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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