Shelach

• The Challenge of Unity

  Jun 22, 2023 Admin 0 Comments

  The Parashat Shelach opens with interesting words: Shelach Lecha Anashim. Rashi and many commentators translate it as "Send for yourself," meaning, "Hashem has said that the Land is good, so just go in and take the land," but that generation wanted to see it for themselves, kind of like they wanted to make sure it was a good land.
  
  It seems to me that there's another meaning behind these words. With your permission, let's look at it closely.
  
  So, the Shelach Lecha means "Send for yourself", but if you pay close attention, Lecha is in the singular tense, but it is directed to Moshe and affects 12 people, who are being sent out on this expedition. So, how is the singular tense being used for this group of people? Why not just use the plural?
  
  In Parashat Bereshit, right after Chava and Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, and after Hashem had punished them, it says that Hashem banished them from Gan Eden. It uses an interesting word for it; in Bereshit 3:23, it says: וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵ֛הוּ - Vayeshalkhehu - And Hashem banished him or sent him out from Gan Eden... Sent him out? Why him? Weren't two people sent out from the Garden of Eden - Adam and Eve? Why does Hashem only refer to Adam-"sent him out"? I believe this is where Hashem is giving us an important message: that Adam and Eve are one, a union, a single entity—a Father and a Mother of all of humanity—the Parents.
  
  But let's go further into the Parashat Lech Lecha. When Hashem tells Avraham Avinu, "Lech Lecha—Go for yourself from your land..." Again, in this case, the word Lecha is used, affecting many people who came out with Avraham Avinu—his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, all the souls they had made in Haran, and their shepherds. 
  
  We have three instances in which the singular tense was used, affecting the group "the many". This teaches us that Hashem wants a group to achieve unity and stay together as a group on their journey, getting from point A to point B as one single entity, with no one left behind. 
  
  But it doesn't happen so.
  
  Later, in Parashat Lech Lecha 13:5-12, we are told how the shepherds argued, and Avraham Avinu offered Lot the option to go left while he went right, or right while he went left, and Lot agreed. They both went different ways—but as you remember, Hashem said 'Lech Lecha,' which means that Hashem wanted him to go as one single unit, without separation; thus, the word 'Lecha' is used. 
  
  Back then, Avraham Avinu, Sarah Imenu, and Lot were the Jewish nation, and Hashem wanted them to stay together and reach the Point B —the Promised Land —which unfortunately did not happen.
  
  The Parashat Toldot tells us about Yitzchak Avinu and his two sons, Esav and Yaakov. Yaakov gets the birthright and the blessing, and Rivkah Imenu, worried about Yaakov's safety, tells him to leave for Charan since his brother Esav might kill him. Yakov leaves, and the family breaks up—the unity is lost once again. 
  
  The Parashat Vayishlach tells us that 22 years later, Yaakov Avinu returns from his father-in-law's house with his family: four wives, twelve sons, and a daughter, Dina. Knowing fully well his brother Esav, Yaakov Avinu hides his daughter in the chest so Esav does not see her. When the brothers meet, Esav never sees Dina, and they go their separate ways. The Sages tell us that Yaakov Avinu made a mistake by hiding Dina. Dina should have married Esav—since only she could have brought him back to Teshuva. And then Yaakov, with his kids and four wives, and Esav, with Dina, would have returned to Israel together as one unit—but it didn't happen. The family has broken up once again, Esav went totally off the derech, and billions of his descendants were forever lost to Judaism.
  
  In Parashat Vayeshev, the nation of Israel is now Yaakov Avinu and his twelve sons. Everything seems to be going well, but suddenly, there's a conflict between the brothers and the younger one, Yosef. So, the brothers end up selling him to Egypt, which breaks the family once again. Later, the whole family moves to Egypt to join Yosef due to the famine in the Land of Israel. 
  
  Years later, Moshe Rabbenu appears in Parashat Shemot. He is sent by Hashem, who tells him to take His nation out. Three million people came out with Moshe Rabbenu after all the punishments G-d brought upon Egypt.
  
  And in Parashat Yitro, we finally got it—the nation stood as one body and soul—we have achieved complete unity. The Jewish Nation received the Torah on Mount Sinai and officially married G-d.
  
  Then, the nation traveled closer to the Land of Israel, and suddenly, in Parashat Shelach, the people approached Moshe Rabbenu. They wanted to scout out the land, but in reality, they sought to achieve what Avraham Avinu, Yaakov Avinu, and the brothers had been unable to attain: unity. The twelve spies wanted to go to the Land of Israel and return with a unified opinion on the strategy and goodness of the Land. But, as you know, for whatever reason, they came back with ten people’s opinions versus two people’s opinions. Hashem did what He did - males of that generation, 20-60 years old, lost their lives in the desert.
  
