Posted on 06/30/16
In this week’s Parsha, Sh’lach, we see how our people failed in their relationship to the Land of Israel. HaShem was about to take us into the Land of Israel. There were no more prerequisite achievements that had to be accomplished. We already received the Torah, we already constructed the Mishkon we were already in formation – we were ready to enter. Just before that final approach, our people demanded from Moshe that we should spy out the Land of Israel and only after that should we enter the Land. Moshe conceded to their request and 12 spies were sent. Upon their return, ten of those spies inspired fear in the hearts of the people that HaShem would not be able to conquer the inhabitants of the Land for they were too mighty and the people cried bitter tears for their fate of destruction at the hands of those inhabitants.
Our Sages identify the sin of the spies as slandering the Land. It would seem to me that the sin of the spies did not relate to the Land as much as it related to their lack of trust in HaShem. In fact, regarding the Land itself they reported how it produced incredibly gigantic fruits as well as gigantic people. The Land in and of itself was remarkable. Their sin was that they frightened the people by shattering their trust in HaShem’s ability to conquer the Land. Why is that slander identified as being against the Land?
The evil of speaking slander is not the words and descriptions given about a subject – it is changing the perspective that the listener has of the subject. While the crime is perpetrated by speech, the evil it causes is the altered perspective that the listener now has of the subject. If the listener held the subject in high regard but since hearing the words of lashon hara he now looks at the subject in a negative light then the sin of speaking those words are culpable.
Before sending the spies our people yearned to enter the Land of Israel. They were eager begin their new found freedom in the Land in which their newly developed closeness to HaShem would take root and sprout forth. However, upon the return of the spies and their report of how impossible it would be to conquer the Land, their yearning for the Land and their eagerness to enter diminished quickly. Although no bad words were spoken against the Land, nevertheless, our perspective of the Land was negatively impacted. The yearning was replaced by fear and their eagerness was replaced distrust.
Perhaps there was no greater crime of lashon hara that was perpetrated in the history of the world than that fateful lashon hara which the spies did against the Land of Israel. We must also note that the sin of lashon hara is not limited to the speaker but extends to the listener as well. To the extent that the listener accepts the report and alters his perspective about the subject he too is culpable. That said, not only were the spies punished but the entire nation was punished. The spies died immediately and the rest of nation were punished by not being allowed entry to the Land. The people continued to travel through the desert for an additional 38 years until the last of that generation died.
Our Sages teach us that in addition to those individuals being punished by not entering the Land, the entire nation of Israel would have to endure an exile that would send them throughout the world over thousands of years. We would have to traverse a journey through the desert of nations, nations that would hate us and persecute us before we could eventually return home to the Land.
Why? If those individuals were punished why must the history of our people be altered in such a drastic way?
Perhaps that experience of listening and accepting the report from the spies damaged the very psyche of our nation in a way that we were lacking in our yearning to return to the Land. The Land represented our relationship with HaShem. The mitzvos that we do in the Land and the prayers that we pray in the Land create a more profound relationship with HaShem than does performed outside the Land.
We are defined as the nation who has a relationship with HaShem. If we have been sent away from the Land we must lament that HaShem does not want us. If our relationship to HaShem means anything to us there would be nothing more important to us than our return to the Land to be close with Him.
HaShem therefore created a therapeutic exercise by which we would condition ourselves to once again yearn for that return. As we encounter those difficulties that present themselves throughout this unending exile our yearning to be home in HaShem’s warm embrace continues to etch itself in our soul. Every toast made at birthdays and bar mitzvahs, at weddings and anniversaries include a wish to return one day to the Land where we can further develop that warm relationship with HaShem.
May we soon complete our therapy and be worthy to return home be there with HaShem for the rest of history.