THE FIRST ARMY OF ISRAEL

Our most precious possession is our children: we work for them, save money for them, and make every necessary effort to ensure that they lack nothing and have everything they need—and if possible, more. My question is: do we, as parents, consistently act with this goal in mind, or do we sometimes forget the importance of our children?

In the first parasha of this week, Mattot, the Torah tells us that the tribes of Reuben and Gad had a lot of livestock. Before entering the land of Israel, they asked Moshe to settle on the other side of the Jordan River in the territories of Sichon and Og, which were very fertile lands. Moshe initially refused. Why? Because the Jewish people had to face the powerful Canaanite nations militarily, and they needed a strong and solid army. These tribes constituted nearly 20% of the army, and their desertion would cause great frustration among the other tribes. Moshe asked them: “How can you settle in these lands and leave your brothers to fight without you?” Moshe demanded that they join the conquest war. The leaders of these tribes then told Moshe that they would not abandon the rest of the tribes: the plan was to settle their families in the new lands and quickly join the army of Israel, fight alongside their brothers, and then return to their families. These were the words they said to Moshe (beMidbar 32:16): “…in the lands of Og and Sichon ‘we will build pens for our livestock and cities for our children… we will leave our families there and immediately join the army.” Moshe accepted the proposal and responded affirmatively with these words (beMidbar 32:25): “All right, then, build the cities for your children and the pens for your animals, and join the army…”

MOSHE AND DR. FREUD

At this point, it is worth noting, with Freudian eyes, a small but very significant difference between what the leaders of these tribes said and what Moshe told them. The leaders of the tribes mentioned that they would build “pens to settle their animals and cities for their children.” But when Moshe responded to them, he mentioned the children first and then the animals. Keep in mind that at that time, cows and sheep were not pets: livestock was one’s capital, money, and work. Moshe noticed that these men, quite literally, put their money before their children!

Finally, after listening to Moshe, the leaders of the tribes realized their Freudian slip and told Moshe that they would do what he ordered them (beMidbar 32:25-26): “Our children, our women, and all our animals will stay there in the mountains of Gil’ad, while we prepare for war.” Now, they mentioned the children first, their families, and then the animals. Although this terrible difference in the scale of values is not explicitly discussed but occurs subconsciously, it seems they understood they were mistaken. It was enough to hear Moshe repeating what they said, but in the correct order of priorities, for them to learn the lesson.

URGENT vs. IMPORTANT

Surely, we all know that our children are more important than our work. Any father or mother we ask will obviously answer that they value their children much more than their material possessions. However, we parents do not always act in accordance with that. That is to say: I know it is very important to be with my children, to dedicate time to them, listen to them, play with them, “but I don’t have time.” I know I have to take an interest in them, talk about how their day was, and know what they are doing on the internet, “but I am so busy.” Thus, unintentionally and without planning, we have no time (or energy) left for “the most important thing in our lives.”

Sometimes, unintentionally, we put our children in a second category. I remember something funny but also sad: one of my friends in South America had a domestic employee to whom she entrusted her children, almost to raise them, but she did not allow her to use her washing machine because she did not trust her to wash the clothes without ruining them.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

Sometimes, without realizing it, we repeat the history of our ancestors and do not invest the necessary time in our children. Surely, the men of Gad and Reuben knew perfectly well that their children were more important than their material possessions, but like almost all parents, they needed someone, in this case, Moshe, to remind them of the order of priorities.

Our compass, our reference, is the Torah. And every time we study it, it should clearly remind us that our children should come first.

SHABBAT SHALOM

Rabbanit Coty Bitton

מעשיך יקרבוך ומעשיך ירחקוך

ALL FOR MY CHILDREN Moshe Rabenu knows that his life will soon end. He also knows that his people, Am Israel, will need a leader to replace him. Who were the candidates to take Moshe’s place? The most natural thing at that time and in those circumstances would have been for Moshe’s sons to replace him. At the end of the day “all our sacrifice is for our children”. And Moshe might have thought that he deserved to see his sons following in his footsteps and be the next leaders of his people. Formally—and as the Jews saw in Egypt— a leader , a Pharaoh or a King,  establishes his own dynasty. Why would Moshe be different from any other political leader?  

