THEY SPREAD AN [EVIL] REPORT

ABOUT THE LAND WHICH THEY HAD SCOUTED, TELLING THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,

"THE LAND WE PASSED

THROUGH TO EXPLORE IS A LAND THAT CONSUMES ITS INHABITANTS, AND ALL THE PEOPLE

WE SAW IN IT ARE MEN OF STATURE. 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."

(Bamidbar 13:32-33)

There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak,

descended from the giants – Sparta, Athens and Jerusalem

We genuinely saw them in reality, those giants who are men of eternal

renown (Bereishit

6:4) whose stature and valor

are described in the ancient legends. They are the sons of Anak…

In the Land of Israel, then, there

remained remnants of the giants of the pre-deluge period. This fact well suits

the position (Zevahim 113a) that the flood

did not affect the Land of Israel, and therefore all the original vitality of the land was preserved. But

in equal measure, this strength can make the land appropriate for God's people,

for this nation will observe God's Torah and thus will the world return to its

days of youth, and the earth will be like the Garden of Eden. Let us not forget

the dictum of the Sages to the effect that health and physical strength are

among the conditions necessary for supreme spiritual development (Shabbat

92a).

Perhaps we will not err when we say that this is the

relationship between the strength of the land and the attributes of its

inhabitants; Wherever spiritual endeavor is suspended, the earth has the power

to grow giants of great physical stature; but if

will be exploited for spiritual activity and not for the giant body stature.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, Bamidbar 13:33)

For all the people were in error

Ronen Ahituv

And if

you should err and not fulfill all these commandments, which

the Lord spoke to Moses. All that the Lord commanded you through Moses, from

the day on which the Lord commanded and from then on, for all generations. If because

of the eyes of the congregation it was committed inadvertently…The priest shall

atone on behalf of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and it

shall be forgiven them, for it was an error, and they have brought their offering

as a fire offering to the Lord and their sin offering before the Lord because

of their error.

The entire

congregation of the children of Israel and the proselyte who resides with them

shall be forgiven, for all the people were in error. But if an individual sins

inadvertently, he shall offer up a she goat in its first year as a sin offering.

(15:22-28)

The

section on sin-offerings which had already appeared in the beginning of Vayikra

(chapter 4) is repeated in our parasha. As before, in

our parasha the Torah tells those who have accidentally sinned to offer a

sacrifice to atone for them, and also as before, Scripture distinguishes

between the sin-offering of and individual at that offered by the community. There

are some differences between the two accounts, and the very fact of repetition requires

that we seek differences between them. The Sages dealt with this problem and

suggested that "Scripture is referring to idolatry" (Sifrei Shelah 8). That is to say that the unintended sin

referred to by our parasha is the sin of idolatry. This is not a matter of an

error concerning some detail of law, but rather a far-reaching mistake that

involves disregard for the Torah's very foundation. It involves the worship of

a strange god and thus the abandonment of the entire halakhah, as hinted at by

the verse and not fulfill all these commandments.

This

interpretation invites a question: can an entire community which had completely

deserted the worship of God be called in error and dealt with

forgivingly?

RaMBaN

in his commentary on the passage describes several ways in which error can turn

an entire community away from the worship of God:

This

is in accordance with its plain meaning, it is an offering for one who has accidentally

rejected the entire Torah, such as someone who went and joined one of the

nations to do as they do, not wanting to at all part of the Israelite

collectivity, and all of that is unintentional…

And

in the case of a community – such as when they come to believe that the Torah

was not eternal and that its time had passed, or they speak in the manner

mentioned in Sifrei (Shelah 115) "Why

did the Omnipresent tell us [about the commandments], if not in order for us to

perform them and receive a reward? We shall neither perform them nor take our

reward!"

or

as Israel spoke, asking Ezekiel, as it says Men of the elders of Israel came

and sat before me (Ezekiel 20:1), and they

said to him: "Our master Ezekiel, if a slave is sold by his master, has he

not left his [master's] possession?" He told them, "Yes." They

said to him: "Since the Omnipresent has sold us, we have left His possession

and entered that of the nations!" he told them: "If a slave is sold

by his master with the intention of getting him back, has he left his [master's]

possession?

Or –

they forgot the Torah. That has already happened to us due to our sins in the

days of he wicked Israelite kings such as Jeroboam, when most of the nation

forgot the Torah and commandments completely, and as the Book of Ezra relates

regarding the men of the Second Temple.

RaMBaN

describes four possible explanations of how the people could desert the Torah. Two

of them are based on a midrash of the Sages regarding the tzitzit

passage that appears in the conclusion of our parasha, and two of them seem to

have been invented by RaMBaN himself. The two reasons that appear in midrashim

concern the covenant between God and Israel and its stipulations. Apparently, the

covenant which requires that we observe the Torah is dependent upon God's

recompensatory actions: reward [in this world or in the world to come], or at

least defense of Israel and maintenance of the tie with it in the historical sense by way of its

continued independent existence in its own land. When the people of Israel feel that they have been sold out to

foreign nations and that their historical tie with God has been broken, they

would seem to be free to abandon their covenant with their God. Only the

certainty of a redemption that will restore the historical tie – as announced

by Ezekiel, or the hope for reward can dispose of these claims.

