In this week’s Parsha, we learn about the consequences about speaking lashon hara, or evil talk. We are told that the children of Israel were punished a day for a year. For forty days of spying, they were to stay in the desert for 40 years. Perhaps Judge Gordon of Mississipi thought about this week’s Parsha, when he sentenced Mr. Killen to 60 years in prison for the killing of 3 civil rights workers in 1964. On 6/21/05, the judge gave him 20 years per murder. That means that Mr. killen will be out at 140 years, which is basically a death sentence. Unfortunately, the generation that witnessed the exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the red sea, the revelation at Mount Sinai, save Calev and Joshua, were destined to die in the wilderness due to the spy story. From this story , we see that the actions of a few people can affect many. Likewise, today, (6/24/05) wesee how the disappearance of a tourist, Natalee Holloway, can effect the entire nation of Aruba. We learn from Rashi that the people were given free reign to send spies. In fact, God respects our free will,as we recently learned in Parshas Bechukosai, where it says, Im BechukosaiTeileichu, if you listen to my statutes. We are not forced to do anything. We have free will. Even though our ancestors sinned, God still gave us the light of the Menorah to show us the right path. The Torah says the following, v hp kg irtp rcsnn van o,t jkahu, “And MMoses sent them from the Desert of Paran by the word of God”(Numbers 13:3).If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term vrbn ,Menorah. We just learned in last week’s Parsha how Aharon was commanded to light the candles of the Menorah throughout the sojourn in the desert. Although the Children of Israel might have sinned, they did learn a lesson. In any event, the punishment was really a blessing as the Children of Israel were privileged to learn the Torah of God from Moses for a forty year period. No where in the history of our nation that we had so much time to study the Torah. We were one big Yeshiva. In this week’s Parsha, the Children of Israel were privileged to learn about the commandment of ,mhm , tsitsis. According to Rashi, the root of the word is .hm, meaning bud.
Moreover, the commandment of tsistis opens us up to the gateway of Torah. The Torah says, ,kf, kh,p ;bfv ,mhm kg ub,bu , “and they shall place upon the tsitsis of each corner a thread of turquoise wool” (Numbers ). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term, v,mp, meaning to open up. Hence, when we wear tsitsis with their 32 strings,which symbolize our 32 nerve systems, we open up to the world of Torah. May we always have an open mind to study and appreciate our Torah.
A refuah shlaimah to my father, Yaakov Zev Ben Malka, who is recovering from stroke at Vanderbilt Nursing Home, SI, NY
Mazal to Sam and Yocheved Salomon on their son’s wedding this coming Sunday.
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