MERIT or FAMILY Surprisingly, Moshe’s sons are not mentioned in the Tora as candidates for his replacement.  The Sages of the Midrash affirm that Moshe at first did think of his children as his natural  successors. How do we know? The Rabbis deduced this idea from the juxtaposition of the text that speaks of Tselofchad, and the text that speaks of Moshe’s replacement. Tselofchad had no sons. The daughters told Moshe that they deserved to inherit their father’s land. In the end, the Tora proves them right and Tselofchad’s daughters got their inheritance. The Sages indicate that at that time Moshe thought: “If the daughters of Tselofchad, that seemingly were unfit, ended up inheriting their father’s land, my sons, should also inherit my position of leadership, regardless of how fit they are for the job”.  At this point, and with an unusual absence of euphemisms, the Rabbis “reconstruct” God’s theoretical response to Moshe: “Your sons did nothing to deserve inheriting you (ישבו להם)! They did not attend the study house and did not make an effort to learn Torah.” In other words, Torah, study, intellectual and spiritual training, is not inherited from father to children like a piece of land. If there was no personal effort on the part of the children, inheriting automatically a position of leadership would be considered simply “nepotism.”

PROBATE COURT  At the end, HaShem, tells Moshe that the one who will succeed him will be Yehoshua, Moshe’s assistant. And again the Rabbis rationalized with their own words God’s decision: “Although he is neither your son nor your nephew, Yehoshua,[is your disciple] and he tried his best. During the years that he assisted you, Yehoshua would get up very early in the morning and show up at the House of Study (בית ועד). There, and before anyone else arrived, Yehoshua cleaned the floor, laid out the carpets and arranged the benches… he was willing to do any work that was necessary, regardless of whether or not that work was according to his status and prestige, for the sake of Tora and the people ….  Yehoshua stayed in the study house until late at night, and only left when everyone else had already left.” The comparison between Yehoshua and the sons of Moshe leaves no room for ambiguity. HaShem teaches Moshe – and through him to all of us – that we Jews belong to a “meritocratic” society: our own merits are more valuable than our inherited merits. Leadership positions are assigned on the basis of personal efforts and merit, by virtue of the individual’s talents, education, competence and specific aptitude for that particular position.

LAND AND LEADERSHIP.  Unlike a piece of land or a large fortune, Tora — and leadership in the realm of Tora — is NOT automatically inherited from father to son. The fact that my father is or was a great sage or a great leader does not make me, his son, a good man for the job.  And vice versa. It is possible that a great sage had a father who was not a great sage. Ultimately, it is up to one’s own effort. This is also how the great Jewish sage Aqabiya ben Mahalalel explained this idea to his son. When Aqabiya was about to die, his son asked him to “recommend” him to his colleagues, who were the most prominent rabbis and leaders of the Jewish people. “With your recommendation, dad, many doors are going to open for me, and I am going to be able to get close to the prestigious Rabbinical elite”.   But his father refused to recommend him to the Rabbis. His son asked him: “Did you find anything wrong with me? And his father answered “no”, but he added phrase that became one of the most important lessons the rabbis taught on this subject: “My son, it is not my recommendation that will give you prestige or a leadership position, but your actions”. In Hebrew: מעשיך יקרבוך ומעשיך ירחקוך “It will be your deeds and behavior, not my words, what will bring you closer or further away from the Rabbis.”

At some unspecified point in this week’s Parasha, Chuqat, the biblical text makes a leap in time, transporting us from the second year after the Exodus from Egypt to the 40th year. The new protagonists are the young generation of Am Israel, ready to fight and conquer the Promised Land.

The previous generation was born and lived their entire lives in slavery. They didn’t know how to fight or defend themselves. They were mentally tied to slavery, suffering from a fear of freedom. They missed Egypt and longed to return to a life of oppression. Despite witnessing and experiencing the most imposing miracles in history, both in Egypt and in the desert (the Ten Plagues, the parting of the sea, the revelation of God at Mount Sinai, the manna falling from the sky, etc.), they were only temporarily influenced. God was with them, but they did not see Him. Or they did not want to see Him, perhaps to avoid the many responsibilities that come with living as Jews. This defeatist generation defined themselves as locusts, unable to defend themselves against the enemy.

But this generation has now disappeared. Unfortunately, the change in the mentality of the Jewish people did not occur as a transition from slavery to freedom. It happened, as once mercilessly stated by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “In some societies, change does not take place through a slow process of learning, but funeral after funeral.”

Entebbe 1.0

The new people of Israel, the generation that did not grow up obeying Pharaoh but observing God’s will, begin their relentless campaign to conquer the Promised Land in this Parasha. The first challenge they face is highly relevant to our days. The Canaanites of the city of Arad in the Negev attack the Jews, and guess what they do? They take prisoners! What does the young Israeli army do in their first challenge? First, they pray, promising loyalty and gratitude to God if He grants them this first victory. Then they attack the terrorist kidnappers and rescue the hostages alive. The most important thing is to notice what they did not do: negotiate with the kidnappers. The Tora does not seem very much in favor of negotiating with terrorists.

