Parashas Shelach - Learning from other's mistakes.

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Since this week's parasha in Israel is Shelach and in America it is Beha'alosecha, I will try to combine them together. I can't guarantee I will be able to combine two parashas every week, though.

I was speaking to a friend, and he told him that he 'never learns his lesson.' He is always putting himself in the same situations and getting in trouble. What surprised me though, was that he also told me, "...and I'm probably going to do it again." I asked him, "If you know gets you in trouble, then why would you do it again?" Almost as if he was predicting it. He responded, "I don't know, I guess because I can't learn my lesson..."

Last week I wrote about changing current world events simply by the use of our mouths. The mouth is a very powerful vessel Hashem has entrusted us with. Through the mouth we speak divrei Torah, recite brachos before and after eating, daven to Hashem etc... So many wonderful things can be accomplished with our mouths. Unfortunately, there are also things which can be accomplished in a negative way. For example: getting someone fired from a job, ruining a potential shidduch, or even refraining someone from pursuing his/her goal.

In Parashas Beha'alosecha, we saw how Klal Yisroel weren't able to continue traveling, until Miriam fully recovered from leprosy - for speaking bad about her brother, Moshe. It wasn't only Miriam who was effected from her words, but the whole Klal Yisroel too.

In Parashas Shelach, it opens up with Hashem telling Moshe to send men to scout out the land. This is the famous 'parasha of the meraglim (spies)'. In short, Moshe sent men to check out the land of Israel. They came back with negative reports, leading people to rebel against Moshe and be hesitant to enter the land.

Rashi [1] declares that Korach's rebellion (next week's topic,) although recorded in the Torah after the spies, actually took place beforehand in Chatzeros, where Miriam sinned and was punished. (Miriam, Korach, then Spies.) So Rashi asks, "Why was the Parasha of the spies placed right after the incident of Miriam, and not Korach?" Rashi answers [2]: Because Miriam got punished for speaking negatively about Moshe and these 'wicked men' didn't learn from her mistake. Even after they saw what had happened to Miriam, the spies still used their mouths to speak negatively.

Those who don't learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them. "History repeats itself" isn't only speaking about learning from your own mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others. Rashi was showing us that the spies didn't learn from Miriam's mistake. That's why it was so important to hold off Parashas Korach until next week, and put these two parashas back-to-back.

Everyday after shacharis we say "The (Ashkenazim: Six)\(Sefardim: Ten) Remembrances". One of them is: "Remember the act of Miriam and what Hashem did to her - on the way, when we left Egypt."

We should only see good and speak positive,
Nisso

[1] Devorim 1:1
[2] 13:2