You cried a בכייה של חנם — a crying for nothing, I will establish for you a בכייה לדורות — crying for generations.
With these words from G-d, our long tear-filled history in exile was set into motion.
When the people were incited to tears by the frighteningly negative report of the Spies, G-d decreed that not only would this generation travel for forty years in the desert not meriting to enter the land, but even future generations would also be sentenced to an eventual long and painful sojourn in galus.
Although this truth is based on our tradition, nowhere in the story of the Spies and its consequences is this indicated. It seems from the simple reading of the verses both here and in Shelach, that only those males over twenty years old at the time were to be punished, while their children would indeed merit to live in the land.
Your little ones, whom you said will be לבז — prey, and your children, who on that day did not know good and evil will go there, and I will give it to them, and they will possess it. (דברים א לט)
As for your infants, of whom you said that they will be לבז — as spoils, I will bring them [there], and they will come to know the Land which You despised. (במדבר יד לא)
This sentiment is emphasized in the original episode as well in Moshe's review of history here in Devarim.
Both verses allude to their fathers' initial reaction and complaint when they bewailed their plight pining to return to the 'calm' of life in Egypt.
Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword; our wives and children will be לבז — as spoils. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?"
They said to each other, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt!"
The Ramban — Nachmanides, makes an incisive interpretation of a verse that reveals to us a clear allusion to this 'cry of generations' in future exiles.
In the original expression of this edict the first half of the verse states:
וטפכם — as for your infants, אשר אמרתם — of whom you said, לבז — that they will be as spoils…
The Ramban dissects the verse by breaking it into three segments translating it slightly differently.
As for your infants, [indeed] as you have said [in your original complaint that they would be left for prey] — [they will be decreed that] 'they will be as spoils' [in their future exiles]. This self-fulfilling proclamation transformed into a sentence of a 'crying of generations'.
The next half of the verse that tells of how והבאתי אותם — they will come, וידעו — to know, את הארץ — the Land, which You despised, the Ramban teaches, alludes to their children experiencing entry into the land but will only get to 'know it', ידיעה בלבד — 'only acquainted', though not a permanent settlement, as they are fated yet to wander for many generations.
Is this brilliant exposition of the verse indicating how G-d wrought poetic justice in making them eat their words, and suffer in consequence to be privy to their progeny's future suffering?
Certainly not.
What was their intention in portraying their children as 'prey' or 'spoils'? Did they simply express their worry that their children will be exploited by their enemies, remaining captive to their evil intentions?
The word they used was לבז which more literally translates as scorned and despised.
Perhaps they feared their children would become second-class citizens, losing their sense of ambition and drive. They preferred to return to Egypt and live quietly among the populace, happily within their own ghetto, free from of the challenges and distractions that come with creating an independent state, and the incitement of enemies.
G-d responded not by punishing them, but rather sentencing them on a long journey of self-discovery.
They will discover that no matter how hard they try to integrate into foreign cultures, they will feel empty and lost, pining for something much greater, that can only be found in the Land of Our Fathers, and its exquisite connection to the Almighty.
After the 'soul of this nation' had got an acquaintance with the land, they would never be able to quell the thirst for that connection in any other venue.
We will always walk around with a pit in our belly, because our appetites for closeness can only find it in one very special place.
We inevitably always have a sense of בז, feeling foreign and displaced no matter how much success we find in those strange lands.
This is the antidote to the sins of their fathers, not a punishment.
Perhaps the aligning of this verse to the contrast of 'a cry for nothing' of their fathers, with a 'cry for generations' of all future generations, is not meant to emphasize a notion of generational wailing, but rather the purposeful cry that will assure the success and thriving of future generations.
To cry over the loss of an easier life, where one could possibly live an inspired and ethical life, is an empty cry of lack — nothing.
The cry of our soul pining for a greatness we tasted and cannot wait to restore is not a wailing over loss but a cry to regain that unparalleled dveikus — attachment, once again, a cry that will assure that if we tearfully yearn for it, will guarantee that we will merit future generations who will one day experience that exquisite joy, one day speedily in our days!
A cry for 'generations' indeed!
באהבה,
צבי יהודה טייכמאן