The First War

They are now in what is today Jordan, on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Before crossing the river to reach Israel, they must pass through the territories of Sichon and Og, kings of the Amorites and Bashan, respectively.

Sihon was a powerful king, reputedly invincible, who had conquered the lands of the Moabites in a battle so fierce it was recorded by the poets of the time—and incidentally mentioned by the Tora—as an epic military victory, possibly intended to intimidate the enemy. Now, the commander-in-chief of the new Israeli army, Moshe Rabbenu, sends Sichon a “message of peace”: The people of Israel request your permission to cross your territory “without deviating from the main path, without ruining your fields or vineyards, and without intending to drink water from your wells. We do not seek war with you. We just want to pass through your territory to cross the Jordan River and reach our destination: the land of Israel, promised to us by God (Numbers 21:22). Surprisingly—or not—Sichon rejected Israel’s generous peace message and came out to attack Israel.

Why?

Reflecting on our present days, a few ideas occurred to me:

1. In the Middle East, people were not used to a nation behaving with honor and keeping their word. Because lying was part of the military strategy in those nations. Sihon must have thought the Jews were trying to deceive them. It’s what he would have done. Or perhaps he did it to destroy Moab.
2. Sichon may have thought the Jews still had a slave mentality, the “locust complex.” The proof for Sichon was that they had wandered in the desert for 40 years, and during that time, they had not practiced war nor attacked any nation. The Jew always stood out for his or her intelligence and study vocation. That is why they were always the ideal victims. Sichon did not know these “new” Jews also knew how to defend and fight.
3. Complementing this second idea, Israel’s peace offer is not typical in the Middle East. In that region, people attack without warning; only the weak offer peace or warns before attacking. I think Sichon, in the best style of Middle Eastern war culture, did not understand the nature of the Jewish people and confused Israel’s peace offer with “weakness.”

Without any provocation, Sichon attacked Israel. Ironically, the first military challenge for the new Israeli army was not to attack and conquer but to defend themselves from their attackers. We are facing the first battle of the Israeli DEFENSE Forces.

Sichon miscalculated: “Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and inherited his territory, from Arnon to Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites…” These new lands extended along the upper half of the Dead Sea, continuing along the Jordan River’s shores to the current Golan Heights, now Israeli territory, where it bordered the lands of another powerful monarch: Og, king of Bashan.

Second War

Then came the second war the new Israeli army faced. Og, who did not learn from what happened to Sichon, also came out to attack Israel. “The people (of Israel) moved northward by the road to Bashan, but Og, the king of Bashan, came out with all his people to confront them in battle at Edrei. God said to Moshe: ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him and all his people into your hands. You will do to him what you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. The people of Israel defeated him, his sons, and all his people completely… and inherited his land…” (Numbers 21:33-35). This last phrase, “and inherited his land,” is also very important. If someone attacks you, you defend yourself and win; you do not have to return their territory; it is now considered your inheritance. The defeatist attitude of the old generation had been replaced by the optimistic attitude of their children. Imbued with solid EMUNA, trusting God’s providence and His help, they prevailed in the military battle against the kings of Transjordan. Thus, Israel emerged as a people prepared to settle in their land, exercise their national will, and always be ready to defend themselves against any enemy.

The New Israeli Soldiers

I can’t help but think of the brave young soldiers who, along with their leaders, fight valiantly today in Gaza with an indomitable BIBLICAL spirit. With a deep conviction that they are fighting what the Jewish Sages called MILCHAMOT HASHEM, “the wars that God’s enemies wage against His representatives, the people of Israel.”

The command line that today leads the armed forces fighting in Gaza are the commanders of the future army and also—I am convinced—the future political leaders of the State of Israel in the coming years. This new generation, which believes in themselves and their Divine mission, will replace the military leadership that will have to say goodbye to the armed forces and give way to the new generation to take responsibility. They have already accumulated nine months of combat and nine months of unity. They are very clear that their goal is victory over the enemy. They are directing a war of the most challenging and dangerous type, not against a regular army of a country in tank combat plains but against a terrorist organization, a hidden enemy, in tunnels in dense urban areas. It is a very difficult and dangerous war for commanders and fighters.

These soldiers also have a solid Emuna, faith that the God who brought us out of Egypt, defeated Pharaoh, and was with us when we defeated Sihon, Og, and all the peoples of Canaan is still with us today, closer than ever.

