Beware of the Thief

Shavua Tov-

The most prominent question asked about today’s פרשת שלח, is how do we explain that the men of distinction, who were great צדיקים, could turn against Hashem with their evil report?

Rav Shlomo Mann, זצ״ל, offers an interesting answer to this question. The spies were told to begin their mission from the south. The Torah says, עלו זה בנגב, “Rise up from the south.” The word, “נגב” has the same letters as the word, גנב, meaning, “thief.”

Moshe was telling the spies to be strong and rise up against the thief, known as the יצר הרע, the evil inclination.

It does its best to “steal” from us all that is sacred; our faith, our optimism, our dreams, and our ability to rely completely on Hashem.

The יצר הרע got the best of these ten, formerly righteous men. They gave in to unwarranted fears, and lost all of their optimism and faith. They panicked and doubted Hashem that we would be able to conquer the Land. Instead, the spies despised the Land.

This is an important lesson for us to realize that we, too, have an ongoing battle with the יצר הרע. We must be alert to be able to defeat all of its efforts to take away all that is holy. We can win this fight with perseverance, love of G-d, and love of Torah.