The Biblical spies who gave evil council about the Land were men of high stature. All were leaders of their respective tribes. They were chosen by Moses to represent the people. A full minyan was united in their resolve to reject the promises of G-d. Only two went against the legitimate majority, Caleb and Joshua.
Moses prayed that G-d would give Joshua the strength
to stand up against their evil council. Caleb went to the Cave of
Machpela, in Hebron to pray that the zchut of the Avot would protect him
from the same evil.
This account is but one of many proofs from our Tenach that
it is not "democracy", rather faith in the Living G-d of Israel, which
must determine our behavior. The ten spies did not bring a
false report. What they did was trust their senses over their trust
in the Creator of the Universe. There is no question but that they
did see things which must have been very frightening. Were they simple,
ignorant people their reactions would have most definitely been reasonable.
But these men were leaders of Am Yisrael, and, even more to the point, they had witnessed the miracles performed in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the desert. It defies explanation how such people could have fallen prey to their fear after having witnessed genuine miracles and having heard from Moses the directive of G-d to go in and possess the land.
With such a backdrop it is, perhaps, a bit
more understandable that the leaders we have today, who are so distant
from the holiness of the generation of the spies, would fall prey to their
very real fears.
But, on the other hand, the generation of Caleb had to conquer giants who possessed our homeland. We are already here and have a strong army and the ability to defend the land. Yet, despite our position of strength and possession, our leaders tremble before their fear of the nations of the world.
In the last several months we have seen greater desecration
of G-d than in all the years since our return. It is only from this
desecration that we need fear. We have brought upon ourselves Divine
wrath as we see the warning of G-d coming to pass: Numbers 34/55:
"But
if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then
it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be
pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the
land wherein ye dwell."
Not only have we refused to drive our enemies out of our homeland,
we have sought out the most vicious of them and invited them to take over
parts of our holy land! This is not only a perversion of logic and
common sense, it is a slap in the face to the G-d of Israel who brought
us back to our homeland to build the third and everlasting Jewish commonwealth
here.
A voice from Hebron is clearly needed today.
Today, as in the day of Caleb, a voice must be heard to speak up against
the majority and remind them that they are just plain wrong. The miracles
we have witnessed which led to the creation of the State of Israel may
be less obvious than the parting of the Red Sea, but they are no less miraculous.
We must remind ourselves that we are clearly living Biblical prophesy which cannot be thwarted. Redemption has begun and will continue to completion in spite of any obstacle. . . be it from our enemies or from our own leaders. All we need now is to strengthen one another and just hold on a bit longer. That is the purpose of this column.