Korach, the cousin of Moshe Rabbenu, leads a rebellion against Moshe and Aaron alongside members of the tribe of Reuben: Dathan, Abiram, and On, the son of Pelet, the two sons of Eliab, and 250 community leaders. They accused Moses of usurping leadership and elevating himself above everyone else: “The entire congregation is holy; why do you consider yourselves above the rest?” When Moses hears this, he tells Korach and his followers that God will reveal who the leader is tomorrow. He then added: “Is it not enough that God has consecrated you in the community of Israel to perform the functions of the Tabernacle, and you also seek the priesthood?” In reality, Moses explained to them that they were not rebelling against him and Aaron but against the order imposed by God. Moses called the two sons of Eliab, but they refused to come, saying it was unfair that Moses felt above them and forced them to die wandering in the desert. Moses then told Korach and his followers to prepare a priestly fire and offer incense to God.

At the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed (Tent of Meeting), Moshe and Aaron gathered in front of the rebels and the rest of the community. The Presence of God appeared to the entire assembly, and God said to Moses and Aaron: “Separate yourselves from these rebels so that I may destroy them in an instant!” Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and said: “Oh God, if one man sins, will you be angry with the entire community?” God then told Moses to tell the people: “Separate yourselves from these wicked men and do not touch anything that belongs to them, so that all their sins will not destroy you.” The people separated from them. Then Moses said: “By what you are about to see, you will know that it is God who sent me, and I am not here by my own will.” When Moses finished speaking, the ground under Korach and the other leaders split open and swallowed them with all their belongings. Then, the ground closed over them, and they disappeared. A fire descended from the sky and consumed the 250 male followers of Korach who were offering incense. Moses instructed Eleazar, the son of Aaron, to recover the utensils used for the incense offering, flatten them, and cover the altar with them as a testimonial warning to anyone who might challenge Aaron’s priesthood.

The next day, the community complained that Moses and Aaron were responsible for the deaths of God’s people. God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the rest of the community because He wanted to destroy them. A plague struck the nation, and many were dying. Moses told Aaron to take the consecrated incense quickly, go into the midst of the congregation, and atone for their sin. Aaron did so, standing between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.

God told Moses to take a staff from each of the twelve tribes, with the name of the leader of each tribe written on his staff. Another staff would be taken to represent the tribe of Levi, with Aaron’s name written on it. The staff were placed overnight in the most sacred place of the Tabernacle. The following day, they were taken out, and miraculously, Aaron’s staff had blossomed with almond flowers. This was further proof that Aaron was God’s choice to be the High Priest. God ordered Moses to place Aaron’s staff back in the Ark of the Covenant, which would remain as a testimony.

The Jews expressed to Moses their fear of mistakenly entering a restricted area of the Tabernacle and dying as a result. In response, God ordered the priests and Levites to strictly guard the Tabernacle to prevent unauthorized entry by those who were not priests.

The Torah then enumerates the various offerings to which the priests are entitled. These include the privilege of receiving select portions of the sacrifices, the five silver shekels for the redemption of the firstborn Israelites, a portion of all grain, oil, wine harvests, the first fruits, etc. But it also informs them that their descendants will not receive a portion in the territory of Israel, which was the most prized materially: God will be their inheritance and portion.

The Levites also will not receive a part of the land of Israel. Instead, they are entitled to a tenth of all the harvests from the other tribes in exchange for the services they provide in the Temple. Upon receiving this tithe, the Levites must set aside a tenth of it and give it to the priests.

40 years have passed between last week’s Parasha and this week’s Parasha, Chuqat. We are right now at the last moments of the journey . The generation that lived in slavery disappeared. Those who remain are their children, who were born in captivity, but had 40 years to deprogram their slave-mentality and think and act as free men and women. And unlike their parents, this new generation is not scared to fight and conquer the land that was inhabited by their ancestors.

THE QUESTION

The situation our Parasha describes is not easy. The Israelites had tried to get into the land of Israel through Edom, the area between modern Eilat and the Dead Sea.  But Edom, a future Israel neighbor, does not allow them to pass. Israel then has to circumvent the land of Edom. And the new journey is very long, and people are exhausted. In our Parasha we find a memorable sad episode. People complained about the lack of water. HaShem tells Moshe to take his staff (maté) and to gather the people in front of a rock. Moshe must speak to the rock, and a spring of water will emerge from it. Moshe does everything that HaShem tells him. Well, almost everything: instead of speaking to the rock, Moshe hits the rock with a stick. HaShem says to Moshe, without explicitly indicating what was his fault, that he and Aharon are not going to lead the people into the promised land. Moshe will die in the desert. And Yehoshua will lead the new generation to conquer the land of Israel. All Biblical commentators wondered what did Moshe do to deserve such severe consequences. Rashi insists that “Moshe should not have hit the rock, he should have spoken to it.” But the punishment still seems too severe. Was Moshe’s error so serious? Especially if we take into account that HaShem asked Moshe to take his staff with him when speaking to the rock … and also that 40 years ago, in a very similar situation, HaShem told Moshe that he should hit the rock in order to have the water to come from it. How is that such a small deviation, probably a mistake, deserves such a severe punishment?

