- Sections
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Chukat
592
The account of the ma’apilim contains several elements that we would like to take note of. The people woke up early in the morning, saying "henenu" (we are ready) to go up "to the place that Hashem spoke of." Moshe warned them not to because "Hashem will not be in your midst."
Many of these elements are present in an even more famous section of the Torah, that recounting akeidat Yitzchak (the binding of Isaac). Avraham said he was ready and woke up early in the morning to go to the place that Hashem had appointed. Yitzchak, too, said he was ready. In both cases, people were ready to give or risk their lives for what they believed was desired by Hashem. The great difference was that Avraham went to the mountain on which it was said that "Hashem will be seen." In contrast the ma’apilim went in a situation where Hashem was not in their midst.
Why was Hashem’s presence found in one place and missing in the other? Avraham and Yitzchak nullified their personal interests in order to fulfill that which Hashem had commanded them to do, at the cost of dear life. However, the ma’apilim did what they wanted, albeit to get to the Land that Hashem had wanted to give to Bnei Yisrael, but not by following His commandments. That ended in Chorma, in destruction (which is what the word means). However, in the part of the story that is accounted in our parasha, the people first received permission to fight and swore to dedicate their victory and its spoils to Hashem. In that case, the destruction was done by them in retaliation against the enemy.
Let us hope that the young and brave amongst us, who are ready to sacrifice their lives, will do so in a manner of being ready to listen to Hashem’s instructions.

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