Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

How great is the power of lashon hara! For when we were in the desert, many times we rebelled against the L-rd, as in the episode of the golden calf and the like, and still their decree was sealed only because of the lashon hara of the spies alone. And we find there (Arachin 15a) that verbal imputation of an [illicit] act ["motzi shem ra"] is worse than the act itself. For one who ravishes a virgin pays a fine of only fifty silver shekels, while one who imputes an evil name [to her] is fined a hundred silver shekels, it being written (Devarim 22:19): "And they shall fine him a hundred [shekels of] silver… for he has given out an evil name [(of licentiousness)] about a virgin of Israel." And he [the imputer of the evil name] also receives stripes because of this, as it is written (Ibid. 18): "And they shall chastise him [with stripes]."

And now we shall explain in brief the episode of the spies. For, on the surface, it is cause for great wonder: What is it that caused them to sink to such depths and to mislead Israel? More than that — even Sanhedrin erred in this, it being written (Bamidbar 19:1): "And the entire congregation [the Sanhedrin (Rashi)] lifted their voices, etc." And more than this, they said (Ibid. 13:31): "For they are stronger than He," which our sages of blessed memory interpreted as: "He is unable, as it were, to rescue His vessels from there." How could they speak such nonsense?

But, when we reflect upon this well, we find that we, too, have this kind of yetzer hara which befuddled the spies. (We shall explain this at the end.) But first let us speak about the spies, who went to spy out the land. For Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, said (Ibid. 18): "And see what the land is like," which Rashi interpreted: "There is a land that 'grows' warriors, and there is a land that 'grows' weak men. There is a land that grows populaces and there is a land that reduces populaces." (Ibid. 20): "And what of the land? Is it fat or lean, etc.? …And you shall take of the fruit of the land": For it is a great advantage to see the land producing fruits that are big and good. Likewise, when we see it producing strong, tall men. And a large population is a sign of very good air. But all this, [is the perception of] those who believe in the words of the L-rd, who promised to give us the land; and, certainly, "He is not a man, to retract [His word]." But if one wavers in this, and begins to doubt and to think that to defeat warriors so strong as these and a populace as large as this, great merit is required, that all must be righteous and holy, and that we lack men of this kind, the more he sees the men of the land to be numerous, strong, and so tall as to defy conventional measurement, all of this is overwhelming to him, and he is crestfallen.

And it is known that it is the way of the yetzer to vary its stratagems, for which reason it sits at the two openings of the heart (Berachoth 61a). That is, sometimes it instills pride into a man's heart to make him think that he is one of the fearers of the L-rd, and perhaps, even one of his lovers. And when it beholds a man who wishes to strengthen himself in something for the honor of the Blessed L-rd, in the manner of a true lover, it casts sadness upon his heart, so that he thinks that this mitzvah or this mode of conduct does not become him, but only "the holy ones who are in the land," not one so small as he. And it reawakens in his thoughts mean acts that he did in the days of his youth. And even though sometimes he regrets and is embittered over this, it causes him to forget this and to remember only things that suit his situation, as he thinks, in order to vex and humble him so that he will have no desire for that mitzvah.

Here, too, when they came to spy out the land, the yetzer intensified itself over them, causing them to say: "To defeat men so numerous and so strong requires great, awesome merit which we do not possess. For we have just made the golden calf and [eaten] flesh of lust. [(This, although they had already repented and had wept profusely (for their sin), as we find in Pirkei d'R. Eliezer, that on the last of the forty days of Moses' ascent to the mountain, when they knew that on the morrow he would descend from the mountain all of Israel spent the night fasting and went the next day to receive him, weeping profusely, and it was told them that the Holy One Blessed be He had forgiven them, so that [this day] was instituted for them for forgiveness for future generations)]. For this reason they said (Ibid. 27): "We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is, indeed, flowing with milk and honey, and these are its fruits (28): but the people are strong, who dwell in the land… and also the children of the giant did we see there (29): Amalek dwells in the lands of the south, etc." This, as if to say: "We need the merit of Moses our teacher, as of yore"; as if to say: "Who knows if he will live until then?" (For they had an intimation from the prophecy of Eldad and Medad (Sanhedrin 27a, 29a) [that he would die before then]). And, aside from this (Ibid.): "And the Chitti and the Yevussi, etc." That is, to defeat all of them before we come to Eretz Israel requires great merit. How much more so to come to the people in Eretz Israel and overcome them there!