In

the absence of certainty regarding redemption and assuming that the people have

decided to make do without the rewards promised for the fulfillment of the

commandments – it seems unsurprising that the covenant would be abandoned. Indeed,

the Sages' position evokes astonishment; they have freed God from all

responsibility for the people's historical condition and dared to pledge loyalty

to Him without expectation of reciprocation: "even if He takes your life."

The

two further reasons for abandonment of Judaism added by RaMBaN are: the

well-known Christian claim that the Torah has passed its expiration date and

the rare condition of total cultural disconnect in which the entire community becomes

completely ignorant of the Torah and commandments.

Notice

that the RaMBaN makes no mention of ideological atheism. All four explanations

of community-wide error leave belief in God untouched but assume that it is

possible to separate that belief from the obligation to the Torah and

commandments.

A

few years ago Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun suggested that the RaMBaM's comments could be

used to define a halakhic framework for relating to the secular public; they

could be defined as a "community of people committing inadvertent error."

This definition is certainly more befitting of the situation before us than is

the accepted notion of "a kidnapped infant" – after all, we are

talking about a group rather than a collection of individuals.

However,

take note of an additional concern: the attitude towards error on the part of

the community is essentially different from the attitude towards the individual's

error, since a different kind of error is involved. Three of the examples of

error offered by RaMBaN do not involve error due to ignorance, but rather what

seem to be considered and logical – and therefore legitimate – judgments.

In

contrast to the individual, who errs due to ignorance or faulty education [as

per the modern interpretation of the "kidnapped infant"] and who

deserves paternalistic forgivingness, the community's error stems from

reasonable and reasoned judgment. Perhaps this is how we should R. Eliezer's

dictum, "Scripture turned the community's deliberate sin into an

inadvertent error" (Sifrei Shelah 5).

Actually,

it is the decision to remain loyal to the Torah and commandments that requires

explication and defense. Such a defense must be based upon the Sages' religious

revolution, which reinterpreted the biblical notion of covenant, unlinking our commitment

to the Torah and the commandments from practical reality. In this they acted in

contradiction to the general attitude of scripture, excluding the Book of Job

and some chapters of Psalms.

Anyone

who bases his faith upon a revolution cannot complain about those who refuse to

join him. That is why RaMBaN's comments contain more than just a tolerant and

forgiving attitude towards the erring community. RaMBaN also offers us the

seeds of a pluralistic approach which grants a kind of legitimacy to that

community's decision to disengage itself from the covenant and the observance

of the commandments.

In

contrast to the judgment of history concerning Christianity and Karaism, the

decision of what is called the "errant" community does not cut them

off from the Jewish collectivity. True, it is impossible to agree with their

choice, but it must be regarded with respect and understanding and with the

hope that in due time the community will make an offering of atonement for its

error.

In

contrast to the historical error made by the people at the time of the sin of

the spies – which became immediately clear by way of divine revelation and the

ensuing mass repentance; and in contrast to the situation in Ezekiel's day, in

our own times we do not witness revelation. And so we must continue through the

wilderness of doubt, all of us together – those who "err" and those

who are "faithful" [by our own subjective lights] – and avoid rushing

into simplistic solutions that call for an aggressive and ill-considered dash

towards the mountain.

Dr. Ronen Ahituv

lives in Mitzpei Netufa and teaches at Bar Ilan University, the Midrasha at Oranim,

and Kinneret College.  

You shall not follow the desires

of your hearts – Does Man's Nature Tend to

Good or to Evil?

When

you look upon it you will remember all the commandments of the Lord – remember that you are

servants of God, Blessed Be He, and that you accepted his commandments with

pledge and vow. This will occur as you see the fringes, which are like the King's seal upon his subjects, and thus you will cease to follow the desires of your heart to obtain your goals through wealth,

position, and even theft.

(Sforno, Bamidbar 15:39)

The

soul of man and his powers were created in an upright fashion, and the nature

of the heart tends to good, but man warps his nature

and considers evil possibilities. Therefore, the passage does not say: "And

you shall go after your hearts", for if one were to go according

to the heart's paths carved in the nature of his being, his behavior would be

good and straight.

(Malbim, Bamidbar 15:39)

Regarding Torah and "Natural

Morality"

Morality,

in its natural state, in all the depths of its glory and its great power, must

be imprinted in the soul, and be a seedbed for those great influences which

evolve from the power of Torah. All Torah matters must be preceded by Derekh Eretz (proper comportment). If it is a matter which is

consonant with natural intelligence and

integrity,

it must proceed on the straight path, with the heart's proclivity and the

assent of the pure desire imprinted in man.