  Thirty-nine years later, in the Parashat Matot and Masei, when the nation was standing on the banks of the Jordan River, the tribes of Reuven, Gad, and part of the tribe of Menashe approached Moshe Rabbenu and asked to remain in the east of the Jordan due to an abundance of green pastures for their livestock. Moshe agreed, and in return, they promised to help other tribes conquer Eretz Yisrael.
  
  And this is where I believe a mistake was made...
  
  The word Lecha in the Lech Lecha or Shelach Lecha does not only mean Go or Send for Yourself, but it means to go from point A, which is Egypt, to point B - Eretz Yisrael - as one unit, a single entity - all 3 million people, all 12 tribes with no one left behind or anyone left outside of The Land of Israel. This is where Hashem is telling Moshe Rabbeinu — or obligating him — to ensure that all 12 tribes make it to the Land of Israel, no matter how appealing it may look outside it.

  If they had done so, Moshe Rabbenu would have passed away, but Yehoshua Bin Nun would have taken the nation into the Land of Israel. He would have become a Mashiach ben Yosef, and then the Mashiach ben David would have been found in the nation. The Geulah or Redemption would have started at that moment, followed by the Tehiyat Hametim - the Resurrection of the Dead, where Moshe Rabbeinu and everyone left behind in the desert would have come back to join the rest of the nation in the Land of Israel.
  
  But this did not happen. And because of this, we have had our First Bet Hamikdash and its destruction, Second Bet Hamikdash and its destruction, and today, this.... current long exile with all its hardships - still going on for almost 2,000 years. However, we remain hopeful and are waiting for our own Lecha Moment—Mashiach, who will unite us and gather all 12 tribes together in Israel, and initiate the prophecies as written in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and the books of other prophets.
  
  Just like Adam and Chava were sent out from the Garden of Eden as one entity, so are we—all 12 tribes of Israel—have to re-enter our physical Garden of Eden—The Land of Israel—as one, united and strong nation.
  

  May this happen speedily in our days. Amen.
  
  Shmuel Katanov

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• The Shattered Dreams

  May 31, 2021 Admin 0 Comments

  As you know, in Parashat Shelach, the nation asks Moshe Rabbeinu to send out spies to spy out the land, even though Hashem has told them to go into the land. Moshe is not too excited about this idea, so he asks Hashem. Hashem tells him to send them for himself—Shelach Lecha Anashim in Parashat Shelach 13:2. We all know the end of this episode in history—the meraglim return with a bad report. Due to the sin of slandering the land, all the males ages 20 to 60 were buried in the desert, and were not able to enter the Promised Land. 
  
  It seems harsh that, because of biased calculations by a few, so many people are punished. Here they are, standing just a few days away from Eretz Yisrael, and about to enter the land. Suddenly, people come and ask Moshe Rabbeinu to send out the spies. This is something Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't want to do, since Hashem already told him to go into the land, since it is yours and Hashem is with the nation. But the few turn everything around and put Moshe in a difficult position, forcing him to ask Hashem for permission to send people as spies, risking that something might go wrong. And something does go wrong—the meraglim return with a bad report, slander the land, and Hashem tells everyone to turn around and go back into the desert...
  
  Have you ever thought for a second how Moshe Rabbeinu felt?! When Moshe Rabbeinu watched those people slandering the land, and Yehoshua and Kalev defending it, Moshe Rabbeinu knew it was trouble, not only for those who slandered but for the whole nation. 
  
  The years of work that he has put in were crumbling right in front of his eyes. His dream to go into Eretz Yisrael, and to serve Hashem in the Holy Land, was being taken away from him - right there in the broad daylight.
  
  Have you ever had that feeling? You worked on something for years, and suddenly it is being taken away from you by some evildoers and by circumstances over which you have no control.
  
  Not a good feeling. 
  
  But let's look into it from a different angle. 
  
  There's a mitzvah that is hard to understand and makes one wonder why Hashem has given it to us, but in the light of the above explanation, it will start to make more sense.
  
  There are many explanations for the mitzvah of Shiluach haKen, but I would like to take Zohar's explanation and expand on that. The Zohar says that this mitzvah is meant to awaken and intensify Hashem’s mercy on His creations. The pain the mother bird suffers when she is sent away and forced to abandon her young "awakens the forces of mercy in the world" and releases an outpouring of mercy from the Heavens above, alleviating all kinds of human suffering. 
  
  I would like to add to the above with your permission. 
  
  Not to go into the details of this mitzvah, but to touch on it in general: if you have ever performed this mitzvah, the feeling you are left with after completing it is not enjoyable. Besides the fact that you have made the mitzvah, you are left with an egg, and you have left the bird feeling bad - very bad. You have taken her egg or a chick and created that void in the heart of the bird—you have broken her hopes of building a family and ruined her plans for a "bright birdie future".
  
