Fear and Other Skeletons - Skew Your Thoughts

Let's finally get to the point! Fear
The most colossal sin in the history of the Jewish people was the sin of the spies. Although it might have seemed innocent at the time, the Jewish people after escaping Egypt, receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai and on the cusp of entering the land of Israel to fulfill their mission and destiny, requests from Moshe that they should send cadre of people to spy out the land of Israel. Did they really need to check it out? Hashem promised them the land! Would Hashem have promised the land and not give them the where with all to know how to accomplish settling the land? What do you really need the spies for?

What ensued was the greatest self sabotage in history. The "spies" came back from their mission, relayed a scary and negative report about the land and the Jewish people became scared out of their minds. They cried all night about having to enter the land. What did Hashem say? What every good parent says! " OH you are crying for nothing.. I'll give you something to cry about. Not only were the Jewish people; not going to enter the land of Israel at that time, sentenced to 40 years of wandering in the desert, immediate death to those spies that came back with a negative report but that very night of crying became a night of crying for all of Jewish history. We call it tish b av- the 9th day of the Jewish month of AV. Many calamities have occurred on the 9th of av throughout Jewish history including the destruction of the both of the Jewish temples. The very last destruction of the 2nd temple; drive God's presence away from the Jewish people, exiled us out of the land and is still the cause of this 2,000 year old exile. What exactly was the sin of the spies? The Talmud teaches us it was Loshon hara (derogatory/damaging speech about the land of Israel, that caused a lack of Jewish unity -that caused all the destruction our history. Everything I have just said is straight -forward Jewish history.

It happened to be that the spies that were chosen were amongst the greatest men of the Jewish people and the heads of the tribes. How could the "greatest" of our generation cause what would be the greatest sin of all time? How is it possible?
The question is what happened? What was the underlying issue that laid inside of them that caused them to err? Weren't they there in Egypt? didn't Hashem do wonders and plagues for them? How about the water that quenched their thirst from Miriam's well? didn't they drink that water? Weren't they fed Mann in the desert? Weren't they there when Hashem spoke to the entire nation at Mount Sinai? etc etc. Could the clarity of God be more clear? Could they even entertain a doubt as to Hashem fulfills what he promises? How could they not be %100 sure no matter what they saw when they explored and spied out the land that Hashem would be able to do anything to fulfill his promise? It certainly is enough to scratch your head how it is all possible? What was sit about them that impaired their ability to think clearly? Skew reality and truth? This is the question that I have been writing about the last 5 posts.

One answer is in the holy writings of the Zohar. It says that because the spies were the greatest of the generation and they were the leaders of their tribes.... they potentially had the most to lose. There is life before entering the land of Israel and there is going to be an entirely different life in the land of Israel. For one thing, there were so many Mitzvots that only once they entered the land would the Jewish people be obligated to them. Whatever life had been for them in the desert would not be their life in Israel. Having known that - the underlying question is- would they still have their prestigious positions? Would they be as important within the new scheme of the Jewish people? Would they lose everything they had worked for ?

Fear - Fear of change - fear of loss - fear of less status - a lot of fear. Fear causes a person to look at things differently and can even skew what would seem like obvious reality and truth.

One doesn't necessarily know what is influencing the way they think about things even the greatest of the generation.

Got to go-time to put the kids to sleep

There are more factors that skew our thinking to be continued.