Rebbetzin Shira Smiles

SMILES

Faculty, OU Israel Center

Measure for Measure

The ways of Hashem are just. Let us explore the justice within the punishment Am Yisrael received as a result of the Sin of the Spies. Hashem declares, “bemispar yamim asher tartem et haaretz arbaim yom, yom leshanah, yom leshanah…” (Bemidbar 14;34). The people will wander for 40 years to parallel the 40 days the spies spent exploring the land. The commentaries raise the obvious question; the spies only sinned one day! Did they not only sin the day they returned and spoke negatively about the land? How does justice warrant a punishment for 39 additional years?

Rav Zaitchik in Ohr Hanefesh learns from here a powerful admonition. One cannot calculate the effects of a sin committed. A sin, which perhaps took only minutes to perpetrate, may take years of punishment to rectify. It is difficult to conceptualize the depth of sin, yet it should propel us to contemplate the import of yirat hacheit, fear of sin. One must be cognizant that judgement is beyond his scope of understanding; at the same time, must realize the severity and enormity of every action he does. Although the spies sinned for one day, it necessitated all those years to cleanse the sin of speaking negatively about Eretz Yisrael. Similarly, chazal state that because the Jewish People cried for naught on the night the spies returned, they will cry for good reason for generations to come. The night of Tisha B’av has been a night of crying for generations, and yet, it was only one night that the nation cried. Once again, it is not how long the people shed tears, rather it is the intensity of the tears relative the news they received that is still being paid for in these subsequent thousands of years.

The importance with which one must treat his achievements in Avodat Hashem

The Chatam Sofer has an entirely different perspective of understanding ‘one day per year’. The Jews were in galut, primarily Mitzrayim, for 400 years for the purpose of purifying and elevating them to be worthy of receiving the Torah.

Thank you Tzvi Mitzman for your many years of dedicated TT delivery

Each day the spies traversed the land they undid the effects of one year of the galut experience. Hence, 10 spies negated in 40 days the work of 400 years. The Jews were therefore told ‘yetamu’ they needed to become ‘tamim’ - whole once again to be worthy of entering Eretz Yisrael. Rav Kaufman, in MishchatShemen learns from here the importance with which one must treat his achievements in Avodat Hashem. One can work years to grow, develop and change, yet with one act, all of one’s hard work can be tragically destroyed. Conversely, one can do a noble act and reach levels of closeness to Hashem that would otherwise take years to achieve.

Rav Asher Weiss teaches us yet another lesson from this episode. Although the spies sinned by reporting an evil account in only one day, the punishment tells us that their entire experience was tainted with the attitude of fault-finding and negativity. Indeed, they sinned for the entire period they explored since wherever they went, they were looking to highlight the unfavorable aspects of the land. How relevant and significant our outlook is that it affects all that we see and experience!