The dominant theme in the Parasha is preparations for the entrance into Eretz Yisrael. We spend all of the second half of the book of Bamidbar and all of Devarim in the last year in the desert, sitting on the brink. Moshe Rabenu can see the land even if he won’t enter it.
So what, then, are the Korbanot doing here? They will be part of the service in the Mishkan in Eretz Yisrael but...Read more...
The Parasha has no real date stamp. Rashi, via the Midrash I will mention soon, connects it to the end of last week’s Parasha. That would mean the rebellion comes right after the episode of the spies during the second year since the exodus. But the verses themselves give no hint.
There is, on the other hand, circumstantial evidence about where it fits. Close to the beginning of...Read more...
We know how the catastrophe of this Parasha ends, with no entrance to the land for this generation. With that, one wonders, “What were they thinking?” There are roughly three approaches to this question:
Among those with the lowest motivations, the Zohar says that the spies were looking to protect their own status. In the desert, they are leaders and men of prominence. In the land of...Read more...
I always concentrate on the transition point in this Parasha, the point at which catastrophes take over the story in the wilderness. That is the pivot point of the Parasha and of the book as a whole. All of the preparation for the first two and a half Parashiot runs aground in what seems to be minutes. The ideal situation turns into the fallen situation with which we still live. So I usually...Read more...