A POSSIBLE ANSWER

We need to go deeper into the symbolic aspect of “hitting” the rock vs. “talking” to the rock.  Remember the context: the previous generation was a generation of slaves who were trained to obey by violence. The only way to make slaves moving and acting was with the whip or the stick: physical punishment. In an article called “Slavery, a dehumanizing institution” Nell Painter explains that in the 16th and 17th century African slaves were exposed to all kinds of physical and psychological torture: they were branded as animals, mutilated, violated and forced to watch the tortures applied to the members of their family. In Egypt, 3000 years before that, the conditions of the Hebrew slaves could not have been much better …. and all these horrifying experiences left their mark in their character. 

But the new generation was different. They had time to adopt their new identity: now they are the people of HaShem. They have voluntarily submitted to the instructions of the Tora, which includes self-discipline (qedusha). This new generation has to be educated and led with words, not with whips. Think of the difference between our modern society and the society  40 or 50 years ago: then, teachers beat their students in class to discipline them. The world, in that aspect, changed radically. Today, in civilized countries, a teacher will never hit her students. A similar phenomenon occurs within families. I know many parents who were raised by their parents “with the whip”, and who find it very difficult to free themselves from that burden when educating their own children. It is difficult to stop using force as a tool of persuasion when one was not educated in other ways to obey the voice of authority. Younger parents, however, learned to replace the whip for the word, and to establish their authority by the weight of what they say.

It is possible that in our Parasha something similar happened. The new generation had to reprogram and forget the power of the “whip”. It is as if HaShem had told Moshe, “Take the stick, but do not use it! Just talk to the rock, and do not hit it! The new generation needs to be free of the whip and learn to obey not with violence but with persuasion.

SHABBAT SHALOM

וַיְשַׁלַּח ה’ בָּעָם אֵת הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים

BIBLICAL SOPHISTICATION

Hebrew is an extremely sophisticated language. Almost all nouns have a 3-letter “root”, which with the addition of prefixes and suffixes, differentiates one term from the other. Verbs, also with three letters root, can be combined in seven different ways (binyanim), with different meanings that the untrained eye might not notice. This brief explanation should be enough to understand a deep “philosophical” idea behind the subtle details of a biblical verb in our Parasha, Chuqat: VAYISHALLACH.

In this week’s Parasha, the people again complain and rebel against God. At one point, they suggest that they should not have left Egypt and want to come back. God punishes this insubordination by “sending” poisonous snakes that claim numerous victims. “Sending” is the way almost all translations, Jewish and non-Jewish, rendered this term in our Parasha:   “And God sent the poisonous snakes toward the people… (Bamidbar, Numbers) 21: 6”. However, this translation is wrong and does not capture the subtlety of the word VAYISHALLACH

TO SEND OR TO RELEASE?

There are two ways to vocalize the Hebrew word “וישלח”: one is VAYISHLACH, and the other is VAYISHAL-LACH. Without going too much into detail, the first vocalization means “to send”. Our Parasha mentions, for example, that Moshe “sent” emissaries to speak with the nation of Edom (20:14) and then Emor (21:21), etc. This word is repeated many times in the Tora, and there is even a Parasha with the name VAYISHLACH (YAAQOB MALAKHIM…), and Jacob sent angels. The second vocalization of the same word is VAYISHALLACH (with a dagesh, that duplicates the letter “L”) is less common. Its meaning is not “to send” but to release”: One example: VAYHI BESHALLACH PAR’O ET HA’AM, which also misinterpreted by almost all translations, is rendered as “And it was when Pharaoh ‘sent’ the people (of Israel)”.  Now, what is the difference between VAYISHLACH and VAYISHALLACH? The first means “to send”: “A” sends “B” for a specific purpose or mission (SHELICHUT or SHALIACH). The second VAYISHALLACH means: “to release”, “to unleash”, “to let go”, and it expresses the idea that “A”, who is somehow in control of “B”, now “sets B free”,  and “B” now acts on its own. Obviously, Pharaoh did not “send” the Jews on a mission outside Egypt: Pharaoh had not choice but to  “let them go”, he “frees them” “releases them” from their captivity, and once free the Jews act on their own. The semantic difference between these two terms is not negligible.

