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The Short Vort- -““They have a mouth but they do not speak; they have eyes but they do not
The Short Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Thursday the 21st of Sivan 5770 and June 3, 2010
“They have a mouth but they do not speak; they have eyes but they do not see.”
(Tehillim 115:5)
All of us have no doubt heard about the attempt by “humanitarian” forces to lynch and kill Israeli Commandoes as they attempted to peacefully resolve the ‘Flotilla Fiasco’.
We have also heard of how our enemies (from within and from without) have attempted to totally corrupt the facts and are accusing the Israelis of “massacring helpless and innocent pacifists”.
When I first heard about the incident, I did what most people I would have thought would do; I waited to see the facts.
A short time after the incident hit the papers, the IDF posted a very clear and explicit video which clearly vindicates the Israelis and dispels any allegations of a ‘massacre’ or of the ‘outright slaughter of innocent and unarmed civilians’. Indeed, as many of you have no doubt seen, the IDF video shows how the soldiers were the ones who were ambushed and set upon viciously and sadistically. It was only through Hashem’s mercy for His people that not even one soldier was killed!
After I saw the facts, I was confident that soon the controversy would abate as any ‘seeing’ person, after ‘seeing’ the IDF video would obviously now ‘see’ the truth.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
Even after the IDF video was made public, the condemnations and anti-Semitic attacks continued with even greater ferocity.
How can this be?
How can people clearly ‘see’ the facts and nevertheless, refuse to allow their minds to be affected?
Unfortunately, the answer is that they can; they have; and they will continue to do so.
Indeed, perhaps one of first examples of ‘seeing’ yet refusing to be affected by what you ‘see’ is found in this week’s parsha, parshas Shelach.
In the second passuk of the parsha we read:
Perek 13, passuk 2:
"Send out for yourself men who will scout the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. You shall send one man each for his father’s tribe; each one shall be a chieftain in their midst."
Rashi comments:
Send for yourself men: Why is the section dealing with the spies juxtaposed with the section dealing with Miriam? Because she was punished over matters of slander, for speaking against her brother and these wicked people witnessed [saw it], but did not learn their lesson. — [Midrash Tanchuma Shelach 5]
One of the great Chassidic Masters from pre-war Europe, the Palaver Rebbe Zt”l asks a very obvious question.
Rashi explains to us why the story of the spies is positioned after the story of Miriam’s speaking loshon hora against her brother.
The reason says Rashi, is to show us how the spies,- notwithstanding the fact that they actually ‘saw’ the punishment which comes from speaking loshon hora- nevertheless, they did not take the lesson and went on to speak loshon hora about Eretz Yisroel.
Asks the Palaver Rebbe Zt”l,
“I do not understand what is Rashi teaching us here? Is he just trying to show us just how evil the spies really were? Since when is it Rashi’s job to amplify and magnify the sins of the Jewish people? What do we ‘take away’ from this Rashi?”
The Palaver answers beautifully.
The answer must be that sometimes we are required to learn from the misdeeds of our ancestors in order to help us avoid their pitfalls. Rashi is indicating that the juxtaposition of the two incidents is a lesson for all of us that if these great leaders of the Jewish people (and the spies were all indeed great leaders) were able to fall prey to the malady of “they have eyes but they do not see”, how much more so do we have to be on constant guard!
The meraglim (spies) were not especially evil or wicked. However, they did not want to go to Eretz Yisroel. Therefore because of their preconceived bias toward the land they were unable to honestly comprehend that which their own eyes were witnessing.
This is a valuable lesson which we can take with us from this week’s Sedra. Often in life we have already decided on what our agenda is going to be and we have no patience to be bothered by the facts; even if those facts come to us via our own eyes!
If I do not like you, therefore no matter what you show me I will not ‘see’ it; I have been blinded by my hatred and my prejudices.
This is what Rashi is teaching us. Even though the spies ‘saw’ what happened to Miriam; nevertheless, their preconceived conclusions about Eretz Yisroel precluded their minds from ‘seeing’ that which their eyes witnessed.
This also explains the world’s negative reaction to the Jewish people.
Their preconceived hatred of us precludes them from seeing the facts!
This may not make me feel any better as to why the world refuses to see who was right and who was wrong in the ‘flotilla fiasco’. However, it does cause me to stop and think that the next time someone is telling me or better yet, showing me something to prove their point, I must ask myself, “Why don’t I ‘see’ their side of the story? Is it because I am really correct, or is it because I am acting like the spies and I refuse to ‘see’ in my heart that which my eyes are ‘seeing’?”
If I attempt to do this even one time, I will have learned a valuable lesson.
Have a great day and I hope we all ‘see’ clearly today.