The setting for this week's Parsha is the Kingdom of Moab where Balak rules as King. Israel has already conquered the Amorite peoples led by Schon and Og. We are dwelling in what was the Kingdom of Ammon, opposite Jericho across the river.
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Who was Balak, Son of Zippor?
The Zohar interprets Balak as being "The Son of Zippor", (ציפור) means "bird". This was not the name of Balak's father, but rather a magical metal bird which Balak made use of. Only the most skilled of wizards could construct such a bird. Balak, the greatest wizard of his age, managed it.
As the Zohar recounts, such a bird has a head made of gold, a mouth made of silver and wings made of copper mixed with silver, and its body is made of gold; once the bird is made, it should be put during the day in a window facing the Sun and during the night in a window facing the Moon, while burning incense in front of it for seven days and seven nights. Thereupon, the bird would start talking and foretelling of what is about to happen.
The Zohar tells that the bird spoke true words of prophecy in Balak's ear and warned him not to set himself against the B'nai Yisrael. It also foretold of the harsh punishment in store for him and for the Moabites. Nevertheless, Balak persisted in his wrong way and was punished exactly as the bird foretold.
While not specifically set out in this week's Parshah, Bilaam turns out to be an "agent provocateur". An agent provocateur is a person who entices another person to commit an illegal act. An agent provocateur is employed to discredit or harm a group by provoking them to commit a crime. So exactly do we know about this meddler, Bilaam Ben Beor? When he could not curse us directly, Bilaam in league with Balak and the Midianites found out a way for us to bring down a curse on our heads all by our self.
In 1967 in Jordan, archaeologists found an inscription with a story relating visions of the seer of the gods Bala'am, son of Be'or. The inscription is dated 840–760 BCE.
Balaam wakes up weeping and tells his people that the gods (not Hashem) appeared to him in the night telling him about a goddess threatening to destroy the land. She is to cover the sky and reduce the world to complete darkness.
Deir Alla Plaster Texts, Prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East, Vol 12, 138, 2003)
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Balak initially conferred with his Midianite allies in order to block Israelite settlement, before sending his elders along with Midianite elders to have Balaam curse the Israelites. After his mission with Balaam to curse Israelites failed, Balak allied the Moabites with the Midianites. The plan was to gather their women in order to lead Israelites men astray in adultery.
What’s going on with Midianies? Considering that only 40 years before, Moshe’s father-in-law Yisro a Midianite leader persuaded Moshe to take back Zipporah, this is a very strange happening. Were the Midianites always our enemy? What do you think?
The Haftarah portion is from the Prophet Micah,מִיכָה. At 6:8 the Prophet says:
“Mankind, what is good has been told to you, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God”.
This week’s Parshah, CHUKAS is difficult; we learn about:
1. The laws of the red heifer, whose ashes purify a person who has been contaminated by contact with a dead body.
2. The death of Miriam and the people’s thirst for water.
3. Moses is commanded to speak to a rock and command the rock to give water. Moses strikes the rock instead. Water gushes forth, but Moses is told by Hashem that neither he nor Aaron will cross the Jordan and enter the Land.
4. Aaron passes away, and the Israelites mourn his death.
5. Snakes attack the camp.At Hashem’s direction, Moshe fashions a bronze snake that protects and heals the people.A thousand years later King Hezekiah destroys this serpent.
6. Moses leads the people in battles against Sichon and Og and conquers their lands.
In the Parshat Chukat at 19:2, Moshe and Aaron are commanded regarding a type of statute known as a חוק
זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה
“This is the statute( חוק)of the Torah which the Lord commanded…”
Aחוקis a law that has no rational basis, such as the Laws of Kashrut.We keep kosher because Hashem commands us to do so.We do it out of love, as a means of coming closer to Hashem.Perhaps in the future as our understanding grows, it is possible that we will comprehend the basis for theחוק.And then what was once a חוקwill now be Mishpatim, laws that have a rational basis.
“Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and speak unto the rock before their eyes, that it gives forth its water; and you shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink”.
We needed water, but how much?
Our encampment looked something like the Azraq temporary refugee camp in Jordan.
The Azraq temporary refugee camp provides a good approximation of what is needed in terms of basic human requirement.
The camp houses about 35,000 people, half of which are children. The camp is divided into four districts.
Thirty five liters of water per person per day is needed to meet daily needs. Water comes from a well and is delivered by trucks. Women line up at the water distribution points
Families live in temporary dwellings. There is no cement or concrete construction. Each dwelling has a floor space of 24 square meters and can take a maximum of five refugees. Each group of six dwellings share lavatories. Boredom is a big problem.
In the Parshah at 21:33 we learn that the Bnei Yisrael fight against King Og of Bashan, the giant. Og is huge and sleeps in an iron bed that measures 13 feet long by 6 feet wide.
We are yet in the final years of the Bronze Age. It will take the materially more advanced Philistines several more years to bring iron into our Land. And we did not yet possess the know how to smelt iron from iron ore.
So where did Og get enough iron for his special bed? Part of the answer is found in Egypt in the tomb of a Bronze Age pharaoh known as King Tut. In his tomb is found a dagger made of iron, a special kind of iron only found in meteorites.
We will learn in Devarim at 8:9 that our Land contains stones of iron
This must be the same source of iron from which Og's iron bed was fashioned.
In the Parshah at 20:12 we learn that Moshe will not be entering the Promised Land.I think that Moshe, a matchless charismatic leader who led us from slavery and out of Egypt and who truly loved the Bnai Yisrael has lost much of his following. The ten spies exhibited a loss of confidence in him, likewise the Korach rebellion shows the discontent among the Tribes, of the firstborn, of the Reuvenites, of Dathan and Abiram, of the Leviim and in all of the Bnai Yisrael across the board.
Tragically the time for a new leader is approaching.
At Numbers 21:1 we learn that the Canaanite king of Arad waged war against us.And he took captives. We wanted to fight back, but first we made a vow to Hashem…Hel[p us and whatever cities we capture we will consecrate them to the Lord.Hashem heard our voice and we defeated the King of Arad.
In this instance in a certain sense the Israelites did have to fight for themselves, something of a new situation. We had to fight the enemy without having a miracle, completely naturally.
Do you think this change advantageous or disadvantageous for the nation?
What we understood was that although victory could not be attained without God’s help, in war we have to fight on our own with natural tools, a test of our independence.
The bottom line is victory can only be achieved if we remember the source of our strength and success.
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At the Time of the Judges: Men With Nothing To Lose
Today's Warriors
The Haftarah portion is from Judges 11:1-33. It is the story of Jephthah, a renown warrior from the land of Gilead which is under attack from the Ammonites. Gilead is east of the Jordan River and is the portion given by Moses to the Tribes of Reuven, Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh.Gilead had been taken from Sichon and Og.
Jephthah had been driven out of Gilead by his brothers, 1:3:
“Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and there were gathered to Jephthah men with nothing to lose, and they went out with him”.
If Jephthah and his men will fight against the Ammonites, and will be successful, he will be the leader of the Gileadites...and so it happened.
This week we begin the month of Tammuz, a month named for a Babylonian deity. It is an example of how assimilated we became when we were exiled to Babylon in the 6th century BCE.
Psalm 137 tells of our profound sadness and longing for Jerusalem at that time.
I like Boney M's rendition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3QxT-w3WMo
Tammuz is the god of the harvest; he was loved by the goddess Ishtar. She was known as the goddess of prostitutes, and her alternate names of Har and Hora gave rise to the terms “harlot” and “whore”.
