Dear Friends,
In Israel, in the 1950’s, during the time of the Austerity (“Tzena”, as it was known) – when the economic conditions were very hard and food was rationed, there was a joke going around: If you want to know how to get to the Welfare Office, just go straight – straight – and you’ll surely get there.
The meaning of this bleak joke is clear. The reality of the time was that it was almost impossible to make a living honestly. And therefore, those who were honest, those who went “straight – straight” – would very quickly reach a situation in which they would need the support of the Welfare services.
In spite of all this, there were men and women who arrived in Israel from the Diaspora destitute, materially-speaking, but owning quite a bit of spiritual fortitude and values. They bit the bullet, and did not leave their straight path.
In this week’s Parasha, a particularly eventful one, it is told that right before the twelve tribe leaders left “to tour the land,” Moshe Rabbeinu called over his disciple Hoshea, and added the letter Yudto his name, changing it to Yehoshua, Yehoshua bin Nun. Rashi explains that upon adding the Yud, Moshe inserted Hashem’s name into Yehoshua’s name, and prayed for him: “May Y-H (Hashem) save you from the notions of the spies.” Later on, when the men were already in the land of Israel, Calev ben Yefuneh slipped away from the group, to the city of Hevron, in order to pray at the gravesites of the Patriarchs. Here, too, Rashi explains that he prayed “that he not be swayed by their notions.”
Those twelve people “who went to tour the land” were sent by Moshe as tourists, and not as spies (by the way, the word Meraglim – spies – does not appear in the Parasha).
The difference between tourists and spies is that tourists look at what they see plainly in front of them, photograph it and report it to others (and usually expect to receive a “Like” from their friends…). Spies, on the other hand, are supposed to be sly enough to understand what’s behind the façade. Often the information is obtained by deceit, and by way of lying to some degree. They must look like innocent tourists. In our Parasha, the twelve people were not requested to be spies, but, as mentioned, just to tour the land. (Unlike 38 years later, when Moshe sent spies ‘to spy out Ya’zer”.)
There is a risk in being a spy, because when a person becomes accustomed to acting slyly and deceitfully, he might do so when it is unnecessary, and then he will quickly slip into a corrupt frame of mind.
That is exactly what Moshe was afraid of when he prayed for Yehoshua, “May Y-H (Hashem) save you from the notions of the spies.” And that is exactly what Calev ben Yefuneh was afraid of when he prayed at Me’arat Hamachpelah, that he not be swayed by them, because one must be extremely wary of subterfuge and deceit, and certainly from hiding the truth. And one shouldn’t do any of these on one’s own initiative, even if that means ending up in the Welfare Office.
Shabbat Shalom,
Zalmen Wishedski