Before we can answer that question, we need to first understand how we got to this point and what the backround to Korach's rebellion was. Ramban writes it was Moshe's failure to attain full kaparah for the people in the meraglim episode, which resulted in the decree that they die in the midbar, which set the stage for his leadership to be:
וכאשר חטאו במרגלים לא התפלל משה עליהם ולא בטל הגזרה מהם, ומתו נשיאי כל השבטים במגפה לפני ה׳ (במדבר י״ד:ל״ז) ונגזר על כל העם שיתמו במדבר ושם ימותו, אז היה נפש כל העם מרה, והיו אומרים בלבם כי יבאו להם בדברי משה תקלות. ואז מצא קרח מקום לחלוק על מעשיו, וחשב כי ישמעו אליו העם. וזה טעם: להמיתנו במדבר (במדבר ט״ז:י״ג) – אמרו: הנה הבאת אותנו אל המקום הרע הזה ולא קיימת בנו מה שנדרת לתת לנו ארץ זבת חלב ודבש, כי לא נתת לנו נחלה כלל, אבל נמות במדבר ונהיה כלים שם
We see this same theme echoed in Dasan and Aviram response to Moshe's peace overture toward them:
הַמְעַט כִּי הֶעֱלִיתָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ לַהֲמִיתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר כִּי תִשְׂתָּרֵר עָלֵינוּ גַּם הִשְׂתָּרֵר
You brought death upon us and yet you still want to serve as our leader?
The Sefas Emes in Likkutim takes a different approach, one which is very creative and original. Sefas Emes also turns our attention back to the episode of the spies, but he focusses on the description of what happened as related in parshas Devarim (1:22)
וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ נִשְׁלְחָה אֲנָשִׁים לְפָנֵינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ לָנוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ
Rashi comments:
ותקרבון אלי כולכם – בערבוביא. להלן הוא אומר: ותקרבון אלי כל ראשי שבטיכם וזקניכם (דברים ה׳:י״ט) ותאמרו הן הראנו וגו׳ (דברים ה׳:כ׳) – אותה קריבה היתה הוגנת: ילדים מכבדים את הזקנים ושלחום לפניהם, וזקנים מכבדים את הראשים ללכת לפניהם. אבל כאן: ותקרבון אלי כולכם – בערבוביא: ילדים דוחפים את הזקנים, זקנים דוחפים את הראשים.
The clamoring to send spies came from the youth, who jumped forward to present the idea. They forced the elders, the roshei ha'matos, to stand back, while they took charge.
Rashi interprets Moshe's response וַיִּיטַב בְּעֵינַי הַדָּבָר, to mean בעיניי, ולא בעיני המקום, but Sefas Emes suggests that perhaps the meaning is בעיניי, ולא בעיני הזקנים. The idea to send spies found favor in Moshe's eyes, but not in the eyes of the other leaders, those זקנים who had been shunted aside.
If correct, this explains why although the spies as described in last week's parsha were כֻּלָּם אֲנָשִׁים רָאשֵׁי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵמָּה, the list of their names does match any earlier list of roshei matos/nesiim. Abarbanel observes שלא היו הנשיאים האלה אותם שהקריבו בחנוכת המזבח כי אלו היה נשיאים אחרים and he writes:
אם שנאמר שהראשונים מתו גם הם בתבערה ונמצא שלא חיו אחרי חנוכת המזבח אלא כמו שלשה חדשים. או שמנו אלה להיות מרגלים בלבד נשיאים כראשונים. ולא הלכו אותם שנמנו בראשונה בחנוכת המזבח.
According to Sefas Emes, it makes perfect sense. The original roshei matos/nesiim were the ones who had been pushed aside when the mob demanded that spies be sent. ילדים דוחפים את הזקנים means that the original elders lost their power and were usurpsed. The young upstarts replaced the original leaders with their own slate, and these were the people chosen to be sent.
Who were those original zekeinim? When Moshe asked Hashem for help with his job in Be'haaloscha, Hashem told him (11:16) אֶסְפָה לִּי שִׁבְעִים אִישׁ מִזִּקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָדַעְתָּ כִּי הֵם זִקְנֵי הָעָם וְשֹׁטְרָיו Rashi comments:
אשר ידעת כי הם וגו׳ – אותם שאתה מכיר שנתמנו עליהם שוטרים במצרים בעבדת פרך והיו מרחמים עליהם ולוקין על ידם, שנאמר: ויכו שטרי בני ישראל (שמות ה׳:י״ד), עתה יתמנו בגדולתן כדרך שנצטערו בצרתם
These were the people who took the hit in Mitzrayim when there was a demand for more bricks. Now they got their reward.
Lets look back at that episode in Mitzrayim and see who these people are. The Torah tells us that when these officers came to complain to Pharoah that his demands were unjust and he sent them away, they met Moshe and Aharon on the way out, and gave them a piece of their mind (Shmos 5:19). וַיִּפְגְּעוּ אֶת מֹשֶׁה וְאֶת אַהֲרֹן נִצָּבִים לִקְרָאתָם בְּצֵאתָם מֵאֵת פַּרְעֹה Rashi there comments: ורבותינו אמרו: כל נצים ונצבים דתן ואבירם היו. Among those leaders, among the people who took it on the chin (or in this case, the back), were Dasan and Aviram!
