This week begins the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy). The Rabbis consider this book, which is the final book of the five books of Moshe, as a review of events that have already transpired in the nation’s history. In this week’s Torah portion, we are reminded of the sin of the spies. Basically, before going into Israel the Jewish people requested to send out spies to scout out the land and come back with a report for the nation. The spies came back and told the nation that the inhabitants of the land were too strong to conquer and that it would be impossible to ever settle in Israel. Because of their lack of faith in Hashem (God), Hashem decreed that the present generation would not live to enter Israel, and would wander in the desert until they all died out.
A very interesting teaching is taught in connection to the sin of the spies. The Torah tells us, back in the book of Bamidbar (Numbers), that after hearing the evil report of the spies “The entire assembly raised up and issued its voice; the people wept that night” [Numbers: 14: 1] Our Rabbis teach us that in response to this weeping, Hashem declared “Because you wept for nothing, so shall it be that you will weep on this night throughout the generations”. That very night was Tisha B’Av (The ninth day of Jewish month of “Av”). The “weeping throughout the generations” that Hashem declared was referring to the future destruction of the first and second Holy Temples, that both occurred on that same day of Tisha B’Av.
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Parshat Devarim and Tisha B’Av: Crying in VainPosted using ShareThis
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