The Next Generation
SICHOT OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVA
PARASHAT SHELACH
SICHA OF HARAV MOSHEH LICHTENSTEIN
The Next
Generation
Translated by
Last week, we saw that in response to the prophecy-criticism of Eldad and
Meidad, Moshe changes course with respect to his leadership of Am Yisrael. Whereas until then he had remained
"outside the camp," detached from the nation's petty murmuring and gluttonous
yearnings for meat, he now "reentered the camp" (11:30). He is now prepared to work with the
nation from within, rather than condemning their complaints from without. We then asked, why was this decision
ineffective? Why was this new policy
of Moshe followed by the nation's continued deterioration, culminating with the
sin of scouts, as we read in Parashat Shelach?
A. The Spies
In order to answer this question, we must conduct a careful study of the
episode of the spies. Among the more
surprising features of this incident is the list of people chosen for the spy
mission. Besides Yehoshua, we have
not encountered any of the scouts earlier in Chumash. We thus deal with an inexperienced,
unknown team charged with this task.
We could have perhaps easily explained this in light of the simple fact that the
scouts embarked on a purely military scouting mission, involving no communal
function. There was no need, then,
to select for this job known leaders, but rather professional military men. However, the crisis that surfaces
upon their return is due precisely to the fact that this constituted not a
standard, routine survey of territory, but rather a mission of a communal
nature, that was composed in accordance with its nature and communal function. After all, Moshe did not dispatch a
small group of secret spies, but rather a delegation consisting of
representatives from all the tribes, men whose tribes saw them as respected
leaders, as the text itself testifies: "send one man from each of their
ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them" (13:2). Additionally, a point was made to
select men who had earned the respect of the entire nation: "all the men being
leaders of the Israelites" (13:3).
Needless to say, these considerations are hardly suitable as criteria for a
surveillance unit sent to collect information, but rather for a representative
delegation. The question thus
arises, who are these unknown individuals, whom the Torah describes as
"chieftains" and "leaders of the Israelites"?
I would suggest that the scouts were selected specifically because they
were unknown. Whereas until know the
leadership has come from the elders, in the wake of Eldad and Meidad's call for
a transition to a younger leadership Moshe appoints men from Yehoshua's
generation to participate in the scouting delegation. In place of Nachshon, the senior
chieftain of the tribe of Yehuda, came the younger leader, Kalev, and so with
each of the twelve tribes.
It would appear that this replacement of the older leadership with a
younger group more in tune with the state of mind of the new generation
contributed to the failure of the scouts.
To substantiate this claim, we must examine the components of chet
ha-meraglim (the sin of the spies) and the function played by the leadership
in this tragic incident.
B. The
The commentators raise two basic approaches as to the purpose of
dispatching the scouts: 1) it served as a military mission to assist in the
conquest of the land; 2) to foster an attachment of the Jewish people to the
land. Both these elements appear in
the assignment with which Moshe charges them:
"See what
kind of country it is. Are the
people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell
good or bad? Are the towns they live
in open or fortified? Is the soil
rich or poor? Is it wooded or not
"
(13:18-20)
As we emphasized, however, the composition and nature of the delegation
itself seem more suitable for the second purpose, which, apparently, appeared to
be the central function as Moshe saw it.
Following the incident of Kivrot Ha-ta'ava and the state of mind that it
revealed amongst Benei Yisrael, this mission was dispatched in an attempt
to impress upon the nation the goodness of the land and to endear it to them, by
showing them its fruit and describing it to them.
The more Benei Yisrael would sense that they would soon leave the
wilderness and enter their new land, the fewer problems they could expect along
the way. For this purpose Moshe sent
the scouts after the debacle of Kivrot Ha-ta'ava.
In effect, the message demanded from the scouts to encourage the nation
had to be a two-tiered one. First,
they would have to show the goodness that awaits them in the land; second, that
they are fully capable of seizing it.
Without the first message, the people will have no desire to continue
forward towards the land; without the second, they would despair and make no
attempt at the conquest. The need
for both these messages flows from the same root the nation's inability and
unwillingness to take upon itself challenges and objectives. Struggle, confrontation and
responding to the need of the hour without expecting to taste of the fruits of
the land do not speak to the hearts of the weary nation. They want fruit. Endearing the land to them thus
entails emphasizing its agricultural qualities and fertile soil.
