ר"ע תיתד תונויצל ינויערה גוחה ,םולשו זוע
One of our Spanish commentators, Isaac Arama, interprets the spies'
behavior in his classic work Akedat Yizhak. The spies' crime, he avers,
lay in the fact that instead of acting as neutral observers contenting
themselves with the facts, they gave their opinion on this matter.
Isaac Arama brings home his point by the following parable: It can be
compared to a man who says to his agent, "Go to the warehouse and have a
look at a tallit the merchant has in stock, examine it carefully for the
quality of the wool and linen for size, appearance and price and let me
know, as I wish to purchase it." If the agent returns and says, "I had a
look at it and the wool is pure, it is long and wide, greenish and
reddish in color and the price a hundred gold pieces," he has carried out
his mission correctly. But if he said, "I had a look at it, the wool is
pure, it is long and wide, but it is reddish and greenish in color and is
very dearly priced at 100 gold pieces," then he has exceeded the bounds
of his mission and become instead an advisor. This is as a result of
inserting the qualifying word "but".
(Nehama Leibowitz z"l, Studies in
Bamidbar Numbers, p. 139(
Know that he who "brings forth 'dibah' " (Proverbs 10:8) is like a fool who speaks falsely, but he who tells a truthful [bad report] is called "one who 'brings' dibah," as it is said, "and Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father" (Genesis 37:2). It was for this [false report] that they were punished by death through a plague, as it is said, "And those men who 'brought forth' an evil report of the Land died by the plague before G-d" (Numbers 14:37). (Ramban Numbers 13, 32(
"It is a land that eats up its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in
it are men of great stature." If a land is bad and has scanty and poor
water so that the Land miscarries (II Kings 2:19), it does not sustain
men of great [physical] stature and its inhabitants are weak and flabby,
small in size and lacking in strength! [So the question appears in what
way is the spies' statement that the Land produces men of great stature
an evil report?] But the evil report of the spies consisted in saying
that the Land has an overpowering atmosphere and a heavy nature and its
water and fruits are thick and heavy, so that [the fruits] grow to a very
large size, such that people of an average temperament cannot bear them,
unless they are giants and men of powerful build who are naturally strong
and exceptional in their height and stature. Therefore the Land supports
very tall men but brings [premature] death to the rest of the people, as
is the nature of coarse foods.
(Ramban Numbers 13, 32)
Joshua and Caleb's words to the people in response to the people's cry of "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt" (Numbers 14:4) need to be carefully studied. The present discussion will concern itself with one element of Joshua and Caleb's speech. Their words are sealed in the following: "But don't rebel against G-d! Don't be afraid of the people in the land! They have lost their protection and shall be our prey. G-d is with us, so don't be afraid" (Numbers 14:9). How should we interpret the phrase "Don't be afraid"? Is it a continuation of the previous phrase, the concluding part of a conditional statement, or possibly something else?
We will examine three commentators to help elucidate this phrase. Rashi wrote: "Don't rebel - you will no longer have to fear". The phrase "no longer" can mean from now on or another time. If so, Rashi sets up a relationship of cause and effect between the people rebelling and their fear. That is, rebellion will create fear and anxiety. Rabbi Shabtai b'Rabi Yosef Bass of Frankfort's commentary on Rashi, Saftai Hachamim states that "Rashi is correct that the two phrases are not separate; the second phrase is a continuation of the first - that is, if you don't rebel against G-d, you will then no longer need to be afraid."
The Ramban presents a different explanation of this verse in his statement that two distinct issues are not involved here. In contrast to Rashi, the Ramban believes that the rebellion under discussion and the people's fear are equivalent: "Your being afraid to go up because of the strength of the people that dwell in the land is in itself a rebellion against G-d, for it was not because of your own strength that you came out of Egypt but it was the hand of G-d that has dealt wondrously with you. And He has assured you that He will drive them out from before you; if so, believe in Him and you will succeed."
