From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 2:19 PM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Devorim, 5768- corrected version,incl. correction
to correction
Don't Be Confused
By Rabbi Joshua (socratically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
Moshe, in recounting the episode of the spies to the people, begins by
saying, "You approached me, all of you, and said, ' Let us send men ahead
of us and let then spy out the land..'" (Devorim 1:22). Rashi, commenting
on the opening words of Moshe, says that the people approached him as a rabble,
with the young pushing the elders, and the elders pushing the heads. Rashi's
super-commentaries explain that he inferred this from the seemingly superfluous
word ' kulchem' - all of you, and took it to mean that they came to him in an
unstructured, confused way. In contrast, says Rashi, after the revelation at
Mt. Sinai, when the people requested from Moshe that he do the rest of the
teaching, they approached him in a structured manner, as we find written there,
"and you approached me, all the heads of your tribes, and your
elders..." (Devorim 5:20). In that instance, says Rashi, the young honored
the elders, and sent them in front of them, and the elders honored the heads.
Why did Moshe find it important to mention this contrast to the people, and
what was he trying to teach them through it ? After all, this was all part of
Moshe's farewell oratory to them, and his purpose was to review what had
transpired over the past forty years, and derive lessons and inspiration
for the future. What, then, was he trying to teach them through pointing out
this difference between the two events?
One explanation could be that Moshe was simply teaching the people the
importance of clear thinking, and the pitfalls that one can encounter when
acting out of confusion. A teacher of mine in Skokie Yeshiva, Rabbi Selig
Starr, z"l, would always tell his students, in his modern-day version of
Socrates' teaching, ' Well yes, don't be confused. You should know what you
know, and know what you don't know." In a different context, Nathan
Sharansky, in his book The Case for Democracy, writes that a lack of clear
thinking accounts for many of the global problems that we face today. The
confused manner in which the people approached Moshe to ask that he send out
spies was a reflection of the confused state of mind they were in. Had they
been thinking clearly they would have understood that God had been leading them
until now, and was certainly capable of continuing to do so, and of bringing
them successfully into the Holy Land. Interestingly, I once heard from Rabbi
Yaakov Homnick that, according to the way Rashi interprets the Talmudic story
of Kamtza and bar Kamtza (Gittin 55a - see Rashi there, s.v. 'mephacheid,'
where he explains the reference to the verse cited as implying a need to
consider the consequences of one's actions), it was actually a lack of clear
thinking that brought about the tragic consequences of that event and its
aftermath, and eventually led to the destruction of the second Temple. Perhaps,
then, Moshe was teaching the people the importance of thinking clearly so that
they would understand how God was constantly exercising His providence over
them, and that they should respond accordingly.
I would, however, like to suggest another way of explaining Moshe's
message to the people in pointing out the contrast between how they approached
him at Mt. Sinai and how they approached him when they asked for spies to be
sent. I believe that Moshe was trying to convey to the people that their
attitude towards entering Eretz Yisroel needed to be informed by their experience
at Mt. Sinai. As a prelude to the divine revelation at Mt. Sinai, God told
Moshe that the people was to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
This charge entailed a commitment by each segment of the people to fulfill
their respective role in the land, so that, on a collective level, they would
become the kind of nation that would represent God in this world, and influence
all nations to lead a life informed by God's presence. When they asked Moshe,
after the revelation, to teach them, they did so in an orderly fashion, with
each segment ready to accept the role they were to play. This should have been
the spirit in which they approached their forthcoming entry into the
land, as well. By approaching Moshe in a confused manner, they indicated that
they were not ready to fulfill their purpose there, and, ultimately, the
episode of the spies proved this to be true. Now that the people were about to
enter the land after their forty-year sojourn in the wilderness, Moshe reminded
them of the mistake, so that they would not repeat it under his successor
Yehoshua, as he led them into the land.
Note: An astute subscriber pointed out that there was a mistake in the
correction to last week's Netvort that was appended to the first sending of
this week's Netvort. Therefore, I am including, along with the
corrections to this week's Netvort, a corrected version of the correction
to last week's, as well. I apologize for the compounded error, and,
in the spirit of this week's message, I hope that the mistakes and
corrections don't get people confused. JH
Correction : In last week's Netvort, the passage from Sotah 14a was
misquoted. We cited the gemara as saying that the Torah begins with the chesed
of God making a shiduch for Adam and Chava. However, the gemara there actually
says that the Torah begins with chesed in that God provided Adam and Chava with
clothing, and ends with chesed in that God Himself buried Moshe. Rabbi
Lieberman wrote that the Torah begins with the shidduch of Adam and Chava and
ends, in parshas Masei, with the shidduchim of the daughters of
Tzelaphchad.
Netvort archives are temporarily available at http://www.yucs.org/heights/torah/bysubject/
Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman)
with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
To subscribe to Netvort, send a message with subject line subscribe,
to Netvort@aol.com. To
unsubscribe, send message with subject line unsubscribe, to the
same address.
**************
Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on
AOL Autos.
(http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017
)