Repairing the Sin of the Spies
Rav Kook’s dictum for the month of Av also speaks of our joy in witnessing the initial steps of Redemption:
“The nation’s jubilation over sparks of redemption will rebuild that which baseless crying destroyed.”
“Baseless crying” — bechiyah shel chinam — refers to the spies sent by Moses who spoke against the Land of Israel, causing the people to despair and weep in vain. What is the tikun for this sin? How do we correct their cries of despair?
We repair the sin of the spies, Rav Kook explained, with teshuvat ha-mishkal, with a good that counterbalances the evil. We must show excitement and joy as the Land of Israel is rebuilt, stone by stone.
We need not wait until the final stages of redemption to experience this excitement. Even if the redemption is only partial — even if there are only “sparks of redemption” — we should still feel great joy, and work toward expediting the process of redemption with all our strength.
As Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi noted at the end of his classic work, The Kuzari:
“Jerusalem will not be rebuilt until the Jewish people yearn for it with an utmost longing, until they cherish its very stones and dust.”
(Adapted from Mo'adei HaRe’iyah, pp. 567-568) see
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ (ב) שְׁלַח־לְךָ֣ אֲנָשִׁ֗ים וְיָתֻ֙רוּ֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִ֥י נֹתֵ֖ן לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אִ֣ישׁ אֶחָד֩ אִ֨ישׁ אֶחָ֜ד לְמַטֵּ֤ה אֲבֹתָיו֙ תִּשְׁלָ֔חוּ כֹּ֖ל נָשִׂ֥יא בָהֶֽם׃ (ג) וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח אֹתָ֥ם מֹשֶׁ֛ה מִמִּדְבַּ֥ר פָּארָ֖ן עַל־פִּ֣י ה׳ כֻּלָּ֣ם אֲנָשִׁ֔ים רָאשֵׁ֥י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הֵֽמָּה׃ (ד) וְאֵ֖לֶּה שְׁמוֹתָ֑ם לְמַטֵּ֣ה רְאוּבֵ֔ן שַׁמּ֖וּעַ בֶּן־זַכּֽוּר׃ (ה) לְמַטֵּ֣ה שִׁמְע֔וֹן שָׁפָ֖ט בֶּן־חוֹרִֽי׃ (ו) לְמַטֵּ֣ה יְהוּדָ֔ה כָּלֵ֖ב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּֽה׃ (ז) לְמַטֵּ֣ה יִשָּׂשכָ֔ר יִגְאָ֖ל בֶּן־יוֹסֵֽף׃ (ח) לְמַטֵּ֥ה אֶפְרָ֖יִם הוֹשֵׁ֥עַ בִּן־נֽוּן׃ (ט) לְמַטֵּ֣ה בִנְיָמִ֔ן פַּלְטִ֖י בֶּן־רָפֽוּא׃ (י) לְמַטֵּ֣ה זְבוּלֻ֔ן גַּדִּיאֵ֖ל בֶּן־סוֹדִֽי׃ (יא) לְמַטֵּ֥ה יוֹסֵ֖ף לְמַטֵּ֣ה מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה גַּדִּ֖י בֶּן־סוּסִֽי׃ (יב) לְמַטֵּ֣ה דָ֔ן עַמִּיאֵ֖ל בֶּן־גְּמַלִּֽי׃ (יג) לְמַטֵּ֣ה אָשֵׁ֔ר סְת֖וּר בֶּן־מִיכָאֵֽל׃ (יד) לְמַטֵּ֣ה נַפְתָּלִ֔י נַחְבִּ֖י בֶּן־וׇפְסִֽי׃ (טו) לְמַטֵּ֣ה גָ֔ד גְּאוּאֵ֖ל בֶּן־מָכִֽי׃ (טז) אֵ֚לֶּה שְׁמ֣וֹת הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֖ה לָת֣וּר אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּקְרָ֥א מֹשֶׁ֛ה לְהוֹשֵׁ֥עַ בִּן־נ֖וּן יְהוֹשֻֽׁעַ׃ (יז) וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח אֹתָם֙ מֹשֶׁ֔ה לָת֖וּר אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֗ם עֲל֥וּ זֶה֙ בַּנֶּ֔גֶב וַעֲלִיתֶ֖ם אֶת־הָהָֽר׃ (יח) וּרְאִיתֶ֥ם אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ מַה־הִ֑וא וְאֶת־הָעָם֙ הַיֹּשֵׁ֣ב עָלֶ֔יהָ הֶחָזָ֥ק הוּא֙ הֲרָפֶ֔ה הַמְעַ֥ט ה֖וּא אִם־רָֽב׃ (יט) וּמָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּ֔הּ הֲטוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם־רָעָ֑ה וּמָ֣ה הֶֽעָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּהֵ֔נָּה הַבְּמַֽחֲנִ֖ים אִ֥ם בְּמִבְצָרִֽים׃ (כ) וּמָ֣ה הָ֠אָ֠רֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם־רָזָ֗ה