Tammuz was killed by a boar. Ishtar was devastated by his death. When Tammuz died, all vegetation died.Humans animals would no longer mate, and the Earth, herself, was dying.Ishtar journeys to the netherworld and revives Tammuzsaying: "Great Tammuz is reborn, the fruits of the Earth are ours once more. Bring them forth, let us enjoy them!"
You can see the inroads of assimilation in our texts at least as far back as the prophet Ezekiel. In the Book of Ezekiel at 8:14 consider this verse:
According to the Ramban this Torah portion follows on the heels of the previous Torah portion, Shelach. In Shelach Mosses sends out 12 chieftains or clan leaders to reconnoiter the land Except for Joshua and Caleb, 10 of the 12 give a negative report which is believed by the Israelites.
These 10 are killed outright by Hashem because they were afraid to conquer the land. Israelites above the age of 20 are condemned to wander until their entire generation will die out. In essence they are given a life sentence with no chance of parole. Against this background the Parsha begins.
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Botticcelli, Sandro - The Punishment of Korah and the Stoning
of Moses and Aaron - 1481-82.
In our Parshah there is a two-pronged attack against the appointment of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, and against Moses as the leader of Israelite nation. This ultimately comes down as a rebellion against God.
Aaron and his sons’ appointment to the priesthood begins in the Book of Exodus at 28:1, when Hashem makes a declaration to Moses:
“And you shall bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons”.
Contrary to Hashem’s declaration, Korach, Aaron’s cousin wants to open or maybe reopen the Priest’s office to everyone or at least to the First Born. It was the First Born who at Mt. Sinai offered up the sacrifices to Hashem:
"And he sent the young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the LORD".
נַעֲרֵי, young men or youths is interpreted as the First Born (Talmud Bavli, Zevachim 112b).
Although the First Born had a taste of offering sacrifices, they lost that privilege at the Sin of the Golden Calf.
The Priesthood was, is and will be an exclusionary office. Korach is assisted by 250 First Born tribal leaders, including possibly some Levites. They too wanted the privilege to offer sacrifices on the Altar, the Mizbeach (מזבח). They maintained that offering sacrifices, ie. being Priests, should not rest exclusively with Aaron and his family.
Secondly, Dathan and Abiram are causing a problem for Moses. They are leaders from the Tribe of Reuben. They do not want to wander and die in the dessert for the next 39 years. For better or worse they want to return to Egypt, the home that they had known. After all, they will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
However there is no turning back. In comparison to the ten spies who were killed outright, the generation of the dessert were given a life sentence without any hope of parole.
Moses needs and has the full support of Hashem. The ground opens up, as if it is a living being and swallows up Korech, Dathan and Abiram. The 250 co-conspirators who are carrying their fire pans bring down a heavenly fire that consumes them all. It is similar to what happened to Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu.
You play with fire and you get burned.
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A PRACTICAL WOMAN SAVES HER HUSBAND'S LIFE
In the Parshah, Korach is assisted by three co-conspirators: Dathan, Abiram and On son of Peleth. Korach, Dathan and Abiram perish, but On’s situation is in clouded in mystery.
The Midrash (Numbers Rabbah 18:20) comes out and says that On’s wife saves the day: On’s wife was wise and practical.She sums up for her husband that he is in a lose-lose situation.Then she gets him so drunk that he falls asleep.
When the boys come by to fetch her husband, she stands at the entrance to her tent and loosens her hair.This unseemly act causes the boys to turn tail and run off to their doom.
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I heard a shiur by Rabbi Riskin in which Moses’ punishment not to enter Israel (Parshat Chukat next week) is directly attributed to his encounter with Korach in this week’s Parshah. No one sticks up for Moshe. Not one of shows gratitude for all that he has done. And Moshe is angry. Then next week when Moshe encounters the rock, his misplaced anger comes out. The rock becomes the Jewish people, stiff-necked, hard and implacable. And he strikes it.
Rabbi Riskin concludes that to be a leader of the Jewish people, one must not lose patience, must be forgiving and love us passionately despite our failings.