In contrast to both Rashi and the Ramban, Rabeinu Bachiya presents a third perspective. "Only don't rebel against G-d - fear of the people means a rebellion against G-d. King Solomon wrote that 'the fear of man presents a stumbling block' (Proverbs 29:24). Fear in man, made of flesh and blood, produces an obstacle, creating a snare to his spirit, and therefore leads to an individual forgetting G-d. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, 'Who are you, afraid of man who will die and of the son of man made as grass and has forgotten G-d, your Maker' (Isaiah 51:12-13)."
According to Rabeinu Bachiya, fear results in rebellion and he supports his explanation with the verse cited above from Proverbs. Rashi presents two explanations of the verse from Proverbs: "the fear of man presents a stumbling block - it is transposed. Stumbling block - transgression, will create fear in an individual. Another explanation: According to its apparent meaning, if a person is stingy and fears that if he gives charity he will require help from people, this fear will be a snare for him. I prefer the first [interpretation], however." According to Rashi, Joshua and Caleb's claims mentioned in their speech to the people are presented chronologically following Caleb's speech and words in the previous verses. For Rashi, "Don't be afraid" denotes a result. According to the Ramban, on the other hand, Caleb reiterates his claims but in different words, fear=rebellion. According to Rabeinu Bachiya, the words "Don't' be afraid" are a causal statement and explain the process that will bring about a rebellion against G-d.
The disagreement goes deeper than syntax, and is only hinted at in the verse under discussion. The difference of opinion fundamentally deals with the relationship between an individual's mental state and their ideological position and which factor exerts more influence on the individual. Is one's ideology formed as a result of the individual's mental state, as Rabeinu Bachiya believes, or is the mental state a result of one's ideological stance, as Rashi writes?
The fact that Rashi might not only be interested in the syntax of the verse but also in the underlying meaning of the verse can be observed through his explanation of the verse from Proverbs quoted by Rabeinu Bahiya. In spite of the syntactic difficulty of the verse, Rashi persists in examining its deeper meaning.
This attempt to understand the verse under discussion teaches us about the consistency of Rashi's Bible commentary (and not only his Torah commentary). It also demonstrates that individual perspectives and motivation on fundamental questions regarding human character and motivation permeate the writings of our Torah commentators.
Nahem Ilan is a research fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is
deputy head of the Ben-Zvi Institute, and teaches in the Department of
Arabic at Tel-Aviv University.
Translated by Evelyn Ophir
Approximately a month ago Ms. Rosie Altschuler of Ramat Gan sent us an article from the newspaper Ha'Tzofe. The article "The National Authority for the Dissemination of Knowledge of the Bible" was written by Rabbi Haniel Ferber, who served as coordinator of the last World Bible Competition for Jewish Youth.
In his article, the author speaks disparagingly about the marked decrease occurring in the study of the Bible among Israelis and remembers when on Independence Day the World Bible Competition was also held for adults, likened to a "spiritual parade". The author would like to re-introduce this tradition.
In one of the previous issues of Shabbat Shalom, we published a review of an essay by our friend Professor Uriel Simon that discussed the relevance of the Bible to comtemporary Israeli society. Many Israelis reminisce about the central role Bible study used to play in people's lives. However, there are also many signs of renewed interest in "Jewish books" in many circles. Israeli society may very well be searching to define its cultural identity. I question if a Bible competition for adults will contribute to the strengthening of this identity. Through fruitful communication and mutual exchange among different sectors within Israeli society as well as encouraging educators throughout the broad spectrum of the educational system to transmit this culture in an atmosphere of tolerance and multi-culturalism, we will ultimately bring about an authentic and deep connection with our cultural heritage for future generations.
|
|
|
| |
| Home |
The Movement Objectives and Principles You can Help! |
What's New Activities and Current Events |
Articles and Position Papers Peace Judaism and Israel |
|
|
|
|
Weekly Parsha (Hebrew) Weekly Parsha (English) |
Search Our Site | Links To Peace Movements |
Contact Us
OZ veSHALOM - NETIVOT SHALOM
P.O. Box 4433, Jerusalem, 91043 Israel
Tel: 02-5664218, for Shabbat Shalom only call 053-920206
ozveshalomns@gmail.com
©
Copyright 1997-2003 by Oz Veshalom. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.