Deliverers will ascend Mount Zion
by HaRav Dov Begon, Head of Machon Meir.
“See! I have placed the land before you. Come, occupy the land” (Deuteronomy 1:8). Rashi explains, “‘There is no one who will contest the matter and you will not need to wage war.’ Had they not sent the spies, they would not have needed weapons.”
The Canaanite nations and the nations of the world would have handed over Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish People willingly and happily. Such indeed occurred via the Balfour Declaration during the First World War, when the British recognized the rights of the Jewish People over the Land of Israel, as being the will of G-d. Yet, enemies arose, the spies, from within the Jewish People, and they questioned our right to the Land and G-d’s promise to us, as it says, “But now, here, you have no faith in the L-rd your G-d” (Deuteronomy 1:32), regarding which Rashi comments, “You do not believe in G-d, who has promised to bring you into the Land.” Moreover, they spoke perversely against G-d, saying, “The L-rd brought us out of Egypt because He hated us! He wanted to turn us over to the Amorites to destroy us!” (Deuteronomy 1:27). When the Canaanite nations saw that among the Israelites there were those who questioned their own right to the Land, they raised their heads went forth to fight against us. That is why we have been forced in the past, and are being forced at present, to fight over Eretz Yisrael.
Right now, we have to learn a lesson from the sin of the spies, who did not believe in our right to Eretz Yisrael, and who of their own will passed up the chance to go up to the Land and to settle it. This brought tragedy upon them and their generation, and it also brings tragedy upon all those who follow in their path, a path of terrible weakness that invites brutal wars.
Quite the contrary, if we wish to prevent wars over Eretz Yisrael, we must believe with strong and certain faith that all of Eretz Yisrael belongs to the whole Jewish People down through the generations, by dint of the divine oath and promise by which “G-d swore He would give the Land to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their descendants after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8). A time will come when the Arabs and the other nations of the world will know and see that we possess strong belief and are determined to struggle over our right to Eretz Yisrael. They will understand that the rebirth of the Jewish People in Eretz Yisrael and Jerusalem is intended to bring to fruition the vision of the prophets of Israel of our spreading light and goodness among the nations, including them, as was promised to Abraham: “I will make you a great nation… You shall become a blessing…. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3). All the prophets foresaw this vision coming into being. On that day the nations will resign themselves to this reality and will willingly and joyfully hand over the holy land to the holy people. Then, we will see with our own eyes how “deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the L-rd’s” (Ovadiah).
The Results of Israel’s Weeping over Nothing
On the Ninth of Av it was decreed that our ancestors would not enter the Land. The decree and its cause left their stamp down through the generations, as our sages said:
“‘The people wept that night’ (Numbers 14:1): That night was the Ninth of Av. G-d said, ‘You wept over nothing. I shall arrange for you to weep down through the generations’” (Ta’anit 29a).
Indeed, on the Ninth of Av, down through the generations until this day, the Jewish People have sat on the earth and sorrowfully recited tearful dirges about the Destruction of the Temple, the Exile and the troubles that beset our people. And why was that first weeping of the Desert Generation called “weeping over nothing”? Because there really was no reason to weep. After all, G-d loves Israel. He took us out of Egypt with signs and wonders, and He gave us the Torah at Sinai.
We are likened to a beloved bride, and G-d is likened to a loving husband and father. At night we recite the words, “You loved us with everlasting love.” G-d, in His great love for us, was bringing His beloved, chosen people to His beloved, chosen land. “The L-rd chose Zion. He desired it for His habitation. Surely, He has chosen Jacob to be His, and Israel as His prized possession” (Yehi Kavod).
Yet the spies, in betraying Eretz Yisrael, created a quarrel between the lovers. So successful were they in this that the Desert Generation said, “The L-rd brought us out of Egypt because He hated us! He wanted to turn us over to the Amorites to destroy us!” (Deuteronomy 1:27). The Torah responded, “In this regard, you have no faith in the L-rd your G-d” (verse 32). “In this regard” — that G-d loves us and will keep His promise to bring us to the Land (Rashi).
Where there is no love, there surely is no faith. It is no surprise that the people cried that night over nothing. They thought that G-d hated them. Truthfully, however, G-d loved them and will love us forever. Imagine a wife who thinks her husband hates her and is cheating on her and scheming against her. Certainly she will cry bitterly. What caused the spies to libel the Land, bringing death to them and to their whole generation? Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explains: “It was their fear that when they entered the Land they would get less honor” (Mesilat Yesharim, end of Ch. 11). Hubris and pursuit of honor caused the spies to part with the Land and to create a quarrel between Israel and their Father in heaven.
Today, we have to rectify the sin of the spies and the Desert Generation by nullifying the cause that led our ancestors to cry over nothing. That is, we must increase love and faith and instill in our hearts the idea that G-d truly loves us, as we say in our thrice daily Shemoneh Esreh: “He will lovingly bring a redeemer to their children’s children for the sake of His name.” Not only must we believe that G-d loves us, but we must remove the ultimate cause of the people’s weeping, the sin of the spies. The spies, as noted, out of their lust for power and honor, created a quarrel between us and our Father in heaven in order to rid themselves of Eretz Yisrael.
Eretz Yisrael, after all, is like a mother to the Jewish People. Who wouldn’t weep if he heard that his mother was going to be sold? Quite the contrary, we must nullify the divisive idea of partitioning our beloved land and handing it over, G-d forbid, to a foreign nation. To do this we must strengthen faith and love for our land and our Torah, and we must tenaciously hold on to all parts of our land and devotedly defend it. This is the best rectification for the sin of the spies.
Through such efforts, the day will not be far off when we merit to see the days of fasting and weeping transformed into “times of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah, therefore love truth and peace” (Zechariah 8).
