Bnei Yisrael, who reached their spiritual high at Mount Sinai, were brought tumbling down as a result of the sin of the Meraglim who spoke badly of Israel. After the great spiritual uplifting that took 600,000 people from the 49 gates of Tuma and brought them to the peak of holiness through the building and inaugiration of the Mishkan, comes this terrible fall, this national tragedy. After the Meraglim described what they saw in Israel Bnei-Yisrael felt disappointment and despair, “??? ????? ????? ????? ???? ?? ?????”. This caused Hashem to declair that the men over 20 would die in the desert.
What did the Meraglim see, who on their way their way to Israel were “???? ????? ???? ??”?” – they were the heads of the 12 tribes, what did they see that caused them to say Lashon-Hara on Israel and cause fear to Bnei-Yisrael after they themselves brought good fruits back from Israel and called the land “??? ??? ??? ????”?
It seems like the main difference between what the Meraglim said and what Kalev Ben-Yefune said didn´t have to do with the land itself, but rather with themselves. The Meraglim said “and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers…”. They said-the country and fruit are good, the cities big-but we are too small. We are like “ants in a vineyard” in a land that eats up its inhabitants. On the other hand Kalev answers back saying that the land is very good-if Hashem wants us to have it, we´ll have it. Everything depends on Hashem´s will, if this is his will, then we´ll capture the vineyards along with the huge walled cities. The only condition is “?? ??? ??? ?” -if Hashem wants us.
The country is good because Hashem gave it to us as a present, but it depends on us that we don´t see ourselves as ´grasshoppers´ in comparison to the inhabitants of the country, but rather as people who are making the essential decision -to go to Israel.
The Meraglim heard the inhabitants of Israel fasying to one another “we saw ants in the vineyard who looked like people”. The Meraglim, through a lack of self-confidence and faith in Hashem thought that through these words the locals were discrediting the Meraglim. This, though, is not true, it is written in the Torah “Then were the chiefs of Edom frightened, the mighty men of Moav, trembling seized them , all the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away” . They were scared even from the ants in the vineyards. On one hand, the inhabitants of Israel feared these ´ants´ in the vineyards, but on the other hand, the Meraglim that the Torah called “?????”- people, saw themselves as tiny grasshoppers in the eyes of the giant inhabitants.
Throught all the generations in exile we´ve prayed “?? ????? ??????? ???? ?????”. We say in our prayers “????? ?????? ????? ??????” – because of our sins we were exiled , and we cry over the fact that “??? ????? ?????? ?????”-´we can´t go up´, and we wait excpectantly to be freed from our enemies and for the gates of Israel to be opened-and that when this happens we´ll stream to Israel.
Our oppertunities to return to Israel have been very rare. There is a Pasuk that says “???? ? ?????? ????÷?? ????” ´return our captivity like springs in the desert´. The desert is dry and sometimes years go by without rain falling there. Then suddenly it gets cloudy and rain pourd down-filling up the desert with water. We have the same idea with our return to Israel. Hundreds of years can pass without a ´national awakening´ , without an opportunity to return to Israel. But there are times that the heavens open and it starts raining, the opportunity arises and we can return to Israel.
Today, the gates of Israel are wide open to all the Jews around the world, and Israel has become a thriving country in many different ways. It is very important that we internalize Kalev Ben-Yefune´s words “??? ????” -´we shall surely ascend…´. Ascend to Israel, to a life of ´kedusha´ and ´tahara´ in ´Eretz Hakodesh´. We have to try not to say “????? ??????? ??????”. We have to try and not say that due to the various hardships in Israel-because of these reasons we won´t go, but rather “??? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ??”-“We shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we can surely do it”.
In the name of Rav Yaakov Doshinski