הֲיֵֽשׁ־בָּ֥הּ עֵץ֙ אִם־אַ֔יִן וְהִ֨תְחַזַּקְתֶּ֔ם וּלְקַחְתֶּ֖ם מִפְּרִ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ וְהַ֨יָּמִ֔ים יְמֵ֖י בִּכּוּרֵ֥י עֲנָבִֽים׃ (כא) וַֽיַּעֲל֖וּ וַיָּתֻ֣רוּ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ מִמִּדְבַּר־צִ֥ן עַד־רְחֹ֖ב לְבֹ֥א חֲמָֽת׃ (כב) וַיַּעֲל֣וּ בַנֶּ֘גֶב֮ וַיָּבֹ֣א עַד־חֶבְרוֹן֒ וְשָׁ֤ם אֲחִימַן֙ שֵׁשַׁ֣י וְתַלְמַ֔י יְלִידֵ֖י הָעֲנָ֑ק וְחֶבְר֗וֹן שֶׁ֤בַע שָׁנִים֙ נִבְנְתָ֔ה לִפְנֵ֖י צֹ֥עַן מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (כג) וַיָּבֹ֜אוּ עַד־נַ֣חַל אֶשְׁכֹּ֗ל וַיִּכְרְת֨וּ מִשָּׁ֤ם זְמוֹרָה֙ וְאֶשְׁכּ֤וֹל עֲנָבִים֙ אֶחָ֔ד וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֥הוּ בַמּ֖וֹט בִּשְׁנָ֑יִם וּמִן־הָרִמֹּנִ֖ים וּמִן־הַתְּאֵנִֽים׃ (כד) לַמָּק֣וֹם הַה֔וּא קָרָ֖א נַ֣חַל אֶשְׁכּ֑וֹל עַ֚ל אֹד֣וֹת הָֽאֶשְׁכּ֔וֹל אֲשֶׁר־כָּרְת֥וּ מִשָּׁ֖ם בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (כה) וַיָּשֻׁ֖בוּ מִתּ֣וּר הָאָ֑רֶץ מִקֵּ֖ץ אַרְבָּעִ֥ים יֽוֹם׃ (כו) וַיֵּלְכ֡וּ וַיָּבֹ֩אוּ֩ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֨ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֜ן וְאֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל אֶל־מִדְבַּ֥ר פָּארָ֖ן קָדֵ֑שָׁה וַיָּשִׁ֨יבוּ אֹתָ֤ם דָּבָר֙ וְאֶת־כׇּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה וַיַּרְא֖וּם אֶת־פְּרִ֥י הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (כז) וַיְסַפְּרוּ־לוֹ֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ בָּ֕אנוּ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר שְׁלַחְתָּ֑נוּ וְ֠גַ֠ם זָבַ֨ת חָלָ֥ב וּדְבַ֛שׁ הִ֖וא וְזֶה־פִּרְיָֽהּ׃ (כח) אֶ֚פֶס כִּֽי־עַ֣ז הָעָ֔ם הַיֹּשֵׁ֖ב בָּאָ֑רֶץ וְהֶֽעָרִ֗ים בְּצֻר֤וֹת גְּדֹלֹת֙ מְאֹ֔ד וְגַם־יְלִדֵ֥י הָֽעֲנָ֖ק רָאִ֥ינוּ שָֽׁם׃ (כט) עֲמָלֵ֥ק יוֹשֵׁ֖ב בְּאֶ֣רֶץ הַנֶּ֑גֶב וְ֠הַֽחִתִּ֠י וְהַיְבוּסִ֤י וְהָֽאֱמֹרִי֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּהָ֔ר וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב עַל־הַיָּ֔ם וְעַ֖ל יַ֥ד הַיַּרְדֵּֽן׃ (ל) וַיַּ֧הַס כָּלֵ֛ב אֶת־הָעָ֖ם אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר עָלֹ֤ה נַעֲלֶה֙ וְיָרַ֣שְׁנוּ אֹתָ֔הּ כִּֽי־יָכ֥וֹל נוּכַ֖ל לָֽהּ׃ (לא) וְהָ֨אֲנָשִׁ֜ים אֲשֶׁר־עָל֤וּ עִמּוֹ֙ אָֽמְר֔וּ לֹ֥א נוּכַ֖ל לַעֲל֣וֹת אֶל־הָעָ֑ם כִּֽי־חָזָ֥ק ה֖וּא מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ (לב) וַיֹּצִ֜יאוּ דִּבַּ֤ת הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּר֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר הָאָ֡רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֩ עָבַ֨רְנוּ בָ֜הּ לָת֣וּר אֹתָ֗הּ אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יוֹשְׁבֶ֙יהָ֙ הִ֔וא וְכׇל־הָעָ֛ם אֲשֶׁר־רָאִ֥ינוּ בְתוֹכָ֖הּ אַנְשֵׁ֥י מִדּֽוֹת׃ (לג) וְשָׁ֣ם רָאִ֗ינוּ אֶת־הַנְּפִילִ֛ים בְּנֵ֥י עֲנָ֖ק מִן־הַנְּפִלִ֑ים וַנְּהִ֤י בְעֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים וְכֵ֥ן הָיִ֖ינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃
(1) ה׳ spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Send agents to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one participant from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.” (3) So Moses, by ה׳’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all of them being men of consequence, leaders of the Israelites. (4) And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur. (5) From the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori.
