Why is the subject of the Meraglim, spies, written right after the topic of Miriam in which she spoke Lashon Hara, evil speech about her brother Moshe? There must be some connection!
Rash”i explains that when they saw Miriam being punished with Tzara’as, leprosy, for speaking Lashon Hara, they should have learned their lesson not to speak negatively. Instead, these wicked people did not learn from the incident with Miriam and they spoke negatively about Eretz Yisrael saying that it is a land which kills its inhabitants!
The question is asked, how can we fault the Meraglim for not learning their lesson? There is no comparison! Miriam spoke negatively about a person. They, however spoke negatively about an inanimate object, the Land of Israel?
The answer is that it is all a matter of attitude. When one develops the Middah, trait of viewing things positively he will not come to speak disparagingly even about inanimate objects and surely not about people. However, if one views the world negatively he will eventually come to observe people in a negative light.
The spies upon observing the negative consequences of Miriam’s speech should have worked to develop the attitude of viewing things positively and realizing that every encounter that one has is brought about by Hashem’s master plan and can only be for the best. They obviously failed to take this to heart which brought them to view the land promised by Hashem in the worst possible way. They themselves had already observed that it is a land of giants! How could they subsequently say that it is an unhealthy land that “kills its inhabitants”?! Only because they came with a poisoned perspective were thet able to give such a report.
When one realizes that everything is from Hashem and is done for our good he is very fortunate and surely will not be brought to negative thoughts or speech.

By Rabbi Sharaga Thav
[email protected]
786.972.1175