Comentário sobre Números 14:9

אל תמרדו [ONLY] REBEL NOT YE [AGAINST THE LORD], and consequently ואתם אל תיראו YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO FEAR [THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND].

ONLY REBEL NOT AGAINST THE ETERNAL. This means that [Moses and Aaron told the people]: “Your being afraid [to go up] because of the strength of the people that dwell in the Land is [in itself] a rebellion against the Glorious Name,¹⁰¹Deuteronomy 28:58. for it was not because of your [own] strength that you came out of Egypt, but it was the hand of the Eternal that hath dealt wondrously with you.¹⁰²Joel 2:26. And He has assured you that He will drive them out from before you; if so, believe [in Him] and you will succeed.” They [Moses and Aaron] continued: neither fear ye the people, for they are bread for us, meaning that “even in the natural course of events and through normal methods of [warfare as practiced in] the world, they will fall before us, for the fear of us has overcome them and they will let us consume them like bread.”

אך בה' אל תמרודו, if you indeed want the soil of this land to correspond to your fond hopes of it, it is incumbent upon you not to rebel against G’d, something you have been told about repeatedly. (compare Deuteronomy 11,13-14 lines we recite at least twice daily.)

ואתם אל תיראו, "As to you, do not be afraid, etc." They admitted that any other nation would have reason to fear the inhabitants of the land of Canaan but not the Israelites. They added the letter ו before the word אתם, to say that though the people had accepted the majority report, this did not make it too late for them to change their minds and display faith in G'd.

סר צילם מעליהם, they have no more shelter behind which to take refuge, for all the inhabitants of the land are quaking in their boots, have lost their self confidence after they had heard that G’d had split the sea for you and drowned the Egyptians. Rachav, 40 years later,still relates to the spies that even then the impact of that miracle had not faded from the consciousness of the Canaanites (compare Joshua 2, 9-11).

אך בה' אל תמרודו!, “Only do not become guilty of rebelling against Hashem!” By being afraid of the strength of the inhabitants of that land you have rebelled against G’d, for you know very well that you did not leave Egypt by having defeated the Egyptians. It had all been Hashem’s doing. He has promised you that you will conquer the land of Canaan, and you have no reason to doubt that.

אך בה' אל תמרודו, “Only do not rebel against the Lord!” This verse teaches that a nation afraid [of other nations, Ed.] is an act of rebellion against the Lord. We have a verse in Proverbs 29,25 in which Solomon expresses a similar sentiment, i.e. “man’s fear becomes his own trap, he who trusts in the Lord will be safeguarded.” This fear may lead the frightened person to forget about G’d altogether. This is what the prophet Isaiah 51,12-13 had in mind when he said: ”what ails you that you fear man who must die like grass? You have forgotten the Lord your Maker!”

Consequently “and you…” With this Rashi makes sure that you do not say that these are two independent ideas. Rather one is the resultant of the other, meaning that if you do not rebel against Hashem, consequently you will not have to be afraid.

V. 9. ואתם, und ihr — alles, was sich an geistiger Größe, an sittlichem Adel, an göttlicher Bestimmung und Bundesnähe in dem Gedanken an Israels Vergangenheit und Bestimmungszukunft denken lässt, liegt zusammengefaßt in diesem "ihr". Seien sie die wuchtigsten Riesenleiber mit granitstärksten Felsenburgen, ihr solltet sie nicht fürchten. Vor dem Bewusstsein eurer in Gott und mit Gott starken, geistigen und sittlichen Kraft sollten sie in ihr nichts verschwinden. Ihr müsstet euch schämen, sie zu fürchtenl — כי לחמנו הם drückt eben die vollendete Widerstands- und Bedeutungslosigkeit dieser geistig und sittlich verkommenen und nur mit materieller Leiblichkeit imponierenden Bevölkerung dem göttlichen, geistigen und sittlichen Prinzipe gegenüber aus, das in Israel mit ihnen in den Kampf treten soll. סר צלם וגו׳: sie haben nur so lange Existenz, als sie im Schatten der Nichtbeachtung geborgen bleiben. Mit uns tritt aber Gott, seine Wahrheit und sein die Menschheit erlösendes Recht bei ihnen ein. Vor der Helle dieser Wahrheit schwindet der Schatten, tritt ihre Verworfenheit in das schärfste Licht, und in dieser Verworfenheit sind sie gerichtet und vernichtet — fürchtet sie nicht!

