From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 1:01 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Shelach, 5767



                                              
                                               The Cover - Up

                 By Rabbi Joshua (deceptively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman



  In memory of Esther bas Yaakov, great aunt of Dr. Larry Bryskin, whose yohrzeit will be this coming Sunday, the 24th of Sivan. May her memory be a blessing.


  This week’s parsha recounts the episode of the spies sent by Moshe to tour the Holy Land and bring back a report to the people. The Torah lists the names of the twelve spies, including Hoshea bin Nun, and then tells us that Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun Yehoshua. Rashi explains that Moshe prayed to God, signified by the additional letter ‘yud,’ that He save Yehoshua from the plot of the spies. The commentators ask why Moshe prayed only for Yehoshua. Rav Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz, in his Keli Yakar, explains that Moshe was afraid that since Yehoshua was such a close student of his, people would associate whatever he did with his teacher. Therefore, if he joined in the plot of the other spies, it would give the impression that Moshe, as well, rejected Eretz Yisroel. However, this kind of fear does not seem realistic, because Moshe was always identified  by the people as the person who was leading them into the land, so it is unlikely that they would associate any attempt by Yehoshua to dissuade them from going with a similar intent by Moshe.


  Another answer, offered by Rabbi Yitzchak Avigor in his work LiVenei Mitzvah, is that Moshe was afraid lest Yehoshua, as a devoted student, would want to join the plot of the spies in order to prolong Moshe’s life, and he already knew of Eldad and Medad’s prophecy that Moshe would die and Yehoshua would bring them into the land. The longer the entrance of the people to the land would be delayed, then, the longer Moshe would live. Moshe, therefore, was afraid that Yehohua would join in the plot to discourage the people from wanting to go to Eretz Yisroel, but for a reason of his own, namely, in order to prolong Moshe’s life and leadership role. That is why Moshe prayed specifically for Yehoshua. This answer, too, seems to take the notion of Moshe’s fear for Yehoshua being caught in the plot of the spies beyond a simple fear that he would fall into a plot originated by them into a line of reasoning all his own. However, it is better understood by placing it in the context of an understanding of the reasoning behind the other spies, as well. Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohein, in his commentary Semuchin LaAd, provides us with that context.


  Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohein suggests there, that the plot of the other spies, also, was motivated by a desire to prolong Moshe’s life and leadership role by causing the people to stay in the wilderness for forty years. He says that this can be seen as another reason for the juxtaposition of the episode of the spies to the section dealing with the leshon hora that Miriam and Aharon spoke regarding Moshe. Just as, in that case, the rabbis pointed out that Aharon and Miriam loved Moshe, and only said what they did of him for his own benefit, so too, the spies issued a bad report on the land for Moshe’s benefit, in order to prolong his life. This being so, it is easier to understand Moshe’s fear that Yehoshua, in his love for his teacher, might somehow be persuaded to join the other spies in their plot to do the same thing. Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohein says, however, that the spies erred on two counts. First, their deviation from Moshe’s plan for them to encourage the people to want to enter the land led, eventually, to blasphemy when they told the people that the land is too difficult for even God to conquer (see Bamidbar 13:32, and Rashi there). Moreover, the motivation of the spies, according to this explanation, was actually similar to the motivation of King Chizkiyahu. The Talmud (Berachos 10a) tells us that Chizkiyahu refrained from marrying because he knew through ‘ruach hakodesh,’ or divine inspiration, that he would have children who were not virtuous. God punished Chizkiyahu with a severe illness, and the prophet Yeshayahu told him that he would die fifteen years before his time for doing this, because he had no business tampering with God’s plans for His world. What business do you have with God’s secrets, asked Yishaya. Do what you were commanded to do, and let God take care of His concerns.  Eventually, he repented and the divine decree was rescinded. So too, the spies, according to Rabbi HaKohein, tried tampering with God’s plans for His world, which is something that people should not attempt to do. Moshe feared that Yehoshua would be caught up in this plot, and therefore prayed to God to save him from doing so.



  I would like to add two additional points to the approach of the Semuchin LaAd. First, the two reasons that he gives to explain why the spies were mistaken can be seen as one and the same reason. Tampering with God’s plans for the world, I believe, may be seen as an act of blasphemy, because it questions God's omniscience, His understanding of the wider picture, and how all events work together in a way that allows for the ultimate realization of His goals for the world. Thus, when the spies tried to thwart God’s plan for Moshe’s death and his succession by Yehoshua, they were in effect both tampering with His plans and denying His total mastery of the workings of the universe. I would also like to suggest that when the spies, according to this explanation, were ostensibly trying to prolong Moshe’s leadership role and life span, what they were really trying to do was prolong their own leadership roles.


  The Zohar says that the spies heard a prophecy that when the nation would enter the land, they would appoint new leaders to replace the current ones. Thus, the spies who were the nesi’im, the princes of the tribes, stood to lose that status once the people entered the land. Therefore, they plotted to turn the people’s hearts away from the land so that they would retain their leadership roles. This is the motivation attributed to them by the Zohar. Following the explanation of the Semuchin LaAd, perhaps we can say that the we can view their supposed plot to prolong Moshe’s years of leadership as a cover-up for their real, perhaps unconscious motivation, which was to prolong their own years of leadership. This is a problem inherent in any attempt to deviate from God’s orders, even when motivated by seemingly good intentions. Anyone who does so, committing what is known in the Talmud as an ‘aveirah lishmah,’ or a sin for the sake of heaven, must be wary that he is really motivated by his own self- interest. This was the trap that Moshe feared Yehoshua would fall into, and that is why he prayed for his welfare.



  Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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