ParshaNumbers13,14/
False News, Mass Hysteria and the Promised Land
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Rabbi Z Aviner
Noahidesevencommandments.com
In Israel’s journey to the Promised Land, and of the nations to the eternal Sabbath of chapter 1
What will stop Israel and the nations from reaching their goal?
Let us remember that Israel and the nations travel in the same camp – a previous parasha, Yitro…
The story begins in the second year of the Exodus from Egypt, and in a few monthes they will be in Israel. This is the last stage. They didn’t know that only their sons would enter 40 years later. What led to the rejection? Idolatry like the calf? Incest? Nope.
What caused rejection and crying for generations was false news and mass hysteria
The story is longer than the sin of the golden calf. It has several parts:
The Mission
The report
Decision of Hashem
Moses’ Prayer
Hashem’s Second Decision
The Text
Send you Men…
Rashi: I do not command you, if you wish, send it. I told you that it is good, a land flowing with milk and honey
You know my opinion, but I will support you
This is a turning point. Until now they had lived by miracles in the wilderness, and from now on in the land they would have no manna from heaven
And not water from Miriam’s well, nor clouds of glory.
From now on, they must fight like any other person, in a natural way. Therefore, he sent you spies
And Moses sent them, according to the Lord, they were all men, the heads of the children of Israel.
The Mission
And you shall see the land, etc. (13:18-20)
Like a general…
The report
(Nechama Leibowitz)
We will notice stages of deterioration:
1We have come to the land, etc.
They tell the truth, as is required, but add a commentary that is not required of them – zero because…
The only one who understood their opinion was a dog.
2 Dog: A Superior Leaf (13:30)
He sensed what they were aiming for
The Spies: We Won’t Be Able to Go Up
3 And the men that went up with him said,
4 And they brought out the plague of the land… Lies, blow things up
A land that eats its inhabitants… Son of the Giant… And we shall be like grasshoppers in our eyes…
5 And all the congregation … And the people wept that night… Mass hysteria
The entire community, even people who were not aware of exactly what was going on
6 And they will complain …
7 And they said to each other, “Let us lay down our heads, and return to Egypt… Rebellion ,
They wanted to stone them…
דיון
A chapter from which we can learn about the psychology of the masses
False report – leads to mass hysteria
It started with a lie in individuals and deteriorated…
We know very well…
The power of the masses is enormous. The French, Communist, Fascist Revolution.
A small number of public relations sages sit down and plan to sell something or political – to make a coup.
They choose a lie, put on it a crowd-pleasing headline, and spread it from top to bottom. Lots of money.
They have a mechanism of nourishment. Sending more and more videos
Terrible war in Burma
The Hamas in Gaza and the Famine
Hysteria in Columbia Universities…
Netanyahu’s enemies. The Politics
He said that the first thing they encountered when they moved to a normal life was a lie and mass hysteria
In order to understand God’s response, let’s discuss
A few words about mass hysteria
Researchers say there is a critical mass in which a person loses his individuality
and his logic, and descends to the level of a kibbutz animal
In which he loses his own logic and recites what is put in his mouth
They say that
We inherited it from nature… A class of fish in the water, birds in the sky, ants moving as one body without an individuoצם…
A herd of buffaloes…
Man inherited this from nature in evolution. How?
Chapter 1: We will reign in the six days mentioned in the chapter before and make a man… We will reign with the fish and the birds and the animals…
This can be seen in the development of the fetus in the womb
We inherited from the fish and the birds and the ants
Why did the Creator do this?
As part of our judgment as the human race on the way to Shabbat at the end of Ch:1
Because God – the judge – created the world to stand in judgment.
On the one hand, he gives every creature the gifts necessary for life, and on the other hand, he puts them on trial
He gave us a tremendous gift – all nature is in us, but on the other hand we are in judgment
He looked at his own self and created man’s self…
And an important part of our sentence is whether we forget the special self that each person has.
and becomes an animal mass or not
And in order for a person to reach the goal of the journey, his ego must identify with the ego of the stomach
And the ego of the stomach is not collective
God’s Response
Since they behave as a group, I will treat them as a group and destroy them as a people immediately
Measure for measure
They know My will and the truth that this is a land flowing with milk and honey, and yet they have succumbed to the lie…
Although the lie is enormous and powerful, it is accepted by everyone in hysteria, but my truth is greater
And I demand responsibility from them. It’s part of the human test
Moshe’s Response
Moshe mentions only the nations – what will they say?
If you destroy Israel as “one man,” it will open the door to false news between the nations
They will say that God has replaced Israel with another people,
And everyone will say, “I am the replacement!”
And then Moshe turns to the attribute of mercy, etc.
G’s Second Response
God says I have forgiven, but I will count them on an individual level. Anyone who has sinned will be punished, but I will not replace the people
To teach them that man will never give up his self, which is sacred
Never accept the lie of the Palestinian people in the Land of Israel
Or of the hungry in Gaza
Or Israel has been replaced
It is important to the nations that Israel dwelt in the Holy Land
The Torah tells us here that the most important barrier
Let him stand on the way to the Promised Land – he is the lie and the mass hysteria
Hashem teaches
God answered Moshe that he would deal with Israel as individuals, and not as a People
To teach us that this is the only way to continue history. Otherwise, if we descend to the level of animal mass, we will get lost and we will not reach Shabbat
Every person must be aware of this message, especially today