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How did the noble princes who voluntarily took beatings for fellow Jews become the spies who gave a devastating report about the Land of Israel? The shiur develops a psychological principle that imposed discipline without emotional acceptance breeds resentment that must explode in the opposite direction. This explains the entire pathology of Datan and Aviram as well.
This shiur addresses a fundamental question about the spies sent to scout the Land of Israel in Parshas Shelach. The spies were chosen from the pool of princes, who according to Rashi (רש"י) came from the shotrim (taskmasters) in Egypt - Jews who voluntarily took beatings when their fellow Jews couldn't meet Pharaoh's impossible quotas. These were people of tremendous character who showed rachmanus and self-sacrifice. Yet these same noble individuals became the spies who gave a prejudiced, terrorizing report that caused an entire generation to be wiped out in the desert. Rabbi Zweig uses the example of Datan and Aviram to illustrate this psychological dynamic. Datan was also a shoter who took beatings for other Jews. Yet he appears in the Torah (תורה) first as someone fighting with another Jew, then reporting Moshe to Pharaoh after Moshe saved his life, and later rebelling against Moshe's authority. The Midrash reveals that the Egyptian whom Moshe killed was actually beating Datan - so Moshe saved Datan's life. The very next day, when Moshe criticized Datan for fighting, Datan reported Moshe to Pharaoh, nearly getting him killed.
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Parshas Shelach
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