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How could righteous people like the Meraglim make such a devastating error about Eretz Yisrael? The shiur develops a fundamental distinction between Western and Torah (תורה) concepts of truth. Their sin wasn't reaching the wrong conclusion—it was assuming they had the right to judge truth at all rather than understanding what Hashem (ה׳) already declared true.
Rabbi Zweig addresses the fundamental question of how righteous people (Anashim) could make such a catastrophic error regarding Eretz Yisrael, and why Moshe felt compelled to pray for Yehoshua despite his spiritual greatness. The shiur develops a profound analysis of two competing approaches to truth that explains both the Meraglim's error and broader challenges in contemporary society. The core insight distinguishes between Western scientific thinking, where truth is defined as "that which I can understand and prove," and the Torah (תורה) approach, where truth is defined by divine revelation regardless of human comprehension. In Western civilization, something becomes true only when the human mind can measure, prove, or rationally understand it. This creates an inherent problem: when truth depends on human understanding, people become subjectively predisposed to reject any truth that creates obligations or restrictions, since nobody wants burdens.
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Parshas Shelach
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