careful not to take that which does not belong to them. The midrash tells us
that King Ptolmey told the Jews that they did not have a right to the land of
Cana'an, because God, who created the world and could give it to whomever He
wished, had given that land to its local inhabitants. This is, therefore, what
the meraglim heard the giants saying, that the people they saw in the vineyards
would not try to capture the land, since that would constitute theft, and the
ants teach us that one should not steal. The giants, of course, were wrong,
since God can also take the land from its previous owners and give it to someone
else, as Rashi in the beginning of parshas Bereishis says. However, the
meraglim, after hearing the comment of the giants, referring to them as ants and
saying that they did not have a right to the land, began to doubt the morality
of conquering Eretz Yisroel from the Cana’anites, and began to view themselves
as grasshoppers, about to launch a destructive war of conquest against the
people they were now convinced were the rightful owners of the land.
Based on our analysis of the imagery of ants and grasshoppers
as used in the sources we have seen, we can now understand why Moshe prayed
specifically for Yehoshua before the meraglim went out on their mission. Moshe
knew that Yehoshua would be the person who would lead the nation in its war of
conquest once it entered the land. He also knew that a military commander who
does not believe in the righteousness of his cause will most likely not be very
successful in his mission. Therefore, Moshe was especially worried that Yehoshua
might be influenced by the attitude the meraglim were open to adopt after
scouting out the land and hearing what its inhabitants thought about the nation
that intended to conquer it. For this reason, Moshe prayed that Yehoshua would
not be influenced by their attitude. Caleiv was able to resist the attitude of
capitulation that developed among the meraglim even though he did not have the
benefit of Moshe's prayers, because he already had strong convictions about the
right of the nation to Eretz Yisroel. The fact that he went to Chevron to
prostrate himself before the graves of the nation's forefathers who were buried
there may have been a reflection of this conviction. Caleiv's attachment to
Chevron was emblematic of his understanding that the land of Cana'an was
promised to the nation by God, and that the argument of the giants overheard by
the meraglim was bogus. Unfortunately, the other ten meraglim believed that
argument and thus doubted the right of the nation to Eretz Yisroel. It is the
development of this attitude among the nation that we mourn each year on Tisha
B'Av, when the evil report of the meraglim was issued.
Please
address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following
address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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