Shelach

The passuk states, “שלח לך אנשים ויתורו את ארץ כנען, send out for yourselves men and they shall spy out Eretz Canaan.” The passuk states about these people, “כלם אנשים” which Rashi writes means people who are important. At that time, these men were all tzaddikim. When they returned, it states, “וילכו ויבאו, and they went and they came.” Rashi explains the Torah is comparing their going to their coming; just as their going was with bad intentions so too their returning was with wicked intentions. My Rosh HaYeshiva HaRav Yaakov Freidman asked that two Rashi’s seem to contradict each other. First Rashi tells us these men were tzaddikim but later Rashi writes that their going was with improper intent, which seems that they were not tzaddikim.

I heard an answer that the aveirah of the meraglim was they went to check Eretz Yisrael and see for themselves what it was about and decide based on that whether Yisrael would be able to conquer it with their own strength. This is as the passuk tells us when they returned, they said, “the land is fortified and has giants.” They did not go with emunah and bitachon in Hashem that since Hashem promised us the land, of course He will help us with each and every step of the way to conquer it. In truth these men were tzaddikim, however, their mistake was that they decided to see for themselves and evaluate their strength and how they felt about what will confront them.

At the end of the parsha it states “לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם.” The Gemara writes going after one’s heart refers to minus and apikorsus, and going after one’s eyes refers to sinful thoughts. The sinful thoughts can be explained as a person’s own personal opinion of his potential. We look at ourselves and estimate our strength and what we think we are capable of accomplishing. Based on that one may assume he can only accomplish a little and have minimal success. This is following after one’s heart and eyes. This is similar to the sin of the meraglim. In truth, just as Hashem can help us accomplish what we feel is in our ability to do, although it’s solely because of Hashem, so too He can help us accomplish much more. We need to have emunah and bitachon in Hashem for any and every success be it little or big.

May Hashem help us remember to have emunah and bitachon in Hashem for our hatzlachos and aliyos!