(א) וַתִּשָּׂא֙ כׇּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ אֶת־קוֹלָ֑ם וַיִּבְכּ֥וּ הָעָ֖ם בַּלַּ֥יְלָה הַהֽוּא׃ (ב) וַיִּלֹּ֙נוּ֙ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֔ן כֹּ֖ל בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַֽיֹּאמְר֨וּ אֲלֵהֶ֜ם כׇּל־הָעֵדָ֗ה לוּ־מַ֙תְנוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם א֛וֹ בַּמִּדְבָּ֥ר הַזֶּ֖ה לוּ־מָֽתְנוּ׃ (ג) וְלָמָ֣ה ה׳ מֵבִ֨יא אֹתָ֜נוּ אֶל־הָאָ֤רֶץ הַזֹּאת֙ לִנְפֹּ֣ל בַּחֶ֔רֶב נָשֵׁ֥ינוּ וְטַפֵּ֖נוּ יִהְי֣וּ לָבַ֑ז הֲל֧וֹא ט֦וֹב לָ֖נוּ שׁ֥וּב מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃ (ד) וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֑יו נִתְּנָ֥ה רֹ֖אשׁ וְנָשׁ֥וּבָה מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃ (ה) וַיִּפֹּ֥ל מֹשֶׁ֛ה וְאַהֲרֹ֖ן עַל־פְּנֵיהֶ֑ם לִפְנֵ֕י כׇּל־קְהַ֥ל עֲדַ֖ת בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (ו) וִיהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ בִּן־נ֗וּן וְכָלֵב֙ בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּ֔ה מִן־הַתָּרִ֖ים אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ קָרְע֖וּ בִּגְדֵיהֶֽם׃ (ז) וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ אֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֥ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָבַ֤רְנוּ בָהּ֙ לָת֣וּר אֹתָ֔הּ טוֹבָ֥ה הָאָ֖רֶץ מְאֹ֥ד מְאֹֽד׃ (ח) אִם־חָפֵ֥ץ בָּ֙נוּ֙ ה׳ וְהֵבִ֤יא אֹתָ֙נוּ֙ אֶל־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את וּנְתָנָ֖הּ לָ֑נוּ אֶ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הִ֛וא זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ׃ (ט) אַ֣ךְ בַּה׳ אַל־תִּמְרֹ֒דוּ֒ וְאַתֶּ֗ם אַל־תִּֽירְאוּ֙ אֶת־עַ֣ם הָאָ֔רֶץ כִּ֥י לַחְמֵ֖נוּ הֵ֑ם סָ֣ר צִלָּ֧ם מֵעֲלֵיהֶ֛ם וַֽה׳ אִתָּ֖נוּ אַל־תִּירָאֻֽם׃ (י) וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ כׇּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה לִרְגּ֥וֹם אֹתָ֖ם בָּאֲבָנִ֑ים וּכְב֣וֹד ה׳ נִרְאָה֙ בְּאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד אֶֽל־כׇּל־בְּנֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ {פ}
(1) The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. (2) All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness!” (3) “Why is ה׳ taking us to that land to fall by the sword?” “Our wives and children will be carried off!” “It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!” (4) And they said to one another, “Let us head back for Egypt.” (5) Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembled congregation of Israelites. (6) And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those who had scouted the land, rent their clothes (7) and exhorted the whole Israelite community: “The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land. (8) If pleased with us, ה׳ will bring us into that land, a land that flows with milk and honey, and give it to us; (9) only you must not rebel against ה׳. Have no fear then of the people of the country, for they are our prey: their protection has departed from them, but ה׳ is with us. Have no fear of them!” (10) As the whole community threatened to pelt them with stones, the Presence of ה׳ appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.
(ו) וַיִּגְּשׁ֨וּ בְנֵי־יְהוּדָ֤ה אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙ בַּגִּלְגָּ֔ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֔יו כָּלֵ֥ב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּ֖ה הַקְּנִזִּ֑י אַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֡עְתָּ אֶֽת־הַדָּבָר֩ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֨ר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹקִ֗ים עַ֧ל אֹדוֹתַ֛י וְעַ֥ל אֹדוֹתֶ֖יךָ בְּקָדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵֽעַ׃ (ז) בֶּן־אַרְבָּעִ֨ים שָׁנָ֜ה אָנֹכִ֗י בִּ֠שְׁלֹ֠חַ מֹשֶׁ֨ה עֶבֶד־ה׳ אֹתִ֛י מִקָּדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵ֖עַ לְרַגֵּ֣ל אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וָאָשֵׁ֤ב אֹתוֹ֙ דָּבָ֔ר כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר עִם־לְֽבָבִֽי׃ (ח) וְאַחַי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָל֣וּ עִמִּ֔י הִמְסִ֖יו אֶת־לֵ֣ב הָעָ֑ם וְאָנֹכִ֣י מִלֵּ֔אתִי אַחֲרֵ֖י ה׳ אֱלֹקָֽי׃
(6) The Judahites approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know what instructions GOD gave at Kadesh-barnea to Moses, the agent of God, concerning you and me. (7) I was forty years old when Moses the servant of GOD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I gave him a forthright report. (8) While my companions who went up with me took the heart out of the people, I was loyal to my ETERNAL God.
