BS”D

GIANT GRASSHOPPERS: PARSHAT SHELACH

Shira Smiles shiur – 2016/5776

Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein

           Bnei Yisroel is set to enter the Land Hashem has promised them. The people approach Moshe and ask to send spies to reconnoiter the land before they enter. Moshe, being unsure of how to proceed, asks Hashem for advice. Hashem responds, “shelach lecha – send for yourselves distinguished men and let them spy out the land...” We know what follows. The spies come back with a devastating report, bringing the entire nation to tears. They give a truthful account of what they saw, giants and fortified cities, fertile land with giant fruit. But then they editorialize. They insert not only their opinion that they will not be able to conquer the land, but to emphasize their diminutive size, they compare themselves to grasshoppers, not only in their own eyes but also in the eyes of the local inhabitants they are reconnoitering. Rashi takes the spies’ report even further by suggesting that they said that the inhabitants considered them as ants with human faces in their vineyards.

           Rabbi Issachar Shlomo Teichtel asks a very simple question. Would it not have been enough to present their report and how they themselves felt, as negative as it was, without adding what the Canaanites thought of them? How could they even know what others thought? Perhaps here is the hint to the motivation of the spies. Perhaps what they sought was to retain their honorable positions.

           Rabbi Frieman in Shaarei Derech expands on this idea explaining that these were indeed the great men, the leaders of Bnei Yiroel in the desert. Picking up on this theme, Rabbi Yosef Salant  opines that the spies had an agenda from the outset of their mission, an agenda that would color their report. They understood that while they were great leaders of the people in the desert, once they entered the land, the nation would require different leaders with a different set of skills. They became protective of their personal honor and they hoped to retain their elevated position. Their mindset, then, was that this was not the appropriate time to enter the land. They skewed the information to adapt it to this preprogrammed reality their egos had set. They used the prophecy that Hashem would wrest the land from the indigenous inhabitants when the sins will warrant their destruction. Therefore, they described the people as baalei middot. While this is usually translated as “people of height’, it could also mean, “people with good middot, good character”. If translated this way, as Rabbi Salanter suggests, the spies were saying that the time has not yet come for us to capture the lands, for the Canaanites and Emorites are men of good character! (This in spite of Hashem warning Bnei Yisroel not to copy their evil ways)

           With this thought in mind, Rav Salanter gives a more homiletic interpretation to grasshoppers and ants. Grasshoppers rampage, despoiling everything in sight without regard to whom they belong. If we go in and take the land when we are not yet supposed to, we will be just like grasshoppers. On the other hand, continues Rabbi Salanter, ants are careful not to take the crumb of another ant. The inhabitants knew Jews don’t steal, so they were confident we would not take their land. How could we then turn around and actually take their land away from them?

           But if we now turn to the first Rashi of the Torah, we will be reminded that since Hashem created the world, He has the right to give it to whomever He chooses. Certainly any nation in the world could claim its right to its land under the same premise. Therefore, continues the Salanter Rav, Hashem had huge giants roam the land in strong, fortified cities. Conquering the land, then, would not be by natural means, but through the direct intervention of Hakodosh Boruch Hu Who willed the land to Bnei Yisroel. Witness the miracles at Jericho where the walls came tumbling down, and the supernatural capture of Givon where the sun stood still until the end of the battle. It would not be man’s effort and might that would win the wars, but Hakodosh Boruch Hu Who would fight our battles.

           This analysis raises the question of hishtadlus, the effort we humans must put into any of our endeavors. Rav Dessler notes that there must be a balance between effort and faith, depending on the spiritual status of the individual. For Bnei Yisroel who had witnesses the open miracles Hashem had already performed for them, asking Moshe to send spies, an otherwise natural request and form of hishtadlus, already showed a lack of faith, This lack of faith then rubbed off on the erstwhile great men until they saw the land through the lens of nature rather than through the spiritual lens of Hashem’s promise, comments Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr. Once they were reduced to nature, they projected their own inadequacies onto the Canaanites. They not only saw themselves as grasshoppers, but assumed that others viewed them as such as well. If they had thought of themselves as angels, as messengers of God in this holy task, they would not be frightened by giants, for Hashem would be fighting for them.

           Faith in Hashem should not translate into laziness. We must still do our part and pray that we are doing Hashem’s will, and therefore He will help us. That trust in Hashem should give encourage us in our endeavors, rather than make us lazy, for Hashem will extend His loving kindness to us in response to our own effort in addition to our faith.

           Rabbi Frand, citing the Sefas Emes, expands on this idea. He notes that one’s self image can be a self perpetuating truth. When one sees himself as inadequate, one will never succeed. Since the spies thought of themselves as lowly, unworthy grasshoppers they were doomed to failure, and they infected the entire nation with this attitude. We must realize that we have greatness within us, that we are infused with Torah and mitzvoth, and that we can therefore accomplish much. Further, adds Rabbi Zelig Pliskin in Growth Through Torah, we should not be concerned with what others think of us. Rather, we should work on bolstering our own self image, for you may be projecting a totally false self image onto others. Who says you (the spies) were not in their eyes as angels, asks Yalkut Shimoni? Rav Reiss notes that you give off vibes to others. When you consider yourself insignificant, others sense this and will also consider you insignificant, and you will begin the slide down the slope of not listening to your inner voice of truth and greatness. Rabbi Druck brings proof of this from King Shaul. He was king, yet he had a poor sense of his own dignity and power. As such, he listened to the people he should have ruled, and spared the king of Amalek, the virginal women and children, and the choice cattle in cantradistinction to Hashem’s express command.

           Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz brings another proof of the importance of self worth. While any one of the family of Yaakov who descended to Egypt was alive, the family and growing nation had a sense of pride in who they were. After all, it was because of their family that Egypt prospered. No Egyptian would have dared to try to subjugate them. Once that generation had all passed, the new generation lost that sense of pride, and the Egyptians began the subjugation. When we state in the Aleinu prayer daily that Hashem has made us different from all the other nations, Rabbi Benzion Zaks exhorts us in Menachem Zion, we should say it with pride. When we wear our Judaism with pride, whether at a job or at leisure, the other nations respect us; when we are embarrassed by our Judaism, when we view ourselves as grasshoppers who must hide in the tall grass, other nations begin treating us as subhuman as well. We must recognize our greatness and the greatness of our bloodlines.

           Rabbi Zaks cites Rav Hutner in identifying the yetzer hora of our time. It is not a desire for idol worship, but rather an urge to low self esteem. Only when you recognize your own greatness and uniqueness, says Rav Aharon Kotler, will you bee able to cleave to Hashem, doing His will with pride, and disregard the opinions of others who would draw you away from your purpose.

           Each spy was sent as a great leader of his tribe, notes Rabbi Brazile in Bishvili Nivra Haolam. But instead of remembering their individual responsibility and uniqueness, they banded together, swarming and unthinking, as grasshoppers or ants.

           Rabbi Friefeld wants us to remember always that each of us is unique, the most exalted of beings, and each of us has access to Hashem’s special protection and assistance. When you feel that what you are doing is correct, you proceed with a sense of pride, and you won’t fee insignificant. When we see ourselves as angels, we earn the respect of others, and we will not feel inferior. Our pride in who we are gives us purpose which gives meaning and direction to our lives, and, with the help of Hashem, will make us successful in our service to Hashem. Then, may it be soon, the world will not see us as grasshoppers, but as angels of Hashem.

There will be one more summary for this season.

Here at http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/859181/mrs-shira-smiles/shelach-gigantic-grasshoppers/