The

Torah was given to Israel so that gates of light – which are clearer, wider,

and holier than all the gates of light of man's natural intelligence and spirit

of natural morality – be opened to us, and through us, to the entire world.

(From "Orot HaTorah", Rav Kook, 69-71)

Why Was the Parasha [Passage] of Tzitzit Tacked On as a Third

Parasha of Kriyat Shema?

The

significance of the relationship between And you shall love and And

these words shall be [the first two sentences of the first parasha of Kriyat

Shema] in the Shema, and the relationship between this first parasha

and the second parasha – And if you will carefully obey my commands is

illuminated by the addition of the third parasha – the parasha of Tzitzit – to

the two opening parshiyot. This portion deals with memory and action; it

expressly directs man's awareness not to the subject of "God and Man"

but the subject of "Commandments and Man" (…and you shall

and perform all My commands…). Remembrance is a thing of the

heart, and, at first blush, it would have seemed possible to combine it with "faith"

and "love" in their abstract sense; but Scripture states the meaning

of remembrance is the performance of the

commandments. Remembrance of God exists in the believer's consciousness

on one of two planes: that of Shema (pure belief lishema', with

no ulterior motive) – God is the Lord; and the second plane, that of And if

you will carefully obey (belief shelo lishmah – with ulterior motive)

– God is the supra-Minister of Finance, supra-Minister of Health,

supra-Minister of Security, etc.. But regardless of whether one remembers God

on the Shema plane or on the And if you will carefully obey plane

– both obligate the observance of mitzvoth.

At

the conclusion of Parashat Tzitzit, which concludes the Kriyat Shema, there

appears a concept with specifically religious significance, the concept of kedusha

– holiness: And you shall be holy. This concept has no meaning

outside the world of religious faith. True, the concept has filtered into the

day-to-day vernacular, taking on secular meanings, such as: "The memory of

my late mother is holy to me" – but in such as case it is no more than an

idiom with emotional content. In its original and essential meaning, "holy"

refers only to God; therefore it cannot be explained through concepts taken

from human thought or in other terms from human language, and it cannot be

applied to anything found in the world. In human reality the category of kedusha

can be used only to designate activity directed toward the kadosh – the

Holy One" – a designation of the service of God through observance of the

mitzvoth. It designates the purpose and goal to which one must strive, and also

the striving itself, but it does not designate any given or existing thing. In

human reality, there is only functional kedusha; the essential kedusha

is God's alone. Whoever attributes kedusha to anything from the natural

or artificial reality – to man, to the land, to an institution, to an edifice,

to an object – is guilty of idol worship; he raises it to the level of the

divine. This is the great meaning presented to man by the mitzvah of Tzitzit: so that you remember and perform all My commands and

you will be holy…; that

is to say, you are not holy by virtue of your essence; your holiness is not

something which exists in yourself; it is something for you to achieve. The

mission is eternal, because it is tied to a condition which can be fulfilled

only with eternal effort.

We

bring the words of one of the greatest Torah scholars and believers, one of the

greatest religious thinker of recent generations, Rabbi Meir Simkha HaKohen of

Dvinsk, author of the Meshekh Hokhma. Many times, with great emphasis,

he repeats in his book his explanation that "there is nothing holy in the

world… only the Lord, Blessed Be He, is holy, and only He is deserving of

praise and service"; no creation has holiness – only the Creator, Blessed

Be He"; "all things considered holy – the Land of Israel, Jerusalem,

the Temple Mount, the Temple, the Tablets of the Law – none of these possess

intrinsic holiness, but they were sanctified through action and mitzvoth."

Therefore, when Israel repudiates the Torah and

violates the mitzvoth – all the above lose their holiness, they become profane.

He repeats this idea again and again: "Do not imagine that the mount is

something holy…"; "…Do not imagine that the Tabernacle and the Temple are, in themselves, holy

entities" and many more such statements. In one place he adds the remark "This

is a weighty matter" – as though he had foreseen how "religious"

Jews, 50 years after his death, would disgrace and profane the concept of holiness

by exploiting as cover for satisfaction of human needs and interests – private or

communal.

It

seems that Torah desired to instill in us the deep religious significance of holiness,

and therefore it placed the story of Korah in juxtaposition to the parasha of Tzitzit.

A space of only three lines separates between the great programmatic proclamation

of faith voiced by our Teacher Moses (You shall be holy) and the

programmatic proclamation of faith voiced by Korah: "The entire

community is holy" – i.e., holiness is not a goal which Israel is

charged to achieve but it already exists inherently and unconditionally. The great

concept of faith – holiness – is profaned and becomes an idolatrous concept.

(From Y. Leibowitz: Paths to Faith in Judaism, in Emunah,

Historiya, ve'Arakhim, pp. 18-19)

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