Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance Counselor – ASHAR/ Yeshiva Bais
Hachinuch
STAM
TORAH
“UPROOTING
THE ROOTS”
A businessman found himself in some serious
financial trouble. His business was in the red and his investments were failing
miserably. He was in tremendous debt and saw no way out of his misery. In
desperation he sought the council of his Rabbi.
The Rabbi listened quietly. He thought for
a moment and then replied: “I have an idea for you. It may sound a little erratic
but at this point you have nothing to lose. I want you to take a beach chair
and a Chumash (Bible) and drive down to the beach. Take the chair and the
Chumash to the water’s edge, open the chair, sit down, and open the Chumash on
your lap. The wind will immediately rifle the pages. Wait until the pages stop
turning and then look down at the open page and read the first thing you see.
That will be your answer and you will know what to do.”
A year later, the businessman returned to
the Rabbi. He was driving a Mercedes and wearing a custom made suit. His wife
was wearing a mink coat. He pulled out a wad of big bills and handed them to
the Rabbi as a ‘token’ of his appreciation. The Rabbi was taken aback, “You did
as I told you?” The man smugly replied, “I sure did.”
“You
went down to the beach with a Chumash?”
“Yup!”
“You
waited for the wind to stop blowing the pages?”
“Exactly!”
“Well,
what were the first words you saw?”
The
man smiled, “Chapter 11”.
The debacle with the spies who went to
scout out Eretz Yisroel is one of the most tragic events in our history.[1]
To Moshe’s dismay, the spies returned and offered a shockingly negative report.
G-d informed Moshe that because the nation
had failed to appreciate the greatness of the Land that He had promised them,
no one from that generation would live to enter it[2].
The nation would spend the next forty years wandering through the desert, in
compensation for the forty days the spies spent in Eretz Yisroel developing
their negative report.
When the nation was informed of their
punishment they mourned exceedingly. “They awoke early in the morning and
ascended toward the mountaintop saying, ‘We are ready, and we shall ascend to
the place of which G-d has spoken, for we have sinned’. Moshe said, “Why do you
transgress the Word of G-d? It will not succeed. Do not ascend for G-d is not
in your midst! And do not be smitten before your enemies….” But they defiantly
ascended to the mountaintop, while the Ark
It would seem that the actions of the
‘ascenders’ was an attempt to repent. Why did G-d not allow them to rectify their
iniquity by demonstrating their complete devotion to the Land? G-d always
assists the contrite penitent, so why here did G-d reject their efforts?
Ba’alei Mussar explain that the ascenders
did not comprehend the process of repentance. They were under the impression
that repentance means to simply alter one’s actions. “Until now I engaged in
these sins and from now on I commit myself to abstain from these sins”. That is
an insufficient approach to repentance. Gemara[4]
states that no one sins unless ‘a spirit of craziness’ envelops him. Therefore,
before one can repent he must analyze and consider what led him to sin? What was
the impetus that prompted him to act with folly against his conscience? Only
once he has realized and is willing to confront the root of his sin has he
truly begun the process of repentance.
It
may have been true that from an external perspective the ascenders were acting
in a manner that countered their behavior when they sinned, however they failed
to address the root of their sin. The spies had offered compelling arguments
about the drawbacks of entering the Land. Nevertheless, G-d had promised them
the Land and had stated that it was a great and special Land. The fact that
they were able to cry upon hearing the report of the spies demonstrated
weakness in their faith. Their ascent up the mountain was the greatest proof
that they had failed to rectify that mistake. Their original sin was a lack of
subjugation to G-d and the ‘follow-up sin’ was no different. Moshe had told
them that G-d’s Presence would not be with them, and yet, they proceeded
anyway.
This same idea manifests itself in the
fallacy of the spies. At the conclusion of Parshas Beha’aloscha, the Torah
relates that Miriam was struck with tzara’as for speaking loshon hora about her
brother Moshe. Despite the fact that Miriam loved Moshe, and was speaking out
of genuine concern for him to their other brother Aharon, and despite the fact
that the humble Moshe took no umbrage from her words, G-d was upset with her.
“In my entire House he is the trusted one. Mouth to Mouth do I speak to him, in
a clear vision, and not in riddles, at the image of G-d does he gaze. Why did
you not fear to speak against my servant Moshe?”[5]
If G-d wanted to chastise Miriam for
speaking evilly about Moshe, why didn’t He simply say so? What is the point of
the whole introduction about the greatness of Moshe?
After relating the event with Miriam, the
Torah commences Parshas Shelach and the debacle of the spies. Rashi explains,
“Why did the Torah juxtapose the narrative of the spies with the narrative of
Miriam? Because she was afflicted on account of her speaking about her brother
and these wicked ones (i.e. the spies) saw but did not take mussar[6]?
What is the connection between Miriam and
the spies? Is it merely that they both spoke negatively?
Shlomo Hamelech states in Mishlei “ומוציא דבה הוא כסיל – He who utters slander is a fool.”[7]
Harav Michel Barenbaum zt’l[8]
explained that gossip and negative speech result from a lack of appreciation of
the greatness of the individual slandered. Therefore, one who gossips is not
necessarily wicked. Rather he has not sufficiently recognized the greatness of
the person or group to whom he harbors negative thoughts and feelings.
Miriam’s sin stemmed from a subtle lack of
appreciation for the greatness of her brother. Although she may have had a justifiable
argument, if she would have properly recognized the extent of Moshe’s devotion
as a servant of G-d, she never would have questioned his actions to Aharon.
The spies had the same failing. Their
iniquity was not necessarily that they reported back negatively about the land,
for that was their candid assessment of it. The problem lay in the fact that
they saw the Land in such a negative light after G-d Himself had related its
merit and greatness.
Repentance is not merely about declaring
that “I will no longer do what I have done until now.” One who comes before G-d
and files chapter 11, as it were, declaring himself spiritually bankrupt so
that he can begin anew, is sure to fail[9].
In order to change, one must contemplate what motivates him to act sinfully.
Each sin requires its own scrutiny.
One cannot properly eradicate Loshon Hora
from his speech, unless he commits himself to seek out the good in people.[10]
Parshas Shelach reminds us that there can
be no true rectification without serious contemplation. You have to know why
you did what you did to figure out how not to do it again.
“Why
did you not fear to speak against my servant Moshe?”
“A good land, a Land with streams of water”
[1] 23 Sivan is the
yahrtzeit of my friend and chavrusa) Ephraim Mordechai Yarmush a’h.
A few years ago, Ephraim’s family
published a beautiful sefer (Torah compendium) in his memory. The first part of
the following thought is based on a paragraph in the sefer which commences with
the words, “These were words that were frequently repeated by the deceased.
They were written by one of the family members:”
[2] With the
exception of Yehoshua and Kalev, the two spies who spoke positively about the
Land
[3] 14:40-45
[4] Sota 3a
[5] Bamidbar
12:7-8
[6] i.e.
they did not learn the lesson for they too spoke evilly - about the Holy Land
[7] Proverbs
10:18
[8] the late
Mashgiach of Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim, Sichos Mussar
[9] That is
one of the main reasons for the common annual frustration after the High Holy
Days when, within a short time, most people give up on New Year’s resolutions
and settle back into their daily morass.
[10] Surely,
even one who holds himself back from gossiping without that proper step will
receive reward beyond human comprehension. However, he will be unable to truly
remove such speech completely without understanding its root.
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