(Ibid. 30): "And Calev silenced the people towards Moses": As Rashi explains. "He said: 'Is it this alone that Moses has done to us? Did he not split the sea for us and bring down the manna for us, etc.?'" His intent was: If the Holy One Blessed be He had come against us with din, He would not have split the sea for us and He would not have brought down the manna for us. For at the sea, too, they [Israel] were not as they should have been, as it is written (Psalms 106:7): "And they rebelled at the sea, by the Sea of Reeds." And also with the manna, in the beginning there was complaint. And, indeed, in all that period, until now, [as Moses our teacher said afterwards (Bamidbar 14:19): "Forgive, I pray you, the sin of this people in the greatness of Your lovingkindness, and as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now."] And now, too, "we will go up" to Eretz Yisrael, "and we shall inherit it," as Moses said, when we come there.

(Ibid. 13:31): "And the men who went up with him said: 'We shall not be able to go up against the people [(that is, we will not even be able to go up, as they said before (30): "Amalek dwells in the land of the south, and the Chitti, etc.")], for they are stronger than He.'" That is, when does the Holy One Blessed be He drive out a people? When He finds another that is better than it, He gives them power to destroy them and to inherit their place. But for people such as we, who were great sinners with the golden calf and with the flesh of lust, He will not drive out such great peoples. As to His promising us to give us the land, this is only on condition that we merit it, as tzaddikim. [Then,] He would drive out the foe before us and would grant us permission to destroy them.

Now, when the spies saw that the people were wavering, and that some of them were inclining to the view of Calev, they spoke lashon hara against the land, saying (Ibid. 32): "The land which we passed through to spy out, etc." That is, we examined it closely and we saw that its air is very bad and harms people and that only men of unusual strength were left in it. [They intimated thereby: When you come to the land, which is very holy (you will find that) the attribute of din reposes there. For there is no comparison between one who does not do the will of the King outside the palace and one who does not do it inside the palace. Therefore, only absolute tzaddikim can survive there. And we are not on that level, and the land is not fit for us.] (Ibid. 33): "And there we saw the giants… and we were in our eyes like grasshoppers.": That is, our hearts melted, and you, too, when you come there, your hearts will melt with fear. And, as a result, the "higher guarding," too, will depart from you, for, as it is known, His "guarding" is a function of a man's trust in Him, as is well known.

(Ibid. 14:1): And the entire congregation [(the Sanhedrin, according to Rashi)] lifted their voice and clamored, etc." For, in truth, the greater the man, the more he recognizes his lowliness. As we say each day: "Are not all the strong ones as naught before You, and the men of name as if they never were, and the wise, as lacking knowledge, and the understanding, as lacking intellect, etc.?" Therefore, he [the great man] is especially lowly in his eyes, as David said (Psalms 22:9): "And I am a worm, and not a man, the shame of men and the despised of people." Therefore, when the spies put it to them that their generation was not significant in the eyes of the L-rd because of the evil of their acts and the stiffness of their necks, and was not worthy that a miracle be performed for them to overpower these giants, this seemed very reasonable to them.

And these two claims were countered by Joshua and Calev in short: As to your claim that you made a careful inspection and found its air to be bad, we, too, toured it and inspected closely, and we found that (Ibid. 7) "the land is good, extremely good."