Korach failed in his rebellion, but in doing so he may have pushed Moshe out of his office
In a previous Parshah, Behaalotecha, Eldad and Medad were prophesying. Joshua becomes outraged. Moses calms him down, gracefully saying, “If only all of G-d’s people would be prophets!”Yet in Parshat Korach, when Korach challenges Moses’ authority saying, “The whole community is holy, and the Lord is with them, why then do you exalt yourself over the community of G-d?”
And in this instance Moses uses his power to call upon a miracle to eliminate his opposition.
What’s going on here? How are the two instances reconciled?
This is the argument that Korach
put forth — “All of the congregation is holy, and God is in their midst” (Num.
16:3) — does not seem silly at all. Is not Korach simply restating what God
told the entire nation, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy”
(Lev. 19:2)? What was so wrong with his claim? Why did Moses insist that only
Aaron and his descendants could serve as priests?
In the test of Korach and the 250
followers, Moses suggested that they offer incense and not burnt offerings.. This
is a hint that Korach’s vision reflected an underlying truth, but one for the distant
future, when sin-offerings will no longer be needed to atone for our
wrongdoing.
Looking ahead: The Jewish people
will always exist, the distinction of Aaron’s descendants as Kohanim is not
permanent. In the future, all of Israel will be elevated to the level of
priests. God’s declaration to Israel, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation to Me” (Ex. 19:6), refers to this future era.
Adapted from Chanan Morrison’s “Gold
from the Land of Israel”, pp. 252-255;
MOTHER EARTH The Land of Israel is held to be a special place within the world, within the planet Earth. The Land of Israel may be viewed as being part of a living organism (the Earth) with self-regulatory functions. This view seems similar to those who adhere to the Gaia-Mother Earth theory where the Earth itself is deemed to be organic and alive.
Is the Earth and/or the Land of Israel alive and do they exhibit self- regulatory functions? Consider the Torah reading at 18:25 and18:27-28:
“For the people of the land who preceded you, did all of these abominations, and the land became defiled. And let the land not vomit you out for having defiled it. as it vomited out the nation that preceded you”.
Consider the Earth opening up and swallowing Korach and his followers or the Earth crying out regarding the blood of the murdered Abel.
A rhetorical question, an answer is not expected: If the Earth is an entity that embodies the properties of life, where then would you place Israel? Zionist that I am, without missing a beat, I would exclaim: the heart!
For a better answer, at least to me, consider Israel to be part of a cell, one of the trillions of cells that you and I have and which together comprise our body, our universe so to speak. If Israel is a distinct part of a cell, I would place it within the cell’s nucleus where it has its own special DNA as does us Jews. For me, Israel is the equivalent of a cell’s mitochondria, where the energy needed for the cell’s function is produced. What do you think?
The Haftarah portion is from Samuel I, 11:14 - 12:22.
About 400 years before, Joshua, starting out from Gilgal, had conquered the Land. It had taken him 14 years. Then for a period of more than 300 years, from time to time when we were beset by enemies, we were led by Prophets and Judges. Our enemies were the Ammonites or the Moabites or the Philistines and even some remaining Canaanites.
Now we requested a different kind of leadership; we wanted a King. Hashem listened and although not entirely pleased, granted the request. Saul, the Benjaminite was anointed King of Israel. Samuel, who unselfishly administered to us for 40 years, traveling from village to village on his own dime, begrudgingly went with the program. Listening to his words I hear some regret and remorse.
“If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us to this land and give it to us…”
This is an argument that calls upon us to have faith in Hashem.
Years later, despite the Bnai Yisrael being battle hardened, our faith in Hashem is reciprocated when He brings down the walls of Jericho. And after that miracle it took seven more years of bloody fighting before the Canaanites were routed and an additional seven years of mopping up.