אָמְרוּ (במדבר יג, לג): וַנְהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וִתַּרְתִּי עֲלֵיהֶם, אֶלָּא (במדבר יג, לג): וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם. יוֹדְעִים הֱיִיתֶם מֶה עָשִׂיתִי אֶתְכֶם לְעֵינֵיהֶם, מִי יֹאמַר שֶׁלֹא הֱיִיתֶם בְּעֵינֵיהֶם כְּמַלְאָכִים.
They said (in Numb. 13:33), “And in our own eyes we were like grasshoppers.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “I forgave them for that [remark]; but I was exacting [when they said] (ibid., cont.), ‘And so we were in their eyes.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Did you know what I made you in their eyes? Who would say that you were not like angels in their eyes?”
(יט) וַנִּסַּ֣ע מֵחֹרֵ֗ב וַנֵּ֡לֶךְ אֵ֣ת כׇּל־הַמִּדְבָּ֣ר הַגָּדוֹל֩ וְהַנּוֹרָ֨א הַה֜וּא אֲשֶׁ֣ר רְאִיתֶ֗ם דֶּ֚רֶךְ הַ֣ר הָֽאֱמֹרִ֔י כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֛ה ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֖ינוּ אֹתָ֑נוּ וַנָּבֹ֕א עַ֖ד קָדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵֽעַ׃ (כ) וָאֹמַ֖ר אֲלֵכֶ֑ם בָּאתֶם֙ עַד־הַ֣ר הָאֱמֹרִ֔י אֲשֶׁר־ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֖ינוּ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽנוּ׃ (כא) רְ֠אֵ֠ה נָתַ֨ן ה׳ אֱלֹקֶ֛יךָ לְפָנֶ֖יךָ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ עֲלֵ֣ה רֵ֗שׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ דִּבֶּ֨ר ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֤י אֲבֹתֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֔ךְ אַל־תִּירָ֖א וְאַל־תֵּחָֽת׃ (כב) וַתִּקְרְב֣וּן אֵלַי֮ כֻּלְּכֶם֒ וַתֹּאמְר֗וּ נִשְׁלְחָ֤ה אֲנָשִׁים֙ לְפָנֵ֔ינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ־לָ֖נוּ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וְיָשִׁ֤בוּ אֹתָ֙נוּ֙ דָּבָ֔ר אֶת־הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נַעֲלֶה־בָּ֔הּ וְאֵת֙ הֶֽעָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָבֹ֖א אֲלֵיהֶֽן׃ (כג) וַיִּיטַ֥ב בְּעֵינַ֖י הַדָּבָ֑ר וָאֶקַּ֤ח מִכֶּם֙ שְׁנֵ֣ים עָשָׂ֣ר אֲנָשִׁ֔ים אִ֥ישׁ אֶחָ֖ד לַשָּֽׁבֶט׃ (כד) וַיִּפְנוּ֙ וַיַּעֲל֣וּ הָהָ֔רָה וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ עַד־נַ֣חַל אֶשְׁכֹּ֑ל וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּ אֹתָֽהּ׃ (כה) וַיִּקְח֤וּ בְיָדָם֙ מִפְּרִ֣י הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיּוֹרִ֖דוּ אֵלֵ֑ינוּ וַיָּשִׁ֨בוּ אֹתָ֤נוּ דָבָר֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ טוֹבָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֖ינוּ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽנוּ׃ (כו) וְלֹ֥א אֲבִיתֶ֖ם לַעֲלֹ֑ת וַתַּמְר֕וּ אֶת־פִּ֥י ה׳ אֱלֹקֵיכֶֽם׃ (כז) וַתֵּרָגְנ֤וּ בְאׇהֳלֵיכֶם֙ וַתֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ בְּשִׂנְאַ֤ת ה׳ אֹתָ֔נוּ הוֹצִיאָ֖נוּ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם לָתֵ֥ת אֹתָ֛נוּ בְּיַ֥ד הָאֱמֹרִ֖י לְהַשְׁמִידֵֽנוּ׃ (כח) אָנָ֣ה ׀ אֲנַ֣חְנוּ עֹלִ֗ים אַחֵ֩ינוּ֩ הֵמַ֨סּוּ אֶת־לְבָבֵ֜נוּ לֵאמֹ֗ר עַ֣ם גָּד֤וֹל וָרָם֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ עָרִ֛ים גְּדֹלֹ֥ת וּבְצוּרֹ֖ת בַּשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְגַם־בְּנֵ֥י עֲנָקִ֖ים רָאִ֥ינוּ שָֽׁם׃ (כט) וָאֹמַ֖ר אֲלֵכֶ֑ם לֹֽא־תַעַרְצ֥וּן וְֽלֹא־תִירְא֖וּן מֵהֶֽם׃ (ל) ה׳ אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ הַהֹלֵ֣ךְ לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם ה֖וּא יִלָּחֵ֣ם לָכֶ֑ם כְּ֠כֹ֠ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֧ה אִתְּכֶ֛ם בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם לְעֵינֵיכֶֽם׃ (לא) וּבַמִּדְבָּר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר רָאִ֔יתָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר נְשָׂאֲךָ֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקֶ֔יךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר יִשָּׂא־אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־בְּנ֑וֹ בְּכׇל־הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הֲלַכְתֶּ֔ם עַד־בֹּאֲכֶ֖ם עַד־הַמָּק֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃ (לב) וּבַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּ֑ה אֵֽינְכֶם֙ מַאֲמִינִ֔ם בַּה׳ אֱלֹקֵיכֶֽם׃ (לג) הַהֹלֵ֨ךְ לִפְנֵיכֶ֜ם בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ לָת֥וּר לָכֶ֛ם מָק֖וֹם לַחֲנֹֽתְכֶ֑ם בָּאֵ֣שׁ ׀ לַ֗יְלָה לַרְאֹֽתְכֶם֙ בַּדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תֵּֽלְכוּ־בָ֔הּ וּבֶעָנָ֖ן יוֹמָֽם׃ (לד) וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע ה׳ אֶת־ק֣וֹל דִּבְרֵיכֶ֑ם וַיִּקְצֹ֖ף וַיִּשָּׁבַ֥ע לֵאמֹֽר׃ (לה) אִם־יִרְאֶ֥ה אִישׁ֙ בָּאֲנָשִׁ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה הַדּ֥וֹר הָרָ֖ע הַזֶּ֑ה אֵ֚ת הָאָ֣רֶץ הַטּוֹבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר נִשְׁבַּ֔עְתִּי לָתֵ֖ת לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ (לו) זֽוּלָתִ֞י כָּלֵ֤ב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּה֙ ה֣וּא יִרְאֶ֔נָּה וְלֽוֹ־אֶתֵּ֧ן אֶת־הָאָ֛רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר דָּֽרַךְ־בָּ֖הּ וּלְבָנָ֑יו יַ֕עַן אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִלֵּ֖א אַחֲרֵ֥י ה׳׃ (לז) גַּם־בִּי֙ הִתְאַנַּ֣ף ה׳ בִּגְלַלְכֶ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר גַּם־אַתָּ֖ה לֹא־תָבֹ֥א שָֽׁם׃ (לח) יְהוֹשֻׁ֤עַ בִּן־נוּן֙ הָעֹמֵ֣ד לְפָנֶ֔יךָ ה֖וּא יָ֣בֹא שָׁ֑מָּה אֹת֣וֹ חַזֵּ֔ק כִּי־ה֖וּא יַנְחִלֶ֥נָּה אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (לט) וְטַפְּכֶם֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֲמַרְתֶּ֜ם לָבַ֣ז יִהְיֶ֗ה וּ֠בְנֵיכֶ֠ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹא־יָדְע֤וּ הַיּוֹם֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע הֵ֖מָּה יָבֹ֣אוּ שָׁ֑מָּה וְלָהֶ֣ם אֶתְּנֶ֔נָּה וְהֵ֖ם יִירָשֽׁוּהָ׃ (מ) וְאַתֶּ֖ם פְּנ֣וּ לָכֶ֑ם וּסְע֥וּ הַמִּדְבָּ֖רָה דֶּ֥רֶךְ יַם־סֽוּף׃ (מא) וַֽתַּעֲנ֣וּ ׀ וַתֹּאמְר֣וּ אֵלַ֗י חָטָ֘אנוּ֮ לַה׳ אֲנַ֤חְנוּ נַעֲלֶה֙ וְנִלְחַ֔מְנוּ כְּכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖נוּ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֑ינוּ וַֽתַּחְגְּר֗וּ אִ֚ישׁ אֶת־כְּלֵ֣י מִלְחַמְתּ֔וֹ וַתָּהִ֖ינוּ לַעֲלֹ֥ת הָהָֽרָה׃ (מב) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ה׳ אֵלַ֗י אֱמֹ֤ר לָהֶם֙ לֹ֤א תַֽעֲלוּ֙ וְלֹא־תִלָּ֣חֲמ֔וּ כִּ֥י אֵינֶ֖נִּי בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֑ם וְלֹא֙ תִּנָּ֣גְפ֔וּ לִפְנֵ֖י אֹיְבֵיכֶֽם׃ (מג) וָאֲדַבֵּ֥ר אֲלֵיכֶ֖ם וְלֹ֣א שְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם וַתַּמְרוּ֙ אֶת־פִּ֣י ה׳ וַתָּזִ֖דוּ וַתַּעֲל֥וּ הָהָֽרָה׃ (מד) וַיֵּצֵ֨א הָאֱמֹרִ֜י הַיֹּשֵׁ֨ב בָּהָ֤ר הַהוּא֙ לִקְרַאתְכֶ֔ם וַיִּרְדְּפ֣וּ אֶתְכֶ֔ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר תַּעֲשֶׂ֖ינָה הַדְּבֹרִ֑ים וַֽיַּכְּת֥וּ אֶתְכֶ֛ם בְּשֵׂעִ֖יר עַד־חׇרְמָֽה׃ (מה) וַתָּשֻׁ֥בוּ וַתִּבְכּ֖וּ לִפְנֵ֣י ה׳ וְלֹֽא־שָׁמַ֤ע ה׳ בְּקֹ֣לְכֶ֔ם וְלֹ֥א הֶאֱזִ֖ין אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃ (מו) וַתֵּשְׁב֥וּ בְקָדֵ֖שׁ יָמִ֣ים רַבִּ֑ים כַּיָּמִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְשַׁבְתֶּֽם׃
(19) We set out from Horeb and traveled the great and terrible wilderness that you saw, along the road to the hill country of the Amorites, as our God ה׳ had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, (20) I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which our God ה׳ is giving to us. (21) See, your God ה׳ has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as ה׳, the God of your fathers, promised you.