  And here Hashem comes and gives us this, as a mitzvah.
  
  Moshe Rabbeinu worked hard in his 80s, dealing with the nation, which was not easy—a stubborn nation with lots of demands and quarrels. On top of that, the leaders who worked under him ideally had to be on the same page with him, but for some reason, they had their own agenda that he never agreed to or even knew about. All this brought to one result - that generation never made it to Eretz Yisrael, Moshes' goal crumbled, and he had to witness the passing of all the males ages 20 to 60. 
  
  The meraglim didn't just destroy the dream of that generation; they also destroyed the dream of Moshe Rabbeinu. They brought suffering to our nation to this day, and they have totally changed the nation's plans, and everything unfolded not as Hashem had envisioned.
  
  So, Torah tells us to go ahead and do the mitzvah, to go through that uncomfortable feeling, and to let it sink in—feel that bitterness of the committed act.
  
  When we send away the mother bird and take her egg - it may seem, like the meraglim behaved back in the day towards the nation, when they went to Eretz Yisrael, and brought back the bad report that caused a lot of people to suffer - and here we are, taking away the eggs from the shooed away mother bird thus causing her pain and suffering.
  
  As for the mother bird—whatever she is going through —it is like the feeling of what Moshe Rabbeinu and millions of other people not privy to the scheme of the meraglim felt: betrayal of the assigned mission and the shattering of the dream of entering the Eretz Yisrael. 
  
  And as we stand there with an egg in our hands, we need to understand one thing - whatever we do or say in our life, may be breaking the Divine law and order and hurting a lot of people around us, whether intentionally or unintentionally, just by giving in to our biased desires and calculations, as was with the case of the meraglim.
  
  Armed with the above understanding, it should bring us to pray to Hashem and to ask for forgiveness for the sin of the Meraglim, and for that whole generation. This would be the perfect time to ask for forgiveness for our own miscalculations, where we thought and said not in the best of intentions.  And this would be the best time to ask for forgiveness for our nation as a whole, and to ask for the full redemption and reunification with that passed on generation, so we can meet with Moshe Rabbeinu and other members of our nation of the past who were not able to enter the Land, due to the bad schemes of others.
  
  By fulfilling this mitzvah, one is rewarded with marriage, children, and a new home. But most importantly we are taking responsibility for the wrong committed in the past by others, by actively fixing the sin of the past which brings Hashem's mercy onto this world, that stops human suffering and brings the redemption closer.
  
  Shmuel Katanov

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• The Wisdom of the Jewish Sage

  Jun 21, 2020 Admin 0 Comments

  It's very puzzling how it all played out. The nation of Israel was three days away from the Land of Israel—go in, and mission accomplished: you are in Israel, Moshe Rabbeinu is a Moshiach, build the Bet Hamikdash, and life is beautiful.
  
  But suddenly, people ask for the spies to be sent to check out the land. So Hashem says to Moshe Rabbeinu in Parashat Shelach 13:2: "Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a leader among them." So Hashem asked for leaders to be sent from each tribe. To date, I have read many explanations on this pasuk. But with your permission, allow me to offer you yet another explanation.
  
  So twelve people go together as a group. The Rabbis say that the ten men out of twelve concentrated on the negative aspects of the Land, since they had their own hidden agenda, and this was the reason for their downfall—the exile and the hardships we are facing today. The other two men - Calev ben Yefuneh and Yehoshua Bin Noun - have tried, but could not overcome the ten men's efforts to slander the Land.
  
  But why did the ten men do that? What made them commit such a grievous sin?
  
  To answer the above questions, we need to look at another story of a different leader—a story of Mordechay HaTzadik, a story of Purim. There's something in this story that can be viewed from a different angle.
  
  Mordechay HaTzadik was a sage who spoke 70 languages and was part of the Great Assembly.
  
  The Megilat Esther says: "Once on a party in front of other kings and his friends, King Achashverosh executed his wife Vashti in a fit of drunken rage. After he got sober, he regretted it, but then realized that he needed a new wife, one who was beautiful and charming. So the King sent his people throughout the towns to find a wife who would please him. 
  
  They gathered lots of ladies for the King to choose from, and this is when Mordechay HaTzadik approached Esther.
  
  There are many explanations of who Esther was to him; one of them says she was his niece. So Mordechay HaTzadik asked her to become the King's wife. We don't realize what it meant to her - being married to a non-Jew, she forfeits all the mitzvot that a woman should perform, and she becomes part of the non-Jewish nation. To our dismay, she agrees...why would she do that? Let's try to understand this as well.
  
