Words in the Desert: Ants, Grasshoppers and the Torah Portion of Shelach

Thank you to Daniel Najman for thinking of this question in Rashi.

The Torah portion for this week includes the disgraceful account of the spies. All but two of them (Calev and Yehoshuah) went about exploring the Land of Israel in the wrong way, coming back with a negative report. Their report, and the people's reaction to it, caused the Jewish people to wander an additional 40 years, and that entire generation did not enter the Land.

A particularly puzzling part of the spies' report is a comment about how they looked in the eyes of the former inhabitants:

33. There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes. 
It is one thing to state how they saw themselves compared to them (which is bad enough), but yet a whole other level of lack of emunah to think that the inhabitants themselves saw them in the same light. How could they know?

Rashi gives an answer to this inherent question by commenting as follows:

RASHI: and so we were in their eyes: We heard them telling each other,“There are ants in the vineyard who look like people.” - [Sotah 35a]

Rashi answers the above question but raises another. Why does the description change from "grasshoppers" to "ants."

Perhaps the answer is as follows: Depending on the context, being seen like an ant can also be a very great compliment. In Proverbs, King Solomon states, "Go to the ant and become wise." (Proverbs 6:6; Perek Shirah 6:6 also!)

Grasshoppers are generally considered pests and not good for the land. Ants are generally considered good and compatible with working the land. The spies, who actually wished to stay in the desert living a completely spiritual existence, were trying to say that we did not belong in the Land of Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The spies had said, "The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants..." They were afraid of its physicality and did not wish to be consumed by it. They did not comprehend that this was Hashem's will. He wants us to engage with the physical and elevate it. That is how we know if our spirituality is real in the first place. 

Words in the Desert: Inverted Situations and the Torah Portion of Beha'alotcha

The Torah portion of Beha'alotcha contains a segment demarcated by two inverted nuns, the only such occurence in the Torah. Our sages remark that the nun stands for nefilah, fall, and that it is from this point on that the Jewish people begin to experience spiritual falls. Rashi's commentary on the verse follows a similar line of thinking, but it is not exactly the same:


35. So it was, whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, Arise, O Lord, may Your enemies be scattered and may those who hate You flee from You.

 
לה. וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן וַיֹּאמֶר משֶׁה קוּמָה | יְהֹוָה וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ:
 

RASHI: So it was, whenever the ark set out: He made marks for it [this passage], before it and after it, as if to indicate that this is not its proper place [in Scripture]. So why was it written here? To make a break between one punishment and the next… as it is stated in [chapter 16 of Talmud Shabbath , commencing with the words] “All the Sacred Scriptures.”

Rashi states that the nuns "make a break between one punishment and the next." There's only one tremendous difficulty with this statement: there is no evidence of any punishment immediately preceding the demarcation. Only after this line does the Torah mention that the Jewish people complained and that this was evil in Hashem's eyes, which caused a fire to burn in the camp. Before, there is no mention of punishment, neither in this portion or the one prior. It is even hard to remember the last time punishment was mentioned at all, except perhaps for the Torah portion of Bechukotai (in the Book of Leviticus!), which is discussing future punishments.

The answer to this question lies perhaps in the fact that we do not really understand what is meant by punishment and what is meant by a spiritual descent.

Immediately prior to the above verse, the Torah describes how Moshe tried to convince Yitro, his fahter-in-law, to come to the Land of Israel with them, but that (at least for now) he refused and returned to his home. This itself can be considered a punishment, because having Yitro with them was a tremendous honor. He after all, was someone who had tried every single idol worship and rejected all of them to accept G-d alone. His departure showed that the Children of Israel had failed to make a significant lasting impression on him that would have made him truly leave everything behind and fully join them, just as he had done initially. Yitro's excitement did not last, which was perhaps an indication that it was never fully there to begin with.

Similarly, the text indicates that the Jewish people themselves were not on such a high spiritual level as they imagined. Our sages teach us that when they departed from the "Mountain of G-d," they were actually willingly trying to escape from G-dliness. This also is the greatest punishment.

When a person sins and is punished, do not think that the sin appeared out of the blue. Rebbe Nachman teaches that the sin is a true indication of your actual level! You might have thought you were much higher than that, but the reality is that you were never so high. The proof is that you now sinned.

The positive side of this is that it leaves no reason to be sad because of sin. Now that you know your true level, you are free to restart your Divine service in a much more true and real way, without delusions of grandeur. Start again, fully trusting in Hashem's mercy and realizing that both the sin and the punishment are actually a FAVOR that G-d does for us, taking us out of our inverted sense of greatness and helping us land on our feet.    

Words in the Desert: Brides and the Torah Portion of Nasso

This week's Torah portion continues the counting of the Jewish people (specifically the Levites), and contains the laws of the Sotah (wayward wife) and the Nazir (the holy nazirite, who abstained from wine and from cutting his hair). It also describes the completion of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and the offering of the princes of each one of the Twelve Tribes.

