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Tazria_Metzorah_5769
Rabbi Ari D. Kahn's Dvar Torah on Parshiot Tazria-Metzorah in 2009.
From silvergleam
Parshat Shlach 5769Rabbi Ari Kahn Ye-hoshua Twelve men are chosen for a mission. The mission will takethem to the Promised Land; soon the entire nation willfollow. In the end, the mission is a dismal failure: Ten of the twelve emissaries prove to be treacherous, andinstead of bringing the People of Israel closer to thePromised Land they cause the entire nation to remain inthe desert for forty years.Even the most casual reading of this episode raises manyquestions, not least of which is most primary question of all: Why were these twelve men sent – and at whosebidding? Whose idea was this? The textual evidenceseems self-contradictory: In this week’s parsha, GodHimself initiates the expedition:
גי קרפ רבדמב רפס
ןַעַנְכ ץֶרֶא תֶא ורֻתָיְ םיִשָנֲא ָךְל חַלְש )ב( :רֹמאֵ הֶשמ לֶא ’ה רֵַדְיַ )א(לֹכ וחָלְשִ יָתֹבֲא הֵטַמְל דָחֶא שיִא דָחֶא שיִא לֵאָרְִי יֵנְבִל ןֵתֹנ יִנֲא רֶשֲא:םֶהָב איִָנ
1. And God spoke to Moshe, saying, 2. Send men,that they may spy the land of Canaan, which I give tothe People of Israel; of every tribe of their fathersshall you send a man, every one a leader amongthem. Bamidbar 13:1,2On the other hand, in Moshe's retrospective of the events,he recounts that the initiative came from the people, andhe gave his approval:
א קרפ םירבד
(תֶא ונָל ורְפְחַיְ וניֵנְָל םיִשָנֲא הָחְלְשִנ ורְמאַֹ םְֶֻכ יַלֵא ןובְרְקִַ )באֹבָנ רֶשֲא םיִרָעֶה תֵאְ ָ הֶלֲעַנ רֶשֲא ְךֶרֶַה תֶא רָבָ ונָתֹא ובִשָיְ ץֶרָה:ןֶהיֵלֲא (דָחֶא שיִא םיִשָנֲא רָָע םיֵנְש םֶכִמ חֶַאָ רָבַָה יַניֵעְ בַיִַ )ג:ֶבַָל
22. And you came near me every one of you, andsaid, We will send men before us, and they shallsearch us out the land, and bring us word again bywhich way we must go up, and to what cities we shallcome. 23. And the idea pleased me; and I took
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twelve men of you, one from each tribe; Dvarim1:22,23 The more complete picture is that the idea to send scoutsahead of the camp was a grassroots initiative whicheventually received official approval: The people asked forthe mission, Moshe agreed and God acquiesced. This isactually a very significant nuance in understanding theway the story unfolds. We begin to sense that the missionitself was flawed from the very outset: God knew that theplan was doomed to failure, but He nonetheless allowedthe people to follow their chosen path, despite its folly.God directs them to send the leaders of each tribe. The names of the twelve spies are enumerated, and thewe are informed that one name was changed:
גי קרפ רבדמב רפס
הֶשמ אָרְקִַ ץֶרָה תֶא רותָל הֶשמ חַלָש רֶשֲא םיִשָנֲאָה תמְש הֵֶא )ז(:עֻשהְי ןונ ןִ ַעֵשהְל
16. These are the names of the men which Moshesent to spy out the land. And Moshe called Hosheathe son of Nun - Yehoshua. Bamidbar 13:16Why was this name changed? We are offered two differentinterpretations – one by the Midrash and one by Rashi(based on the Talmud
). Both are somewhat ominous:According to the Midrashic tradition, Moshe renames Yehoshua in preparation for the transfer of the mantle of leadership. Moshe knew that it would be Yehoshua whowould lead the People into the Land. The prophecy of Eldad and Meidad, recorded in last week’s
parsha
, echoedthrough the camp:
א דומע זי ףד ןירדהנס תכסמ ילבב דומלת
.ץראל לארי תא סינמ עהי ,תמ המ :רמא ?אבנתנ האבנ המ
And what did they prophesy? They said, Moshe shalldie and Yehoshua shall bring Israel into the Land.
Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 17a
1
Talmud Bavli Sotah 34bב דומע דל ףד הטוס תכסמ ילבב דומלת.םילגרמ תצעמ ךעישוי הי ,עשוהי ןונ ןב עשוהל השמ ארקיו +גי רבדמב+ :רמאנש ,םימחר וילע השמ שקב רבכ עשוהי
2
Moshe knew that eventually Yehoshua would lead thenation; as they stood on the threshold of the Land of Israel, he thought the time had arrived. Moshe changedHoshea's name as a symbol of his new status as leader of the nation, just as God changed Avraham and Sarah'snames to reflect their new status as progenitors of greatnations. But Moshe had no illusions about the task whichhe would leave to Yehoshua; he had witnessed his share of rebellion on the part of the people. Their behavior hadpushed him to the brink.
Moshe had every reason tosuspect that the People of Israel would present Yehoshuawith the same challenges they had presented him, and heprayed on Yehoshua's behalf:
ט ןמיס זט השרפ חלש תשרפ )אנליו( הבר רבדמב
.הזה רדה ןמ ךעיי הי עהיל רמא םיער יה ןתא המ האר ןי א"ד
Another exposition: When Moshe saw that the otherswere wicked men he said to Yehoshua: “May Godsave you from this generation”. Midrash RabbahBamidbar 16:9Rashi's comments are of a similar vein, but offer analternative reading of Moshe's prayer: Moshe had apremonition about the group chosen as scouts; hebelieved them capable of treachery and feared for hisprotégé's spiritual health. In order to spiritually fortifyHoshea, Moshe calls him Yehoshua.
זט קוספ גי קרפ רבדמב לע י"שר
:םילגרמ תצעמ ךעיי ה’י ילע ללתה - 'ג עהל המ ארקי )ז(
He prayed for him, may God (Y-A) save you from theplot of the spies. Rashi Bamidbar 13:16
2
See especially Bamidbar 11:10-15: 'Then Moshe heard the people weep throughout their families,every man in the door of his tent; and the anger of God was kindled greatly; and Moshe also wasdispleased. 11. And Moshe said to God, Why have you afflicted your servant? and why have I notfound favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people upon me? 12. Have I conceived allthis people? Have I fathered them, that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom, like a nursingfather carries the sucking child, to the land which you swore to their fathers? 13. From where should Ihave meat to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, Give us meat, that we may eat. 14. Iam not able to carry all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.15. And if you deal thus withme, kill me, I pray you, at once, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see mywretchedness.
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