Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Shelach 2

have some of you funny tore their garments they spoke to the entire assembly of the children of Israel saying the land we passed through to spy out the land is very very good if Hashem desires us he will bring us to this land and give it to us a land that flows with milk and honey but do not rebel against Hashem you should not fear the people of the land for they are our bread we will win them easily and Destroy them consume them like bread their protection has departed from them all the righteous people have died Hashem is with us do not fear them great speech by Yoshua and Khaled but it doesn't help people want to Stone them and motion our own but the entire assembly said to Pelt them with stones and the glory of Hashem appeared in attentive meaning to all the children of Israel Hashem had to interfere and appear in his glory to the entire assembly to protect Moshe ahron and Joshua and Khaled Hashem said to Moshe how long will these people provoke me and how long will they not have faith in me despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst Hashem wants to kill the Jews I will Smite them with a plague and annihilate them and I shall make you a greater and more powerful Nation than they Hashem said to Moshe let me start again with you Moshe and let me make you the new forefather and build up the entire nation from scratch and Moshe right away went into his uh mode of defender of the Jews Moshe said to Hashem then Egypt from whose myths you brought up this nation with your power will hear about the death of the Jews and they will say about the inhabitants of this land of the land of Canaan they have heard that you Hashem are in the midst of this people that you Hashem appeared eye to eye in your clouds stand over them and that the pillar of cloud in the pillar of cloud you go before them by day and in a pill of fire at night and yet you killed this people like a single man how will the Nations interpret this then the nation that heard of your Fame will say now in page 807. because Hashem lacked the ability to bring these people to the land that he had sworn to give them he slaughtered them in the wilderness they will claim that you promised them a lot you took them out of Egypt you told them that they you will deliver them to the land of Israel and when it came to deliver you couldn't do it and in order to hide your shame you killed them that's the story that the nations of the world will invent and now may the strength of my Lord be magnified as you have spoken saying now Moshe gives Hashem another argument Hashem you told me that your character trait that describes you the most is Mercy so now show me how you use your mercy Hashem slow to anger abundant in kindness forgiver of iniquity and willful sin and who cleanses but does not cleanse completely recalling the iniquity of parents upon children to the third and fourth generation if the children continue on the bad path of the parents forgive now the iniquity of these people according to the greatness of your kindness and as you have forgiven these people from Egypt until now a great speech by Moshe Rabino verse 20 and Hashem said I have forgiven because of your words so quick by Hashem yes it's done I forgave them however the consequence of what they said still must happen because the Jewish people must learn the lesson as I live and the glory of Hashem shall fill the entire world that all the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness and have tested me these 10 times and have not heeded my voice if they will see the land that I have sworn to give their forefathers which means they will not see the land that I swore to their forefathers and all who anger me shall not see it this in short is the the verdict that the entire Jewish population that left Egypt must die in the desert but my servant Khaled because a different Spirit was with him he did not follow their advice rather he developed in himself a different spirit to go against the flow and he followed me wholeheartedly I shall bring him to the land to which he came and his offspring shall possess it and now Hashem gives Moshe new instructions dwell in the valley and now you lost the protection you can no longer fight against them therefore tomorrow turn and journey toward the Wilderness in the direction of the Sea of reeds go back to where you came from because now it's not the time to go into the land of Israel now on page 809 cool further punishment for the spies and the Jewish people Hashem said to emotion Aaron saying how long for this evil assembly he's speaking about the 10 spies how long for this evil assembly that provokes complaints against me I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel whom they provoked against me say to them as I live the word of Hashem if I shall not do to you as I have spoken as you have spoken in my ears your punishment is going to be what you yourself said as the Jewish people said oh if we only have died in Egypt if we only have died here in the desert Hashem said you wish for it you're gonna get it verse 29 in this Wilderness shall your carcasses drop all of you who were counted in any of your numberings from 20 years of age and above between 20 and 60 years old whom you provoked against me and only men were counted therefore only men were punished if you shall come to the land of about which I have raised my hand in an oath to settle you there except for khalev Son of euphune and yahushua Son of noon and your children of course under the age of 20 of whom you said that they will be taken captives and your wives don't worry nothing will happen to them I shall bring them they shall know the land that you have despised but your carcasses shall drop in the wilderness and now the next stage in the punishment verse 33 your children will roam in the wilderness for 40 years and bear your guilt until