That was over three thousand years ago. Likewise in today’s times, it takes more than faith alone. For example:
In the battle for Jerusalem in 1967, Ammunition Hill was the Jordanian strong point.In just a few hours time, half of the IDF paratroopers involved in the battle were either killed or wounded before overcoming the enemy.
We had to stand up then as we have to stand up now.
What I like best in the Parshah is the dialogue between Moshe and Hashem that takes place after Hashem calms down after visiting the plague on the nay-sayers, and after Hashem has condemned the current generation to die in the desert for having rebelled against Him. At 15:2-27 Hashem instructs Moshe in detail regarding bringing sacrifices when we enter and are domiciled in the Land:
“When you will come to the Land that I am giving to you, your settlements…”
For me the focus is on the wordמוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם…your settlements, abodes, residences, domiciles, the places where you sit. Hashem, despite all, does not give up on us.
And as an aside: I live in Nahariya which adjoins the Moshav Shavei Tzion,
I don’t claim to be an expert on espionage. But my favorite genre of film and reading material happens to be mystery & thrillers, many of which involve spying. I’ve seen or read a hundred of them. In 2009 I read “A Most Wanted Man” written by David Cornwell, better known as John LeCarre´. He is a master of espionage fiction, and incidentally a person who worked for MI6. I saw a connection between that book and this week’s Parshah. This is the letter that I wrote to LeCarre´:
Nahariya, Israel
August 27, 2009
Dear Mr. Cornwell:
I just had the sublime pleasure of reading “A Most Wanted Man”. In it there is a curious convergence of a theme found in your contemporary tale of intrigue with that of another espionage tale which is found in a most unlikely place, the Book of Numbers. The theme as I see it is: committees do not make for successful espionage.
In the Book of Numbers there is a tale of intelligence gathering, one that took place some 3300 years ago. It is the story of the “m’ragleem”, the spies (Numbers 13:01-14:39). What is interesting to me is the structural similarity between the Joint Steering Committee in “The Most Wanted Man” and the biblical m’ragleem. They are espiocrats all and the eventual outcome of both tales is comparable
The m’ragleem are a joint steering committee of sorts. They are a select assemblage; some say men of distinction, one from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, who are chosen to reconnoiter the Land of Canaan. Ultimately, 10 of the 12 committee members give into their collective fear. These majority members issue an “evil” report for which they are punished. The mission ends in failure and the Israelites are destined to wander in the wilderness for a total of 40 years.
One message presented in both narratives is that spying by committee does not work. That lesson seems to have been learned by Joshua, one of the two dissident biblical committee members. Years later when the mantle of leadership falls upon Joshua, one of his first acts is to mount a surveillance operation against the stronghold of Jericho. This is done not by committee of distinguished men, but by a 2-person infiltration team who spy out Jericho’s defenses. There is stealth, detection, recruitment of a female operative, tradecraft, deception, concealment and escape (Joshua 02:01-02:24). Ultimately, there is victory.
In “A Most Wanted Man”, the reader feels a sense of revulsion towards the Joint Steering Committee. The same is true how Scripture and biblical commentators treat the m’ragleem. They die at the hand of heaven, and some say because of their wickedness are denied a portion in the world to come. I hope Bachmann would have some consolation with that outcome.
Thank you for having once more treating this reader to a tale most current, but in a certain sense timeless.
Yours truly,
Michael Jaron
LeCarre´ graciously thanked me, and among other things wrote “in matters of intelligence there is no such thing as a joint committee!".
"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land which I bring you, then when you will eat of the bread of the land, you shall set apart a portion for a gift to the LORD. Of the first of your dough you shall set apart dough for a gift; as that which is set apart of the threshing-floor, so shall you set it apart. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD a portion for a gift throughout your generations".
This Mitzvah was obligatory when we first entered the Land. There was no waiting until we conquered it and took possession. It is still obligatory today as a Biblical commandment. It is also obligatory outside the Land of Israel as a Rabbinic commandment.