GOD’S MODUS OPERANDI

Let us now return to the snakes: VAYISHAL-LACH does not mean that God “sent” the snakes to bite their victims. But that God “released” “unleashed” them. Our Sages explained that in the desert Bore Olam, the Creator protected us from our enemies, the devastating climate, desert animals, sand storms, etc., with the “‘anane kabod”, a virtual cloud,  or a “firewall.”    Divine punishment then, does not consist in God “sending” the poisonous snakes, but rather in God’s “suspending” His special protection, enabling the poisonous snakes to act according to their nature and instinct.  I remember an unforgettable scene from “Jurassic Park” that can illustrate this idea. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, a carnivorous, very dangerous dinosaur, was contained by a 10,000-volt electric fence. And that fence separated him from the goats, his daily food, and from the humans who were visiting the park. …  For some reason, the electrical power was disrupted,  and the fence was now useless. The tyrannosaurus Rex was now “free,” and following his instincts, he devoured the goats and chased the humans.     In our case, and as a punishment, God “deactivated”, and “suspended” His special protection, and the snakes were free to follow their nature, bite and cause the death of their Jewish victims.

WHO DEACTIVATED THE FENCE?

Why is this idea so important? Because it helps us to understand that HaShem “constantly protects Israel”, and not only in the past and not just the desert.…    Israel –the Prophets and the Sages said–is like a little lamb among the nations, surrounded by enemies who want to destroy us. Israel is protected by Bore Olam through an invisible hedge, a Divine firewall, a 10,000 volt fence that “keeps our enemies away”, thwarting their plans, deflecting their missiles, confuseing their ideas, etc.  However, when our behavior is not correct, the Divine firewall is somehow deactivated. And when HaShem “suspends” His special protection, the enemies of Israel do their thing.… This idea is mentioned in a very explicit way in Debarim 31:18, ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא: when the Jewish people abandon their covenant with God,  the most severe punishment Israel might get is HaShem “hiding His presence”, that is, “suspending His special protection” from us. 

24/7 PROTECTION

I think that the most important –and the most beautiful — aspect of this idea of ​​VAYISHAL-LACH, is the understanding that the Creator protects us constantly as a people and also as individuals, without us even realizing it. Think, for example, that around us (or inside our body), there are billions of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and small microbes, many of which could affect us or even kill us. The Creator permanently protects us (hashgacha peratit) from the natural elements surrounding us, from going wrong and so many accidents that can so easily occur. The Almighty watches over us by restraining these harmful natural forces. The “Divine Protection” is permanently active, non-stop, without us even noticing it like a firewall or an antivirus program that protects our computers 24/7. Every day, 3 times a day, we allude to this kind of Divine protection when we recite the berakha MAGEN ABRAHAM. “Protector of Abraham”,  and we thank HaShem for taking care of us and guarding us with His invisible shield.

Shabbat Shalom

THE MISSION

The children of Israel are in the desert, just weeks away from arriving in the Promised Land. To ensure the success of their military expedition, Moses sends 12 men as spies on an intelligence mission. These men, the leaders of the tribes, were asked to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the people living there, whom they would soon have to face. The information they would bring back would be crucial for military success.

After forty days of exploring the land from south to north and from east to west, the spies finally return to the camp.

The information was to be transmitted only to Moses, who was the commander-in-chief of Israel’s army. But something unexpected happened: when the children of Israel found out about the spies’ return, they surrounded the spies and stayed there to listen to their report.

Without thinking about the consequences of this small change of plans, the spies, instead of privately informing Moses – and naturally motivated by the temptation to be heard by hundreds of thousands of people – presented their report publicly, starting a chain of tragic events that no one could have anticipated.

THE INTELLIGENCE REPORT

At first, the spies praised the land and even proudly showed off the huge fruits of the place, which everyone saw with astonishment. But then, the narrative changed. Most of the spies, ten of the twelve, began to verbalize their doubts about the wisdom of proceeding with the plan to conquer the land of Canaan.

The long list of doubts includes the following:

GRASSHOPPERS

“The men we will have to fight are giants… we saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and so they saw us.”