the last of your carcasses until the last of your carcasses in the wilderness now why 40 years like the number of the days that you spied out the land 40 days a day for a year a day for a year shall you bear your iniquities and you shall comprehend what does it mean to stray from me so because Hashem gave them opportunity for 40 days to explore the land to appreciate it and to make a plan how to conquer it and instead they used it to compile a list of all the bad things so those 40 days that were supposed to be a gift from Hashem they misused therefore Hashem says just like you misused those 40 days you will now have to go through another period of of 40. to atone for those 40 days that you misused now what happened to the spies the rest of the Jewish people died throughout the 40 years in the desert but the spies died right away but as for the man whom moshes sent to spy out the land and who returned and provoked the entire assembly against him by spreading a report against the land the people who spread the evil report about the land died in a plague before Hashem they died on the spot from here we see that saying negative speech is not only forbidden about people but it's forbidden about God and it's forbidden about the Jewish land we're not allowed to say anything negative about the land of Israel it is the promised land it is the holy land it is the most beautiful land and that is why when a Jew comes to the land of Israel he kisses the the the ground that is why every step in the land of Israel is a mitzvah and just by living in Israel breathing its air walking on its land a Jew is already fulfilling God's will now we turn to page 811. Moshe informs people of the decree Moshe spoke these words to all of the children of Israel and the people mourned exceedingly they understand their mistake and they regret it but it's too late a group of the Jews wants to force their entry into the land of Israel which is another mistake Hashem told them turn around and go back and they awoke early in the morning and ascended toward the Mountaintop scene we are ready and we shall Ascend to the place of which Hashem has spoken for who we have sinned we made a mistake let's go and Conquer The Land of Israel of course now they realize they have nothing to lose because they're destined to die anyway so now they want to quickly change their mind like a child whom the parent wants to punish and the child says okay okay okay I I'm sorry I'm not gonna do the and the parent says I'm very happy that you're sorry you will show me next time how you're behaving nicely but now you have to go through the punishment anyway Marshall said why do you transgress the word of Hashem Hashem told you go back why are you going forward it will not succeed do not Ascend for Hashem is not in your midst and do not be smitten before your enemies for the amalekite and Canaanite are there before you and you will fall by the sword because you have turned away from Hashem and Hashem will not be with you and now to show that they have not changed just as superficial regret but really even though they're saying I'm sorry I'm gonna be better they are still rebelling against God verse 44 but they defiantly ascended to the Mountaintop even though Moshe told them not to the going against motion while the Ark of hashem's Covenant and Moshe did not move from the midst of the camp and of course as was expected the amalekite and the Canaanite who dwelt on that mountain descended they struck them and pounded them until hormone and um that began the the 40-year travels of the Jewish people in the desert of course in his kindness Hashem counted the year and a half that they were already in the desert as part of those 40 years so they only had to be in the desert for another 38 years now chapter 15. as a um good message to calm them down and to reassure them that time will come when they actually will enter the land Hashem tells them some meets what to do when they go in Hashem spoke to Moshe Singh speak to the children of Israel and say to them when you come to the land of your dwelling place that I give you you shall perform a fire offering and hola to Hashem an elevation offering or a feast offering which is shilamim because of a vow or a free will offering or on your festivals to produce a satisfying Aroma to Hashem sashem is telling them don't worry even though you have to wait another 38 years and switch the generation but you will come to the land you will build betamic Dash and you will serve Hashem with offerings and now some laws of the offerings verse 4. one who brings his offering to Hashem shall bring a meal offering of a tenth a far fine flower mixed with a quarter hint of oil so depending on on an animal that the person brings along with an animal he has to bring some flour some oil and some wine for a sheep he brings one tenth off a fire of flour one quarter hint of oil and one quarter hint of wine for a ram he brings two tenths of a file flower one third of hin of oil and one third of hint of wine and for a bowl for a cow he brings three tenths of a file flower one half hint of oil and one half hint of wine and A5 is about 10 gallons so when we speak about one tenth of a fat it means one gallon of flour two tenths of a two gallons of flour and four cow three tenths of a far three gallon sizes of flour um and a hint is a is a liquid measurement equal to approximately one and a half quarts or one and a half liters so when we say a quarter of a hint it's uh it's about a little bit less than a pound approximately let's say 12 to 14 ounces of oil you need to bring and 12 to 14 ounces of wine for an animal for a sheep now we go to page 8 13. um verse 14. the same law of the Torah applies for a regular Jew or a convert when a proselyte which means a culvert sojourns with you and he shall prepare fire offering a satisfying Aroma to Hashem as you do so shall he do the same decree shall be for