וּכְתִיב: ״וַתִּשָּׂא כׇּל הָעֵדָה וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶת קוֹלָם וַיִּבְכּוּ הָעָם בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא״, אָמַר רַבָּה אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: אוֹתוֹ לַיְלָה לֵיל תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב הָיָה. אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: אַתֶּם בְּכִיתֶם בְּכִיָּה שֶׁל חִנָּם — וַאֲנִי קוֹבֵעַ לָכֶם בְּכִיָּה לְדוֹרוֹת.
And it is further written: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1). Rabba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: That night was the night of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: You wept needlessly that night, and I will therefore establish for you a true tragedy over which there will be weeping in future generations.
״וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים וְכֵן הָיִינוּ וְגוֹ׳״, אָמַר רַב מְשַׁרְשְׁיָא: מְרַגְּלִים שַׁקָּרֵי הֲווֹ, בִּשְׁלָמָא ״וַנְּהִי בְּעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים״ — לְחַיֵּי, אֶלָּא ״וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם״, מְנָא הֲווֹ יָדְעִי? וְלָא הִיא, כִּי הֲווֹ מַבְרִי אֲבֵילֵי — תּוּתֵי אַרְזֵי הֲווֹ מַבְרִי, וְכִי חֲזִינְהוּ, סְלִקוּ יָתְבִי בְּאִילָנֵי, שָׁמְעִי דְּקָאָמְרִי: קָחָזֵינַן אִינָשֵׁי דְּדָמוּ לְקַמְצֵי בְּאִילָנֵי. ״וַתִּשָּׂא כׇּל הָעֵדָה וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶת קוֹלָם וַיִּבְכּוּ״, אָמַר רַבָּה אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם עֶרֶב תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב הָיָה, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: הֵן בָּכוּ בְּכִיָּה שֶׁל חִנָּם וַאֲנִי אֶקְבַּע לָהֶם בְּכִיָּה לְדוֹרוֹת.
The spies said: “And we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so were we in their eyes” (Numbers 13:33). Rav Mesharshiyya says: The spies were liars. Granted, to say: “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes,” is well, but to say: “And so were we in their eyes,” from where could they have known this? The Gemara responds: But that is not so, as when the Canaanites were having the mourners’ meal, they had the meal beneath cedar trees, and when the spies saw them they climbed up the trees and sat in them. From there they heard the Canaanites saying: We see people who look like grasshoppers in the trees. The verse states: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried” (Numbers 14:1). Rabba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: That day was the eve of the Ninth of Av, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: On that day they wept a gratuitous weeping, so I will establish that day for them as a day of weeping for the future generations.
וטעם אנשים. שהם ידועים גבורים וכן כלם אנשים וחזקת והיית לאיש כי איש היה:
The meaning of men is, men known for their might. The same applies to all of them men (v. 3) and to be thou [Solomon] strong and show thyself a man (I Kings 2:2), for he [Solomon] was a man.
כלב בן יפנה הוא כלב בן חצרון ונקרא שמו יפונה על שפנה מעצת מרגלים.
כלב בן יפונה, “Caleb son of Yefuneh.” He is identical with Caleb son of Chetzron, and the reason he is here called the son of Yefuneh, is because he turned aside (פנה) from all but one of the other spies. [Chetzron had been a grandson of Yehudah, Genesis 46,12, compare also Chronicles I 2,18. Ed.]
ויקרא משה להושע וגו'. הִתְפַּלֵּל עָלָיו יָהּ יוֹשִׁיעֲךָ מֵעֲצַת מְרַגְּלִים (סוטה ל"ד):
ויקרא משה להושע וגו׳ AND MOSES CALLED HOSHEA [THE SON OF NUN JEHOSHUA] — By giving him this name יהושע which is a compound of יה and הושע “God may save”, he in effect prayed for him: “May God save you from the evil counsel of the spies” (Sotah 34b).
