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June 7, 2002/Sivan 27 5762, Vol. 54, No. 38
Covenant, nation provide inspiration
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Shelach/Numbers 13:1-15:41
The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are men of great size." (Numbers 13:32)
Apparently, 10 of the 12 scouts sent out on a reconnaissance mission were deeply repulsed by the land of Israel, even to the extent of preparing a negative report and refusing to conquer the Promised Land. What did they find that was so disturbing, and why were Joshua and Caleb not similarly disturbed by the same sight?
The Sforno takes the simplest approach: the complaint was that the air was polluted, the crops were afflicted with insidious bacteria, and so only the most hale and hearty had the ability to survive.
Nachmanides takes it very differently. After all, he reminds us, the scouts brought back wonderful fruit, so that it would be difficult for them to claim foul air and underdeveloped produce. Their sin of an "evil report" stems from their negative interpretation of a positive situation: they duly reported a climate heavily laden with nutrients, plentiful water and luscious fruit that grew to great proportion. Only individuals who themselves are of great stature and healthy disposition can survive such rich and abundant nutrition. Hence he explains the fact that it was a land which devours its inhabitants, but at the same time the residents were tall and husky.
Rashi's explanation is radically different. He cites a midrash to interpret "a land which devours its inhabitants": "Wherever we passed, we found the inhabitants burying their dead," cry the scouts.
Indeed, explains Rashi, they did not understand that this preponderance of funerals was for their benefit, so that the residents would be so involved in their mourning that they would pay no attention to the foreign scouts. Rashi goes on to interpret anshei midot to mean "men of struggle" from the Hebrew word madon, or "men of advanced knowledge in warfare" from the Hebrew word madim.
Rashi pictures the scouts as having seen the inhabitants of Canaan involved in warfare, dressed in battle uniform and attending the funerals of their dead warriors; and so the scouts became frightened by tackling such bellicose inhabitants.
But why did Joshua and Caleb remain resolute?
Our biblical portion opens with a catalogue of the names of the princes of the tribes, the 12 scouts, informing us that Hoshea was the prince of Efraim. Moses renames him Yehoshua (Joshua), adding the prefix God (Yah) to form the new appellation "God saves."
In the portion, we are informed that the 12 scouts began their journey by travelling up to the Negev, and then he (singular) came to Hebron. Rashi immediately comments, "Caleb alone went there, and he prostrated himself on the graves of our patriarchs and matriarchs, the Machpela cave in Hebron."
Joshua was God enthused, and Caleb was national history entrusted; one felt God was on his side, and the other felt his ancestors were on his side.
Tragically, the other scouts were so distanced from Sinai and the tradition of the covenant that they felt very small and very alone. They felt powerless and perceived themselves powerless in the eyes of their enemies.
Joshua and Caleb will take the next generation into the Promised Land; their faith in God and Jewish destiny made them much taller in stature than the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan and exquisitely prepared to partake of the goodly fruits of the land flowing with milk and honey.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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