(Joshua and Caleb speaking) כי לחמנו הם , “they are just as if our bread, ready to be consumed. This expression describing enemies as if already utterly defeated, is based on Deuteronomy 7,16: ואכלת את כל העמים “you will consume all the nations.”

כי לחמנו הם FOR THEY ARE BREAD FOR US — i.e. we shall consume them as bread.

TZILAM’ (literally: “their shadow”) IS REMOVED FROM THEM. “That is, their shield and their strength [are departed from them]. The worthy ones among them have died. Another interpretation: the shade (protection) of G-d is departed from them.” This is Rashi’s language. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that “tzilam means the buckler and shield which form a shade [and protection] to people in battle, and they [Moses and Aaron] are thus saying that our fear has fallen upon them, so that they will not take buckler, shield nor helmet to arm themselves and fight against us.” He has explained it well.
But it is possible that Scripture is alluding to the well-known fact that there will be no shadow over the head of a person who is [destined] to die that year, on “the night of the seal.”¹⁰³This is a term signifying the night of Hoshana Rabbah, i.e., the night of the seventh day of the Festival of Tabernacles — the twenty-first of Tishri — when the “Heavenly seal” is put upon the judgment which was decided on the New Year [and Day of Atonement] for each individual and his fate in the coming year. The subject is mentioned by R’mah [Rabbi Moshe Isserles] in Orach Chayim 664:1. However, he discourages anyone from prying into the veiled future, for it is far better to be whole-hearted with the Eternal than to pay heed to such auguries of the future. See also the learned essay on this topic in “Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism” by Israel Weinstock, pp. 249-269. Therefore it says: “their ‘shade’ is already removed from them, meaning that death has been decreed upon them, and the Eternal is with us, for it is He Who dwells in our midst and does miracles and wonders for us in the eyes of all who behold us; therefore, fear them not.” Or it is possible that the verse alludes to the princes above [in heaven], for no nation falls unless its prince falls first, as it is written, The Eternal will punish the host of the high heaven on high etc., and afterwards, on the kings of the earth upon the earth,¹⁰⁴Isaiah 24:21. and as is explained in the Book of Daniel.¹⁰⁵Daniel 10:20. See Ramban above in Seder Beha’alothcha, 11:16. Thus the verse is saying: “the power under whose protection the nations [in the land of Canaan] live is already removed, and the Eternal Who lowered them is with us, therefore fear them not.” And thus the Rabbis said in Midrash Shir Hashirim:¹⁰⁶This is not found in our editions of Shir Hashirim Rabbah. Its source is an unknown “Midrash Shir Hashirim” quoted in the commentary to Song of Songs ascribed to Ramban (see my Hebrew commentary, second edition et seq. Vol. II, p. 528). “And the shadows flee away.¹⁰⁷Song of Songs 2:17. These are the princes of the nations and their angels,” for they are the protection over the nations. I have already mentioned this in other places.¹⁰⁸Exodus 20:3, and above 11:16.

ואתם אל תיראו, if you do not rebel against the Lord He will bring you there and you will have no reason to be afraid of anything, for they are our bread, we have seen with our own eyes that they did not even dare to attack the 12 of us. 40 years later Rachav the innkeeper of Jericho testified that the people were still terribly afraid of the Israelites, none of them summoning enough spirit to go to war against this people. (Joshua 2,11) סר צלם מעליהם, we have seen that they have decided to abandon all armed resistance, reminiscent of what we read in Kings II 7,15 when the armies of Aram had abandoned all their equipment in headlong flight, when they had merely imagined that they were being attacked.

ואתם אל תיראו את עם הארץ כי לחמנו הם, “and you must not be afraid of the people of the land for they are our bread!” Even if we were to confront them without miraculous help from Hashem, they will fall victim to us as they are already scared of us and have lost their former courage, making them as easy to devour as bread.

Like bread. As if it had stated “they are as our bread.”

