Devarim: Anchoring Our Future in Our Past

The Jewish People’s future must be based firmly on a deep respect for our past, on the tradition of values that have characterized our people since Avraham and Sarah and since we stood as a nation at Sinai.

This point is underscored every year, on the Shabbos before Tisha b’Av, when we read about the sin of the spies, the story of the original Tisha b’Av that undermined our permanent connection to Eretz Yisrael. As told in the Parshat Devarim version, the story began on the initiative of the Jewish people, and from the very first words of that account, the die is cast and our critical failing is highlighted (Devarim 1:22):

“Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send agents ahead to explore the land for us….”

Rashi notes the contrast between the approach as described here – a low point for the Jewish people - in contrast to a description we will read next week that describes the Jewish people in a far better place, at the feet of Har Sinai. Here it describes “all of you” approaching, in a disorganized crowd, in contrast to what it describes there (Devarim 5:20): “You approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.’’ As Rashi explains, based on the Sifrei: “That approach to me was a fitting one — young people showing respect to their elders, letting these precede them, and the elders showing respect to the heads of the tribes that these should precede them. Here, however, you approached me in a crowd, the young pushing aside their elders, the elders pushing aside the heads.”

At the core of our failure in initiating the mission of the spies was our lack of respect for the continuity of values within Klal Yisrael, reflected in the absence of genuine deference to our parents and leaders and their values. Honoring parents is not only an expression of gratitude and decency; it serves as the foundation of our Mesorah, the tradition of both our knowledge and values. It is when we abandon that genuine respect that we lose our connection to that which anchors us, to the morasha kehillat Yaakov, the ultimate heritage of our nation, the Torah given to us at Sinai. Along with that, we similarly undermine the other element referred to as our morasha, our connection to our homeland, Eretz Yisrael. Ramban makes this clear in his commentary to the original version of the story of the spies (Bamidbar 14:17): 

“Moshe did not pray [for mercy] here based on the merit of the patriarchs, and [therefore] he did not mention Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov at all in this prayer. The reason [for not mentioning them] was because the Land was given to the patriarchs, and it is from them that they were to inherit it, but they rebelled against their ancestors, and did not want the gift which the patriarchs desired very much, so how could he say now, “Remember Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yisrael, Thy servants, to whom You did swear by Your own self, … and all this Land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, (Shemos 32:13), since they were saying: “We do not want this gift!”

During this month of “Av”, we need to reset our own values such that they affirm and reflect that which was cherished and valued by our “Avos”, reestablishing in both heart and mind our firm bond with our twin legacies of Torah and Eretz Yisrael.