In the Diaspora, a Jew was cut off from direct contact with nature. A. D. Gordon wrote:
[W]e are a parasitic people. We have no roots in the soil, there is no ground beneath our feet. And we are parasites not only in an economic sense, but in spirit, in thought, in poetry, in literature, and in our virtues, our ideals, our higher human aspirations. Every alien movement sweeps us along, every wind in the world carries us. We in ourselves are almost non-existent, so of course we are nothing in the eyes of other people either.
Muscular Judaism (German: Muskeljudentum) is a term coined by Max Nordau in his speech at the Second Zionist Congress held in Basel on August 28, 1898. In his speech, he spoke about the need to design the "new Jew" and reject the "old Jew", with the mental and physical strength to achieve the goals of Zionism. Nordau saw Muscular Judaism as an answer to Judennot ("Jewish distress").
Yosef Haim Brenner and Micha Josef Berdyczewski advocated an extreme form of the concept. In his literary work, Brenner describes Jews in the Pale of Settlement as poor, mentally, morally and spiritually disfigured, panicky, humiliated, disoriented, with no realistic view of life, depressed, despised, slovenly of dress, lacking taste, unwilling to defend themselves against violence, desperate, and feeling at the same time inferior and part of a Chosen People.
Exile is one with utter dependence - in material things, in politics and culture, in ethics and intellect, and they must be dependent who are an alien minority, who have no Homeland and are separated from their origins, from the soil and labor, from economic creativity. So we must become the captains of our fortunes, we must become independent - not only in politics and economy but in spirit, feeling and will. - In an address to the youth section of the Mapai political party in 1944 Ben-Gurion said:
''From this mountain we see not only the past but also the present. Some people are running wild down below, some want to sabotage what we are building, what we have built and what we have established. There are those who say that Jews are invaders in this country, aliens, and that the true owners of the land are the rioters, the murderers and the terrorists, who seek to destroy any remnant of the Jewish people in the land of Israel. We say to them, when we look from here on the thousands of years of our past and all that we have established in the present - that they are as grasshoppers in our sight. The age-old Jewish people, inspired by the spirit of Israel, will overcome all its enemies.''
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, on the dedication of a new tourist site in the ancient Herodian fortress (where Jews fought against the Romans in the first century)
Also see:
. . . AND THE GRASSHOPPER STORY, By Charles Krauthammer, April 15, 1988 Regarding Yitzhak Shamir's calling the Palestinians Grasshoppers...
What does the word “vayapilu” mean? We’re not entirely certain. Rashi says that they went up with chutzpah. Onkelos says “vayashiu,” they did something evil. The simple meaning as Ibn Ezra says is, “vayapilu,” they went up. They went up the mountain and were defeated.
We skip forward 3,000 years to the Israeli composer, poet, writer Levin Kipnis. He makes aliya in 1913 from Ukraine at the age of 23. In 1919 he writes the song Hama’apilim (Listen to the song).
What are the words of the song?
To the top of the mountain.
To the top of the mountain.
Who will stop those who are being redeemed from captivity?
On the other side of the mountain the Land of Israel hints at us, winks at us.
Go up. Go up to the top of the mountain.
Go up. Go up. To the top of the mountain go up.
Brothers go up. Brothers go up and so on and so forth.
In other words, he took the negative concept of “vayapilu, from our portion and turned it into a positive concept of Zionism. Let us go up together and build the land of Israel.
A few short years later the British Mandate declared in the 1930s that Jews are not allowed to enter the land of Israel and then began the movement of illegal immigration, so-called aliyah bet, and the Ma’apilim between 1934 and 1948 clandestinely entered the land of Israel. Some 115,000 Jews entered the Land of Israel. They helped in the War of Independence. Eight hundred of them fell in the War of Independence and of course they helped build the State of Israel.
In other words, Levin Kipnis and the Ma’apilim took the negative concept from our weekly portion and turned it into a positive concept of building, of going up and of redeeming the Land of Israel.
See: Parashat Shelach Lecha: A Zionist Response to the Pessimism of the Spies, Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin 30/05/2021
This view of the Jewish past, outlined by the earliest advocates of political and social equality, was seized on and elaborated by advocates of Jewish Reform in the nineteenth century. Eager to widen the breach with the past, to demonstrate a casual relation between the treatment given the Jew and his general acceptability and usefulness to society, Reform advocates proclaimed in unmeasured terms the wretchedness of the age that preceded them. They explained Jewish "pecularities” as results of oppression. The more radical expounded the idea that to achieve a new, free Jewish religion based on the Bible, the entire literature of the Diaspora must be abandoned. The Talmud, which grew up in the Diaspora, did not reflect Judaism’s innermost spirit, they maintained, but was a mirror of the “abnormal conditions” in which Jews had lived.
At the end of the nineteenth and in the twentieth century, this view, originated by the anti-nationalist leaders of Reform, was to find reinforcement, paradoxically, from Zionism. Zionism wished to reject the Diaspora in toto, on the grounds that a "normal life” could not be led by Jewry elsewhere than on its own soil. So, notwithstanding their profound differences, Zionism and Reform both found that their positions were best supported by that view of history which held that before the Revolution European Jewry had lived in extreme wretchedness. They differed only in that the Zionists denounced the post- Revolutionary period as equally bad.
