Page 256 - BAMIDBAR

bamidbar

Tishah b’Av, the day the spies brought back their evil report, became a
day of weeping for generations. Why did Hashem forbid Torah study on
this day, when this would seemingly mend the breach that had been
formed by the spies’ evil report?

Mourners are forbidden from Torah study, which gladdens the heart. The
reason for this is that one should concentrate on his personal loss and pay
his last respects to his loved one. For this reason, too, Torah study is
forbidden on Tishah b’Av. It is a day of mourning for all, and Torah study
has no place then. With the sin of the spies, Bnei Yisrael damaged the
mitzvot of the Land, included in the Torah. It is appropriate, then, that
their punishment includes the ban on Torah study on that day. 8

The forty days which the spies spent touring the Land correspond to the
forty days and nights in which Moshe received the Torah. The number
forty alludes to the days in which a fetus is formed, after which it is
considered viable. Hashem emphasized the number forty in order to
awaken Bnei Yisrael to the fact that Matan Torah was when they were
created.

The sin of the spies removed the vitality from our nation. They were
therefore decreed to wander in the Wilderness for forty years, in order to
renew their contract with the Torah, gaining once more the gift of life.
Hashem was more severe regarding the sin of the spies than He had been
concerning the sin of the Golden Calf. The day of the sin of the spies,
Tishah b’Av, likewise, is more serious than that of the day of the sin of
the Golden Calf, the 17th of Tammuz. When they sinned with the Golden
Calf, the nation had not yet received the Torah. Therefore, they were less
accountable for that sin than for the sin of the spies.

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