you and for the convert an eternal degree decree for your Generations verse 16 one teaching and one judgment shall be for you and for The proselyte Who sojourns among you and by the way this was also a very um new idea that you treat foreigners that come to join you same way as you treat regular citizens this was unheard of that we the natives have to accept with open arms any stranger that comes and wants to join us why shouldn't we keep them as a second class as slaves and the Torah says no anyone who joins the Jewish people who accepts God and the Commandments becomes the same as a born Jew now verse 17 and on we learn about the new Mitzvah of separating a portion for a kohen from our dough Hashem spoke to Moshi saying speak to the children of Israel and say to them when you come to the land to which I bring you when you eat from of the bread of the land you shall set aside a portion for Hashem as the first of your needing when you need a dough you shall set aside aside a loaf a little roll as a portion from the first of your kneading shall you give a portion to Hashem and we give it to kohen and kohen bakes it and eats it however the this portion is called tiruma the khala has to be pure ritually and kohen himself has to be pure and in our days the Jews are we are all impure and and the kohanim are impure and therefore we don't give it to kohanim because they will not be able to eat it anyway instead we separate a small portion and we wrap it and throw it out or some people burn it so that no one benefits from it now verse 22 and on speaks about a special offering if the Jewish people do unintentional idol worship if you make a mistake and do not perform all of these Commandments and by the expression all of these Commandments it refers to Commandments that Encompass the entire Torah which is idol worship where a person denies the Mastery of God and accepts upon himself a different master and that's considered going against all the Commandments of God now on page 8 15. verse 24 if because of the eyes of the assembly it was done unintentionally eyes of the assembly means the Sanhedrin the leaders of the Jewish people if because of their mistaken ruling the Jewish Nation served Idols would they thought that what they're doing is a permissible Behavior but it turned out that it was forbidden the entire assembly shall prepare one young bull as an elevation offering for a satisfying Aroma to Hashem and a meal offering a libation of of wine and one he got as a sin offering now on in verse 27 we learned about individual idol worship until now this was a public unintentional idol worship verse 27 if one person sins unintentionally he shall offer a female goat within its first year as a sin offering for a communal um sin offering for idol worship we bring a male goat here we bring a female goat and this is also unintentional idol worship and then in verse 30 we speak about intentional idolatry a person who shall Act high-handedly whether native or convert he blasphemed Hashem that person shall be cut off from among his people a person who does idol worship with intention even if it's done without Witnesses receives correct spiritual excision punishment now we're on page 817. Shabbat desecration in the wilderness the first time that one Jew desecrated Shabbat the children of Israel were in the wilderness and they found a man Gathering wood on the Shabbat day they place them in custody for it had not been clarified what should be done with him Hashem said to Moshe The man shall be put to death verse 36 the entire assembly pelted him with stones and he died for a willful desecration of Shabbat that was observed by Witnesses and the witnesses warned the person and reminded him of the um transgression and the person nevertheless decided to continue his action such a person deserves death penalty now in verse 37 the last topic of the Torah portion is sit sit this is also the Third paragraph of shiman Hashem said to Moshe saying speak to the children of Israel and say to them that they shall make for themselves which are strings on the corners of the garments throughout their generations and they shall Place upon the sunset of each Corner a thread of turquoise wool so if you have a garment made of wool and it has four corners you have to put strings on each one of the four corners and among those strings should be a string of blue wool nowadays most people don't use it because we have lost the tradition how to prepare it and now uh people uh claiming that they found it and if it's true then we can again fulfill this Mitzvah and some people have started performing this Mitzvah even though it's still a safek a doubt is a hundred percent the same color the same product but nevertheless if it is we fulfill the Mitzvah and if it's not that's okay um it shall constitute succeed for you that you may see it and remember all the Commandments of Hashem and perform them the reason we wear it sits it is to wear something unusual not like the Nations around us so that when we look at ourselves it will remind us oh we're Jewish oh there is God oh we have mitzvot because according to Torah a a Jew was not obligated to wear a keeper head covering this came later as an additional sign of our allegiance to God so in those times what distinguished the Jew from a non-jew it was that's it and when you see that's it and remind yourself of Hashem you will not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray when a Jew forgets about Hashem he runs afterward his eyes see and what he comes to his mind and sets it is there to remind us of the truths of the world and redirect us um to the right path now on page 819 so that you may remember and perform all my Commandments and be holy to your God I am Hashem your God who has removed you from the land of Egypt to be a god unto you I am Hashem your God this concludes parashat shalach um thank you for joining shabbat shalom um