This week, I have had the great priviledge of traveling to Columbus, OH and getting to visit the Columbus Community Kollel. On Tuesday night, I was learning Gemara Sota when I read a commentary by Tosefos which was very confusing to me. For the next few minutes I searched in a few books in the Kollel for an answer but did not find one. A short time later, one of the Kollel rabbis had just finished a class and asked me if I wanted to learn with him. I asked him if he could help me with this Tosefos and he agreed. Suddenly, he started taking down many books from the shelves and we started banging our heads (not literally) trying to figure out what this Tosefos meant. In the end, I still have unanswered questions, but I did learn something amazing that is in this week’s parsha.

In this week’s parsha, 12 spies are sent out to search Eretz Yisroel. These were great leaders, but they returned with a very negative report about the holy land. The Children of Israel lost hope and started rebelling against Moshe saying that it would have been better if they died in Egypt. G-d was not happy with this and therefore punished all of the Jewish males between the ages of 20 and 60 (because these were the people that caused much of the problems) with death. The whole Jewish nation was also told that they would now have to walk for forty years in the desert. The punishment was numbered 40 years because the spies searched the land (with negative eyes) for forty days. Each day equaled a punishment of one year. When a person thinks about this, though, it does not seem right. Why is the punishment so much greater than the actual sin. Usually punishments are not much greater than the actual sin.

The answer I learned with one of the rabbis in the Columbus Kollel is that one day equaling one year was actually a good thing for the Jews. The reason is because all of the men between the ages of 20 and 60 were destined now to die. If G-d decided to give the punishment in the same amount of time that the spies searched the land, than all of these men would have died within 40 days. Instead of this happening, the deaths were now spread out over 40 years and some of them lived for this entire time. Therefore, the punishment was actually a very good thing for everyone. People lived much longer than they would have.

G-d is always very kind. Unfortunately, people look at events and can find the negative aspect of it very easily. If we take a step back and remember that all of G-d’s ways are pleasant, then we can see that something that looked negative, is really the best thing that can happen. We have many ways that we can respond to life’s happenings. Always try to go to find the pleasantness about what is going on. Everything G-d does is for our own good – we just need to find it.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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