There is an amazing Targum Yonasan in parshas Beshalach. וְאָמַר פַּרְעֹה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְבֻכִים הֵם בָּאָרֶץ סָגַר עֲלֵיהֶם הַמִּדְבָּר (14:3) Most of the meforshim explain that Pharoah was not talking TO Bnei Yisrael, as they had all left. He was speaking ABOUT Bnei Yisrael. But the Targum Yonasan translates וימר פרעה לדתן ולאבירם בני ישראל דמשתיירין במצרים מיטרפין הינון עמא בית ישראל בארעא Dasan and Aviram stayed behind, and it was to them that Pharoah was speaking. How did they survive makkas choshech? How were they zocheh to cross Yam Suf? Maharil Diskin answers that it was in the zechus of their taking it on the chin for others. If you suffer so that someone else doesn't have to, Hashem is willing to overlook a lot.
Sefas Emes concludes with a genius pshat in Dasan and Aviram's complaint הַמְעַט כִּי הֶעֱלִיתָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ לַהֲמִיתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר We all read it like Abarbanel reads it, המעט בעיניך שהעליתנו מן הארץ שהיא היתה בעצם ואמת ארץ זבת חלב ודבש שהיא ארץ מצרים להמיתנו במדבר, meaning Dasan and Aviram were referring to Mitzrayim as their "land of milk and honey," a truly horrific statement. What else could they be referring to? Where else had they lived? But Sefas Emes disagrees. Dasan and Aviram were in fact referring to Eretz Yisrael. They were telling Moshe that they had been the leaders, and had they been asked, they would have said the idea of sending spies is a terrible one and bound to result in tragedy. Eretz Yisrael was in our hands! אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ was ours! In their mind, it was like they were living there already. But, הֶעֱלִיתָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ , you, Moshe, snatched it away from us. You listened to the young upstarts who displaced us, and thereby got us stuck in the midbar.
Dasan and Aviram, make no mistake about it, were not nice people. That being said, you cannot take their redeeming qualities away. They suffered in order to spare others. Even before stepping foot in Eretz Yisrael, they viewed it as if it was theirs already -- not just some unrealized dream. Hashem spared their lives despite their wickedness, took them through the midbar despite their flaws, until this point. Is it therefore any wonder that Moshe would make the extra effort to reach out to them in particular, to see if he could bring them back from the brink?
There is an amazing Targum Yonasan in parshas Beshalach. וְאָמַר פַּרְעֹה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְבֻכִים הֵם בָּאָרֶץ סָגַר עֲלֵיהֶם הַמִּדְבָּר (14:3) Most of the meforshim explain that Pharoah was not talking TO Bnei Yisrael, as they had all left. He was speaking ABOUT Bnei Yisrael. But the Targum Yonasan translates וימר פרעה לדתן ולאבירם בני ישראל דמשתיירין במצרים מיטרפין הינון עמא בית ישראל בארעא Dasan and Aviram stayed behind, and it was to them that Pharoah was speaking. How did they survive makkas choshech? How were they zocheh to cross Yam Suf? Maharil Diskin answers that it was in the zechus of their taking it on the chin for others. If you suffer so that someone else doesn't have to, Hashem is willing to overlook a lot.
Sefas Emes concludes with a genius pshat in Dasan and Aviram's complaint הַמְעַט כִּי הֶעֱלִיתָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ לַהֲמִיתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר We all read it like Abarbanel reads it, המעט בעיניך שהעליתנו מן הארץ שהיא היתה בעצם ואמת ארץ זבת חלב ודבש שהיא ארץ מצרים להמיתנו במדבר, meaning Dasan and Aviram were referring to Mitzrayim as their "land of milk and honey," a truly horrific statement. What else could they be referring to? Where else had they lived? But Sefas Emes disagrees. Dasan and Aviram were in fact referring to Eretz Yisrael. They were telling Moshe that they had been the leaders, and had they been asked, they would have said the idea of sending spies is a terrible one and bound to result in tragedy. Eretz Yisrael was in our hands! אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ was ours! In their mind, it was like they were living there already. But, הֶעֱלִיתָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ , you, Moshe, snatched it away from us. You listened to the young upstarts who displaced us, and thereby got us stuck in the midbar.
Dasan and Aviram, make no mistake about it, were not nice people. That being said, you cannot take their redeeming qualities away. They suffered in order to spare others. Even before stepping foot in Eretz Yisrael, they viewed it as if it was theirs already -- not just some unrealized dream. Hashem spared their lives despite their wickedness, took them through the midbar despite their flaws, until this point. Is it therefore any wonder that Moshe would make the extra effort to reach out to them in particular, to see if he could bring them back from the brink?
There are a lot of people who sadly may not be as religious as we would like, who dont hold to our standards of kashrus or shmiras shabbos. But while we sit at home and enjoy our cholent and kugel, some of those people are taking it on the chin for Klal Yisrael sitting in a tank or a bunker in Gaza or elsewhere. They suffer so we don't have to. And for them, Eretz Yisrael is not just a dream, but it's a reality, it's their home, which they treasure and fight to hold on to, for all of our sake. If Hashem could overlook the wrongs of Dasan and Aviram, surely He can overlook their faults too. And if Moshe can go the extra mile to extend a hand to them, maybe we can do the same. Dasan and Aviram did not have a happy ending, but that doesn't mean every story like theirs has to end the same way.
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