Chasidut על במדבר 20:1
Kedushat Levi
When the Talmud in Sanhedrin 110 begins by stating that the people of the generation who had left Egypt have no share in the hereafter, the word אין, normally translated as “not”, means that these people considered themselves as totally insignificant, devoid of ego; since this was so, the very fact that they had acquired this level of humility qualified them for an afterlife. The word מדבר used there in the Talmud, usually translated as “desert,” is not used by the sages there in that sense, but is derived from medaber,” they were only speaking,” i.e. their worship of G’d expressed itself through their mouths, prayer, praise and thanksgiving, and the word יתמו in the quotation from Numbers 14,35 does not refer to their “expiring,” but is derived from תמים, “perfection,” the Torah testifying that these people had, as a result of their grievous sin rejecting the land of Israel as their future domicile, realized that they had sinned and had accepted their fate without protest.
They had tried to perfect their personalities by refining their speech so that no improper words should cross their lips. When the Torah adds in Numbers 14,35 שם ימותו, normally translated as “there they will die,” [which would be a repetition of what the Torah had already said, Ed.], the meaning is that they had achieved while on earth what the average person achieves only by reason of his soul leaving its body behind on earth. Moses had hoped that the men he had chosen to explore the goodness of the land of Canaan would approach their task in a spirit that would place them beyond material considerations that are commonplace on earth. G’d was aware of Moses’ lofty aspirations, but did not feel that He should deprive Moses of the opportunity to realize his high hopes for his people. When the Torah writes that the mission proceeded על פי ה', this does not literally mean “at the command of G’d,” but rather: “in the spirit of G’d.” It would be quite wrong for us to give G’d part of the blame for the failure of these men to live up to the trust Moses had placed in them.
The author proceeds to remind us that the sages have said that wherever the Torah associates the death of a person with the word שם, as in Numbers 14,35, this is an allusion that the person or persons concerned died by means of a heavenly kiss, i.e. a kiss from G’d. Rashi spells this out in connection with the death of Miriam, reported in Numbers 20,1, שםwhere the Torah, having already told us of the location where this took place, adds the word שם twice.
[Rashi adds that the reason the Torah did not make this clear beyond doubt by writing: על פי ה', “by the mouth of G’d,” as we find when Moses died in Deuteronomy, 34,5, is seeing that G’d is masculine, it would have given some blasphemer an opportunity to read a sexual nuance into that.” Ed.]
At any rate, we are entitled to understand the words ושם ימותו in Numbers 14,35 as promising each one of the Israelites who had left Egypt as adults but did not get to the Holy Land that they would be given a Divine “kiss” when their souls would leave their bodies.
Whereas it is true that Moses had not had clear proof that these men had already enjoyed a “heavenly” assist, as does every Jew on the festivals we have discussed, he felt that they were of the caliber that could generate this by their own efforts seeing that the mission for which they had been selected was of such significance.
They had tried to perfect their personalities by refining their speech so that no improper words should cross their lips. When the Torah adds in Numbers 14,35 שם ימותו, normally translated as “there they will die,” [which would be a repetition of what the Torah had already said, Ed.], the meaning is that they had achieved while on earth what the average person achieves only by reason of his soul leaving its body behind on earth. Moses had hoped that the men he had chosen to explore the goodness of the land of Canaan would approach their task in a spirit that would place them beyond material considerations that are commonplace on earth. G’d was aware of Moses’ lofty aspirations, but did not feel that He should deprive Moses of the opportunity to realize his high hopes for his people. When the Torah writes that the mission proceeded על פי ה', this does not literally mean “at the command of G’d,” but rather: “in the spirit of G’d.” It would be quite wrong for us to give G’d part of the blame for the failure of these men to live up to the trust Moses had placed in them.
The author proceeds to remind us that the sages have said that wherever the Torah associates the death of a person with the word שם, as in Numbers 14,35, this is an allusion that the person or persons concerned died by means of a heavenly kiss, i.e. a kiss from G’d. Rashi spells this out in connection with the death of Miriam, reported in Numbers 20,1, שםwhere the Torah, having already told us of the location where this took place, adds the word שם twice.
[Rashi adds that the reason the Torah did not make this clear beyond doubt by writing: על פי ה', “by the mouth of G’d,” as we find when Moses died in Deuteronomy, 34,5, is seeing that G’d is masculine, it would have given some blasphemer an opportunity to read a sexual nuance into that.” Ed.]
At any rate, we are entitled to understand the words ושם ימותו in Numbers 14,35 as promising each one of the Israelites who had left Egypt as adults but did not get to the Holy Land that they would be given a Divine “kiss” when their souls would leave their bodies.
Whereas it is true that Moses had not had clear proof that these men had already enjoyed a “heavenly” assist, as does every Jew on the festivals we have discussed, he felt that they were of the caliber that could generate this by their own efforts seeing that the mission for which they had been selected was of such significance.
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