21 Jun PARASHAT SHELAH: UNDERSTANDING THE SIN OF THE SPIES

Rashi, commenting

to the beginning of

Parashat Shelah,

draws a connection

between the story of

the spies, which is

told in this Parasha,

and the story of Miriam’s Sara’at (leprousy),

which is told in the final verses of the previous

Parasha. Miriam was punished for speaking

negatively about her brother, Moshe, and the

spies should have learned from her punishment

the gravity of Lashon Ha’ra (negative speech).

Tragically, however, they did not learn this

lesson, and they spoke Lashon Ha’ra about the

Land of Israel. This, Rashi explains, is the reason

why these two stories are juxtaposed to one

another in the Torah. How are we to understand

this connection? Miriam was punished for

speaking critically of Moshe Rabbenu, the

greatest prophet who ever lived. How were the

spies supposed to learn from her punishment that

they should not speak negatively about a land?

The Ben Ish Hai (Rav Yosef Haim of Baghdad,

1833-1909) explained by analyzing the essential

nature of the sin of the spies. When the spies

returned from their excursion, they described the

large size and great strength of the inhabitants of

Eretz Yisrael, and how small they, the spies, felt

in comparison. In this context, they said that they

felt like “Hagabim” – “grasshoppers,” or locusts

(13:33). The significance of this comparison, the

Ben Ish Hai explained, can be found in a verse in

the Book of Mishleh (30:27), where King

Shlomo teaches, “Melech En La’arbeh” – “The

locust has no king.” Locusts have no authority

figure; they swarm and consume without any

restraint or semblance of order. They are not

under anyone’s control or authority. This, the

Ben Ish Hair writes, is the meaning of the spies’

comment. They felt they had no competent

leader. As they stood in fear observing the

powerful Canaanites, they started asking

themselves, “What kind of leader sends his

people to such a dangerous place?” They thus

concluded that they had no leadership. Moshe

was not responsible, they believed, and could

not be trusted. This was the crux of the sin of the

spies – they distrusted Moshe Rabbenu. He

received an explicit prophecy from Hashem that

He would lead them to a good land and would

grant them victory over the people of Canaan.

The spies did not accept his prophecy, and did

not trust him. This is why their sin was so severe.

Once the people mistrusted Moshe regarding

Eretz Yisrael, they would mistrust him regarding

everything else, as well, and they would then

reject the entire Torah. This explains the

connection between the story of the spies and the

story of Miriam. When Miriam spoke about

Moshe Rabbenu, she did not intend to

undermine his authority, or to denigrate him in

any way. However, her negative comments led

to the next stage, when the spies questioned

Moshe’s credentials as leader and prophet. The

first step was Miriam’s mild criticism, and the

next step was the spies’ general mistrust of

Moshe. Unfortunately, the process did not stop

there. The next Parasha, Parashat Korah, tells

how this process unfolded one step further, with

Korah leading a frontal, all-out assault on

Moshe’s authority. The spies had stopped short

of openly opposing Moshe’s leadership, and

dismissed only his prophecy regarding the Land

of Israel. But this led to the next step, which was

Korah’s all-out revolt against Moshe. What

began as an unintentional slight to Moshe’s

honor by Miriam evolved into a full-blown

rebellion against Moshe’s authority. Although

she did not intend any harm, and did not seek to

challenge Moshe’s authority in any way, it

triggered a process of gradual decline in the

people’s esteem for Moshe Rabbenu, a process

that culminated in an all-out rebellion.