Yet, the tragic irony of this situation is that specifically the
personality and approach of the elders would have better suited this task. True, the scouts, who belonged to the
new generation, indeed felt genuine appreciation for the goodness of the land
and its fruit; however, they also confronted the challenge of capturing the land
and displacing its inhabitants. The
land, its quality and fruits are indeed impressive, but so is the might of its
inhabitants and their fortified cities.
The scouts are seized with terror when confronting this challenge, and
this fear is conveyed to the people.
Despairing of the possibility of capturing the land, and not a lack of
appreciation, lies at the heart of the chet ha-meraglim.
They do not reject the beautiful land
itself, but rather the effort required to occupy it. This point emerges clearly from both
the verses in Sefer Bemidbar describing the events as they unfold, as
well as from Moshe's analysis of the incident years later, from a more distant
perspective:
"They told
him and said: 'We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk
and honey, and this is its fruit.
However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are
fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the children of giants there. Amalekites dwell in the Negev region;
Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell
be the sea and along the
"They took
some of the fruit of the land with them and brought it down to us. And they gave us this report: 'It is
a good land that the Lord our God is giving to us.' Yet you refused to go up, and flouted
the command of the Lord your God.
You sulked in your tents and said, 'It is because the Lord hates us that He
brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us
out. Where are we going? Our kinsmen have taken the heart out
of us, saying, 'We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities
with walls sky-high, and even giants.'"
(Devarim 1:25-29)
The deep despair that flows from the people's general spiritual state
arises very clearly from the bottom-line consensus that the scouts convey to
Moshe and the people: "we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must
have looked to them."
Paradoxically, specifically with this spiritual danger, the elders, who
led the struggle in
It turns out, then, that the selection of the young scouts in response to
the sin of Kivrot Ha-ta'ava contributed tragically to the birth of chet
ha-meraglim and its severe consequences.
In order to bring the nation into the land, there was no choice but to
select "chieftains" with leadership potential from within the younger
generation; and this is exactly what Moshe did.
Moshe did not, however, realize that they were not prepared to meet the
challenges that stood before them.
He thus allowed them to embark on this fateful mission, thereby contributing to
the tragic result.
C. Kalev and Yehoshua
"They said
one to another, 'Let us make a captain and return to
The response to the sin of the spies also illustrates the gap that has
developed between the generations.
Moshe, Aharon and the elders cannot oppose the nation or deal with them; they
simply "fell on their faces." Kalev
and Yehoshua, meanwhile, members of the younger generation, stand up to the
people and try to uplift their spirits.
Belonging to the younger stratum, the generation of the wilderness, Kalev
and Yehoshua are not taken aback, they dont feel hopeless in opposing the
nation, as do Moshe and Aharon.
[In effect,
this response of
Kalev, who
demonstrates courage and the preparedness to oppose the despair and spiritual
fatigue of his generation, expresses the leadership qualities that his
colleagues were to embody. But given
that the rest of the entire delegation do not support their position, but rather
seek to undermine it, their efforts are futile and destined for failure from the
outset.
In this context, it is worth noting the distinction between Kalev and
Yehoshua in their reaction to their colleagues.
As we can see from the narrative, only Kalev speaks out forcefully
against the scouts, even when Yehoshua remains silent: "Kalev hushed the people
and said, 'Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we
shall surely overcome it'" (13:30).
True, they both rend their garments and together express their positive stance:
"Yehoshua son
of Nun and Kalev son of Yefuneh, of those who had scouted the land, rent their
clothing and exhorted the whole Israelite community: 'The land that we traversed
and scouted is an exceedingly good land.
If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into that land, a land
that flows with milk and honey, and give it to us; only you must not rebel
against the Lord. Have no fear then
of the people of the country, for they are our prey: their protection has
departed from them, but the Lord is with us.
Have no fear of them!'" (14:6-9)
Nevertheless,
Kalev opposes the nation more directly and overtly. He is not inhibited by them at all;
he expresses his view with force and pride, without softening his words. This approach, however, will not
succeed under the conditions that have emerged.
Yehoshua therefore does not join him, trying as much as possible to avoid
a direct confrontation with the nation.
Both he and Kalev face the same dilemma as Aharon and Chur encountered
during the worship of the golden calf.
Is it preferable to preach the absolute truth while confronting an
unrestrained, incited mob, or should one avoid confrontation as much as
possible, in order to preserve the possibility of positive influence changing
the situation that has emerged? (See Sanhedrin 7a.) Kalev's confrontational approach
resembles that of Chur, whereas Yehoshua foregoes on the direct confrontation
out of a desire and hope to allow for positive influence in the future.