When you are possessed by fear, you see –you “need” to see– reality through negative lenses, the lenses of the impossible. That is a point of view, real or imaginary that, far from dispelling fear, justifies it. The spies were not objective: they did not mention that they were much more numerous than their enemies. And instead of emphasizing this advantage, they described themselves as subhuman (insects) and the enemy as superhuman (giants).

This psychological defeatism is also revealed in a detail that I had never noticed before: if you see yourself as small as an insect, why not describe yourself as an ant, a bee, or a wasp (the famous Tzir’a that the Tora sometimes mentions)? Why use the “grasshopper” for the metaphor? I believe they chose to compare themselves to grasshoppers because these insects “have no stingers”; that is, they cannot defend themselves or their colony, even when numerically superior: the spies saw themselves as small and also vulnerable, unable to fight back. Moreover, according to the gastronomic culture of those times, locusts were edible (many species are Kosher), and perhaps unconsciously, they were describing themselves as “food” for the enemy.

AL-QAEDA AND AMALEQ

The Israelites did not know the enemies they would face except for one of them: Amaleq. Although Amaleq had been defeated in a previous war, he created and left trauma and psychological fear in the Jewish people, as they were the first to attack Israel, not from the front but from the rear: Amaleq attacked women, children, and the elderly. Amaleq showed no mercy and was not dissuaded by the fact that Israel is God’s protected people. The spies mentioned Amaleq because they projected their own fears toward an enemy who does not hesitate to inflict pain and death and practices terrorism more than war. Mentioning Amaleq terrified the Israelites, like mentioning ISIS or Al Qaeda to the victims of terror in the Middle East.

THE LAND THAT SWALLOWS

They also mentioned the land of Israel. First, positively: the milk -a product of livestock- and honey, the syrup of dates -a product of agriculture. But then the narrative changed. And the words that the spies used to describe Israel were: “a land that swallows its inhabitants”. What were they trying to say with this completely false description of Israel’s topography? I believe that the subliminal message of this geographical demonization was the following: even if, in the best-case scenario, we manage to defeat the native peoples, the land is not worth it! Since it “devours its inhabitants”. The spies painted an unreal, horrific, and false image of Israel, likening it to a volcanic and dry region prone to seismic activity. In other words, and this is the fundamental message of the spies: Israel as a land is worse than the desert where we live right now… so it’s better if we stay here!

THE REACTION

Upon hearing this report, things went completely out of control: the people began to cry, scream, and protest. It was no use that Joshua and Caleb tried to reason with them. The mob wanted to kill them. God had to intervene directly to prevent the uprising. There were casualties – the ten spies and many more. God punished them in the worst possible way. If they did not want to go to the promised land, they would stay in the desert until they died, waiting for a generational reset.

It was such a tragic night that we remember it in mourning every year on the 9th of the month of Ab.

BUT WHY?

I confess that for many years I adopted the opinion of commentators who blamed the ten spies and saw them as political instigators with personal agendas: they did not “want” to conquer Israel and preferred to return to Egypt and be welcomed there as heroes, etc. (see here). This year, I’m embracing a different approach: perhaps the spies were victims of their own panic. An uncontrollable fear that took hold of them even before the spying operation had begun. Perhaps when they gave their report, they did not plan to discourage the people, and they were “venting” their personal fears, but in the wrong theatre: in front of everyone else.

ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM

What led me to think this way is having recently reread Eric Fromm’s book, “Escape from Freedom” (or in the Spanish version I read: “Fear of Freedom”, which, ironically, captures better the idea I am trying to express). The spies were the “leaders of Israel,” but we cannot forget for a second that just a couple of years ago, they were “slaves”: they were born and raised in a system of physical and mental abuse. They had been trained by their masters for generations not to defend themselves or fight for their rights. They were programmed to “not dream” of a better future. And to suppress any desire for freedom or success.

Probably due to this “personality disorder,” the spies verbalized their panic, activating the most important instinct of a slave: survival, which includes “not taking any unnecessary risks”.

Following the ideas of Eric Fromm, the Jewish slaves were incapable of fully exercising their freedom, which includes the responsibility to fight and risk their lives for it. Without realizing it, they were terrified of freedom and ironically, they did everything possible not to achieve it. Perhaps in a Freudian lapse, they described themselves as “grasshoppers” and not as “ants” because they were unconsciously choosing to “fly” instead of “fight with the sting until death “.

As a South American, I can hear the subconscious echoes of a similar mental situation in the anthems of Argentina or Uruguay: Libertad o con Gloria morir”, “Freedom or dying with glory”. These words, perhaps, do not express what the caudillo leaders of the 19th century felt, but the idea that they were trying to convey to reprogram the subjugated natives to embrace the price of freedom and be willing to take the risk of “dying with glory” on the battlefield. Something that the generation of the desert did not know how to achieve. The fear of freedom, as Fromm asserts, led them literally to self-destruction.

