Our Parasha - the parsha of the ill-fated meraglim - relates that (12:1-3):’Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying:’Send forth לך: for you, men, if you wish, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan that I give to Bnei Israel; one man each from his father’s tribe shall you send, every one a leader among them.’
‘Moshe sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at Hashem’s command; they were all distinguished men; heads of Bnei Israel were they.’
Rashi brings the commentary of the Midrash Rabba:’Send forth לך men if you wish.. Why is the passage regarding the spies stated following the passage regarding Miriam’, indicating a similarity in their offences? ‘Because she was punished for engaging in speech about her brother, and these wicked people saw, but did not take a lesson’ from her.
The Midrash Tanchuma elaborates on this juxtaposition, commenting:’’Send forth men, if you wish’: What is said above as to this matter: (Beha’alotcha 12:1):Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moshe, regarding the Cushite woman he had married..’, and after this: ‘Send forth men’ - and this is what Isaiah said:(44:18)’And he does not give it thought, and he has neither knowledge nor understanding’, because their hearts were blocked from their eyes and their minds, from what they saw in the matter of Miriam, and they said:’Send forth men, if you wish’.
It was foreseen by Hashem, that they would come and speak lashon ha’ra on the Land, and he therefore said :’Let them not have an opening to say:We didn’t know what the punishment for speaking lashon ha’ra was.'
Therefore, Hashem juxtaposed the two matters, so that we would know all as to the punishment for lashon ha’ra - that if they would seek to speak lashon ha’ra, they would look at what happened to Miriam.
Despite this, they did not want to learn, as the prophet said:’He has neither knowledge nor understanding’.
This is why Hashem wrote the parasha of sending the spies, after the matter of Miriam - say therefore:’They had neither knowledge nor understanding, because they blocked themselves, from seeing.’
The Maharal elucidates our Rashi, stating: What difficulty was there, that led Rashi to expound that it was to juxtapose our Parasha, to the matter of Miriam? It is clear that this was its proper place chronologically, as it says:’And they camped in the Wilderness of Paran’, and from there the spies were sent, as it says:’And Moshe sent them from there the Wilderness of Paran’.
There are commentators, that say the query arose because it is not the way of the Torah to juxtapose two parshiot of פורעניות: calamities - and here we find juxtaposed the trouble of Miriam with the calamity of the spies.
This is clearly incorrect, as, were it correct, why was the parasha of Miriam juxtaposed to the parasha of the complainers?
Rather, we have to say, that whilst those two were indeed calamities, the Torah does not juxtapose the calamaties of the public, but does juxtapose the calamaties of individuals, as is the case with the matters of both Miriam, and of the spies.
The Torah, in juxtaposing these two matters, was answering a question: Why after seeing the punishment of Miriam - for speaking lashon ha’ra - was Moshe then commanded to send the spies - not earlier, or later?
Why did the Torah say:’Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying:’Send forth men..’, as if this was Hashem’s command - the request of the people, to send spies, is missing.
Yet from this, it is clear - from the Torah not mentioning their request to send spies - that, before this, the people were asking to send spies, and that Hashem did not agree to do so till now.
Why did Hashem not agree till now, and why did He agree now? Answer: So that they should learn from the punishment of Miriam!
We can now understand why the parasha of the spies was juxtaposed here - despite the people having previously requested that spies be sent, and the answer is: So that the spies would learn from the punishment of Miriam.
As the Midrash states: What did the Torah see to say after the matter of Miriam:’Send men, if you will’? Because it was foreseen by Hashem that they would speak lashon ha’rs about the Land, and they should not say: We did not know the punishment for speaking lashon ha’ra.
Therefore, Hashem juxtaposed the two matters; further, it is obvious, as we have posed, that Hashem ordered the sending of the spies after the episode of Miriam - and not before it - so that they would say people would learn from it.
Alas - they did not, and the tragic fate of the spies - and of the whole generation - was set in motion.
The Kli Yakar comments: Our Sages say, that the juxtaposition of the spies to the matter of Mirian, was, that since Miriam was punished for lashon ha’ra, these wicked men’ - the spies - saw her punishment, yet did not take mussar - meaning: that immediately after the punishment of Miriam, the spies were sent, Hashem: Hoping each of them would take mussar, from seeing what happened to Miriam.
