Believe it or Not – Matot-Mas’ei
“After miraculously crossing the Red Sea, Am Yisrael travelled through 8 places in the desert – Midbar Sin, Dofka, Alush, Refidim, Midbar Sinai, Kivrot Hata’ava, Chatzerot and finally Ritma, on the border of Eretz Yisrael. The camp was buzzing with excitement. A little over a year after leaving Egypt, they were about to enter the Land of Milk and Honey that HKB”H had promised them. The spies had just returned with a glowing report and had given the green light.
Moshe told them all to awake early and gather on the banks of the Jordan River. Moshe and Aharon triumphantly led the procession, behind them Aharon’s sons Nadav, Avihu, Elazar and Itamar carrying the Aron Habrit, followed by the rest of Am Yisrael. With a series of trumpet blasts the waters of the Jordan parted as they did at the Red Sea. The water downstream continued to flow, while the water upstream began to pile up into a mountain of water thousands of miles high until it reached the outer atmosphere. All over the world the water split in a similar fashion – even in a glass of water you were drinking and the mountain of water could be seen all over the globe.
Am Yisrael crossed the Jordan and entered Eretz Yisrael. The nations residing there were gripped with fear and fled, leaving the entire land unpopulated and the Twelves Tribes, each designated a different region, walked into ready built cities, ready tilled fields, unpacked and settled.
A year later, after intensive building operations coordinated by Betzalel and Oholiav, under Moshe’s direction and aided by a recruited workforce from all of Am Yisrael, the Beit Hamikdash was constructed on Har Hamoriah and the tikkun olam was complete. The world was restored to the state of Adam Harishon before the sin.
And so it has been for the last 3331 years. The world is at peace, with everyone sitting under his fig tree studying Torah while munching luscious grapes from the dangling grapevine, without a worry in the world, enjoying untold prosperity, excellent health and longevity.
As I write these words, I am peering out the window at the children playing and laughing in the streets of Jerusalem as everyone is furiously preparing for next week’s chag of Tisha Be’Av which will take place in the Mikdash with רבבות אלפי ישראל singing and dancing to the beat of Yaakov Shwekey, Avraham Fried, Mordechai Ben David and Yonatan Raz’el accompanied by the world-famous Levi’im Symphony Orchestra & Choir.”
Yes, this is exactly the way it could have been. We could all be right now basking in the light of the Shechina, in a Gan Eden on earth, with all the best views from Norway, Argentina, Australia and Switzerland concentrated here in Eretz Yisrael, the most idyllic weather in the world, the most luscious fruits, learning Torah with Moshe Rabbeinu, David Hamelech, Shlomo Hamelech and Rabi Akiva.
So what went wrong? How is it that 3331 years after Ritma, both Batei Mikdash are now destroyed, 1950 years have passed since the last Korban Tamid was brought, the last Mizmor of the Levi’im on the stage in the Azara was sung, the last kezayit of Lechem Hapanim was eaten by a Kohen. How is it that we have endured 1950 years of oppression, expulsion, exile, genocide and assimilation and the end is nowhere in sight?
What went wrong seems like such a small slip. One fragile night of insecurity and history was changed forever. The 10 spies returned from their mission with a slanderous report of Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael mistakenly believed them, and spent the night weeping and wondering how HKB”H could hate them so much –
בשנאת ה' אתנו הוציאנו מארץ מצרים לתת אתנו ביד האמרי להשמידנו (דברים א, כז).
Hashem’s reponse –
אתם בכיתם בכיה של חנם לפני, אני אקבע לכם בכיה לדורות (במדבר רבה טז כ).
On that fateful night 3331 years ago the idyllic scenario I described above went up in smoke, together with our two Batei Mikdash and is the reason that we will be once again sitting on the floor in just over 10 days mourning and weeping-
אבתינו חטאו ואינם ואנחנו עונתיהם סבלנו (איכה ה, ז).
It seems like such a small slip, but it is much deeper than that, it is part of basic human nature!
It causes me no end of grey hairs when I repeatedly try to impart my life’s wisdoms to my children, all the things I learned in my life the hard way - so that they may learn from my mistakes and not have to go through the pain and suffering I did. I want to spare them that and jumpstart their lives to a better level. But it falls on deaf ears. I am greeted either with “Yes Abba” at best and they forget what I say two minutes later, or “Why can’t you leave me alone to live my own life. You made your mistakes, now let me make mine!” at worst. Honestly though, when I think back – I was no different at their age and I am ashamed to admit how many things my parents advised me which I ignored and ended up learning the hard route.
