Something is very much missing from this week's Parsha. The discussion of the Parsha is a discussion
of whether Klal Yisroel should go forward and do battle to enter Eretz Yisrael.
There is a discussion of the fruits of the land, of the cities of the land, as
it says in 13:19 (הַבְּמַחֲנִים, אִם בְּמִבְצָרִים).
Why does a Yid move to Eretz
Yisroel? A Yid moves to Eretz Yisroel because of Kedushas Eretz Yisroel,
because of Eretz Yisroel being such a unique place on the globe. That seems to
be missing from the entire Parsha, the entire discussion. Nobody talks about
Kedushas Eretz Yisroel as being the necessity for Klal Yisroel to enter Eretz
Yisroel. That which is missing is the biggest Kasha of all.
The Arvei Nachal in this week’s
Parsha answers the question but he prefaces it by discussing a Kasha on last
week’s Parsha. Last week we learned about Klal Yisrael moving from place to
place in the Midbar as it says in 9:20 (עַל-פִּי יְרוָר
יַחֲנוּ, וְעַל-פִּי יְרוָר יִסָּעוּ).
They took apart the Mishkan and moved and put together the Mishkan again in a
new location. The Kasha which is already mentioned in the Gemara is that the
Melacha, the 39 Melachos are learned from the Mishkan and the Melacha of Soseir
which is taking something apart, destroying the building which is one of the
Melachos on Shabbos, is only considered a Melacha if in the language of the
Gemara a person is Soseir Al Minas Livnas Mimikomo, someone destroys a building
in order to rebuild in its location. The Kasha is that in the Midbar where they
took apart the Mishkan they did not take it apart to rebuild it in the same
location. Since we learn all Melachos from the building of the Mishkan how
could it be that there is a Melacha of destroying. Soseir Al Minas Livnas
Mimikomo, destroying in order to rebuild in the same spot, if in fact that
never happened in the case of the Mishkan.
Chazal answer that which it says in
last week’s Parsha in 9:20 (עַל-פִּי יְרוָר יַחֲנוּ,
וְעַל-פִּי יְרוָר יִסָּעוּ).
That they actually did take things apart and put them together again in the
same place. They were travelling in a desert. Wherever Klal Yisrael encamped
was a place of Kedusha, was a place of holiness. The Gemara says that even in
Chutz L’aretz (even when one is outside of Eretz Yisrael) in a place that is
designated as a place for Davening or Learning, a Bais Hakneses or a Bais
Hamedrash, he is considered as if he is in Eretz Yisrael.
It says in Devarim 11:21 (לְמַעַן יִרְבּוּ יְמֵיכֶם, וִימֵי בְנֵיכֶם) that a person has Arichas Yomim if he is in Eretz Yisrael. R’
Yochanan commented as it says in Maseches Berachos 8a (אמרו ליה לר' יוחנן איכא סבי בבבל תמה ואמר
למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם על האדמה כתיב אבל בחוצה לארץ לא כיון דאמרי ליה
מקדמי ומחשכי לבי כנישתא אמר היינו דאהני להו כדאמר ר' יהושע בן לוי
לבניה קדימו וחשיכו ועיילו לבי כנישתא כי היכי דתורכו חיי) that there
are people who get old in Bavel because of the Beracha of (למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם) because of the blessing of having long days. Because these
people are in the Shuls in Chutz L’aretz and when somebody spends time in a
Bais Hakneses or a Bais Hamedrash in Chutz L’aretz it is like he is in Eretz
Yisroel. Wherever Klal Yisrael encamped in the Midbar they were at a place of
Learning. Klal Yisroel learned all day, they were all in Kollel. Moshe Rabbeinu
taught them what he had learned at Sinai. Wherever they went was (עַל-פִּי יְרוָר יַחֲנוּ) was a place where there was a little piece of Eretz Yisroel,
they took it with them and therefore it was Soseir Al Minas Livnas Mimikomo.
They destroyed in order to rebuild in another location but the other location
was the same Kedushas Eretz Yisrael location.
Returning now to the Meraglim. In
the Parsha of the Meraglim we do not find that they had to go into Eretz
Yisrael because of Kedushas Eretz Yisrael. Says the Arvei Nachal, because
wherever they were camped in the Midbar wherever they settled they were in a
place that had Kedushas Eretz Yisrael. Because the Shuls and the Batei Kenisios
and Batei Medrashos and every single location had Kedushas Eretz Yisrael.
Therefore, the Miraglim said we are not missing Kedushas Eretz Yisrael. Let us
stay here in the Midbar. The discussion centered around practical things, the
fruits of the land, the fortified cities, and Kedushas Eretz Yisrael was never
an issue.
Obviously this is a tremendous
Mussar to those of us who are here in Chutz L’aretz, who are not moving to
Eretz Yisroel. We can still have Kedushas Eretz Yisrael when we enter a Bais
Hakneses or Bais Hamedrash something we do faithfully. We have to appreciate
the Chashivus of it. We all find that it is easier to learn in a Shul or Bais
Hamedrash than to learn in one’s home or to learn in one’s place of business.
It is not for naught that Chazal say the Bais Hakneses or Bais Hamedrash has
Kedushas Eretz Yisroel. It is not just imagination it is real. When you pull
yourself away you are tired, you are exhausted, you don’t feel like going to
learn, when you get to the Bais Hamedrash the Kedusha there can awaken a person,
the Kedusha there invigorates the person to give him energy to be able to
absorb the Kedusha in his learning and his Davening in Shul.
Agav, I will mention, that the same
Kasha with which I began in Parshas Shelach is one which disturbs me in Parshas
Vayechi. Yaakov Avinu asks to be buried in Eretz Yisrael. Rashi in 47:29 (אל נא תקברני במצרים: סופה להיות עפרה כנים (ומרחשין תחת גופי) ושאין מתי חוצה לארץ
חיים אלא בצער גלגול מחילות, ושלא יעשוני מצרים עבודה זרה) gives us 3 reasons because of the 1)
Kinim (lice), 2) the Egyptians should not make his body into an Avodah Zora,
and 3) so that he not suffer the pain of Micholos of travelling to Eretz
Yisrael at the time of Techias Hameisim. Rashi there too seems to be missing
the Ikkur reason, the main reason. Why does a Jew wish to be buried in Eretz
Yisroel today? Because of Kedushas Eretz Yisrael the holiness of the land as it
says in Devarim 32:43 (וְכִפֶּר אַדְמָתוֹ עַמּוֹ). We say that the land of Eretz
Yisrael is a Kapparah. It is strange that Rashi doesn’t mention this as one of
the reason for Yaakov to be buried in Eretz Yisrael. That is Tzorech Iyun it is
a Kasha with which I will leave you.
