This week brings us the tragic tale of the spies, which is told in fair detail, but nevertheless in a couple of chapters. What really happened then could probably fill a full-length novel, and I even found that someone called Jonah Kain has written one. The text leaves a lot of room for interpretation and our sages, to this day, find many different perspectives as to what went wrong and I would just like to raise a few thoughts here.
To start with, there are those who would suggest that there was little wrong, and the spies presented what they saw. It was in Hashem’s mind all along, that the generation that left Egypt as slaves, would not be able to cope with the fighting needed to reach and conquer the holy land. Interestingly, similarly to the calamity of the golden calf, there was some “fake” news going around, a rumour with regards to Moshe’s death, spread by Eldad and Medad. This generation of freed slaves were highly sensitive and relied completely on Moshe for guidance. The spies themselves, as well as the people, lacked the self confidence in their ability to conquer the holy land without Moshe at the helm.
Opinions then differ as to the character of the twelve chosen, who are incidentally not called spies but men chosen by Moshe, to search out the land, each a leader in his tribe At the start, Rashi is of the opinion that they were honourable, and the Sforno expands on this noting that their first comment on return was that this is a land flowing with milk and honey. But, strangely Rashi then seems to change his mind and in v26 notes the words “vayelchu vayovo’u” they went and they came, and he says just as they returned with bad impressions they had left with bad thoughts. This is emphasized by R Haim Atar (the Or Hachaim) who askes a powerful question. We know from the Talmud that “He who goes to a mitzva will not be harmed? (shluchei mitzva eina nizokin), so these guys should have been protected. Hence, the Or Hachaim concludes that from the outset, they planned to bring a bad report.
How can we resolve this puzzling dilemma raised here, were they good guys or bad guys? The Sfat Emet comes to the rescue in comparing the mission here to that of the two spies that Joshua sent out, who by the way are not even mentioned by name. We are told “Now Joshua sent out two men from Shitim to spy secretly(cheresh).” He explains that the term secretly refers to the spies, in that they treated themselves secretly, they were quiet, unassuming looking “mosad” guys who knew how to keep a low profile. The group that Moshe chose were men of stature, who were nervous that they might lose their status once settled in the holy land, and preferred their elated status in the wilderness.
A different thought occurred to me by chance when noticing some of the old Frumkin wine labels which similar to the Israeli Government Tourist Office uses the graphic of the spies heaving the huge bunch of grapes back with them. The spies talked of milk and honey and brought back grapes, more the “fat of the land,” rather than the basics needed for daily life. They were, as if, saying “great place to visit as a tourist, but not sure if I want to live there,” particularly as all their basic needs were covered by Hashem in the wilderness.
So perhaps the spies report, all boils down to fake news, a new term coined by the whimsical President Trump of how facts can be can be manipulated to suit the story teller. What the spies told was real but the emphasis and presentation turned the tables. These days many of the stories are spread through social media with probable additions and changes on the way. Bnei Yisrael in the wilderness were probably over two million people, and had their social media through word of mouth. Till the words got through the crowds it may well have turned sour.