I hope you’ll enjoy the following Parashat summary followed by a Dvar Torah;
” Parsha in a Nutshell “
Moshe continues to encourage the Children of Israel to trust in Hashem and in the wonderful rewards which He will provide them if they keep the Torah. Moshe assures them that they will successfully defeat the nations of Canaan, at which point they must remove every trace of idol worship remaining in the Holy Land.
Moshe reminds them about the miraculous manna and the other wonders which Hashem provided for them throughout the past forty years, and he warns them to beware of their own future prosperity and military success which might cause them to forget Hashem. He further reminds them of their transgressions in the desert, retelling the story of the golden calf at length, and describing Hashem’s abundant mercy with them.
Moshe teaches the people the second paragraph of the Shema which stresses the fundamental doctrine of reward and punishment based upon our performance of the mitzvot. The Parsha concludes with Hashem’s promise that He will provide the Jewish people with protection if they observe the laws of the Torah.
“ Dvar Torah “
In this week’s Parsha, Moshe continues with his farewell speech to the Benei Israel before he passes away. He continues to tell them that the secret to their survival in the Promised Land is to keep Hashem’s commandments. But in the middle of his speech, he tells them the following sentence which really touched my heart:
“A Land that Hashem, your G-d, seeks out; the eyes of Hashem, your G-d, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year “.
What a beautiful statement about the land of Israel. G-d is always watching over the Land of Israel. But what is the significance of this declaration? Why is it important for Benei Israel to know that G-d is always protecting Israel?
Well, Rabbi Frand says that in order to understand this declaration, we need to evaluate the sin of the spies which occurred 40 years before. So, what exactly did the Spies do wrong? They honestly believed that it would be impossible to conquer the land. What they said was the truth. The people who lived in the land were giants. Even the greatest army could not defeat them. So why did they get punished?
Well, The Baal HaAkeidah (a Torah scholar) suggests that the spies’ sin was to add their own conclusion to the facts. They should just have described the situation, and left it to Moshe to interpret it for the people. They should not have proclaimed that there was no way for the Jews to conquer the land. They should have kept their opinion to themselves.
But Shelah Hakadosh, another commentator, rejects the approach of the Akeidah. After all, he says, Moshe did ask them to share information regarding the strength of people living in Canaan at that point, which requires subjective judgment. One cannot expect a messenger to deliver only the facts on a matter that is so subjective without adding a conclusion?! For example, when you want to buy a new home, you will probably get an inspector to inspect the house first. After doing an inspection, he will give you a report of all the problems that exists in the house. There is a plumbing problem in the bathroom; there is a leak in the roof; the kitchen faucet is not working; and so on….. But at the end, you expect him to tell you if you should buy the house or not. Same way, the report of the spies asks for their opinion! We see that two of the spies, Caleb and Yehoshua, also gave their opinion. They said that we can surely conquer the land. But they did not get punished! So why should the rest of the spies be at fault just for stating their opinion?!
Shelah Hakadosh suggests that Moshe was interested in hearing the Spies opinion, but not one based solely on military actions. Instead he wanted to hear their opinion based on spirituality and to show faith in G-d. Moshe knew that they would find fortified cities inhabited by powerful giants. But the appropriate response to such findings should have been, “Yes, they are strong, and yes, their cities are protected, and through natural means, we don’t stand a chance. But Hashem has told us that we should go into the land, so we will certainly defeat them.” They were supposed to remind the people that just as Hashem had saved them miraculously at the Yam Suf, the same way He will miraculously conquer the land for them too. The spies mistake was to not take into consideration the power of G-d!
But Rabbi Frand still has a problem with Shelah’s interpretation. He says that according to Jewish law, we cannot base our actions only on miracles. For example, if G-d forbid someone gets sick, he cannot sit at home and just pray to Hashem that he should miraculously get cured. The halacha says that he has to go to a doctor and try his best to get treatment. He cannot just rely on prayers. Accordingly, you cannot expect from the spies to purely rely on a miracle from Hashem to conquer the land! So why were they punished so severely?!
Rabbi Frand answers that although in all other areas of life, we should avoid depending on miracles as much as possible, when it comes to conquering Eretz Yisrael, we should ALWAYS rely on Hashem’s help. There is no way to live in Eretz Yisrael under natural circumstances. Without Hashem’s Presence, Eretz Yisrael is not inhabitable. And this is exactly the mistake of the spies. When it comes to conquering Israel, they could and should have relied on G-d’s miracles only.
And this is what Moshe is trying to teach them now as they are about to enter the land. That the land of Israel is a special land, different than all other lands. Because it is “A Land that Hashem, your God, seeks out; the eyes of Hashem, your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to year’s end”.
Yes my friends, Israel exists only because G-d is watching over it at all times! You don’t need to be a genius to realize how miraculously Israel continues to exist and prospers. Surrounded by millions or maybe billions of enemies, being continuously under attack, it still continues to thrive. Israel exists not because it has one of the best armies in the world, but rather, it exists because G-d is watching over it. Let’s not lose perspective. Israel’s existence is a supernatural phenomena!
A few years ago, Israel was under heavy attack by scud missiles. Israel used Iron Dome to intercept these rockets and B”H there were no fatalities. The whole world was amazed by Israel’s anti-missile invention. If you were in Israel at that time, you could have looked up in the sky and saw the Iron Domes actually intercepting the rockets. You could have seen a small explosion in the sky. But if you would have looked beyond the explosion, most probably, you should have been able to see the hand of G-d………