Posted on 06/16/23
Due to the failure of the entire generation of adults over the age of twenty in succumbing to the negative influence of the spies, they were condemned to death in the Wilderness, delaying the entry into the Land for nearly thirty-nine years.
The Torah in portraying their destined deaths over that period uses a rather harsh term repeatedly in describing their demise.
In this Wilderness shall, פגריכם — your carcasses drop…
ופגריכם — But your carcasses shall drop in the Wilderness…
Your children will roam in the Wilderness for forty years… until the last of your, פגריכם — carcasses in the Wilderness… (במדבר יד כט-לב)
This phrase is first used in the context of the carcasses of the various animals Avraham cut up during the Covenant Between the Parts, where it reports how birds of prey descended upon the פגרים — carcasses, and Avraham drove them away.
There were many unfortunate deaths that resulted from a variety of terrible sins that were committed over that forty-year sojourn, yet only these were designated so derogatorily as 'carcasses'.
Every morning when we awake from our nightly slumber — which is defined as one-sixtieth of death — we express gratitude to G-d for restoring our souls to, concluding with the words, Blessed are You, G-d, Who restores souls לפגרים מתים — to dead carcasses.
The Abudraham and the Rokeach both explain this description of the revival of carcasses is not only referring to the bodies of those who have departed and buried, but to each one of us, who as we sleep are deemed פגרים — 'lifeless' carcasses, that have their souls return each morning.
Might there be a connection between our nightly 'departure' from this world and the deaths of this generation whose carcasses were denied entry to the Land?
The passionate Mashgiach, Rav Dan Segal, exchanged letters with a student of his who had painfully shared his frustration over his troubled marriage, carefully delineating all the complaints and accusations he harbored against his wife that he resented greatly, and regretted ever marrying.
In a powerful response, the Mashgiach addressed his animosity towards his wife sharing with him a יסוד גדול — a great fundament in the battle of man against his evil inclination.
One of the greatest foes and malcontent of man in his daily life are the thoughts of hatred and complaint one has towards another. The nature of this thinking to one who is entrenched in them is to find all sorts of imagined suspicions about that person and his intentions. A person devises all sorts of false allegations upon the person he dislikes. Even worse is his eventual inability to see any positive in the other person, since the onslaught of his obsessive discontent clouds his eyes and mind from seeing any good. Even when one may have a valid claim against another, inevitably that person has many more positive attributes to outweigh the negative. The destructive power of imagined false accusations that are fueled by anger and hatred disables clear thinking.
The Mashgiach reveals how this vital teaching is clear in the evolution of the sin of the spies and its impact on the populace.
After the spies returned with their slander, seeding doubt among the people, the entire assembly blurted out their frustration by declaring "If only we had died in the land Egypt, or if only we would have died in this Wilderness! Why is G-d bringing us to this land to die by the sword? Our wives and young children will be taken captive! Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?"
Later G-d tells Moshe to respond to them, " As I live — the word of G-d — if I shall not to you as you have spoken to my ears. In this Wilderness shall your carcasses drop…"
Shouldn't the people have rejoiced, after all G-d responded exactly to their request?! They got what they preferred, no longer having to worry about their fear of the future?
Nevertheless, the Torah records how 'the people mourned exceedingly.'
Didn't they get what they wanted?
Later when Moshe reviews this episode at the end of his life, he recalls how after the fiasco, he reminded them 'how G-d always goes before you, — He makes war for you, like everything He did for you in Egypt, before your eyes. And in the Wilderness, as you have seen, that G-d, your Lord, bore you, as a man carries his son…Who goes before you on the way to seek out a place for you to encamp, with fire by night…and with a cloud by day!'(דברים א כט-לג)
G-d reproached them that they mindlessly lapsed in their consciousness of all the love He had showered upon them.
They finally realized what they had overlooked, and quickly regretted and mourned over what they had lost.
But why did they lapse in that awareness?
There too it adds how at the onset they had accused G-d, "Because of G-d's hatred for us did He take us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us."(שם שם כז)
Rashi there enlightens us to the flaw that ignited this tragedy by quoting the Sifrei on their words 'Because of G-d's hatred…", Really, however, He loves you, but you hate him. A common parable says: What is in your heart about your friend, [you imagine] is in his heart about you.
They projected their own personal insecurities and resentment, falsely accusing G-d of imagined abandonment, when just the opposite was true, He always had their backs.
They finally fathomed their deficiency, realizing the truth, running regretfully, and mournfully, back to the embrace of a Father Who loved them and is dedicated like no other. (שלום באהלך ח"ג מכתב ב')
There is a most fascinating halachic ruling of the K'tzos HaChoshen based on a Zohar.
Generally, if a person is owed money, there are times when one may take the law into one's own hands and confiscate an item from the person who owes him money or took possession of an item that undoubtedly belongs to him and grab it back.
If, however, the K'tzos avers, a person was entrusted with an item, a פקדון, to watch for someone else, and the owner of the object owes the שומר — the watchman money, the 'shomer' may not take the deposit placed in his care in lieu of the debt due him.
He bases this on a Zohar that talks about the nightly deposit of our soul we hand over to G-d, until it is returned to us in the morning. A נשמה — soul, is a deposit as King David expresses in Psalms, In Your hand אפקיד — I entrust my spirit. (תהלים לא ו)
Even though that we are so indebted to G-d, and He has every justification to take our souls in lieu of all that we owe, nevertheless, so as not to betray His trust and loyalty to His role as the ultimate 'Watchman', He returns it to us even when we might not deserve it due to our unfulfilled obligations.
The Zohar concludes that one who abrogates his role as a watchman to collect a personal debt, is suspect of not being of the Seed of Israel. (קצות החושן סי' ד ס"ק א)
Rav Shlomo Pappenheim, an 18th century, German Rabbinic figure, and linguist, in his masterful work Yerios Shlomo, dissects the word for carcass, פגר and makes an interesting assertion.
The word itself, he suggests, is a contraction of two words, פה גר — here I dwell. This he says refers to the inertia of a physical body that remains in its place due to being voided of an animate spirit.
Perhaps this reflects on the self-absorption that blinds us from seeing accurately anything outside of ourselves, becoming entrenched in our own delusional perception of others.
The paralyzing inertia that develops from that attitude prevents us from true life.
We go to sleep each night victims of our daily challenges and self-interests, that need to rest so that we may restore our souls back to health, awakening our 'carcasses' to the benevolence of the ultimate 'Watchman', and the realization that we owe Him so much, yet we live of our lives expecting so much more than we deserve.
Like the generation of the spies, who traipsed lifelessly, blind to the overwhelming benevolence of our Father in Heaven, we too wander mindlessly, oblivious to the endless kindnesses bestowed upon us.
Indeed, we are so often likened to simple carcasses, פה גר — implanting ourselves in one position, unwilling to budge from our imagined expectations, and appreciate the world and people around us with accuracy.
May we open our eyes each morning and commit to seeing a genuine world of opportunity that surrounds us, infusing it with gratitude to Hashem and emulating His watchfulness, never feeling entitled and only happily indebted!
באהבה,
צבי יהודה טייכמאן