23 Sivan, 5770 Vol. 11, No. 31
Parashas Shelach
Rashi, as explained by the Mizrachi, is revealing to us an amazing insight into the workings of the human mind. We are afflicted with a blind spot in our spiritual field of vision. We can notice the most hidden intellectual concepts and perceive the most delicate ideas. But when it comes to lessons in mussar and appropriate behavior, we are suddenly struck blind. The moral of the story can be staring us in the face, and yet we will not connect the dots and derive the message, unless someone takes a thick red marker and underlines the words for us. Our eternal nemesis, the yetzer hara, has the ability to distort our vision, and blind us to the correct path, so that we walk blissfully upon our way, oblivious to the obvious. The Torah had to break the chronological flow of history, set off some mental alarm bells and wake us up, to take note of the powerful mussar we can learn from the spies. Had the Torah not changed the order of events, even Chazal would have missed the obvious lesson.
Let us not miss this lesson and instead may we take it to heart: our greatness lies in our ability to realize our human frailties, to love mussar and reproof, and to never feel complacent. Let us keep our eyes, ears and hearts open and awake to notice our shortcomings and welcome the constructive input of those who want to help us grow. In this way, we can hope to be guided to overcome our spiritual blind spots and see clearly the path to inner happiness, achieving our purpose and the complete realization of our incredible potential.