English translation — שלח ב

1.

Already spoken many times¹,

that Rashi in his commentary on the Torah stops on every matter that is difficult or requires explanation in the plain meaning of the verse

and the like].

Therefore,

when one finds a difficulty in the plain meaning of the verses and Rashi does not stop on it,

one must say,

that according to the plain meaning of the verse this is from the outset not a question,

because according to the plain meaning it is understood by itself,

or because it is guarded by <b>a previous</b> commentary of Rashi.

According to this, one must understand in our parshah,

where there is a difficulty in the plain meaning of the verses that jumps out even to a five-year-old studying Scripture,

and one does not see that Rashi answers this³.

2.

After the spies returned from spying out the land and said "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than us"⁴

and the Jews did not want to go to Eretz Yisrael,

the Almighty said⁵

"I will smite them with the pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they,"

and to this Moses said⁶

to

Almighty "And the Egyptians will hear that You brought up this people from their midst with Your power ..

and You will kill this people as one man, and the nations will say, etc., 'Because the Lord was unable to bring this people to the land which He swore to them, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.'"

is entirely incomprehensible⁷

: How does it happen,

that regarding the matter of "We will take them etc. and we will dispossess them etc." of all Jews — six hundred thousand besides women and children

(and men from age twenty and above to age sixty)⁸

— Moses did not express any powerful argument and claim — and his entire claim was only that which "And the nations will say ..

because the Lord was unable etc."?

everyone understands

(even a child),

that the destruction of so many people will affect even a flesh and blood much more than what others will say about him; and it is obvious when one speaks about the Most High and in relation to creatures that He created⁹,

and all the more so regarding Jews who are "children to the Omnipresent"¹⁰

and He took them out of Egypt and chose them for a treasured people etc.¹¹

— and here comes Moshe Rabbeinu,

who is the one who led the Jews until now,

the one who sacrificed himself for them

("erase me now from Your book that You have written"¹²

and asked the Most High "kill me now, kill, and let me not see my evil"¹³

— of Jews),

and at the time the Most High says "let Me smite them with pestilence and disinherit them and make you into a great nation",

he does not demand: what does it mean to kill the entire Jewish people,

His children "Israel is My firstborn son"¹⁴

God forbid,

rather

(mainly)

his claim is: "and the nations will say ..

And even though that "And the nations will say ..

because of the Lord's inability to bring etc.” is a matter of desecration of God's name¹⁵

— nevertheless Moses had to ask and demand regarding the matter of "consume us with pestilence",

and afterwards add,

that "And the nations will say ..

because the Lord was unable etc."?

because of the Lord's inability etc.”.

And a proof and evidence for this — as we find regarding the sin of the calf: first of all Moses said¹⁶

"Why, Lord, will Your anger burn against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand",

and only afterwards did he add¹⁷

"<b>Why should the Egyptians say</b>, saying: For evil He brought them out to kill them in the mountains etc.”¹⁸.

Further is not understandable: one sees that specifically the claim "and the converts will say etc." had effected the "I have forgiven according to your word"¹⁹

and the nullification of the decree in practice,

as Rashi explains and emphasizes "according to your word — <b>because of </b>what you said, lest they say, 'because of the inability of the L-rd'"; and he explains²⁰

"that My name not be profaned²¹

in this plague, saying, 'because of the inability of the L-rd'²²

to bring them, that I not kill them suddenly as one man, but with a delay of 40 years little by little."

And one does not find that Rashi should say an explanation on this!

3.

One will understand this with the introduction of the change of language in the conclusion of Moshe's speech "

(And the nations will say etc.)

<b>And he slaughtered them</b> in the wilderness"*²²,

which is ostensibly not a customary expression regarding people²³,

and especially since Moshe himself earlier said "<b>And I will kill</b> this people"²⁴

and the Most High said the expression "I will smite them with pestilence"²⁵.

And one can explain the explanation in this:

With this word — the novel concept of "and he slaughtered them" becomes understood why Moshe did not demand and argue to the Almighty about this,

that the Almighty said "I will consume them with a plague":

The concept of slaughter

(regarding a living creature)

is,

as even a five-year-old understands,

that it renders the living creature fit that it should be worthy for human consumption²⁶,

e.

the purpose of slaughter is not the death and killing,

but the opposite: through this comes a higher level and virtue in the living creature.

