Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English and Hebrew: Parshas Shlach – 21 Sivan 5786
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Shlach – 21 Sivan 5786
Bostoner Rebbe shlit’a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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We find in the Zohar on Parshas Shlach that a truly trustworthy emissary (shaliach) is one who resembles Eliezer, the servant of Avraham. On the verse, “Moshe sent them,” the Zohar teaches: “Come and see—when a person wishes to send an agent, he requires a trustworthy agent, just as Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, was a faithful emissary.” Yet the spies were not trustworthy, as the verse states, “They went and they came.” Chazal explain that just as their return was with evil intent, so too their departure was already tainted by ulterior motives.
The Zohar continues by drawing a striking contrast between Eliezer and the Meraglim. Eliezer overcame his personal bias in order to fulfill his mission faithfully, whereas the spies succumbed almost immediately to their own self-interest. Chazal explain that the spies were aware of the prophecy of Eldad and Medad that Moshe Rabbeinu would not enter Eretz Yisrael. They feared that upon entering the Land, they would lose their positions as princes (Nesi’im), replaced by a new order of leadership. Rather than embrace Klal Yisrael’s destiny, they sought to preserve their status by discouraging the nation from entering the Land, planting fear and uncertainty in the hearts of the people.
This raises an intriguing question. How did Kalev and Yehoshua avoid suspicion from the other spies? Chazal note that they did not participate in carrying the fruit. The Torah describes how eight spies carried the enormous cluster of grapes, while one carried a pomegranate and another a fig. Since Kalev and Yehoshua carried nothing, why were they not immediately identified as dissenters? By standing apart from the others, they seemingly placed themselves in grave danger. The ten men who formed the “evil congregation” could easily have viewed them as threats to their plan and acted against them.
The Gemara in Sotah explains that Kalev and Yehoshua had another explanation for not carrying the fruit: such labor was beneath their stature. Yehoshua, as the devoted attendant of Moshe Rabbeinu, occupied a uniquely elevated position, akin to serving one who held the status of a king during the forty years in the wilderness. Kalev, too, came from the royal lineage of Yehudah, the leading tribe. Their abstention from carrying the fruit therefore aroused no suspicion.
Here we encounter a situation remarkably similar to that of Eliezer, servant of Avraham. When Eliezer set out to find a wife for Yitzchak, his mission demanded complete loyalty and objectivity. Yet Rashi, citing Chazal, reveals that Eliezer harbored a quiet hope that perhaps his own daughter might marry Yitzchak. Nevertheless, he overcame that personal interest and fulfilled his mission with unwavering devotion. The Zohar points to Lavan’s words, “Come in, blessed of Hashem,” explaining that these words were divinely placed in Lavan’s mouth to signal that Eliezer had been transformed from the status of “cursed,” as a descendant of Canaan, to “blessed.” Only after faithfully carrying out his mission did this personal possibility emerge.
So too, when the Meraglim entered Eretz Yisrael and sensed that their time of prominence in the desert was drawing to a close, personal bias overtook them. Fear of losing status clouded their judgment and distorted their mission. Yet because they assumed Kalev shared the same concerns over his position as a prince, and Yehoshua feared losing prominence after Moshe’s passing, they never suspected that either would oppose their plans. Their own biases blinded them to the purity of others.
In the end, however, Yehoshua was protected precisely because he was the devoted disciple of Moshe Rabbeinu, a teacher who cared deeply for him and prayed for his salvation. Kalev, for his part, journeyed to Chevron to pray at the graves of the Avos, seeking the strength to remain steadfast and truthful, and perhaps also praying that the generation of the wilderness might yet merit entering the Promised Land.
The message for us is both timely and timeless. Every person is, in some sense, a shaliach entrusted with a sacred mission. Yet our greatest obstacle is often not external opposition, but our own personal interests and prejudices. The challenge of life is to rise above self-interest and remain faithful to the mission Hashem has entrusted to us.
If we can set aside our personal agendas and unite in sincere devotion to Hashem’s will, perhaps we will merit the ultimate redemption from this long and painful exile. May Hashem bless all of Klal Yisrael with abundant physical and spiritual blessing, grant parents and grandparents the joy of marrying off their children and grandchildren, and help us become trustworthy emissaries worthy of bringing about the coming of Moshiach במהרה בימינו, speedily in our days.