Wednesday, June 5, 2013

NAALEH.COM and YU TORAH Tears Of Temerity Parshat Shelach 5773 By Mrs. Shira Smiles

Parshat Shelach Lecha begins by relating the account of the spies Moshe sent to reconnoiter the land of Canaan that Hashem had promised to Bnei Yisroel. Moshe gave them specific instructions as to what to look for, and ended by telling them to bring back a sample of the fruit of the land. Of the twelve spies, each a leader of his tribe, ten come back with negative reports of giants and fortified cities and a land that devours its inhabitants. They instilled fear in the nation, and the people cried voluminous tears that night, bemoaning their fate. That night then, became a night for weeping through the ages, as God declared, “They indulged in weeping for nothing; I will establish this night for them as a time of weeping for generations.” That night was the night of Tisha B’Av, the ninth of Av, a date infamous in Jewish history for its being filled with tragedy. Not only were both Holy Temples destroyed on that night, but the stronghold of Betar fell, both the expulsion from England in 1290 and the expulsion from Spain as part of the Inquisition in 1492 were completed on that Hebrew date, and the terms for the final solution were enacted in Nuremberg on that date as well. But Rabbi Goldwicht asks a very pointed question: Is God being vindictive? If not, we must explore the meaning of “weeping for nothing” as well is its connection to the other tragedies throughout our history to understand the message for the ages and find a way to rectify that lapse. The spies were sent on a mission as representatives of the people. But, as Rabbi Yechiel Spero points out in Touched by the Parasha, they failed in their mission and severed the ties of Bnei Yisroel to the Land and by extension to the Beit Hamikdosh which was to be built in this land. Had they not failed, the entire world would have received absolution and Moshe would have led Bnei Yisroel into the Promised Land. Was this mission, then, only to scout out the land?(RABBI SPERO TOUCHED BY THE PARSHA AND NEW RABBI FRAND 3 ARE USED) click here for Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein.

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