(2008/5768)

 In this week’s Parashah’s beginning, Rashi explains Hashem's commandment to Moshe to send out spies to Eretz Yisrael,"Shelach Lecha Anashim," "Send out spies for you," (BeMidbar 13:2) not as an imperative, but rather as a suggestion for Bnei Yisrael's benefit. Commenting on this, the Sefat Emet compares Eretz Yisrael to the Torah SheBaal Peh, the Oral Law. Just as one has to work hard to master the Oral Law, as its name suggests, unwritten, conquering Eretz Yisrael can come only through Bnei Yisrael's will and desire to conquer her. He quotes "VeNichbesha HaAretz Lifnei Hashem," "You shall conquer the land before Hashem," (32:22) to show that only when Bnei Yisrael showed Hashem that they realized conquering Eretz Yisrael's importance, He came and helped them conquer it; therefore, when the Meraglim and Bnei Yisrael showed their disdain for Israel, they were sentenced to forty years of wandering on the ninth of Av, the same day as the destruction of both Batei Mikdash.

From this, we can glean Eretz Yisrael's tremendous importance and that only as a united nation, with determination and effort, will we receive her. Rashi (Sanhederin 98a) explains that Eretz Yisrael will give forth her fruit in abundance, a clear sign of the Geulah, not due to a miracle, but because of our hard labors and toils. To merit the Geulah, we must first prove to Hashem that we truly want it. As Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook beautifully said, "The cause of the exile and lowliness so rampant is that we Jews do not proclaim the value and wisdom of Eretz Yisrael. We do not rectify the sin of the spies, who libeled the Land. The appropriate improvement would be to announce throughout the entire world the glory and majesty, holiness and splendor of Eretz Yisrael." It is our job as a nation, to turn from the acts and manners of the Spies and show that we want the land with all our hearts, and through this, we will BeEzrat Hashem, God willing, merit the Geulah.