This week’s parsha has the sad episode of the Meraglim, spies, sent to Eretz Yisrael and returning with a negative report. At the beginning of the parsha, the names of the 12 spies are listed and the tribe each one came from. When a person looks closely at these names, he will notice Yosef is mentioned along with the tribe of Menashe, although usually he is mentioned with his other son’s tribe, Ephraim. Why the change?

The Daas Zekanim answers this question. Gadi ben Susi was the spy from Menashe and he was one of those that returned with a negative report. On the other hand, from Ephraim was Yehoshua bin Nun, who returned with a positive report. As related in Sefer Bereshis, Yosef spoke Lashon Hara (this is what caused him to be sold to Egypt) and therefore, his name is connected with the spy that spoke Lashon Hara. Although he is usually put with Ephraim, this time there is a change to point out to us that Yosef had the same sin as his future offspring.

We can learn an amazing lesson from this Daas Zekanim. Three people in history were given the title “tzaddik”. One was Noach (the man in the big boat during the flood). Another was Shimon Ha’Tzaddik, who lived during the time of the Second Temple. The third is Yosef. Yosef was one of the greatest people ever to step foot on this earth, but as we see, he committed the sin of Lashon Hara. It just goes to show, no one is perfect.

One of the great things in our generation is biographies of the great Jewish men and women. These books are an excellent way to learn how our Gedolim behaved so we can hopefully follow in their footsteps. One downside to these books, though, is that it makes these people look perfect, and we can easily think we will never be able to be as great as they were. But we must remember that no one is perfect and even these great people committed sins. I actually once heard that someone was working on a book of stories about the sins committed by the Gedolim to show they are human just like us. The person had good intentions; it was to keep the common people from losing hope when they read the stories of the Gedolim, but in the end, the book was never published. As long as we keep in mind no one is perfect, it can keep us from losing hope. Many people think they will never be able to become great because they sin. Even great people, as great as Yosef Ha’Tzaddik, committed sins. But Yosef worked on himself to properly repent and grow to become a great person.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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