This week in the US the parsha will recount the episode of the spies which Moshe sent to survey the Land of Israel. This ended in tragedy with the spies speaking disparagingly against the Land and convincing the Jewish Nation that they wouldn't be able to succeed in conquering the people that occupied the Land of Israel. Our sages teach us that the twelve spies, who were the leaders of their respective tribes, were initially righteous when they set out on their mission. It is baffling what would have caused them to have committed such a severe sin? They knew that they were destined to enter into the Land of Israel. It was the Land that was promised to them from G-d.

The Zohar gives an answer that the spies knew that once the nation would enter into the Land of Israel, that there would be a new form of leadership. This would result in them losing the power and honor that they currently enjoyed as the heads of their tribes. They therefore attempted to dissuade the Nation, in hopes of keeping them in the desert and remaining in power. The efforts they went to in order to preserve their own honor and power caused literal catastrophe for the entire nation. Furthermore, they had just experienced in the few months prior to their sin, the great miracles of the Exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the sea and the revelation at Mount Sinai. How did they rationally think that they would be able to "scheme" against G-d's Plan?

The answer is something that we know. Honor and power can literally blind a person to reality. Honor is one of the things that our Sages teach us "takes us out of this world", it blinds us to the reality that we live and places us in "another world". We should all keep this in mind when we are faced with a situation where our honor is hurt, or we are striving for some position of power or authority. We might not be the leaders of the nation, but we are leaders of our house, family, work. Let's make sure that when there is an affront to our honor we keep ourselves in the right perspective!

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath