Friday, June 12, 2026

Fw: Dvar Torah from the Rosh HaYeshiva - Shelach – 5786




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Subject: Dvar Torah from the Rosh HaYeshiva - Shelach – 5786
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Dear Yeshiva Family:


I Get Your Reward


In this week's parashah the Torah (14:38) tells us: "Yehoshua bin Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh lived from among those men who went to scout the land."


The Kli Yakar asks an obvious question. The Torah had already informed us that the other spies died and that Yehoshua and Calev did not participate in their sin. Why does the Torah need to tell us that they lived?


The Kli Yakar explains that the Torah is hinting to a remarkable teaching of Chazal. The Gemara (Chagigah 15a) teaches that a tzaddik receives not only his own portion in the World to Come, but also the portion that would have belonged to the wicked who forfeited it. Similarly, a wicked person inherits not only his own punishment, but also the punishment that would have belonged to the righteous had they failed.


According to the Kli Yakar, this is the meaning of the pasuk. Not only did they not die on this world, but Yehoshua and Calev "lived" from among those men. They inherited the spiritual portion that the other spies lost through their sin.


Why Is That Just??


It is a beautiful idea, but it is actually a very difficult one.


We believe that Hashem is perfectly just. Every reward is earned and every punishment is deserved. If so, why should anyone receive more than he earned? If a person spends a lifetime building his portion in the World to Come, he should receive that portion. If another person squanders his opportunities, he should lose what he could have attained. But why should someone else inherit it? What does one person's righteousness have to do with another person's failure? Similarly, if a wicked person deserves punishment, let him receive the punishment he earned. Why should he receive anything more than that? Why should another person's portion be added to his account?


There is another difficulty as well. Chazal teach that the entire purpose of our existence in this world is to earn our reward. Hashem could have simply created Gan Eden and placed us there, but He wished to bestow upon us the ultimate pleasure of achieving that closeness through our own efforts. If so, why would a person receive a reward that he did not earn? It would seem to undermine the very purpose of creation, which is that every spiritual accomplishment be the product of one's own choices and efforts.


We may ask an additional question. Even if we accept that the reward of the wicked can somehow be transferred to the righteous, why does it go to this particular tzaddik? Likewise, if a wicked person inherits an additional punishment, why is he the one who receives it? What determines the recipient? Why should Yehoshua and Calev inherit the portion of the spies more than anyone else?


The Classic Bais HaLevi Cannot Be Used Here


There is a famous explanation of this Gemara from the Bais HaLevi, however I am not sure we can use it to explain the Kli Yakar. We often think that our actions affect only ourselves. If I perform a mitzvah, I earn reward. If I commit a sin, I deserve punishment. The accounting is entirely personal.


The Beis HaLevi explains that this is not true. Every action a person performs changes the spiritual climate of the world. When a person sins, he does not merely damage himself. He makes sin a little more acceptable, a little more natural, and a little easier for everyone around him. The world becomes slightly more distant from holiness.


If another person later sins, the first person bears some responsibility for having helped create an environment in which that sin became easier. In a certain sense, a small part of the second person's failure traces back to the first person's actions.

The same is true in the opposite direction.


When a person performs a mitzvah, especially when it requires effort, sacrifice, and growth, he does more than elevate himself. He elevates the world. He makes holiness more accessible. He makes goodness more natural. He makes it easier for the next person to choose correctly.


When that next person performs a mitzvah, the first individual shares in the reward, because he helped make that mitzvah possible.


According to the Beis HaLevi, the Gemara is not describing a bonus reward or an extra punishment. It is describing a deeper reality. The righteous receive the portion of the wicked because they helped create the spiritual successes that the wicked never achieved. The wicked receive the portion of the righteous because they helped create the spiritual failures that followed in their wake.


Our actions never remain our own. They ripple outward and shape the choices of everyone around us.


The Beis HaLevi's insight can be understood not only on a mystical level, but on a very practical one as well.


We all know from experience that behavior is contagious. When people around us treat a particular aveirah lightly, it becomes easier for us to do the same. Standards slip. Actions that once seemed unthinkable slowly become acceptable. In that sense, the first person who sins has helped pave the way for those who follow.


The opposite is also true. When someone is willing to be different, to take a stand, to begin a new mitzvah, to establish a new seder, or to raise the standard in some area of life, he makes it easier for others to follow. His courage lowers the barrier for everyone who comes after him.


Yet this still does not fully explain the Kli Yakar.


According to the Beis HaLevi, people share in one another's reward and punishment because they influence one another's choices. If I make it easier for someone to perform a mitzvah, I share in the reward of that mitzvah. If I make it easier for someone to sin, I share in the responsibility for that sin.


But that does not seem to fit our case. We do not find that the ten spies performed mitzvos because of Yehoshua and Calev. On the contrary, the spies rejected the message of Yehoshua and Calev and persisted in their rebellion. If so, why should Yehoshua and Calev inherit their portion in the World to Come?


It would therefore seem that the Kli Yakar understands this Gemara differently than the Beis HaLevi. The Beis HaLevi explains how reward and punishment can be shared through influence. The Kli Yakar appears to be describing a different phenomenon altogether, one that requires further explanation.


R’ Ahron Kotler’s Explanation

There is another classic explanation of this Gemara from R’ Ahron Kotler (See Mamarim 2 pg. 73).


When a wicked person sins, he does not merely increase sin in the world. He also increases the challenge faced by every righteous person around him. Remaining committed to Torah becomes more difficult. Swimming against the tide requires greater effort. The spiritual battle becomes harder.


When a tzaddik nevertheless withstands that challenge, he receives greater reward. But where did that additional reward come from? It was generated by the obstacle that the rasha created. In that sense, the reward is taken from the rasha's portion and given to the tzaddik who overcame the challenge.


Conversely, when a rasha negatively affects the world, whether through the spiritual mechanism described by the Beis HaLevi or through the very real social influence that he exerts upon those around him, he makes it more difficult for the tzaddikim of his generation to reach the levels they otherwise could have attained.


We find this idea regarding Hillel. Chazal (Sanhedrin 11a) tell us that Hillel was worthy of an even greater level of prophecy, but that his generation was not deserving of it. The people around him limited what could have been achieved. Now who bears responsibility for the fact that Hillel did not reach those higher levels? The deficiency lies not in Hillel, but in the generation that held him back. So his deficiency will be rightfully credited to them in the next world, for they are the ones that caused it.


Applying R’ Ahron to the Meraglim



If so, the same may be true here. Yehoshua and Calev were confronted with an extraordinary challenge. Not only were they forced to withstand the pressure of an entire nation, but they had to stand against ten of the greatest leaders of Klal Yisrael. The spiritual atmosphere created by the spies made their test infinitely more difficult. According to R’ Ahron, the additional reward generated by overcoming that greater challenge must come from somewhere. Who created the challenge? The ten spies. Who made the test more difficult? The ten spies. It is therefore entirely reasonable that the additional reward earned by Yehoshua and Calev be drawn from the portion that had been prepared for those very spies.


Just How Just is Hashem


While these are admittedly difficult concepts to fully grasp, they teach a powerful lesson.


Of course, one lesson is that none of us lives in isolation. Our actions affect the people around us in ways we often cannot imagine. Every mitzvah elevates others, and every aveirah leaves a mark beyond ourselves.


But there is another lesson as well. Hashem never judges two people in exactly the same way.


If one person sins after watching others engage in that behavior, his struggle is not identical to the struggle of the first person. The environment has changed. The challenge has changed. The factors influencing his decision have changed. The same action may have been performed, but the circumstances are no longer the same.



In truth, this principle extends far beyond the specific case discussed by the Beis HaLevi. No two people have the same background, the same upbringing, the same challenges, the same strengths, or the same weaknesses. One person grew up in a home where Torah values were natural and obvious. Another had to discover those values on his own. One person battles temptations that another can scarcely understand. Another faces struggles that are invisible to everyone around him.


Hashem takes all of that into account. The first person to commit a sin bears greater responsibility than the second person who follows immediately afterwards, because for the second person the road has already been partially paved. The challenge remains, but it is no longer the same challenge. No two circumstances are ever exactly alike. In fact, even for the same person, no two moments are ever exactly alike. What appears to be the same nisayon may in reality be vastly different because of the countless experiences, influences, successes, failures, conversations and emotions that preceded it. Every choice is made against a unique backdrop, and that backdrop inevitably makes the struggle either easier or more difficult. No one else has lived that exact life. No one else has stood at that exact crossroads. Hashem therefore judges not only the action itself, but also the circumstances in which it was performed. He alone understands every factor that shaped the decision and evaluates each person with perfect justice.


This Gemara, then, is not an example of unfair justice at all. Quite the opposite. It is an illustration of Hashem's perfect justice carried out to the finest degree.


Ultimately, Hashem judges a person not merely by what he did, but by the bechirah he exercised. He judges the struggle, the obstacles, the influences, and the effort required to make the choice. The action may look identical from the outside, but before Hashem, no two decisions are ever exactly the same.


The Famous Mitzvah/Aveirah Transfer of Lashon Hara


While we are discussing the transfer of reward and punishment, it is worth mentioning another famous source that appears in this week's parashah.


Our parashah centers on the episode of the spies's lashon hara, and whenever lashon hara is discussed, one inevitably encounters a startling teaching quoted by the Chovos HaLevavos (Shaar HaKniyah 7) and cited by the Chofetz Chaim (Shmiras Halashon 1 Zechira 7).


The Chovos HaLevavos writes that when a person speaks lashon hara about another Jew, an extraordinary exchange takes place. The mitzvos of the speaker are transferred to the person he spoke about, while the aveiros of the victim are transferred to the speaker. He describes a person arriving in the Next World and discovering mitzvos that he never performed, only to be told that they came from someone who spoke lashon hara about him. Conversely, a person may search for mitzvos he thought were his and discover that they have been credited elsewhere.


Many sefarim quote this teaching at face value[1].


Yet this is deeply troubling.


The same question we asked earlier returns with even greater force. We understand that lashon hara is a terrible sin. We understand that a person deserves punishment for damaging another human being. But why should his mitzvos be transferred to someone else? Why should another person's aveiros be transferred to him?


A person should be rewarded for the good that he did and punished for the wrong that he did. How are we to understand a system in which spiritual accounts seem to be exchanged from one person to another? How does such a transfer could possibly fit within Hashem's perfect justice.


One may raise an additional question. The Gemara in Makkos asks, with regard to the punishment of malkus, how we know that a person who receives lashes for a sin punishable by kares is no longer liable for kares. "Did you ascend to Heaven and see?" asks the Gemara (Makkos 23b). In other words, how can we know the precise workings of Hashem's system of judgment?


A similar question could be asked here. How do we know that reward and punishment operate in this fashion? How do we know that one person's merits can be connected to another's shortcomings, or vice versa? The truth is that one of the sources that discuss this teaching is from a malach! The Maggid Meisharim records revelations transmitted to the Beis Yosef by a malach, and there this concept is described as ‘literally true’. Nevertheless, the question remains noteworthy. It is difficult to understand how the Chovos HaLevavos could make such a sweeping statement unless there is also a practical and understandable mechanism underlying it, such as the approaches we will discuss.


If the transfer is literal, we can ask many practical questions. Suppose a person speaks lashon hara about two people. How is the transfer divided? Who receives the mitzvos? The second person will be all excited that he had lashon Hara spoken about him, only to discover that the person had already given all his mitzvos away that morning!


Additionally, if this mechanism is to be understood literally, one could ask why a person should exert himself so greatly to acquire mitzvos. An ‘easier strategy’ would be to live an average life, remain careful not to speak lashon hara, and simply be annoying enough to allow others to criticize him? Surely someone, somewhere, will eventually speak about him and transfer merits to him. (Obviously, this goes back to one of our original questions, that this is not a reward that is slated to be enjoyed.)


R’ Dessler (4 pg. 214) offers an interpretation that seems quite different from the simple reading of the Chovos HaLevavos. For the sake of brevity, I will not quote the entire passage. Suffice it to say that I find it difficult to read his explanation into the words of the Chovos HaLevavos, as it does not appear to emerge naturally from the text and seems far removed from the straightforward understanding of the passage[2].


Lashon Hara Transfer Based on R’ Ahron


Perhaps we can suggest that the Chovos HaLevavos is referring specifically to those areas that became more difficult because of the Lashon Hara. Indeed, perhaps the Chovos HaLevavos is not introducing an entirely new concept, but rather building upon the principle found in this Gemara and explained by Rav Ahron.


