Mea Culpa

By Rabbi Joshua (culpably known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

The book of Devarim begins with the oration that Moshe delivered to the Jewish people before he died. In the first few verses, he lists various places There is an opinion, cited by Rashi, that some of these names are really allusions to sins that the people committed at certain times during their years in certain lowations in the wilderness. In any case, one of the places mentioned is Chatzeiros, which is the actual place where Miriam (and Aharon) spoke inappropriately about Moshe, and from which the spies were sent out and later brought back their bad report about the Holy Land. The Sifrei, cited with some variation by Rashi, relates that the people were now, after forty years in the wilderness,, being told, ' shouldn't you have learned from what I did to Miriam at Chatzeiros? If I did not show favor to the righteous Miriam (who was punished for speaking evil talk against Moshe) this would certainly be so for other people( if they would speak leshon hora. In other words, the spies should have learned a lesson from what happened to Miriam and not engaged in leshon hora, but they did not, in fact, learn from that earlier incident.

Rabbi Yaakov Rabinowitz, former dean of Yeshiva University's Isaac Breuer College, raises an interesting question, in his commentary Yemin Yaakov. Who, he asks, is speaking to the people and delivering this message? to them, according to the midrash? The first verse in Devarim says, ' These are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Yisroel... in Chatzeiros...' but the midrash seems to be conveying what God said at Chatzeiros. Moshe Rabbeinu, after all, didn't do anything to Miriam- it was God who punished her! In fact, says Rabbi Rabinowitz, the Malbim's understanding is that the first five verses in Devarim are an introduction, and Moshe's actual oration does not begin until verse six.It was God, then, who mentioned the sins in a veiled fashion so as not to shame the people too openly, and it was God who was telling them that they should have learned from what He did to Miriam at Chatzeiros.

However, argues Rabbi Rabinowitz, this does not seem to be how Rashi' undestands these verses, because Rashi says that Moshe spoke his words of rebuke to the entire nation so that no one would have challenged those remarks. Obviously, if it was God who was speaking, no one would later say that had he been there he would have protested.Rav Chaim ben Attar, in his Ohr Hachaim, does in fact say that it was Moshe who was speaking in the first five verses. If so, then the question returns, what did Moshe mean when he told the people to remember what he did to Miriam? Rabbi Rabinowitz suggests that Moshe was actually blaming himself for what happened to Miriam, because her remarks were generated by his actions. Even thogh Moshe was totally innocent of any wrong doing, he felt that he had some part in her sin. Rabbi Rabinowitz ends his remarks by saying that the matter still needs more analysis.

Perhaps we can explain Moshe's self-implication in Miriam's sin as part of his effort to deliver his admonition in a proper way. Someone who embarks on a mission of admonishing others needs to be careful not to hold himself above them in the sense of having no connection at all to their shortcomings. Rav Chaim of Volozhin, for example, used to say that when he would deliver a talk in which he admonished the audience, he really had intention for himself, but if he would deliver the talk to an empty room people would think that he was off his mind, so he delivered it to an audience. A story about Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook, zt'l that was circulating around Yeshivas Mercaz HoRav, of which he was Rosh HaYeshivah, whrn I was a student there ( 1972-1974) offers us, I believe, another rinsight into Moshe Rabbeinu's assumption of guilt in Miriam's sin,as suggested by Rabbi Rabinowitz.

Rav Tzvi Yehudah had put up, in the yeshiva, a sign which said that during the last fifteen minutes of the morning study session, people should learn the works of the Chafeitz Chaim on the laws of leshon hora. One day, Rav Tzvi Yehudah walked into the study hall at that time, walked around, and noticed that a large percentage of the students were continuing with their Talmudic studies, rather than studying the Chafeitz Chaim. Suddenly, he left the hall,and cound not be found for some time. Finally, he was found sitting alonein a room crying.When asked why he was doing so, he cited the Talmud in Berachos which says that if someone has fear of Heaven people accept what he says. The fact that people wee not listening to him indicated that he did not have the proper measure of fear of Heaven, and that was why he was crying. This remarkable story illustrates the quality of a true Jewish leader, who searches his own behavior for any flaws before blaming others when they aren't acting properly. This was the attitude taken by Moshe in admonishing the people, as well. Before criticizing others for any wrong doing, he first looked deeply into his own soul to see if anything that he had done contibuted to their failings.