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Parshat Shelach: Numbers 13:1-15:41;
Joshua 2:1-2:24.

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would imagine

T

he great sin of humanity was
intimate relationship with Moses. God
Adam's disregard of God's com- loves the entire world and He created
mand not to eat the fruit of
every human being from His womb;
knowledge; the great sin of Israel was
but, nevertheless, He enjoys an exclu-
the Israelites' disregard of God's com-
sive relationship with Israel, His wit-
mand to conquer the Land of Israel.
nesses, the carriers of His Torah.
Similarly, God's com-
The result of both rebellious
actions was Paradise lost,
mand, "you shall love your
redemption unrealized.
friend, created — like you
First, three questions: (1)
— in the Divine Image, as
If, indeed, the sending out
you love yourself' still allows
of the spies was to result
for a unique and exclusive
in such a disaster, why was
relationship between hus-
it initially commanded by
band and wife.
God? (2) Rashi links the
This combination of
sin of the scouts to the last
universal
love and exclusive
c.
incident of last week's Torah
intimacy
applies
as well to
Rabbi Shlomo
portion when Miriam slan-
the
Land
of
Israel.
Ris kin
dered her brother Moses
"The Earth and its fullness
for sending away his wife,
belongs to the Lord," but
Zipporah, for which Miriam was pun-
there is a unique portion of the Earth,
ished by leprosy. What does the sin
the Land of Israel, which must express
of the scouts have to do with the sin
the will of God in its very earth in its
of Miriam? (3) How is the command-
produce, in the teachings of peace and
redemption for all humanity, which will
ment of the ritual fringes at the end of
our portion connected to the sin of the
emanate from the Jerusalem Temple at
scouts?
the end of the days.
Rav Soloveitchik explained that
God told Moses to "explore" the land,
Miriam was upset with Moses for
not to spy it out. The Hebrew word
divorcing Zipporah after the Revelation used to explore is la-tur. Tur means
at Sinai because she thought he was
to love, even to lust after, as we learn
disobeying God's command to all of
from the command of the ritual fringes.
the Israelites to "return to their tents:'
Just as the Talmud teaches that a man
that is, to resume their usual sexual
must first see his bride before becom-
relationships. Miriam and Aaron both
ing engaged to her so that he may be
maintained that this command applied
certain that he loves her, so must Israel,
to everyone, including the prophets,
the people, see and love Israel the land
because, as they both said, "Was it only
(even through the eyes of their agents,
to Moses that God communicated? Did
the tribal princes) before conquering it,
he not communicate to us as well?"
before becoming engaged and wed to
But Miriam and Aaron were wrong.
it. The desert generation did not under-
Moses is a qualitatively different
stand God's command.
prophet than they or any other prophets
Our task is to make Earth a sanctuary
were or will be. God speaks to Moses
for God's Presence, so humanity will
"mouth to mouth ... in a clear vision,
finally accept God's definition of good
not in riddles: He gazes upon the image and evil rather than humanity's subjec-
of the Lord:'
tive and self-serving self-justification.
Indeed, God Himself tells Moses not
Heaven kissed Earth when God unique-
to return to his tent with the rest of
ly informed Moses of His will; Heaven
Israel, but rather to express his unique
kissed Earth when God chose Israel as
prophetic status by always being "on
His agents; Heaven will kiss Earth eter-
call" to receive God's words.
nally when Israel lives on its land and
Miriam did not recognize the
builds a sanctuary to encompass all of
uniqueness of Moses' prophecy, and the humanity and God together. ❑
scouts did not recognize the unique-
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah
ness of the Land of Israel. The mission
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel
of Israel is to be God's witnesses. God
still had an exclusively and uniquely

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June 12 • 2014

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