If Reuven speaks Lashon Hara about Shimon, the result is often that Shimon's life becomes more difficult. He may suffer embarrassment, lose opportunities, experience strained relationships, or face additional challenges. As a consequence, Shimon may now require greater effort and sacrifice to accomplish the same mitzvos he otherwise would have performed with ease. In exact measure, the reward generated through those additional efforts would be charged to Reuven's account and credited to Shimon.


Similarly, if the effects of the Lashon Hara limit Shimon's ability to perform certain mitzvos, the corresponding loss would justly be deducted from Reuven's account. Conversely, if the difficulties and obstacles created by Reuven's words cause Shimon to stumble and commit aveiros that otherwise would not have occurred, those consequences can be attributed, at least in part, to Reuven. In this way, the Chovos HaLevavos need not be understood as describing a mysterious transfer of mitzvos and aveiros from one person to another. Rather, it is describing the precise and perfectly just accounting through which Hashem evaluates the far-reaching consequences of a person's speech.


In truth, I believe this approach may be hinted to by the Chafetz Chaim himself. In Shemiras HaLashon, the Chafetz Chaim discusses the custom of reciting at the end of Shemoneh Esrei a verse that begins and ends with the letters of one's name, which serves as an aid in remembering one's name after death. He explains that one reason this is necessary is because a person who spoke Lashon Hara may find himself bearing the sins of another individual. Since he is being punished for aveiros that were originally associated with someone else, he may become confused and say, "That is not my name; those are not my sins." Therefore, one recites a pasuk connected to his name so that he will remember it.


What is noteworthy, however, is the language the Chafetz Chaim employs when describing these transferred sins. He writes that these are the sins of Ploni which came about because "his service of Hashem deteriorated through your actions" (b'mah shehisrashal me'avodaso al yedei zeh). This language seems to indicate precisely the idea we have been developing. The aveiros are not arbitrarily reassigned from one person to another. Rather, when one person's Lashon Hara causes another individual to falter, become discouraged, or otherwise perform less avodas Hashem than he would have, those consequences are attributed to the one who caused them.


According to this understanding, the Chovos HaLevavos is describing a system of absolute justice. It is not a mysterious transfer of merits and sins from one account to another. Rather, Hashem evaluates the full consequences of a person's actions and speech and holds him accountable for the spiritual damage he caused, while crediting the victim for the additional challenges he was forced to endure. Far from being arbitrary, it is a manifestation of perfect justice.


Finally this clears up a mystery that has bothered me for a long time!


Have an amazing Shabbos!!


Rabbi Moshe Revah

Mrevah2@touro.edu


___________________________



[1] See Orchos Tzadikim – Shaar Hanava, Magid Meisharim – Parshas Vayakhel 73 Am. 3, Sefer Chassidim 610, Kosnos Ohr – Chayei Sara among many many others. It should be noted that not all sources will fit neatly with Rav Dessler's interpretation. The Kosnos Ohr, for example, explains a pasuk in Tehillim to mean that Dovid HaMelech lamented the fact that those who spoke lashon hara about him did not possess even greater merits, for had they done so, he would have benefited even more from their actions. This and many similar sources appear to understand the teaching of the Chovos HaLevavos much more literally than the explaantions we will offer here. An interesting related comment is found in the Chasam Sofer (Drashos, 7 Adar, pg. 170:2). Chazal teach that when a person is appointed to a position of leadership, his sins are forgiven. The Chasam Sofer explains that leaders often become the subject of criticism and lashon hara. As a result, they possess a sort of "insurance policy," as those who speak against them are constantly transferring merits to them and taking upon themselves additional liability. Interestingly, the language of the Chasam Sofer seems to imply an ongoing process rather than a one-time forgiveness granted at the moment of appointment.


[2] R' Chaim Friedlander (Sifsei Chayim MIddos 1 pg. 23) explains that this approach is readily understandable. Since a person employed falsehood and distortion against another individual, it is fitting that the attribute of sheker is turned against him as well. R' Dessler appears, in one place (4 pg. 20), to understand the Chovos HaLevavos along similar lines. See also R” Moshe Shternbauch (Teshuvos VeHanhagos 5:396) who offers yet a third approach, but even these approaches are uncomfortable to me.
 
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Thursday, June 11, 2026

Fw: LIVE NOW! Chof Ches Sivan Farbrengen




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Fw: Let's fix the sin of the Meraglim




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