And as we already learned earlier by the Binding²⁷,

that that which Avraham went "to slaughter his son" was in order to carry out the command of Hashem "and bring him up there <b>as an offering</b>"²⁸

— that he should become a holy sacrifice to the Almighty²⁹.

And similarly in our matter³⁰.

i.

4.

The explanation in this:

It is known and understood

(also)

in p'shat in many verses that the Supreme One is a compassionate and gracious one,

the ultimate good and kindness,

and that all the commands that the Supreme One commanded to human beings in general,

and all the more so the commandments that He gave to the Jews, a treasured people,

are for the benefit of those who were commanded —

Through that which one conducts oneself according to the commands of G-d,

their life in this world is as it needs to be also in material matters.

For example, as it is said³¹

"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments ..

And I will give your rains in their time etc.,"

with all the blessings that the Torah enumerates.

From this one understands conversely,

that when one does not obey the commands of the Almighty,

that one is for that punishment

(as explained in the Torah)

is not the intention the punishment itself — in order to take vengeance, heaven forbid, upon the person³²

or simply to punish him — rather this is for the benefit of the person³³

Since he did not conduct himself in accordance with the command of G‑d

(that only then does he live a life worthy of its name,

both in his spiritual life and in his physical life)

and he transgressed sins,

and especially <b>severe ones</b>— then in order that he should not have a life of suffering in this world, he says why do I need life and moreover — I am weary of life³⁴,

the Almighty takes from him the life of this world <b>for the benefit</b> of the person: this prevents him from going through a tormented life in this world;

As <b>Rashi</b>³⁵

already explained earlier and — <b>a much</b> greater novelty: Abraham our father, a completely righteous, G‑d-fearing man <b>etc. etc.</b> — "died five years <b>before his time</b>" so that he should not have a life of suffering <b>in this world</b> from the conduct of Esau

By a transgression — as in bnd"d — it comes to — that this

(the punishment of death r"l)

purifies and refines him*³⁵,

that he should be able to attain the sublime life of olam haba³⁶

(which even a five-year-old had already learned about the life of the world to come in Rashi's commentary³⁷).

5.

Based on this it is understandable regarding the sin of the Jews in our parshah,

and that Moshe in his words did not emphasize the argument against the very "we are consumed" of the Jews,

as he did regarding the sin of the calf:

When the Jews sinned with the sin of the calf, Moses prayed&lt;sup&gt;38&lt;/sup&gt;

to the Almighty "Why, O Lord, should Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt etc." — they can indeed return to the Almighty,

do repentance&lt;sup&gt;39&lt;/sup&gt;,

this will atone and consequently their life in this world will be from now on as it should be

to be,

not a life of sorrow,

because they will obey the commandments of the Lord.

Not so here⁴⁰,

by the sin of the spies,

where the Almighty says "Until when will this people provoke Me, and until when will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in its midst",

in which is emphasized — a)

that this is not a one-time thing,

but the "

(Until &lt;b&gt;when&lt;/b&gt;)

will they provoke Me" is in a continuous manner⁴¹

and there was no change for the better among them after all the previous sins; b)

this is not merely a transgression of G-d's command,

but a sin that touches upon the matter

(fundamental and essential)

of faith,

"Until when will they not &lt;b&gt;believe &lt;/b&gt;in Me" — it is understood,

that in this case Moses had nothing to plead for from the perspective of the Jews themselves,

since the "we will smite them with the sword and dispossess them" is

(not because of the punishment itself,

but)

is for their benefit as elaborated above.

And this Moses says "and he slaughtered them",

it is not a killing G-d forbid,

but a matter of slaughter,

which is for the benefit of the slaughtered one — this is for him "drawing*⁴¹

from domain to domain" and elevates him to a higher life,

the life of the soul in the World to Come⁴².

6.