I believe that if the spies had first spoken with Moses instead of presenting their report to the people, he could have dissuaded them from mutiny. Moshe would have calmly conveyed to them the “Emuna”, the certainty that God was with them, and shown them that everything the Almighty had promised them had been fulfilled. Perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided if they had spoken first with Moses, as the original plan indicated. But tragically, once they verbalized their fears in public, things went completely out of control, because panic is contagious, and fear made an entire generation forget their faith.

Who was the most humble person who ever lived on the face of the earth? The answer is in Bamidbar (Numbers) 12: 3.

In antiquity, the virtues exalted among non-Jewish leaders were not humility or integrity. They were physical power (Hercules); military ingenuity (Alexander the Great), or cunning and mischief (Hermes). Among pagan civilizations, humility never deserved to be exalted as a virtue.

Moshe was the leader of the people of Israel also on the political and military level: Moshe confronted Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world at that time. Moshe led the way out of the slavery of three million people,  and he also led the victorious battles against Sihon and ‘Og. The Tora, however, never emphasizes Moshe’s physical or military virtues: what stands out in the Tora is the character and personality of Moshe

There are two episodes, reported in this week’s Perasha, where we can appreciate the nature of Moshe’s humility. And the nature of humility in general.

Let’s start by saying that every leader has two types of agendas: his public agenda and his personal agenda. The public, political or community agenda includes everything this leader wants to do for his or her community, people, or nation. The personal agenda is what he wants to do for his or her personal benefit, in material terms, narcissism, self-image, etc. One could say that sometimes these two dimensions of leadership are inversely proportional: the greater the purely political aspiration, in other words, the more the leader aspires to do good for others, the more he should be willing to sacrifice his agenda or personal benefit. On the other hand, when the ultimate goal of the political leader is his personal benefit, he will be willing to sacrifice the common good to achieve his selfish goals.

Here are some examples of Moshe’s leadership.

1. In Shemot Moshe reacts with indignation as he descends from Mount Sinai and sees the people worshiping a golden calf. The people had replaced HaShem with an Egyptian idol …. Such was the indignation of Moshe that he broke the Tables.

2. In this week’s Perasha, when the people complained that they only had manna to eat and start to longing for what they ate in Egypt, Moshe also gets “offended”. These complaints represented a total lack of acknowledgment to Hashem and to all His protection and intervention in the desert. Moshe was not able to tolerate this offense (ובעיני משה רע).

3. In Bamidbar, when the people complained, saying “Why did they bring us out of Egypt and brought us into this wilderness? To make us die of thirst and hunger?” Again, the people complained about HaShem. And Moshe reacted, accusing the people of Israel of “rebellion” (שמעו נא המורים).

These three cases in which Moshe reacts have something in common: the people are complaining about HaShem; they were ungrateful to HaShem or were trying to replace HaShem.

Now let’s look at another kind of reaction from Moshe.

1. In this week’s Perasha there is a very interesting episode, that of Eldad and Medad, two men who were “prophesying” in the camp of Israel, an exclusive prerogative of Moshe until then. This event was noted by Yehoshua, who immediately reports to Moshe this incident and proposes to “eliminate” possible competition. Moshes’ response is incredible (Bamidbar 11:29): “And Moses answered him, are you jealous for me? I wish all the people of HaShem would prophesy, and [I wish] HaShem would bestow his prophecy [also] on them!”

2. There is another similar episode in our Perasha (Bamidbar 12: 1-2). “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moshe … Did HaShem only spoken to Moshe?“. Did not He also spoken by [or “to”] us?”

On this occasion, again, Moshe does not get angry or react. There is no jealousy or reproach. Moshe remains silent.

Why?

Because Moshe gets “offended”, or he reacts and acts with passion when it comes to the honor of HaShem, His cause (which was  also “his” cause), or when it comes to the cause of the people of Israel. But when it comes to something personal, his own honor, Moshe does not bother. It is enough for him to know the truth about his own integrity. He does not get offended and acts with zero degrees  arrogance. He does not mind competition in leadership. Quite the opposite: he wants to stimulate it. He wants other people to reach the same level as He.

These seemingly small gestures of Moshe are a great demonstration of his great humility and altruism. That is why the Tora says in our Parasha (Bamidbar 12: 3)

“And Moshe was a very humble man, more [humble] than any other man on the face of the earth”