That unfortunately is what human nature is. Someone can tell you something, it might even be an amazing someone, like G-d Himself, but just hearing it is usually insufficient. For us to truly internalize it and learn from it, we have to fall and experience the pain of it ourselves to truly learn the lesson.
HKB”H told His children – “I love you. I want to spare you the pain, so straight off I am going to tell you the right path to take. I am taking you to a Land flowing with Milk and Honey, with scenery better that Niagra Falls and a climate that is simply geschmack!”.
But like any adolescent, Am Yisrael said “Yes Abba” and forgot it two minutes later. If they hadn’t forgotten it, they would not have urged Moshe to send spies in the first place, against Hashem’s will and they would not have believed these slanderous spies who had their own personal agenda (See my shiur on parshat Shlach (https://www.showbreadinstitute.org/shlach2021 ).
We can bemoan the fact that our ancestors sinned and that we have to suffer the consequences of their actions, but how different are we? We have had 1950 years of galut to learn the lesson. 1950 Tisha Be’Avs, sitting on the floor reading Megilat Eicha by dim candlelight and in 10 days’ time it will probably be 1951.
How many of you know that there were actually two Megillot Eicha? The Tanach tells us that the first one Yirmiyahu, commanded by Hashem, dictated to Baruch be Neriya the sofer. (It consisted of only 3 prakim, what we know today as 1,2,4). This made a lot of waves in Am Yisrael, so much so that eventually the king Yehoyakim ordered that they bring it to his palace and read it to him (actually it was to his winter retreat). The Gemara in Moed Katan (26a) relates that when Yehoyakim heard Yirmiyahu’s nevuah in Eicha, he tore it to shreds and burnt it. Yirmiyahu had to re-dictate it and the second time, on Hashem’s command, he added an extra two prakim (3, 5) and in addition he also made a small change. In the first version there were 22 psukim in each of the three chapters, according to the order of the aleph bet. In the second version Yirmiyahu switched the order of the letters ע and פ in chapters 2,3,4 and preceded the ע with the פ. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (104b) teaches us that HKB”H switched the order to show that the 10 spies began with a פה and then followed with an עין – they first spoke with their mouth before their eyes saw.
What did the 10 spies report when they returned from their mission? That they saw the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael intensely occupied with burying corpses. They deduced from this that Israel was an ארץ אוכלת את יושביה. They spoke with their mouths, but their eyes did not see. What did they not see? They did not see a prior incident when another nation was intensely preoccupied with burying corpses – when they were leaving Egypt. After the last plague of bechorot, the Egyptians had to bury millions of dead and as a result did not have time to protest Am Yisrael’s sacrificing their god (the korban Pesach), or stop them from leaving. HKB”H did us a huge chessed so that we could leave Egypt like kings! When they saw the Canaanites burying their dead, they should have seen the similarity of circumstances and realized that it was a chessed HKB”H was doing for them so that they would be able to spy undetected.
Am Yisrael, upon hearing this report should have stoned the 10 spies, because they too should have made the connection and realized that HKB”H was actually doing it out of love for them and not as they said - בשנאת ה' אתנו. This was, according to Chazal, when the middah of שנאת חינם was conceived in Am Yisrael, to plague them ever after.
We moan and weep on Tisha Be’Av, but are we any different? There are so many things - good, positive things going on around us, but do our eyes see? Or do we instead use our mouths to complain and twist things, like the meraglim? When we greet someone and ask how they are, what is the standard response? “Baruch Hashem”. Baruch Hashem what? If we prod a little further, we very often get the response “יהיה בסדר” which really means that right now it is not so beseder , but we hope it will be. The IRS just did an audit, my wife totaled the car, my son failed his exam, I just got a call from my bank manager ……. But “יהיה בסדר” – it will be OK! What a pitiful response that is “Baruch Hashem”. The correct response should be “Baruch Hashem – everything is as it should be”.
We look around us in Eretz Yisrael and what do we see? Do we see the amazing degree of prosperity we live in today, compared to our grandparents 50 years ago? Do we see the prolific Torah study and ever increasing number of Yeshivot? Do we see the unbelievable achievement of a country a mere 70 years old, in technology, in agriculture, in Nobel prizes? Do we see the children playing and laughing in the streets of Jerusalem? Do we see the ingathering of exiles and the tipping point that there are now more Jews in Israel than in the Diaspora? Do we see the incredible work done by the hundreds of thousands of gomlei chassadim in gamachim and amutot throughout the country?