‘For this reason, the spies were referred to as אנשים: ‘men’, as though it said that:’ותדבר: Miriam and Aaron spoke concerning Moshe’ - when it should have said in the plural, and not the singular, so clearly ותדבר: relates solely to Miriam; further, we do not find that Aaron was punished.
This comes to tell us, that lashon ha’ra is found more in women, than in men, as the Gemara states: (Kid’ 49:) ’Ten measures of speech came down to this world and nine were taken by women.’
This is why the Torah ascribed the words concerning Moshe to Miriam, with Aaron being ancillary to her.
Therefore, Hashem said:’Send forth אנשים': men, who do not go in the way of women, so that they do not follow in the ways of Miriam, who spoke lashon ha’ra - but specifically ‘men’, whose way is not to speak lashon ha’ra.
Rav David Pardo, on our Rashi, comments: It was not the intention of Rashi to ask as to the juxtaposition of the two parshiot, as that was the order of their occurrence, as the Torah relates that, as soon as Miriam was cured of her leprosy, they travelled from Chazerot, and arrived at the Wilderness of Paran, from where the spies were sent on their way.
It is not the custom of Rashi to offer reasons for juxtaposition, when they are related in their chronological order, but only to comment where it is required to clarify a liguistic query - and here he felt that the word לך: ‘for you’, had no purpose, as the sending of the the spies was not for Moshe, but for Bnei Israel - as Moshe had complete faith in Hashem’s words, and, further,as it was decreed that he not enter the land, so why would Hashem say to him:’Send לך: for you?
It was to answer this, that Rashi brought the Midrash, as to why the two parshiot - of Miriam and of the spies - were juxtaposed, and from this, we can understand why Hashem said to Moshe:’Send לך', meaning: now I tell you to send, as they have from where to learn not to speak lashon ha’ra, from the affair concerning you: that your sister was afflicted because she spoke concerning you.
The word לך read as ‘for you’, meaning: for you, I say ‘send’.
This explains what was asked: Why after the episode of Miriam, Moshe was told:’שלח לך Send for you the men’, when it should have said:’What did it see to say after the affliction of Miriam, the parasha of the spies’?
From this, we can expound that it juxtaposed the parasha of Miriam who spoke concerning Moshe, with the parasha of the spies, so that therefore I now say to you: ‘send..’- so that they should not be able to say: We did not know..’, as the Midrash elucidates.
With this understanding, after a close reading of the psukim, we can also perceive that there was not a long interval of time between the episode of Miriam and the sending of the spies, but they were very close in time of occurrence, yet they did not take mussar, and it is likely that Rashi also had this mind, in bringing his drasha here.
Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl poses a fundamental question, on our juxaposition: Our Sages have proffered that the spies should have learned from the punishment of Miriam, and to abstain from speaking lashon ha’ra as to the !and.
Here we ask the difficult question: How can one compare the two matters, by any measure? Miriam spoke against the Rabbi of Israel, the father of all our prophets, the one who took them out of Egypt , who received the Torah and taught it to them - therefore, her transgression was clearly very severe, and we can readily understand why she was punished.
Whereas the spies spoke disparagingly about trees and stones, solely - is there a prohibition against speaking badly about inert objects?
How, then, can we reconcile the severity of the punishment of thr spies, with the punishment of Miriam?
The answer is, that the major transgression of the spies, was that they spoke against that which Hashem had chosen - they should have understood, thar if Hashem chose the Land of Israel, it is a sign that these were not ordinary trees and stones, but priceless objects.
This is what they should have learned from the episode of Miriam - she, too, should have understood, that if Hashem specifically chose Moshe - not Aaron, for instance - to invest on him his divine presence, shechina, this, in itself, proved his great and unmatched stature.
So, too, the spies: the stones of the Land of Israel are not simply inert objects, but stones on which the shechina dwells - that, in itself, is conclusive proof of their unique standing.
This, therefore, is the objective of the juxtaposition of these two parshiot.