Way back when a household gave 1/24 to the Kohen, a baker gave 1/48.
Today when the amount of flour is an Omer or about 59 ounces an ounce or so is taken with a blessing, between 43 ounces up to 59 ounces without a blessing:
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to set aside challah.
אשר קידשנו במצוותיו וציונו להפריש חלה
The ounce or so is burnt or wrapped in paper and discarded.
The Prophet Ezekiel at 44:30 writes regarding the Third Temple:
"the first out of your kneading-troughs shall you
give to the priest, to bring enduring blessing into your home".
In the Haftorah portion, Joshua sends out two unnamed spies. Midrash identifies them as Pinchas and Caleb. This cannot be so because if captured they would likely give away too many important secrets while under interrogation. Also they are far too old for field work.
Well, if not Pinchas and Caleb, then who? It would have to be someone who Joshua trusted. My first guess would be family, someone from his Ephraim Tribe, or better yet someone from his clan.
However, in my imagination I’m thinking of Moshe’s two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. In this speculative scenario, Moses their father has been separated from his family. The boys need a strong substitute father figure. Uncle Aaron is too busy with his own brood. Who better than the bachelor Joshua to fill the gap. He raises them like his own, has trained them and trusts them implicitly.
Rachav and the two spies, James Tissot, 1896-1902
In the Haftorah portion for Parshat Shelach, two anonymous Israelite spies are housed in the house of a woman named Rachav, who is described as aזונה:
"And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men out of Shittim to spy secretly, saying, Go see the land and Jericho. And they went, and came to the house of an innkeeper named Rachav, and they lay there".
In this translation, a זונהis described as an innkeeper, but in many other translations the word זונהis commonly described as a prostitute. While it is understandable why a translator would want Rachav to run a bed and breakfast instead of turning tricks, the problem is how do you transition from being a whore to being an innkeeper and remain loyal to the text?
The answer lies in taking the root of זונהto be the letters zion-nun orזן. Remember the first blessing in the Grace after Meals where Hashem is described as the הזן את הכול, the nourisher of everyone.
There you have it, not quite plain as day, in theברכת המזון
People of The Book squeeze meaning out of the text. That’s what we do. Don’t be bashful; go ahead and give it a try. But how?
In my opinion the way to start is to look to how the best of the best of Biblical Commentators went about making interpretations. Hands down, that would be the 11th century commentator on the Torah, par excellence, Rashi. What was his interpretive method? And even though we sorely lack Rashi’s knowledge, wisdom and capacity, can we give it a try without thoroughly embarrassing ourselves?
I think so, and I will go so far as to speculate that Rashi would encourage us to do so. Quoting from Avram Grossman’s 2012 book “Rashi” on his interpretive method: “According to Rashi, every biblical verse – and in particular, every verse in the Torah – bears a significance and message that go beyond merely conveying information. Accordingly, one must do more than interpret the literal meaning of the words”.
Try this on for size:
The opening words of the Haftarah portion read:וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, “Joshua sent…”
Who is Joshua? We have a tradition that you can tell something about a person by delving into the meaning of his name. In this case,יְהוֹשֻׁעַ means “God saves” or rescues or delivers. Perhaps we have a foreshadowing of what the two spies are going to encounter.
The root of the wordוַיִּשְׁלַחwhen used as a noun has the connotation of an emissary or agent. So maybe, we have here: “God’s saving emissary”. This could point to either Joshua or the two men or Rachav. My money is on the later.
Joshua sends out two men. They are spies. What kind of spies are they? The text says שְׁנַיִם-אֲנָשִׁים מְרַגְּלִים חֶרֶשׁ. The possible answers may focus on how you interpret the word חֶרֶשׁ. If חֶרֶשׁis being used as an adverb, then they were sent out secretly. But why the need for secrecy? An obvious answer, and one that relates to our world today, is to avoid intelligence leaks. This is a clandestine secret mission, fraught with danger. The fewer people who know about it, the better. Was there possibly a spy from Jericho in the Israeli camp?...maybe, maybe not, best not take a chance.
