My dear sister (who had previously sent an email whose title inspired the very end of this piece) asked me to write out my speech from this
Shabbat for her. So it's thanks to her that I'm able to present it here as well. Working a bit off memory, my
d'var Torah basically went as follows:
[I omitted an introduction basically lifted from Everett Fox, who points out that the section starting with last week's
parsha (one can argue, even going all the way back to the beginning of
Shemot) and continuing almost through the end of
Bamidbar can be called "the Rebellion Narratives." They even fall into a pattern- people, Moshe's siblings, people, Moshe's cousins, people, Moshe himself. It's around this point that we wish we could reach back 3300 years, grab the
Bnei Yisrael by their collective shoulders, and tell them to "Just stop complaining and go to Israel already!" Of course, they'd probably want to reach forward in time and do and say the same thing to us. In any event, this long chain of events makes the sections described below seem even more out of place. I also, alas, wasn't able to work in
Bialik's or R'
Tzadok HaKohen's view
on the subject.]
Right after the incident with the
meraglim, the Torah jumps right into a discussion on
Korbanot, beginning with the words "
Vehaya KiVoachem El
HaAretz." To me, that always seemed a bit odd- after all,
Hashem just told them they
weren't going to Israel. It's almost like He's rubbing it in, so to speak.
But most
meforshim give the explanation that, in fact,
Hashem is stating this as a
Nechama to the
Bnei Yisrael. That is, they are worried that not even their kids will make it- what if they mess up too? Therefore,
Hashem promises them, that while they, for a specific reason, have to wander, their kids, will, in fact, make it in and get to offer
Korbanot. (The
Ibn Ezra gives this explanation after also seeing hints to the
Averah throughout the remainder of the
parsha;
Rashi [in most editions] and the
Ramban give it as well.)
In fact, I think we can take this a step further: We can see from this that, in fact, the
Bnei Yisrael never really stopped longing for
Eretz Yisrael and
Mitzvot. After all, why else would this be a comfort for them, unless they are comforted by the idea that
someone will go up and fulfill
Hashem's word? Sure, they were scared by the
meraglim's report, maybe said some stupid things for one night- but as soon as they are told they can't go, they go into
Aveilut and many, in fact, try to go up anyway. So we think wrong if we think the
Bnei Yisrael weren't, at least deep down and usually much more obviously, interested in doing
Ratzon Hashem.
This, of course, helps explain why
Yirmiyahu, looking back hundreds of years later, sees the era of the
Dor HaMidbar as being one in which the
Bnei Yisrael were perfectly with
Hashem. And, of course, we're told the
Dor HaMidbar was the greatest generation! Sure, we may be distracted by all the negative stories, but that's only a small part of the overall picture. (And note, of course, that the Torah skips over thirty-eight years which presumably passed without incident.)
Finally, the Torah itself hints at this by placing the story of the
Mekoshesh right after this section. After all, when we think of the
Mekoshesh, we think, immediately, of
Tzelafchad, because we all know the
Midrash that says they were the same person. And, of course, the one thing we know about
Tzelafchad is that his daughters were the greatest and ideal example of love for
Eretz Yisrael, "
Nashim Chovevot Et HaAretz." So the Torah is showing us that the
Bnei Yisrael always loved
Eretz Yisrael- and we should remember that even though we usually think of this
parsha as the one where the Land is rejected, it is also the
parsha that contains the words "Tova
HaAretz Meod Meod."
With Hal's parents. I'm sorry I didn't get such a good shot with the two shviggermuters (their word, heh).