Moshe's claim, however, was: since the

(main)

deficiency was here the lack of faith⁴³

(that which "they will not believe in Me",

despite "all the signs which I have done in its midst",

"Because of all the miracles I did for them they should have believed &lt;b&gt;that the ability is in My hand to fulfill My promise&lt;/b&gt;"⁴⁴),

what kind of place does the punishment of "and I will kill this people as one man" have here, since this will cause the same deficiency of lack of faith among the Egyptians

(who saw how "You brought up⁴⁵

with Your might this people from its midst")⁴⁶

and among "the nations that have heard Your fame"⁴⁷

: "And they will say etc. 'Because the Lord was unable to bring this people to the land which He swore to them etc.'",

that the Almighty is, heaven forbid, unable to fulfill His promise — His oath?

4.

5.

How is it possible that "I will smite them with the plague" should protect and prevent

The matter of lack of faith and sin among Jews and at the same time causing

(a)

the lack of faith among the nations,

and consequently

(b)

also the lack of hearing and fulfillment of the commandments of G‑d which the nations were commanded upon them?

7.

One can however ask: the wording "and he slaughtered them" is indeed not from the words that Moses himself says,

rather he says it in a speech that the <b>nations</b> will say

("And the nations will say ..

because of the inability of G‑d etc. and he slaughtered them")

— and according to the understanding and assumption of the nations, "He afflicted us with pestilence" was indeed <b>not</b> because of the sin of the children of Israel and for their benefit

(similar to the matter of slaughter — that they should be prepared for eternal life),

but rather because "because of the inability of G‑d etc.",

and as the language of Rashi⁴⁸

"And when they hear that you <b>kill them</b> they will not say that they sinned against you, but they will say that against them you were able to fight, but against the inhabitants of the land you were not able to fight" — and according to this, why does one say the wording "and he slaughtered them"⁴⁹?

In simple terms, it can be said,

that Moshe said this within their speech,

to hint,

why one should take into account the saying of the nations: since that "we are consumed by the word of G-d" is a matter of "slaughter" for good

(so that the faith in HaShem should not be lacking among Jews),

it is not fitting that from this very thing should come forth a matter opposite to good,

opposite to faith in the ability of HaShem — among the nations as above.

This is, however, not sufficient,

because ultimately it is indeed much more fitting that he should say the wording "and he slaughtered them" in <b>his</b> own words to the Almighty; and

In the speech of the nations, the language "and He killed them in the desert" as above would have been more appropriate.

From this itself it is proven that Moses meant thereby: also the nations will understand that this is a matter of "and he slaughtered them" — for the benefit of Bnei Yisrael,

and nevertheless they will say "because of the inability of the Lord, etc."

And the reason in this is emphasized in that the verse emphasizes "

(And he slaughtered them)

<b>In the wilderness</b>".

8.

And the matter: the length in the words of Moses — "And they will say to the inhabitant of this land, they have heard that You, God, are in the midst of this people, who are seen eye to eye, etc." — brings out,

that the nations know about the greatness of the affection of the Most High to Jews,

"And they did not recognize in You that Your love was cut off from them until now"⁵⁰

and that they also know of the Most High's oath to bring the Jews into the Land of Israel

(as it says further in the continuation of the words of Moses).

And consequently,

knowing the greatness of the affection of the Supreme One for Jews and about the oath to bring them into the land,

it will be laid upon the nations,

that even when Jews are in a situation in which the conduct of “and He slaughtered them” is present,

for their benefit as above,

nevertheless the Supreme One, first and foremost, should have brought them directly into the Land of Israel

(as it was set forth initially⁵¹)

in order to <b>fulfill</b> the oath,

and <b>after</b> the entry should

be carried out <b>in the land</b> the

(“we were afflicted in the matter” and in a manner of)

“and He slaughtered them.”

But if the “and I will destroy this people as one man” should be carried out “&lt;b&gt;in the wilderness&lt;/b&gt;”,

the nations will say: that this is indeed a matter of “and he slaughtered them”,

“everything in a way of affection”,

But that the matter took place “in the wilderness” and he did not bring them into the land of Israel,

is because “because the Lord was unable &lt;b&gt;to bring &lt;/b&gt;this people &lt;b&gt;into the land &lt;/b&gt;which He swore to them”.

9.

According to the above it follows that the “I will smite them with the pestilence” of the generation of the wilderness is a matter of “and he slaughtered them” — a preparation for meriting the life of the World to Come

(and from this it is understood all the more so,

that so it was when it came into actuality,

in that which there was “I will smite them” during the forty years),

That this corresponds with the view of Rabbi Eliezer⁵²,

that "the generation of the wilderness have no portion in the World to Come",

which means — the life of the soul in the body at the resurrection of the dead.

