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Why weren't the Jewish people forgiven when they said "we have sinned" after the spies incident? The Baal Shem Tov reveals that their fundamental error was making themselves moral arbiters rather than following divine command. Both their initial refusal and later willingness to enter Israel stemmed from their own assessment, not God's will - the same pathology that corrupted the spies' entire mission.
This shiur examines a fundamental question from Parshas Shelach: why weren't the Jewish people forgiven when they said "we have sinned" after the incident with the spies? The Baal Shem Tov's interpretation is analyzed alongside Rashi (רש"י)'s approach to understand the true nature of their transgression. The speaker argues that the spies' primary sin wasn't their negative assessment of the Land of Israel, but rather their approach of making decisions based on their own understanding rather than divine command. The analysis reveals that when the people said they would go up to Israel after being punished, they committed the same fundamental error as before. Yesterday they refused to go because it didn't make sense to them; today they wanted to go because now it made sense - but in both cases, they were driven by their own assessment rather than God's will. This represents the dangerous principle of making oneself the final arbiter of moral truth.
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Parshas Shelach, Numbers 13-14
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