Knowing Ourselves

In this week’s Parsha we read about the Meraglim and their terrible Aveira, which caused a tremendous amount of damage to Klal Yisroel in their time and ever since.

When approaching this story, one of the most difficult aspects to understand relates to the Meraglim themselves.

We are introduced to the Meraglim at the beginning of the Parsha. The Passuk tells us: “Kulam Anashim, Roshei Bnei Yisroel Hema.” Rashi tells us that any time the words “Anashim” is used in a Passuk, it connotes Chashivus—a person who is referred to as Enosh or Anashim is someone Chashuv. Indeed Rashi says, at that time they were “Kesheim.”

The Ramban adds that when the Torah lists the Shevatim, they are generally ordered in one of two ways: by the order of their birth, the order of the Degalim. When it comes to the Meraglim, however, they are not listed in either of these orders. Rather, they are listed in the order of their own Chashivus, regardless of their Shevet.

This being the case it is interesting to note that the two Meraglim that we know were Tzaddikim—Yehousha and Kalev—are listed fifth and third, respectively. There were other members of the group who were more Chashuv than them.

Keeping the words of Rashi and the Ramban in mind, let us look at where these men ended up: the Gemarah (Sota 35a) tells us that when the Meraglim said “Chazak Hu Memenu” they were referring to Hashem himself. In suggesting that Hashem was unable to defeat the seven nations who were living in Eretz Yisroel, the Meraglim were denying that He is the Kol Yachol—this would make the Kofrim. Their Aveira, according to this understanding, was not “merely” saying Loshon Harah about Eretz Yisroel, but actually Kefirah!

How is it possible that these men, whom the Torah refers to as Anashim—Chashuva members of Klal Yisroel, Nissei Edah, Anshei Shem, fell to point of being Kofer in Hashem?

If we look at how their intentions developed, I think that this question is even stronger.

We know that when the Meraglim left on their mission they were still “Kesherim” as Rashi said. At what point did this transition take place? On one hand, one may assume that they went to Eretz Yisroel and saw certain things that they didn’t understand and this caused their questions that led to the Aveira. We know that they saw Levayos in every city they visited, as they reported “Eretz Ocheles Yoshveha: it is a land that eats its inhabitants.” Perhaps they were unable to overcome the questions that this raised and they suffered a lack of Emunah because of it.

That does not seem to be the case however.

One of the most interesting lines of the Meraglim’s report was: “U’nhi Beneynu K’Chagavim, V’chen Hayinu BeEneihem: We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, as so were we in their eyes.” The Meraglim told the rest of Klal Yisroel that they were so diminutive as compared to the giants who lived in the land that they felt like grasshoppers.

There is a Machlokes between the Medrash and the Gemara in Sota, however, regarding the second half of the Passuk: “V’chen Hayinu BeEneihem.” How did the Meraglim know what the giants who lived in Eretz Yisroel thought of them? The Gemara explains that they overheard them talking, saying: “There are ants that look like men.”

The Medrash, however, says that this is not the case but that they assumed that they were seen as grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants. In fact, the Medrash says, that this is one of the claims that angered Hashem: it is understandable that they saw themselves as grasshoppers, but how could they possibly know how the giants saw them? The Medrash says that in this aspect they were certainly lying.

How do we resolve the Gemara and the Medrash? Did they hear the giants saying that there were grasshoppers or not? I once heard an explanation of this point based on a saying of R’ Chaim Shmulevitz in Sichos Mussar. R’ Chaim discusses a Gemarah in Gittin which brings the story of an Amorah named Illish. The entire story is too long to relate here, but the upshot is that Illish understood the language of birds, yet when he was captured and a bird told him to escape, he did not trust himself to understand and asked a goy to translate.

Why would Illish have asked a goy rather than relying on his own understanding of the language? Says R’ Chaim: Illish didn’t trust himself because he knew the power of a person’s preconceptions. “We hear what we want to hear, and we see what we want to see.” Illish did not want to rely on his understanding of the birds, because he thought he may be “hearing” what he convinced himself he heard.

This is why the Meraglim said “V’chen Hayinu Beneyhem.” They heard the giants talking, as the Gemarah said, but they heard exactly what they wanted to hear. That is why the Medrash says that Hashem was angry with them for this. They clearly could only have “heard” this if they so desired.

It would therefore seem that they arrived in Eretz Yisroel with a preconceived notion, with a bias toward finding the negative to report. They didn’t get scared by what they saw—they came looking for something to be scared of.

This seems to be alluded to by the fact that Kalev went to Daven in Chevron when they arrived—he was davening that he should not be swept up in their plan. That means that the plan was already in place.

What was the source of this drive to find something negative to say about the land? Why did the Meraglim skew their whole mission, in a sense sabotaging it?

I’d like to try and explain this with a concept I saw in Alei Shur. R’ Wolbe explains that there is a specific way that our attitudes about any subject are shaped and the way that we approach things.

First, we see a “Metzius,” a fact or something that is unarguably occurring. Our reaction to that Metzius is then shaped by our Middos, and as a result we develop a “Shitah” or attitude.

For example: Dina was kidnapped and violated by Shechem—this was Metzius, an indisputable fact. Reuven and Shimon we overcome by their Middah of Ka’as, anger, as their father later revealed. As a result they developed a Shitah: we need to act because we are her brothers. The “brotherhood” argument was in effect a rationalization of their intended actions, which were based on their anger.

The Meraglim underwent a similar process.

They were presented with a fact: everyplace they went they saw funerals being held. They could have reacted in several ways. However their Middos caused them to develop a Shitah of “Eretz Ocheles Yoshveha.” What was the Middah that caused them to develop this Shitah?

Kavod.

The Meraglim were all Nisei Edah, as we saw, they were leaders in Klal Yisroel. But they had a fear: once Bnei Yisroel entered Eretz Yisroel, the position of Nasi would no longer exist—they would be lowered from their place in the Klal. Because of this fear that their Kavod would be diminished, they developed a Shitah of “Eretz Ocheles Yoshveah” that colored their entire mission and report.

Because they felt they may lose some of their Kavod when Bnei Yisroel entered Eretz Yisroel, they convinced themselves to find reasons not to try and capture the land. This is why the “wanted” to heard that they looked like grasshoppers—because they were looking for the negative because of their Redifas HaKavod.

It is interesting to note that R’ Chaim says elsewhere in Sichos Mussar that the Meraglim were not Nisseim in the sense that we know. They were not the Nisseim that brought the Korbonos for the Chanukas Hamizbeach. There were various levels of Nisseim: heads of 1,000, heads of 100, and so on. The Meraglim were Sarei Chamishim, heads of 50 (the Ba’al Haturim learns this from the word “Hema.”)

They were not the ultimate leaders. There were thousands of others who had higher leadership positions. Yet the very thought of them losing some of that Kavod was enough to affect the entire way they looked at Eretz Yisroel during their mission.

The section in which R’ Wolbe discusses this process is called “Da’as Atzmenu: Knowing Ourselves.” We are constantly faced with opportunities to react to situations in our lives. We have to always ask ourselves what our attitudes responses are based on. Sometimes we have to check our gut reactions and see if we are developing a Shitah that is based on a Middah we need to work on—this is all part of really knowing ourselves.

The Meraglim were Roshei Yisroel, Anashim, yet their Middos were able to affect them to the degree that they could not make rational and appropriate decisions. We must avoid this same fate.