I think it was my third or fourth time through the book of BaMidbar before I realized what it was. For the first few times, I was just relieved that it wasn’t just about “Numbers.” But then it became clear that this isn’t an ordinary desert. It might be as arid as the next desert, and it might be a place where anxiety about the basics like food and shelter can be frightening.
But it is not a deserted desert. It is in fact a crowded desert. The Jews alone make up a lot of people, and as they near the land of Kanaan, they encounter a bunch of other nations.
Instead of a lonely journey through an empty space, the book is about an encounter with the human condition.
It is human in that it explores the implications of free choice -- how much can be created and how much can be destroyed.
It is human in that it involves the struggle to figure out when to lead and when to follow.
It is human in that it will not involve an overcoming that depends on the shock and awe miracles of the exodus. Now the miracles will depend on discernment and that discernment will depend on the development of the human heart.
The first point has to do with choice. Though the people have been told about the land of Kanaan, they wanted to see for themselves. This is an experiment with this new concept of taking control of their own lives. It’s obvious in the version of the story in Devarim but also implied here: the decision to check things out is described as their own idea.
Leaving Egypt gave the nation what Isaiah Berlin called negative liberty. They are now free of fetters to their will. They are looking to exercise that liberty. The story is not about what happens when that occurs. Great things are available through choice. The story’s sad denouement is about what happens when the choices that follow are poor.
The next point is about how confusing the world of liberty can be. First they are wrong not to go up to the land and then they are wrong to yes want to go up. These things will obviously depend on timing but there’s more to it than that. Timing changes the context of one’s decisions. They might have thought of the move to go up to the land as something which shows that they have realized their error. But R’ Saadia Gaon (10th century) rejects the attempt to ascend as a type of Teshuva because it’s nothing more than an attempt to escape the consequence of their poor choices.
Finally, there is a lesson taught by the final paragraph of the Parasha. This is the last paragraph of the daily Sh’ma. The fact that it relates to the beginning of the Parasha is evident from the appearance of the verb La’tur, to search out, which appears almost nowhere else in the Torah except in the story of the spies. In this paragraph, there is a strange inconsistency. At first we are told to use the Tzitzit in the paragraph as a reminder of all of the Mitz but we are not told to do all of them. We know that the Torah could say to remember and to do all of the Mitzvot -- it will do so in another sentence. But that’s not what is said initially. This is because no one can do all of the Mitzvot. Some are for Kohanim and some are for judges and some just for those who live in Israel. But no Jew can perform all of the Mitzvot.
But then, as I mentioned, just two verses later, we are told that the Tzitzit will assist us to remember AND to do all of the Mitzvot. What happened? The difference is explained because we were told in the meantime not to follow our hearts and our eyes. The Torah has revealed that there is a realm of human attributes, or virtues, and duties of the heart. That realm involves everyone and no one escapes those obligations. All achievement in those areas will expand a person’s humanity, and allow them to connect both with others and with Hashem. That is also part of the human condition -- the chance to connect to others and to Hashem.
With the failure of the spies, we are going to enter into an amorphous time. The clock will turn off. It won’t turn on again until 38 more years have passed. By that time, the baton will have passed from one generation to another. These people, the ones who emerged from Egypt, are going to exit the stage. They could not pull off the entrance to the land, but in failing, they demonstrate the drama of this book. We are being shown the stakes in the human condition, which is useful, as all of us are always in the Midbar.
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