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin also poses this critical question:’ Rashi expounded that the two parshiot are juxtaposed, as the spies should have learned from the parasha - and the punishment of - Miriam, not to speak lashon ha’ra, about the Land.
However, speaking lashon ha’ra about trees and stones cannot be compared to speaking disparingly against the Master of Prophets - no wonder, then, that the spies did not learn from the parasha of Miriam!
We can say, on this subject, two things: One: That Moshe was not strict regarding himself, and would bear more readiky affront than even ‘trees and stones’, as the Torah relates, that he - and Aaron - said:’What are we’: meaning:’nothing’.
Second; The Land of Israel is considered as having ‘life’, as it has a special Shabbat: the year of Shemita, in which it demands its honor, as the Torah says: Should the people not observe its rest year, then (Behar 26): ‘the Land will demand its rest year, and you will be exiled in the lands of your enemies’.
The spies should have been more careful not to speak lashon ha’ra about the land - which is more careful about its honor, than Moshe Rabbenu was, about his honor.’
A parting insight from Rav Yaakov Ettlinger:’We find four times in the tales of the Torah, the outcomes of speaking lashon ha’ra, and, on each occasion, the severity of the transgression ascends.
The first is the parasha of Yosef, as the Torah relates ( Vayeshev 37:2) :’Yosef brought evil tales about them’, his brothers, ‘to their father’; second: Miriam, the Torah relating (Beha’alotcha 12:1):’ And Miriam and Aaron spoke about Moshe’; third: the spies, as it says(Shelach 13:32):’They spread an evil report about them land they had scouted’; and, fourth, Korach and his congregation, who spoke against Moshe and Aaron, saying (Korach 16:3):’Why do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?’, as if they arrogated by themselves greatness, not by command of Hashem.’
‘That each instance was more severe than its predecessor, can be seen in the punishments of those who spoke lashon ha’ra.
Yosef was not punished at all, as, though he was cast into the pit in which there were snakes and scorpions, he was not bitten by them. Miriam was punished, but her punishment was comparatively light, as her leprosy was limited to seven days; the spies punishment was more severe, as they died in a plague, which, nevertheless, was a form of natural death.
The harshest punishment was that of Korach and his associates, for whom a new creation was created, the earth opening its mouth and swallowing them, they descending alive, to the depths.
The reason for this, it needs to be said, is as Ramban commented, why, regarding Yosef it says ‘and he brought evil tales’, whereas, in the case of the spies, it says:’They spread an evil report’; he also distinguishes between true tidings, and false tidings.
However, to my mind, the difference between them, is found in the words of the parshiot , as one who hears bad tidings, and wants to stiffle it, takes care to relate it to a place where it will end - this was the intention of Yosef, who, after hearing bad tidings concerning his brothers, brought it to their father, trusting that their father would reprove them, and that would end the matter - as it says:’,he brought the tidings to their father’ - not to ‘his father’.
‘The case of the spies was the opposite, as no bad tidings were known concerning the Land, and they were the ones who initiated the bad tidings, intending to spread bad tidings, so as to persuade the people, so that they would not wish to enter the Land.
Between these two extremes, lay the lashon ha’ra of Miriam,as she clearly did not seek to cast aspersions against Moshe - but also did not act in a good way, as she did not reproach Moshe directly, so that he should correct his - in her eyes - wrongful conduct.
Therefore, her transgression was more severe than that of Yosef, who intended only good - but was less severe than that of the spies, as she did not spread the tidings, as they had.
The most severe was the transgression of the congregation of Korach, as the spies - though their intentions were bad - spoke against the inanimate land, whereas they spoke badly, not only against men, but against holy ones, and therefore their punishment was the most severe of all.
Further, the transgression of the spies was greater than that of Miriam, as she could not have learned from Yosef the severity of lashon ha’ra - as he was not punished - whilst the spies should have learned from the punishment of Miriam.
The transgression of the congregation of Korach - by this measure - was more severe than that of the spies, as they only saw the relatively light punishment of Miriam, and they should have learned from the punishment, of the spies, the severity of speaking lashon ha’ra.
לרפואת כל חיילי צה"ל וכן נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.