This distinction between Yehoshua and Kalev is expressed in the Torah's
explanation of the merits by which they are permitted to enter the land. Whereas Kalev is presented as earning
entry into the land because of his praiseworthy leadership during the incident
of the spies, Yehoshua does not enter for this reason. Rather, he enters because he is the
leader of the generation that would enter Eretz Yisrael. This point is made very clear towards
the beginning of Sefer Devarim:
"The Lord
heard the sound of your words and He was angry and vowed: Not one of these men,
this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your
fathers none except Kalev son of Yefuneh; he shall see it, and to him and his
descendants will I give the land on which he set foot, because he remained loyal
to the Lord. Because of you the Lord
was incensed with me, too, and He said: You shall not enter it either. Yehoshua son of Nun, who attends you,
he shall enter it. Imbue him with
strength, for he shall allot it to
In this
passage, Moshe clearly distinguishes between Kalev and Yehoshua. Only Kalev inherits the land as
reward for his action during the incident of the spies. Yehoshua, by contrast, earns entry
not as reward, but due to his role as leader of the next generation. The verses therefore separate the two
men from one another. It mentions
Kalev's merit in the same breath as the fate of the generation of the
wilderness, since his fate, too, results from that event. Yehoshua's fate, however, is
mentioned in conjunction with that of Moshe, since his future follows from
Moshe's death in the wilderness, and not the decree resulting from chet
ha-meraglim.
In effect, Kalev earns his portion in the land as reward for the devotion
he demonstrated; his portion was thus given to him and his offspring as a
personal gift. He receives his
portion not as part of Benei Yisrael's general inheritance of the
land, but rather as a private bequest.
These verses therefore emphasize that the portion is bequeathed to Kalev
and his children, and the designation of "the land on which he set foot" as his
personal portion despite the fact that the land has yet to be apportioned
among the tribes. Yehoshua, on the
other hand, was not sentenced to die in the wilderness, but neither did he earn
the right to enter the land as a special privilege. Yehoshua's entry or barred entry
depends on the generation to which he will belong. If he will be counted among the
generation of the wilderness, then he will die a natural death not as a
punishment in the wilderness. If,
however, he will be considered a member of the generation entering the land, he
will enter with them. The Torah
therefore does not designate any specific area for his allotment, for before the
general distribution of the land we cannot speak of certain places earmarked for
given individuals. For the same
reason the Torah makes no mention of Yehoshua's offspring, for we deal here not
with a private grant that becomes a family estate, but rather part of Benei
Yisrael's inheritance of the land as a whole.
In Sefer Bemidbar, too, we detect a distinction between Yehoshua
and Kalev in terms of their portions in the land.
In discussing the generation of the meraglim and their fate, the Torah
mentions only Kalev as the one from that generation who earned entry into the
land. In this context, no mention is
made of Yehoshua:
"Nevertheless, as I live and as the Lord's Presence fills the whole world, none
of the men who have seen My Presence and the signs that I have performed in
Egypt and in the wilderness, and who have tried Me these ten times and have
disobeyed Me, shall see the land that I promised on oath to their fathers; none
of those who spurn Me shall see it.
But My servant Kalev, because he was imbued with a different spirit and remained
loyal to Me - him will I bring into the land that he entered, and his offspring
shall hold it as a possession." (Bemidbar 14:21-24)
When,
however, the Torah emphasizes not only the barred entry of the scouts, but also
the entry of the next generation into the land, Yehoshua is then mentioned
together with Kalev as among those permitted to enter
"Say to them:
As I live, says the Lord, I will do to you just as you have spoken in My ears. In this very wilderness shall your
carcasses drop. Of all of you who
were recorded in your various lists from the age of twenty years up, you who
have muttered against Me, not one shall enter the land in which I swore to
settle you except for Kalev son of Yefuneh and Yehoshua son of Nun. Your children who, you said, would be
carried off these will I allow to enter; they shall know the land that you
have rejected." (ibid., 28-32)
In conclusion, Kalev wages a tenacious, head-on confrontation against the
spies, bringing about a public kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God's
Name); for this he receives a reward from the Almighty for himself and his
offspring for all time. Yehoshua, on
the other hand, calculated his steps such that he can rehabilitate the nation
and lead the next generation in the aftermath of the crisis. Through the efforts of both, an
absolute chillul Hashem (desecration of God's Name) is avoided, allowing
for the infrastructure that will facilitate the entry of the next generation
into the land.