The Spies’ Mistake and How We Can Apply the Lesson to
Our Own Life Challenges
“... וְלֹא־תָתוּרוּ
אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם .../… and you shall not wander after your
hearts and after your eyes …” (Bamidbar 15:39) Rashi on this pasuk explains that the word תָתוּרוּ/wander, comes from תּוּר/spy or scout. He writes that the heart and eyes are like
the body’s spies. “The eyes see, the
heart desires and the body does the sin.”
It is no coincidence that this pasuk appears in the same parsha
as the story of the twelve spies. In
fact, the Sfas Emes explains that there is an underlying similarity between
these two seemingly disparate subjects.
In order to understand this similarity, we need to first understand why
the spies were sent and what they did wrong.
The Chiddushei HaRim explains.[1] The nation in the desert lived with explicit
miracles. They ate food that dropped from the sky
every day. They saw the clouds of glory
and the pillar of fire. Coming into
Israel they would be living within nature.
The challenge would be to maintain their high level of faith. The challenge would be to realize that just
as God provided for them in the desert in an explicit way, He is within nature
as well, albeit, implicitly. Success in
this challenge would be to reach a level of understanding that nature is a
bigger wonder than the miracles of the desert.
As part of the transition to living within the bounds of nature, the
spies were sent to scout the land. Their
ultimate mission was to maintain the level of faith they had in the desert
where they experienced open miracles on a daily basis. Their ultimate mission involved seeing the
land and its inhabitants and realizing that even though the inhabitants were
strong and live in fortified cities, and according to the laws of nature they
were unable to enter the land, God is within everything. God would help them if they would only
subordinate themselves to His will. In
this, ten of the twelve spies failed.
They did not maintain their high level of faith. They were fooled by what they saw. They realized that they did not have the
physical strength to enter the land and overcome its inhabitants. And because of this, they in fact, did not
enter the land.
According to the Sfas Emes, this is exactly the meaning of
the admonition at the end of the parsha to not follow our eyes and heart. Our eyes and heart (i.e. our desires) see the
external physical world. The Torah is
admonishing us to recognize instead the Godliness that underlies the external
physical world. This explains the next
pasuk, “לְמַעַן
תִּזְכְּרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת־כָּל־מִצְוֹתָי .../So that you will
remember and you will do all of my commandments …” (Bamidbar 15:40) The beginning of this pasuk seems
awkward. The pasuk tells us to remember
but does not tell us what we should remember.
If the pasuk were telling us to remember the mitzvos in order to do them
it would state, “So that you will remember my commandments …” The pasuk seems to be stating two separate
things. Remember and then do the
mitzvos. Remember what? The Sfas Emes explains that the word for
“remember” in Hebrew means more than simply recalling. It is much deeper. It means to internalize something until it
becomes a part of the person. At that
point there is no possibility of forgetting.
The beginning of this pasuk is really a continuation of the previous
pasuk. The Torah is telling us, “Do not
follow your physical eyes and desires so that you may internalize the
underlying Godliness of everything physical.
Through this internalization you will be able to do all My mitzvos –
even the ones that according to your nature perspective you do not think you
can do.”
The Sfas Emes teaches that this approach applies to any
mitzvah and service to God. Viewing
challenges solely according to the laws of nature, many times leads us to
believe that we cannot succeed.
According to the laws of nature, for example, Avraham Avinu was unable to have
children. Avraham Avinu had children
because he believed God’s promise to him, “וְהֶאֱמִין בַּה' .../and he had faith
in God …” (Breishis 15:6)
When we imagine that we cannot succeed either because of
previous sins or because of a general feeling of unworthiness, we have
succumbed to the advice of the evil inclination. This way of viewing things considers only
external physical circumstance rather than the underlying spiritual
reality. Believing that we can
accomplish and succeed at any mitzvah with God’s help will lead us inexorably
to success in Avodas HaShem.
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