Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Bamidbar Stories by Dr. Meir Tamari To Spy out the Land [6] To meet the spiritual challenge of the rejection of the Land, Israel was first given the nesachim to accompany even korbanot yachid and so to strengthen the individual's religious connection with G-d. Then Israel was commanded four additional actions - Challah, sacrifices for making errors in judgment, death penalty for public desecration of Shabbat, and Tzitzit - that at first glance seem to be unrelated but that actually are closely connected to the roots of the false report of the Spies; indeed to our own spiritual and moral lives. "'When you come into the Land [immediately, before conquest and before the tribal allocation (Sifri)], you shall bring the first portion of your dough to G-d' (Bamidbar 16:17-21). The shares that every home and every individual have in the general prosperity of the nation, are special acts of G-d's blessings and this demands recognition and committing to heart through the taking of Challah" (S. R Hirsch). "After the sin of the meraglim, Israel required the din of Challah in order to bring down these Divine blessings into their homes" (Sforno). "The need for such Divine blessings exists in the galut as well, so that Challah is obligatory even outside of Eretz Yisrael" (Abarbanel). The next obligation concerns bringing sacrifices to atone for theoretical ignorance or careless errors in judgment, either by the leaders of the nation or by individuals. This ignorance or careless- ness saw as legitimate, acts that were in reality contradictions of the whole Torah (Bamidbar 15:22-31). "The nature of the sin of the meraglim was to cast doubts whether G-d's special and exclusive care for Israel were sufficient to ensure our earthly existence. Then, by wishing to appoint a leader and return to Egypt, they completely rebelled against G-d" (S. R. Hirsch). First, there was the error in judgment of the Nesi'im, the leaders, who authored the false report and lashon hara against the Land. This was then compounded by the ignorance of a whole people that led to their wishing to go back to Egypt, thus defecting against G-d rather than inheriting the Land that He had promised them. "The first error required the offering of a ox signifying leadership and a position of authority, while that of the people is merely a sheep in atonement for the ignorance of the followers led astray by their leaders" (S. R. Hirsch). "This law is repeated here, between parshat hameraglim and that of Korach, after having been taught in Vayikra together with the other korbanot. In both these cases, Israel doubted the truth of Moshe's prophecy and of Torah from Heaven, and also made errors in judgment and through careless ignorance, so they came to rebel against G-d" (Abarbanel). The third mitzva commanded after the episode of the meraglim was the death penalty by stoning of the mekoshesh eitzim, the one who publicly desecrated Shabbat after being warned of the consequences of his act; not mistaken judgment nor an act of ignorance but the deliberate public desertion of G-d's wishes, 'beyad rama' (Bamidbar 16:32-36). "The meraglim damaged Israel's simple faith, a faith that is free of questioning, philosophy or intellectualism, in G-d's benevolence and wisdom. This made their T'shuva incomplete" (Shem MiShmuel). Through going up and attacking the nations of the Land they hoped to show repentance for their original rejection, even though Moshe warned that this was contrary to G-d's decree, but they only compounded their sin of erroneous judgment into one of open rebellion, that is 'beyad rama'. "'Beyad rama', this means that the mekoshesh wished to demonstrate to all that he did not fear G-d and that he did not intend to keep His commandments; there is an allusion here to the meraglim who also acted beyad rama. In common language, such conduct is termed to curse G-d" (Ibn Ezra). "Megadef, one who curses G-d has no atonement until he dies, not even if he does T'shuva out of fear of punishment. That is why here the T'shuva of Israel did not obtain atonement for them and the whole generation had to die out; 'and you repented and wept but G-d did not listen to your voices' (Devarim 1:45)" (S'forno). In the cheit hameraglim there was rebellion against G-d's commandments, there were errors of judgment, there were doubts about His Benevolence and Power, and there was an act "beyad rama". Tzitzit, with which the whole story concludes educates and sensitizes us against the root causes of their sins and the causes of all forms of sinning in our national and personal lives. "In tziztit there is also testament to the Exodus, acceptance of the yoke of mitzvot, an antidote to spiritual misconceptions, the purification of immoral thoughts and the avoidance of even hints of idolatry" (B'rachot 12b). "And you shall see it and remember all the commandments of G-d and fulfill them (Bamidbar 16:39): Seeing brings to remembering and remembering brings to doing (Menachot 43); like we make signs for those things we wish to remember and do not rely only on the power of our memory" (Torah T'mima). "Through seeing the tzitzit one comes to remember G-d's commandments, till the resultant multiplicity of good deeds and actions bring us to living like His servants, who bear in their clothes the badge and insignia of their Master and King" (Abarbanel). "That you seek not after your own hearts, and your own eyes': if the heart does not desire, the eyes do not see" (Sifri). "That we should not follow the dictates of our hearts to achieve wealth and power even if through theft and fraud, nor follow the lusting of our eyes that leads to immorality, nor the errors of our minds that lead to spiritual death" (Sforno). "G-d left nothing in this world free of mitzvot: you shall not plough with an ox and a donkey; you shall not sow kilayim; you shall not reap the corners of your fields; you shall give challah from your dough; send away the mother bird; cover the blood of shechita; orlah of trees and brit of sons; you shall make a ma'akeh to your roofs, write mezuzot on your doorposts, and wear tzitzit in your garments" (Tanchuma 15). "And become holy to your G-d" (Bamidbar 15:40): By you remembering the teachings of the Torah and doing His mitzvot you shall become as G-d foretold a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (S'forno). Such a nation settled on its Land is truly the atonement for the Meraglim. [The Parshat Chukat Homepage]
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