Our eyes see, but they do not see! Instead our mouths work overtime – complaining about the prime minister, complaining about the government, complaining how difficult it is to make a parnasa, complaining of the bureaucracy, of the difficult next door neighbor, the poor customer service of the cell phone company, the weather, the high prices in the supermarket, the low interest rates for savings schemes, the driver that cut me off at the traffic light, and on and on and on. Preceding the עין with the פה.
We cry on Tish Be’Av and pray that the Beit Hamikdash will be rebuilt. The Beit Hamikdash could be rebuilt tomorrow! And this is from someone who is in the know! Machon Hamikdash has ready-made architectural floor plans for the building. We know practically everything there is to know about the Ketoret, the Parah Aduma, the Mizbeach, the Menorah, the Lechem Hapanim (I have this on good authority) and almost every aspect necessary to rebuild it. There is a veritable army of people out there intensely researching and clarifying every aspect and nuance of the Beit Hamikdash.
According to the Rambam it is a vital מצוות עשה that we have in our power to fulfill, but are not! And why not? Because we prefer to believe the נביאי השקר – the 10 spies in our current day and age, who will tell us every reason why we should not build it, the Mossad, the Shabak, our own prime minister, the NSA, the American Foreign Secretary, the EU and I say this with great sorrow – many Rabbanim…. all giving us reasons not to build it. It will ignite the Arab world, it will upset the geopolitical balance between the world powers, it will harm the economy, it will do this, it will do that!
We prefer to believe them rather than believe HKB”H who loves us and commanded us to build His Mikdash. We are like adolescent children who do not believe our Father when He tells us what we should do. We prefer to learn the hard way.
We have been learning the hard way for 1950 years ….. and ticking. Both Rabbeinu Bachyei and the Tzror Hamor say that the 28 מסעות after Ritma (where the meraglim sinned), are hints to the מסעות Am Yisrael had to endure in the years of galut Edom after churban Bayit Sheini.
The Navi Yishayahu tells us (פרק ס,כב) that there are two timelines for the geulah – בעתה and אחישנה. HKB”H has been waiting for us for 1950 years for us to get our act together and hasten the geulah with אחישנה – by doing what we need to do as individuals and as a nation to bring it about ourselves. Every generation has the potential for the mashiach and the geulah, but so far we have botched it, time after time. But HKB”H will not wait forever – he has a deadline בעתה, when regardless of who and what we are the geulah will come.
The good news is (and this is according to most of the great mekubalim of our time) that בעתה is almost upon us and the geulah is close at hand. So why not sit back and simply wait for it? The most compelling reason is that for בעתה to occur multitudes of Am Yisrael will die and there will be great suffering before it happens. If we bring it about ourselves with אחישנה we can spare ourselves this great suffering and achieve the same result.
Every year we are confronted with our own Ritma. As we enter the final stretch before Tisha Be’av next week, we need to ask ourselves - What do we truly believe?
Do we truly believe in rebuilding the Beit Hamikdash? Or it is simply lip service three times a day and in birkat hamazon? If someone believes they will eventually be a doctor, it is not sufficient to believe in themselves and that they can do it (although that is a good starting point), they need to burn the midnight oil, pouring over medical textbooks and learning about it. Why do you want the Beit Hamikdash to be rebuilt? Do you know the ramifications of having a Beit Hamikdash? What benefits will it provide for you personally? What part will you personally play in the Beit Hamikdash and the avodah? (don’t worry, you are in good company, 99% of the people asked do not know the answers to these questions – and that is why we are 1950 years and counting). If you can, get involved in studying the Kodshim – all those masechtot that everyone says are impractical and not relevant today. And if you can’t, then at least help support and fund those who are intensively working to make the Beit Mikdash a reality.
We need to change our mindset, surpass basic human nature and believe in HBK”H when He tells us something - instead of wasting half or more of our lives learning it the hard way with all the nu nu’s and “klaps” along the way. We need to believe that HKB”H loves us and whatever He does is for our benefit, to make us better people. We need to be able to truly answer when asked “How we are?” – “Baruch Hashem – everything is as it should be”, the good and (what appears to us) is not so good right now, it is for our benefit in the long haul.
We need to be able to truly see and look at our world and our situation through the correct prescription glasses and appreciate all the reflections of love that HKB”H has for us and segulat Am Yisrael.
If can we do that then there will not be a 1951. 1950 (last year) will have been the last Tisha Be’Av and next week will be the geulah and Tisha Be’Av will be transformed into a celebration in the Mikdash with רבבות אלפי ישראל singing and dancing to the beat of Yaakov Shwekey, Avraham Fried, Mordechai Ben David and Yonatan Raz’el accompanied by the world-famous Levi’im Symphony Orchestra & Choir. בבי"א