  As time passes, there comes a man called Haman who didn't like Mordechay HaTzadik, and then he tries to annihilate the Jewish nation. He gets the King's permission to do just that. The King agrees, and Haman starts the process.

  So, this is when Mordechay HaTzadik goes to Plan B.
  
  Queen Esther invites Haman to the palace along with the King, where she exposes the evil plans of Haman. The King gets furious with Haman and gives an order to hang Haman and ten of his sons on the gallows. And the King's orders have been carried out.
  
  Mordechay HaTzadik gets his community together for the attacks of the locals, since the decree was signed and put in motion by Haman, the Jews win the battle, and there's happiness and joy all over the towns in the Jewish neighborhoods."
  
  Our Rabbis say that this story is not over yet. Mordechay HaTzadik becomes the King's advisor, thus ensuring that peace and security are guaranteed going forward for the Jews in those towns.
  
  Queen Esther and King Achashverosh have a son. The son grows up and becomes the next King after his father's death. It is said that this new king, Cyrus, King of Persia, under the influence of his mother, allowed for the mass immigration of the Jews from Persia to the Land of Israel to rebuild the Second Temple. He sent the nation with gifts of gold and silver to make a fitting house for G-d.
  
  Do you realize what has just happened? Did you see the wisdom of the Jewish sage?
  
  Mordechay HaTzadik asked his niece to marry a non-Jewish King, to be a "spy," where she lost out on all the mitzvot she could have done and ended up living a non-Jewish lifestyle. But she was there for her nation in the darkest and trying times. She had saved the nation from the pogroms, overturning the decrees. Eventually, this led to the rebuilding of the Second Bet Hamikdash and the ingathering of the Jews back in Israel.
  
  The wisdom of Mordechay HaTzadik lay in the clear assessment of the situation and the right moves to win the battle in the long run and make it good and comfortable —not for himself, but for the entire Jewish nation.
  
  This is something the Meraglim, or the spies, lacked in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu. They were looking out for themselves, they were trying not to lose their positions, and were more concerned with their fate and not with the fate of the Jewish nation.
  
  But why? Why was Mordechay HaTzadik able to make the right choices, and the spies failed at it? Because Mordechay HaTzadik had the wisdom of a Jewish sage. 
  
  How can a person acquire wisdom? There's a pasuk on how to acquire wisdom that goes like this: Reshit Chochmah Yirat Hashem — The beginning of wisdom is fear of G-d. If one wants wisdom, he must learn to fear G-d; he must fear G-d; without this, he will not have wisdom - he will transgress everything under the sun, will make people around him suffer, for which eventually he will bring judgment upon himself.
  
  The ten spies who went out to spy out the Land came back with a bad report—because they lacked one thing: a Fear of G-d. They did things to fit their own agenda, and they spoke to support their own story. They were worried about their positions, about what they had, and about how their lives would unfold, without giving a second thought to the fate of the nation, the people they led, and the task they were entrusted with. Eventually, it led the nation to wander for forty years in the desert, and the death of that older generation.
  
  The Rabbis say that the ten spies were fixing the sin of the ten sons of Yaakov Avinu that sinned against Yosef HaTzadik, but they failed. So the rabbis instituted that there should be ten men whenever they gather to pray daily prayers—a miniyan—so that the gathering of ten people, or the miniyan, would have to fix the sin of the ten spies.
  
  A prayer in the minyan is the search for the right meaning, correction, and unification of the goals, desires, and motivation to serve the One and Only G-d, where it is done in unity and oneness of spirit or achdut, just like it was done back in the day when we received the Torah on Mount Sinai.
  
  Why did Hashem hold them liable for the lack of Fear of G-d? Because in Talmud Berachot 33b it says: "Hakol Bidey Shamayim Chutz Miyirat Shamayim," which means "Everything is in the Hands of G-d except for the Fear of Heaven / G-d."
  
  That's why Hashem has not given us the Fear of G-d - because He wants to see us work for it. It is attainable and available, within our reach, and definitely something that should NOT be ignored or postponed for later years.
  
  With everything that we have been through lately - virus and us being out of the shules and having no miniyanim - it makes one wonder if we have been making the mistakes of the ten spies, being too selfish with no concern for the nation, while forgetting the most important thing that we must possess and work on - The Fear of G-d. 
  
  Fortunately, we have been granted the opportunity to return to our shules, where we have minyanim, and are allowed to pray together. Let's step up to the expectations that Hashem has for us. The meraglim did what they did, and now it is on our shoulders and our responsibility to fix the wrong that was done so we can get to the next phase of our redemption.
  
  It is hard to acquire the Fear of G-d, but it is a worthy cause to invest our life into!!
  
  Shmuel Katanov

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