Making Sense of the Sedra: Devarim
Those in the public eye should consider their actions carefully
In the past couple of weeks, we have once again seen our news feeds full of coverage of another celebrity who has acted in an inappropriate way. Whilst this kind of behaviours is unacceptable regardless of who the perpetrator is, why does it feel so much worse when it’s someone in the public eye?
In this week’s Torah portion, Devarim, we revisit the story of the spies. Hashem allowed Moshe to send spies into Israel as a tactical move to scope out the lay of the land. The retelling of this episode is heavily edited from the original account in the book of Bamidbar. There it cites that Moshe embellished Hashem’s instructions, giving the spies some additional things to ask themselves when they were on their mission: whether the land is good or bad, whether the cities are fortified, and whether the inhabitants are strong or weak.
When the spies returned and 10 of them gave a damning report that led to mass hysteria amongst Bnei Yisrael, it was precisely to Moshe’s questions that they were responding. This devastating response of the people resulted in Hashem condemning them to an additional 40 years of wandering in the desert, and that all the adults of that generation would die before entering Israel. In addition this day was then designated to be the most tragic day in the Jewish calendar, 9th Av, on which both Temples were destroyed and which we will be observing with a 25-hour fast in the coming week.
The Spanish commentator Abarbanel (1437-1508) connects this episode to the story of Moshe hitting the rock in parashat Chukat. Following the death of Miriam, the well that travelled with the people in her merit had dried up. Lacking water, the people complained to Moshe that he had brought them into the wilderness to die. Whilst Moshe is successful in bringing water gushing from a rock, he calls the people “rebels” and publically hits the rock, instead of speaking to it as Hashem commanded him. Abarbanel suggests that Moshe took their complaint very personally as he recognised the truth in their claim that, as a result of him planting the seeds in the minds of the spies to look for additional challenges to their entry into Israel, he indeed led them to the sin that ultimately resulted in their deaths in the desert. This guilt caused Moshe to lose his perspective and both criticise the people and act against Hashem’s direct command.
Fast-forward to our parsha, and we tragically find ourselves watching Moshe revisiting the story of the spies as delivers his parting speech to the people before they enter Israel. They will enter without him as, due to his behaviour at the rock, Hashem denied him entry into the land and also sentenced him to die in the wilderness. Arguably, Moshe lost sight of the impact of his words and actions as a public figure and inadvertently caused his own death and that of an entire generation. This cautionary tale acts as a stark warning to anyone in a position of leadership or celebrity to think very carefully before acting or speaking and consider the potential impact they may have on their followers and onlookers.
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