As Moses was about to lead the Jewish people into the Promised Land, they requested to first send an advance party of spies. G-d consented, and Moses directed the 12 chosen spies to determine the strength of Canaan’s inhabitants and the quality of the land. After 40 days, the spies returned, and ten of them reported, “It is a land of milk and honey…however the people are very fierce, and the cities are large and well fortified.”

Suddenly, Caleb, the 11th spy, cut them off proclaiming, “We should go up immediately and occupy the land because we can surely prevail!” The spies, however, insisted that the land couldn’t be conquered because its people were too powerful. Accepting this gloomy report exposed the nation’s lack of faith, and G-d condemned them to perish during 40 years of wandering in the desert.

Dado que Dios aprobó la misión de reconocimiento, es difícil comprender su dura reacción ante la evaluación de los espías. Además, ¿qué provocó el severo arrebato de Caleb tras el informe inicial de los espías? Simplemente estaban informando de sus hallazgos.

El Midrash describe a quienes perdieron la esperanza en la tierra como una “generación desquiciada” (Números Rabá 16:5). El Rebe de Lubavitch explicó que el error de los espías consistió en invertir el orden de lo que Moisés les pidió que determinaran.

Moses’ focus was on carrying out G-d’s will that the land of Canaan be conquered, so he directed the spies to the first report on the strength of its inhabitants. When the spies returned and began to describe the quality of the land, Caleb suspected that their interest centered on the material benefits of Canaan. He feared they would weigh the effort and danger needed to take the land versus the potential payoff and decide that the project was not worthwhile. Hoping to nip them in the bud before spreading their seeds of doubt to the people, Caleb hastened to silence the spies.

The incident of the spies is followed in the Torah by the commandment to attach tzitzit, ritual fringes, to the corners of a garment. The connection between these passages is not simply their proximity. The Torah uses some form of the word latoor 11 times in describing the mission of the spies. Significantly, the Torah uses this same word to describe the effect of looking at the tzitzit, “…You shall not go astray (tatooroo) after your hearts and after your eyes…”

Según el rabino Mendel Lewittes, la Torá afirma aquí que el pecado es un proceso. A menudo se asume que nuestros ojos se fijan en algo y luego nuestros corazones comienzan a desearlo. Sin embargo, la Torá sostiene que el proceso comienza en nuestros corazones (valores más profundos), lo cual condiciona lo que nuestros ojos perciben. Dos personas ven un objeto valioso perdido en la calle; una lo considera una mitzvá y busca a su dueño; la otra lo ve llenándose los bolsillos.

The problem with the spies stemmed from how they viewed the land of Israel. Moses, Caleb, and his colleague Joshua were focused on implementing G-d’s plan for the Jewish people to conquer it. Therefore, their concern was to determine how strong its defenders were in order to formulate a plan of attack. The other spies viewed the land as a potential source of material benefit, and so they concentrated on its qualities.

The commandment of tzitzit addresses the spies and all who err like them – attitude affects perception. The faith of the spies slipped because they placed self-interest above the will of G-d. The tzitzit calls us to cast our gaze on them, draw us to meditate on the path of Torah, and gently guide us to envision the world in line with the Divine.

Por el rabino Michael Skobac

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