See: Ghetto and Emancipation, Solo W Baron 1928
Moreover, the ghetto provided Jews with a clearly defined place within Christian society. In other words, despite the obvious negative implications of ghettoization, there was also a positive side: the Jews were granted a legal and natural residence within the economy of Christian space. The difference between being expelled and being ghettoized is the difference between having no right to live in Christian society and that of becoming an organic albeit inferior and often beleaguered part of that society, In this sense, the ghetto with all of its negative associations could also connote a change for the better, a formal acknowledgment by Christian society, revolutionary from the perspective of previous Jewish-Christian relations, that Jews did belong in some way to their extended community.
Yet, with the ghettoization of Jewish life, some decades later, the patterns of Jewish culture and society were noticeably transformed. Jews were now more urbanized, more concentrated in the heart of the largest Italian cities, more polarized both economically and socially, more attuned to the sights and sounds of the Christian majority, and more secure in their new neighborhoods, despite the squalor and congestion. In the ghetto communities, Bonfil points out, the kabbalah, the mystical traditions of Judaism, performed the paradoxical function of mediating between medievalism and modernity, restructuring religious notions of space and time, separating the sacred from the secular, even serving as “an anchor in the stormy seas aroused by the collapse of medieval systems of thought,” and simultaneously, “an agent of modernity.”
See: 1997 The Cultural Significance of the Ghetto in Jewish History by David B. Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania
In recent years some of my Jewish friends and I have come to see a threat to the fundamental moral and spiritual underpinnings of our people — a threat in the form of radical Jewish right/Kahane and his Kach kooks, the Likud and their Israeli and American cronies. The difference between the earlier threat, which monstrously materialized, and the present one, which we can control, is that we are now ready to say, '’Never again.”
We see in recent developments what-is, essentially, a New Diaspora composed of Jews, whether in contemporary Israel or not, who share a ghetto mentality, afraid of what others might take as a sign of
weakness and perhaps thinking of their Jewishness itself simply as vulnerability instead of a source of insuperable strength. Within Israel, they sometimes call themselves the "New Jews,” but their attitudes betray them. Such a mind-set has been inherited from an older generation of Jews who, in their formative years, had no strong Israel to make all thoughts of Judaism as weakness seem absurd. The New Diaspora is largely composed of those to whom defensiveness seems synonymous with being Jewish. Others are simply their biological or psychological offspring unable to resist the fear that such defensiveness reflects.
Those of us who grew up free from those fears, whether in Israel or elsewhere, have become, I think, the real New Jews. We are not afraid that we will appear weak because we have no such fundamental inner doubts. We have always accepted Israel and our Jewish identity as in the nature of things. Having grown up alongside a strong Israel, to us the notions of strength, pride, and being Jewish go together as naturally as Purim and hamantaschen. Thus, for instance, talk of negotiation does not frighten us. Were it not for the flowering of this New Jew, the false front presented by the New Diaspora militance could threaten to annihilate us.
Logically, the appearance of this New Jew should be a source of pride to the older generation since we are, in fact, partly what Zionism sought to create: a new generation of Jews who, by having a homeland to which it could return, would have the strength and pride that all religious and rationàl groups should have wherever they find themselves. Instead, the New Diaspora attacks us as disloyal and dismisses our opposition to unrestrained militarism as, incredibly, weakness.
The New Diaspora has lost the humanism which, above all else, characterizes our people. They have traded pride for compassion, militarism for charity. Because they are spiritually feeble, they see in the weakness of others only the mirror òf their own. Thus, they cannot hear in the crying urge for peace, security, and yes, a homeland, uttered by sincere Palestinians anything but their own unacceptable fears. When I look at pictures of children in the Palestinian camps, I see the face of a Jew. It is incredible that the New Diaspora is so blind. It is tragic that they have abandoned the Jew’s historic mission of defining what it means to be human...
It is, thus, this Fifth Column of well-meaning but frightened persons with whom I share Jewish peoplehood that terrifies me. No one should suspect, however, that the division between the New Diaspora and the New Jew will destroy true Jewish solidarity. It is that suspicion, of course, which fuels the controversy and which motivates the New Diaspora. The New Diaspora fears that if we appear divided on the means we will break ranks over the goals. We all want a strong and meaningful Jewish state; my friends and I, however, see no point in it being strong if it is no longer fundamentally Jewish in the most profound sense of the term. It would therefore by Pyrrhic to find, twenty years from now, a permanent and perhaps expanded Israeli presence in the Middle East which was Jewish in name only. But unlike our pre-Holocaust parents, New Jews know that unless we speak out and take action, horrible things can all too easily happen. The new destruction will never occur as long as we fulfill the obligation to act created by our history.
New Jews, New Destruction, Michael Henry Davis, Cleveland State University, 1986 Jewish Frontier
See also: Sefaria Source Sheet, Geoffrey Stern God's Gracious Ruse with an exploration of traditional Rabbinic sources that explain the 40-year sojourn as a generation-skipping manouver by God.