כי לחמנו הם, "for they are our bread." The reason Joshua and Caleb compared the Canaanites to bread is explained by the Kabbalists. The latter have researched the kind of foods animals exist on and have tried to gain an insight into the significance of the respective animals' food supply. After all, had He but wanted to, G'd could have created the animals in such a way that they did not have to depend on food at all. We know that there are species which feed merely on the spirit (air) which serves such creatures as food. Seeing this is possible, why did G'd not make the Israelites independent of food and all that its preparation entails so that they could devote their entire lives to Torah study and the performance of the commandments? Not only that, but had we been created as independent of a food supply, we would not have been exposed to many of the potential pitfalls different kinds of food represent for us.

סר צלם מעליהם, “their protective shadow has already been removed from them. The Torah describes any “shield,” intended to protect as צל, “shadow.”

סר צלם THEIR DEFENSE (lit., shade) IS DEPARTED [FROM THEM] — i.e. their shield and their strength is departed from them: the virtuous among them are dead; one of them was Job, who had protected them by his righteousness (Sotah 35a; cf. Bava Batra 15a). [Another explanation is: the shade (protection) of the Omnipresent is departed from them]. (Cf. Psalms 121:5).

סר צלם מעליהם, “their protection has already departed from them.” Rashi explains the word צלם, their shade, as a simile for their celestial, horoscope, i.e. the angel provided for them in the heavens. The most able warriors that these people possessed have already died. Another explanation would understand the word צלם as a reference to the time when these people basked in G’d’s shade, i.e. G’d’s protection. Nachmanides, in referring to Ibn Ezra’s commentary that the word צלם is an alternative for מגנם, “their shield,” understands the absence of such a shield now as the absence of fear. The Canaanites had become infected with a fear of the Israelites who had for the last two years defeated every attempt to harm them. As of now the people are not even prepared to battle us with their protective shields held in their hands. It is possible that Moses’ words hinted at a tradition we have that on the night of Hoshanah Rabbah people who are slated to die during that year cannot find a shadow of their heads when they go out looking for it in the moonlight. Moses paraphrased this by saying publicly that these people if they looked for such a shadow of their heads would not find it, and that this would make them even more afraid of their fate. Yet another possible meaning of Moses’ choice of simile, is an allusion to the protective angel that G’d has assigned to each nation, an angel that is always withdrawn prior to the demise of that particular nation. G’d had withdrawn that angel from the Egyptians prior to their drowning in the sea.

Their shield. Because a person’s shield provides him with protection (shade), a shield is termed “a shade.”

I would have answered that if we had not been created in such a way that we are dependent on food for our existence, we would not have been able to fulfil all the commandments in the Torah which deal with certain foods. Our dependence on certain foods enables us to perfom the various commandments in the Torah which are related to food.

The Kabbalists (Shaar Hagilgulin chapter 4 by Rabbi Yitzchak Luria) did not answer our question in this vein. They have added an additional dimension which makes us perceive the lives of all creatures as more meaningful. All living creatures are perceived as achieving a higher level of sanctity by means of the food they consume. The very act of consuming the food helps the inherent level of sanctity they possess to become more manifest through being crystallized. This concept applies even to the "unclean" animals. None of the wicked people, not even Satan himself, is totally devoid of a certain degree of sanctity. In fact, the only reason a wicked person or Samael can continue to exist is this element of sanctity which he contains. The moment this element of sanctity is lost, the entire creature is lost, disintegrates. The same Kabbalists say in chapter 18 of the volume quoted above that it is this element of sanctity which is responsible for these creatures being able to perpetuate themselves when they mate with one another. This is explained in chapter 18 of the volume we quoted above. The spark of sanctity inside a creature is to be viewed as similar to a magnet, i.e. אבן שואבת, a stone possessing the power to attract. This concept helps us understand a saying in Shabbat 34 that when Rabbi Simon ben Yochai looked at a certain person, who had leaked matters which had been discussed amongst the scholars, with fatal consequences. As a result, that person (Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim) turned into a heap of bones. The sanctity within that person was drawn to Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, so that as a result the person in question disintegrated as he could not survive without that spark of sanctity. Keeping these concepts in mind, Joshua and Caleb considered the Canaanites as food for the Jewish people seeing that they had already lost whatever spark of sanctity they used to possess. They elaborated on this theme when they said that the Canaanites' shadow had departed from them, i.e. the spark of sanctity which alone had kept them alive thus far was already in the process of leaving them. The fact that השם אתנו, "G'd is with us," makes us like the magnet which draws unto it these sparks of sanctity which were still within the bodies of the Canaanites. As a result, there was absolutely no reason to fear these people.