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Why was the Jewish people's teshuvah after the meraglim rejected, while Dovid's was accepted? Against the Baal Shem Tov's reading, the issue wasn't faulty wording but faulty understanding of repentance itself. True teshuvah means accepting divine authority, not just admitting God's advice was correct - a principle that extends to all authority relationships in human life.
Rabbi Zweig presents a fascinating disagreement with the Baal Shem Tov's interpretation of Parshas Shelach regarding the Jewish people's attempted teshuvah after the sin of the meraglim (spies). The Baal Shem Tov's question focuses on why the people's apparent repentance - saying 'ki chatanu' (we have sinned) - was ineffective, comparing it to Dovid HaMelech's successful teshuvah when confronted by Nasan HaNavi. The Baal Shem Tov answers that they never truly admitted wrongdoing, but rather said 'asher amar Hashem (ה׳) ki chatanu' - meaning 'because Hashem said we sinned,' essentially a non-apology. Rabbi Zweig strongly disagrees with this interpretation on both textual and conceptual grounds. Grammatically, he argues that Rashi (רש"י)'s reading of the pasuk doesn't support the Baal Shem Tov's parsing. More fundamentally, he contends that even if the people genuinely admitted their error, this still wouldn't constitute proper teshuvah. The real issue wasn't that they misjudged whether Eretz Yisrael was good - it was that they failed to listen to Hashem's command.
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Parshas Shelach - the aftermath of the sin of the spies
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