And, as to the first claim, that the L-rd's promising the land was contingent upon our being tzaddikim, this is rooted in error. The Holy One Blessed be He is not so exacting with a man as to say: "I will help you only if you are a tzaddik"; but He does say: "I will not help you if you rebel, G-d forbid." Therefore, Joshua and Calev concluded [their argument with] (Ibid. 9): "Only against the L-rd do not rebel." And so long as a man does not rebel against the L-rd to deliberately uproot His mitzvoth, he may hope for all good. As to your frightening the people that there are men of imposing stature there and giants, (Ibid.): "Do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread." If a man chanced upon a great bread for eating, one hundred ells long, would he be afraid to come near it? Does it not lack the spirit of life to war with him? To the contrary, it has been presented to him to eat and to enjoy. Here, too, (Ibid.): "Their (protective) shade has departed from them," for the L-rd has filled them with awe and fright, and they are ours for the eating, as it is written (Devarim 7:16): "And you will eat all the peoples." For the giants, with all their might and strength — their heart is humbled more than the rest of the people, and they hide in the mountains and in the fortified cities, as it is written (Joshua 11:21): "And Joshua came at that time, and cut off the giants from the mountain, from Chevron, from Devir, from Anav and from all of Har Yehudah." And, similarly, (Judges 1:10): "And Judah went… and they smote Sheshai, Achiman, and Talmai."

And now we shall explain what we wrote in the beginning, that this type of yetzer of the spies is found with us, too. That is, if we come to a Jew and ask him: "Do you believe that there is great reward for observers of the Torah?", he will answer: "Certainly, I believe with perfect faith that one moment of pleasure in the world to come is worth more than all the life in this world." And if you ask him: "If so, why are you lax in Torah study, which inevitably results in great laxity in mitzvah observance?", he will answer: "True, happy is he who attains to Torah study and mitzvah observance and thereby merits the great pleasure of the world to come. But who can merit this if not very special individuals? For this requires the expenditure of all one's bodily powers, and his life will be entirely worthless to him. For he will have to separate from all the affairs of the world and sit in the house of study day and night, and all his thoughts will have to cleave to the L-rd and to His Torah. And such a regimen requires a holy man. A man like this merits Gan Eden, but not plain men like me."

But, in truth, this is an error from the outset. The Torah did not require a plain man to learn day and night and not ply an occupation at all, but to ply an occupation and to set aside times for Torah study. And, indeed, the Torah commanded that this be done with faith and without deceit, as our sages of blessed memory have said (Shabbath 31a): "A man is asked [when he is brought to judgment]: 'Were you honest in your dealings? Did you set aside times for Torah study?'" And thus with all of the mitzvoth. When we reflect upon it, we find that the Torah was not at all exacting with a man, as it is written (Michah 6:3): "My people, what did I do to you and how did I tire you? Answer Me." The main thing is that he take care not to be a rebel, G-d forbid, against the King of the world. That is, not to deliberately violate the positive or negative commandments of the Torah. But if he is not a rebel, he is certainly eminently meritorious above.

And when the yetzer sees that in this way it cannot entice a man, he begins to entice him in different ways, viz.: "True, the Holy One Blessed be He accepts a man if he only sets aside times for Torah, but know that when you come for the accounting on high, before the Throne of Glory, there they are very exacting in the manner of Torah study [and, likewise, in the manner of performance of mitzvoth], [to determine] if they were done correctly and without any ulterior motive; and, also, in the manner of Torah study. [They will ask you] if you stopped in the middle for idle talk, and other such strong questions. And you know that the G-d of the heavens is a G-d of truth. Who, then, can emerge meritorious in judgment other than absolute tzaddikim?" With all such arguments the yetzer hara comes against a man in order to make him despair and to belittle him, so that he be lax in the service of the Blessed L-rd. Now, even though, in truth, all of these arguments are justified, the yetzer hara causes a man to forget that the Holy One Blessed be He, who loves lovingkindness and wishes to benefit his creations, created to this end repentance, which preceded the [creation of] the world. Therefore, if one finds himself not to have done the mitzvah or to have learned as he should have, he must immediately regret this and take it upon himself to conduct himself correctly in the future.