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By Shloime Lindenbaum
אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה..וחצרות ודי זהב (פרק א פסוק א)
The Parsha begins with a lengthy description of the context in which Moshe is telling over the Torah to the Jewish People. Rashi tells us that the extensive wording is really filled with hints to all the various places in which the Jews committed sins while in the desert. Moshe referenced these places as a way of rebuking the Jews for all the times that they angered Hashem. R’ Chaim Shmulevitz points out that although Moshe was rebuking them, which immediately lowers their respect, and he was pointing out sins that were well known to everyone (the Golden Calf, the spies’ report), he still only referenced the sins as hints to protect the dignity and honor of the Jews. This teaches us how careful we must be with our friend’s honor, even in the process of rebuking them. Although there are times that rebuke must be given, it must be done with the goal of preserving the sinner’s dignity as much as possible, even by mildly minimizing their embarrassment with only hinting at the sins.
אחינו המסו את לבבנו (פרק א פסוק כח)
In recounting the story of the מרגלים (spies), Moshe says that the Jews had said “our brothers have melted our hearts” and took away their courage to enter the Land of Israel. The Chasam Sofer notes that the Jews referred to the spies as their brothers, although it was the leaders of each tribe that were sent. Why did they demote their leaders to being merely “brothers”? The Chasam Sofer answers that the leaders that were sent to inspect the land had ulterior motives in bringing back a negative report. They figured that when the Jews enter the land, they will lose their exalted positions and therefore they were trying to postpone the entry as much as possible. The Jews realized that their leaders had this bias, and they therefore were not totally reliant on their report. The Yerushalmi tells us that Moshe sent along with the spies an additional twelve regular citizens from each tribe to assist in inspecting the land. These assistants lacked the prejudice of the twelve leaders and therefore were more reliable in their reporting. Hence, the Jews said that their “brothers” i.e., the twelve common folk who accompanied the leaders, melted their hearts, as their report was trustworthy.