חֶרֶשׁcan also mean silently. That’s an easy one; silence or stealth goes without saying. However, חֶרֶשׁhas an implication of being deaf. There is a commentator who suggests that the spies should pose as being deaf. This is so because then the inhabitants of Jericho thinking that they are deaf will talk openly around them, and perhaps reveal secrets.
And perhaps a “deaf” person has difficulty in speaking. By not speaking, the spies won’t be revealing their lack of facility with the Canaanite language.
חֶרֶשׁcan also signify earthenware or clay pots. There is another commentator who suggests that the spies should pose as merchants selling clay pots. This would be their cover when question by the city’s gatekeeper: “What is your business here?” “We’re here to sell our pots”. Likewise,חֶרֶשׁcan also mean a carpenter, and another cover story: “We’re just here to erect some scaffolding for the city’s walls”.
Spies want to blend in. They do not want to be remembered. They do not want to call attention to themselves. A pair of deaf people, pottery salesmen or carpenters are sure to be remembered. And those commentators who are surely heads and shoulders above us laypeople would have benefited if they had read Graham Greene or John LeCarre, both of whom worked for MI6.
Falling back on Rashi, the master of interpretation, I suggest that חֶרֶשׁrefers to the word plow or plowman. The B’nai Yisrael are nomads. At this juncture they are not farmers. I’m thinking that the two spies changed out of their herdsman attire, got rid of the pungent odor of the flocks by taking a good bath and donned a farmer’s clothing. If asked, they tell the gatekeeper that they are in town to buy seeds for next year’s planting. I think it will fly, not only in the sense of a good cover story, but in the literal sense of the text.
The reality however turned out to be that their cover must have been blown from the start. It did not take very long before the King’s henchmen to catch on to them. But for the quick thinking of Rechav, the mission would have been a disaster.
But going beyond the literal sense of the text, consider what a plow or plowman does. It or he turns up the dirt which is exactly what the two spies have been tasked to do. And incidentally, one verse later, that is what they will be accused of, “digging” into the land”,לַחְפֹּר אֶת-הָאָרֶץ.
I could go on and explain how and why Rachav is sometimes referred to as an innkeeper and not a hooker, but by now you get the gist of making interpretations. Try it yourself. Run your commentary past your Rabbi or maybe your wife or husband. Put a smile on Rashi’s face.
In general terms what were the men that Moshe sent out commanded to do? Were they spies? In this Parshah and in Sefer Devarim they are not called by any term. But, there is a clue as to what they are is found in what they are commanded to do: In verse one and two , Hashem told Moshe to send out men, and they willוְיָתֻ֨רוthe Land…
The infinitive is לתורwhich meansto tour, explore or to survey andis foundin verse 17. A person who surveys, looks carefully and thoroughly at someone or/and somethings, so as to do an appraisal of them.
These men are charged to collect information about their enemy who they intend to battle and report on the Land in which they will reside. A person who engages in this activity is aמרגל, a spy.
As an aside: It is interesting to note that without the vowels, וְיָתֻ֨רוּ֙ becomesיתרו,Moshe’s father-in-law, who in my opinion was a conniving renegade spy.
The translation is a little difficult, but you are already know thatזֹנִיםis a reference to harlotry, and תָתוּרוּ has something to do with checking things out. However,לְבַבְכֶם, “your hearts”, brings up another issue. In the Chumash, heart does not have a romantic connotation. The function of the heart to the biblical person thirty five hundred years ago comes most close to the function of the mind. There is no word for “brain” in the Chumash. In Egypt at that time, the brain was just a waste product to be discarded in preparing a mummy. The gist of the commandment goes to not exploring lustful thoughts that will get a man into trouble.
In effect, the tzitzes are akin to a male chastity belt.
