S.A.L.T. - Friday

          As part of their response to the report of the scouts, Benei Yisrael conclude that they should return to Egypt: "Why is the Lord taking us to that land to fall by the sword?  Our wives and children will be carried off!  It would be better for us to go back to Egypt.  They said one to another: Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt!" (14:3-4).  A careful look at these two verses reveals that the people appear to raise this proposal, of the nation's return to Egypt, twice.  First, they exclaim, "It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!"  Then, "They said one to another: Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt!" Wherein lies the difference between these two proclamations?

         One might suggest, quite simply, that the first verse, which concludes the nation's protest to Moshe and Aharon upon hearing the scouts' report, was spoken by the leadership.  Clearly, not each of the some two million Israelites personally brought this challenge to Moshe and Aharon; presumably, it was their officials, the representatives of the people, who protested the plan to enter Eretz Yisrael.  Upon hearing this idea of the public officials, "They said one to another" – the masses accepted the new plan.  Word quickly spread throughout the people that a plan is underway to return to Egypt.

         The Netziv, however, explains much differently, claiming that these two verses represent the voices of two entirely different factions among Benei Yisrael.  The first, which expressed the view of the mainstream, did not fundamentally reject the notion of Eretz Yisrael as the destined land for Benei Yisrael.  Nor did they question God's ability to oust the Canaanite nations.  When Chazal claim, as we briefly mentioned yesterday, that the scouts considered God weaker than the mighty powers of Canaan, they did not intend to attribute such a belief to the entire people – or even to all the scouts.  Rather, there was a minority voice among the scouts and the nation that held such a heretical belief.  But the mainstream felt that the current generation was not worthy of entering the land; God can and will, they believed, lead Benei Yisrael to victory over the Canaanite armies, only not in this generation, which consisted of people who worshipped idols in Egypt and the golden calf at Sinai.  They wished to return to Egypt rather than perish at the sword in battle against the Canaanites.

         The second group, by contrast, expressed their desire to return to Egypt for a different reason: "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt." This group correctly realized that they can enter and survive in Canaan only if they accept upon themselves the yoke of mitzvot and conduct their lives accordingly.  They were unwilling to make such a commitment.  They preferred to end the whole "deal," so-to-speak, to give up their right to the land in order to free themselves from the shackles of Torah and mitzvot.  They sought to appoint a new leader who would lead them back to Egypt with an entirely new set of rules, one which allow them more freedom than did the rigorous demands of the Torah.

         This second group, which, the Netziv claims, represented the minority among the people (and therefore the Torah describes this group as "saying one to another"), signified a far graver breach than did the first.  It was an attempt to terminate the unique bond and relationship between God and Benei Yisrael, a total reversal of the process that Benei Yisrael had undergone since they left Egypt.

         Two verses later, the Torah tells that Yehoshua and Kalev, the two spies who opposed the negative report of the other ten, rent their garments.  The Netziv explains this as a response to the blasphemy they had just heard, the desire expressed by this minority group to abandon Eretz Yisrael and the Torah.  Then, "They said to the entire congregation of Benei Yisrael, saying: The land… is a very good land" (14:7).  The Netziv points out that Yehoshua and Kalev turn their attention not to the minority group, but rather to the "entire congregation of Benei Yisrael," the mainstream, in an attempt to persuade them to continue onward into the land.  They correctly realized that there was no use in responding to the minority group.  Not every battle has a chance of victory; firm, resolute heretics of this type cannot be engaged in constructive discourse and dialogue.  Yehoshua and Kalev therefore simply ignored this minority group, and focused their efforts instead on the majority, attempting to convince them that even the current generation can wage a successful campaign against the armies of Canaan.

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