Sh'lach Lecha (Numbers 13:1-15:41)
OVERVIEW
The cycle of complaining continues, as this week's parashah presents us with some of the most complex stories in the Torah. Approaching the Land of Israel, Moses sends 12 scouts ahead to reconnoiter the Land. The scouts return with outrageous stories and samples of the extraordinary fruit that grows in this good land. However, ten of the twelve scouts also give a discouraging report, indicating their lack of faith that they can conquer the Land. Only Joshua and Caleb are encouraging. Always fickle, the people accept that it will be too difficult to possess the Promised Land. They express their desire to return to slavery in Egypt. Angered by their lack of faith, God wants to destroy the people, but Moses successfully persuades God to relent. Instead, God decides to lengthen the Israelite's wandering in the wilderness to 40 years, one year for each day the scouts were in the Land. Now, none of the faithless generation of the Exodus will enter the Land. The parasha continues with laws about various kinds of sacrifices which will take effect when they are settled in the Land. We then read about another strange little event, where a man transgresses the Sabbath by gathering sticks. The final paragraph of the parasha contains the commandment to attach tzitzit (fringes) to the corners of one's clothing.
IN FOCUS
Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they came upon a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. (Numbers 15:32)
PSHAT
This is one of those short, uncomfortable, "strange but true" little passages of Torah that we often come across. Following a lengthy discourse about those who sin both unwittingly and defiantly, a brief exemplary story is presented. At an unidentified time, an unidentified man (it is not clear whether he was an Israelite or simply living among the Israelites) is caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. Those who found him brought him before Moses, Aaron and the rest of the community, seemingly for judgement. Note that up to this point in the written Torah, gathering wood has not been specifically prohibited on the Sabbath. According to the text, the offender is placed in custody, since no one really knows what to do. Moses approaches God for instruction. God responds unequivocally: the man is to be stoned to death by the entire community. The people carry through God's judgement.
DRASH
Maybe I am projecting a bit, but I always find this incident disturbing, as have most of my students. I also find it odd that there is actually very little commentary on these verses. From the point of view of our tradition, the story seems to be simple: man trangresses the Sabbath and the man is put to death, which is the punishment prescribed for transgressing the Sabbath (keep that in mind next Shabbat!).
But in my mind, there are lots of 'buts.' But what about a second chance? The Israelites were still fresh out of Egypt and this Sabbath thing was a pretty new idea for most of them. Should the guy not have been treated with a little mercy and given a second chance, especially since Moses and the people themselves did not know what to do? Also, while it is clear that the Torah prescribes death as the punishment for many grave sins, we have few examples of this harsh penalty being carried out, and virtual none from the post-Torah period. The rabbinic tradition effectively made the death penalty impossible to impose. Why is this case so graphic in its application of this severe punishment?
Let's see what we can learn about this passage.
Rashi, as usual, pays close attention to the language. Firstly, he questions why it was necessary for the text to say, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, since the entire Book of Numbers takes place while the Israelites were in the wilderness. Therefore the text must be telling us something more. Rashi, following Siphre, suggests this means that this incident happened just after the Israelites wandered into the wilderness, right after they left Sinai. There is a tradition that states that the Israelites were able to keep only the first Shabbat in the wilderness, and then this man came along and desecrated the second Shabbat. This was the severity of his sin: his act discouraged Israel from maintaining the Sabbath properly again. The Talmud states that if the Israelites could have kept these first two Sabbaths in the wilderness, no enemy nation could have ever defeated them (Tractate Shabbat 118b).
Another suggestion is that the text mentions that the Israelites are in the wilderness in order to contrast the actions of the gatherer with the commandments that were given prior in the Torah. The commentator Chizkuni notes that the previous commandments were laws that were specific to the Land of Israel. Those laws could only go into effect once the people resided in the Land. But other laws, such as those related to the Sabbath, were in effect at the time, in the wilderness. According to this opinion, the Torah made an example of the stick gatherer to underscore how important it was to maintain those commandments which were in effect.
The commentators also note that the atttitude of the sinner as being significant. The man gathering the sticks on Shabbat was not merely committing an innocent and uninformed oversight, but rather was engaged in an act of defiance. According to Rashi, the double reference to those who "found him" indicates that the men who witnessed the transgression first warned the man that he was committing a capital offence, and if he did not stop he would be arrested and sentenced to death. They only arrested him after he ignored their warning. According to the Orech Chaim, the man was actually so defiant that when he came before Moses and Aaron, he carried the sticks with him over his shoulder.
Finally, Rashi notes, there was no confusion as to whether this gathering of sticks was permitted or not, or even whether it was a sin punishable by death. When the text states, he was placed in custody, since it was not explained what to do with him, the only uncertainty was how the execution should be carried out. Everyone was fully aware that one who desecrates the Sabbath is to be punished by some death penalty.
And so we confront this uncomfortable text, knowing that the death penalty is no longer an active part of our tradition, and understanding that this passage teaches us the importance for us as Jews of maintaining the Sabbath. There can be no "buts" about that message.
DAVAR AHER
Even Shoev writes that the wood gatherer had worn his everyday clothing and had therefore forgotten that it was Shabbat. A person should see to it that he has separate clothing for Shabbat so that he will remember and observe it properly.