That thus is also understood⁵³

from several places in the Zohar⁵⁴,

until,

as it is stated in the Midrash⁵⁵

and in the Zohar⁵⁴,

that this is the reason why Moses did not enter the Land of Israel and remained in the wilderness,

so that he should be together with them,

and rise with them to the resurrection of the dead and enter with them into the Land of Israel

(in the future to come).

And the principle is,

that wherever there is a dispute in the revealed part of the Torah,

one rules as it stands in the Aggadah,

Zohar and the like⁵⁶.

And especially that in our case⁵⁷

is from the Gemara⁵⁸

itself it implies that the halachah is like Rabbi Eliezer⁵⁹,

as the Gemara brings on Rabbi Akiva,

who holds that they have no portion in the World to Come — "Rabbi Akiva left it to my piety"⁶⁰.

Yud-Dalet.

According to the above,

regarding the punishments of the Torah in general and regarding the explanation of the matter "and he slaughtered them",

it is understood that not only the generation of the wilderness in general have a portion in the World to Come,

but also the spies themselves,

who had their punishment immediately "and the men, the slanderers of the land, died by a plague before the Lord"⁶¹,

have a portion in the World to Come.

And although in the Mishnah <b>in Bavli</b>⁶²

it states that "the spies have no portion in the World to Come, as it is said 'and they died' etc. 'and they died' in this world, 'by a plague' for the World to Come" — but⁶³

it is implied in the Zohar⁶⁴,

that also they

have a share in the World to Come⁶⁵.

And based on this, one can say that also in the Bavli,

this is not a simple mishnah according to everyone,

rather, that which R. Elazar says "about them it is said⁶⁶

Gather to Me My pious ones, who made a covenant with Me over a sacrifice",

refers not only to

("before Him")

the generation of the wilderness,

but also to

(before His face — )

spies have no share in the World to Come⁶⁷.

What is also understood from the content of the verse that R. Akiva brings: "Gather to Me My pious ones, those who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice,"

which means

(as Rashi explains)

"they made a covenant of the Omnipresent upon sacrifices and peace-offerings, as it is written

and they sacrificed peace-offerings, and it is written

and he sprinkled on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord made with you,"

that also the spies were among those who "made a covenant of the Omnipresent" at the time of the giving of the Torah.

And although the sin of the spies themselves was harsher and worse than the sin of the entire generation of the wilderness,

However, since the concept of the covenant

(which includes also the spies)

is "like a parable⁷²

two friends who make a covenant

between them that their love should not cease etc. that they fear lest the thing be nullified and the love be voided ..

And through the cutting of the covenant their love will be an eternal love" — it is understood,

that even in such a situation when in actual deed one is not as proper,

until that "according to reason and intellect it would be necessary to terminate the love,

or to cause some hatred"

(as this is the sin of the spies),

the love remains between those who made the covenant with the same force as at the time of the covenant,

"because they entered into a covenant and connection such that they became one flesh,

and like this entire parable did the Lord our God do to us etc."⁷³.

11.

From all the above is the instruction that one must look upon every Jew,

in whatever state he may be,

even when it seems that he is like the spies, may G-d forbid,

one must look upon him and see that from the aspect of his true existence he is one of "all Israel have a share in the World to Come"⁷⁴,

for he is "a shoot of My planting, the work of My hands, in which to glory"⁷⁵

; and consequently one occupies oneself with him to bring out this his existence into revelation in his daily life — and this brings about that also all the nations see "that You, Hashem, are in the midst of this people, that You, Hashem, are seen eye to eye",

"and all in a way of affection and they did not recognize in You that Your love was severed from them until now",

and consequently all the nations help each Jew and all Jews with all that is needed for them,

until "and kings

shall be your foster fathers and their queens your nursing mothers"⁷⁶,

still at the end of the time of exile,

and this is even more hastening the coming of Mashiach our righteousness,

Which will rectify "the

entire world to serve G‑d together, as it is said

For then I will turn to the peoples a clear language, to call all of them in the name of G‑d and to serve Him

with one accord."

(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Shlach, 5740.

<b>Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh, Chof-Ches Sivan 5739)</b>