In the middle of the Torah portion, Rashi makes a fascinating comment on the following verse:

1. And it was that on the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkan, he anointed it, sanctified it, and all its vessels, and the altar and all its vessels, and he anointed them and sanctified them.

א. וַיְהִי בְּיוֹם כַּלּוֹת משֶׁה לְהָקִים אֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן וַיִּמְשַׁח אֹתוֹ וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ וְאֶת כָּל כֵּלָיו וְאֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְאֶת כָּל כֵּלָיו וַיִּמְשָׁחֵם וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתָם:

RASHI: And it was that on the day that Moses finished: Heb. כַּלּוֹת. On the day the Mishkan was erected, the Israelites were like a bride (כַּלָּה) entering the nuptial canopy.

The comparison of Israel as G-d's bride, entering the nuptial canopy, sounds familiar. The giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai is often compared to our wedding with G-d. Here, however, the Torah discusses a much later event, after the giving of the Torah, the sin of the golden calf, and the forgiveness we received on the following Yom Kippur.

In life, we have more than one opportunity to be like a bride entering the nuptial canopy. As Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches, every moment is an opportunity to start again, from the beginning, in a brand new relationship with G-d and with the world.

Perhaps that is why the Torah specifically used the word כַּלּוֹת in the plural instead of כַּלָּה in the singular. To be a Kalah does not need to be a one time thing. Each of us can be Kalot, starting anew again and again, just as we will receive the Torah again, just like the first time, on Shavuot.

Words in the Desert: Being Dear to G-d and the Torah Portion of Bamidbar

B"H

1. The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying.  

RASHI: The Lord spoke... in the Sinai Desert... on the first of the month :Because they were dear to Him, He counted them often. When they left Egypt, He counted them (Exod. 12:37); when [many] fell because [of the sin] of the golden calf, He counted them to know the number of the survivors (Exod. 32:28); when He came to cause His Divine Presence to rest among them, He counted them. On the first of Nissan, the Mishkan was erected, and on the first of Iyar, He counted them.

One of the most essential lessions from the opening verse for the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers) is that no matter what, in our ups and in our downs, Hashem we are always dear to Him.
 

In Service: Pursuit and Self-Persecution; the Torah Portion of Bechukotai

This week's Torah portion describes the rewards and blessings bestowed upon us when we as a people are observing the Torah (specifically dedicating ourselves to its study), as well as the punishments and curses that come when we fail to do so. The descriptions bring to mind the events that took place during the Holocaust as well as those immediately after, at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. By no means is one to infer that those events were in effect the reward and punishment of that particular generation - anyone with any experience or knowledge of those events should know that this could not possibly be the case.

One powerful contrast between the section of the blessings and the one of the curses has to do with the pursuit of the enemy. While regarding the curses, the verses repeatedly mention the fact that we would run away when no one was pursuing us, regarding the blessings, the Torah states:

8. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

RASHI: of you will pursue: [It will require only five] of your weakest [to pursue a hundred enemies], and not of your strongest [i.e., מִכֶּם means “the weakest (מָ) of you.”]- [Sifthei Chachamim; Torath Kohanim 26:10]

RASHI: Five… will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand: But is this calculation correct? [Since five will pursue a hundred, this means that each Jew will pursue twenty enemies;] therefore, should Scripture not have written here: “and a hundred of you will pursue two thousand”? But, [the Torah teaches us that] there is no comparison between a few who fulfill the Torah and many who fulfill the Torah [and thus, here, the larger the group of pursuers, the higher proportionately is the number pursued]. — [Torath Kohanim 26:10]

Rashi's mathematical calculation is certainly very interesting, and makes us appreciate the exponential value of the combined Torah observance and righteousness. What is perhaps equally as interesting is that Rashi does not even comment (even though his words make clear) on the fact that when it comes to our enemy (both external and internal - the evil inclination), there is no combined exponential growth at all. It is almost as if evil did not matter - that it was there almost only to play a "supporting role" to the good.

That is in fact the case. Evil has no real substance - it all depends on us. These are the famous words of the Fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, before his last Ma'amar (Chassidic Discourse). Communist soldiers were searching house by house for "illegal" religious activity. They barged in to the home of the Rebbe and were planning on searching the entire house and making arrests. The Rebbe and his Chassidim were in a Farbrengen (speaking words of Torah, singing and drinking) and the Rebbe continued as if the soldiers weren't even there. He told all of his Chassidim to pay no attention to them."

"With great ecstasy he exclaimed: 'I will say another Maamar, so they will become completely [batul - nullified].' He then said the Maamar, ‘Reishis Goyim Amalek’, which explains that the forces that oppose G-dliness do not exist in the true sense." http://www.myshliach.com/media/pdf/626/jIHk6261844.pdf

This is the ultimate truth. However, when we are not steeped enough in Torah learning, or otherwise disconnected from the Source, then we feel constantly pursued, when in fact there is no one pursuing us at all - but ourselves.