This
week’s parsha raises the age-old issue of human behavior: altruism versus
personal interest. While we all pay lip service to the ideal of altruism when
dealing with public affairs and the general good , we all remain human beings
at heart and the Talmud long ago posited that “a human being is first and
foremost closest and prejudiced in favor of one’s own self-interest.”
The
conflict between the general good of the many and the private benefit of the
few—or even of a single individual—is the stuff of politics, government, power
and influence. Throughout history this it has been a core element in human
existence. Our sense of rectitude and our consciences are constantly buffeted
by self-interest and personal factors. We are born as selfish grasping
individuals, and the challenges in life that follow all revolve about our
ability to recognize and modify this basic human instinct.
One may
say that all the commandments of the Torah come to enable us to counter this primal
instinct. This is what the rabbis meant when they taught us that the “evil
instinct”—our innate selfishness—is with us from our first breath on this
earth. The struggle to include others—family, community, fellow Jews and human
beings generally—within our worldview is the story of our lives.
The
Torah recognizes Avraham’s victory in this struggle and it is he, above all
others, who is seen as our father and role model, the founder of God’s people.
One of
the explanations offered by the commentators to the negative behavior and
damning report regarding the Land of Israel is that the spies, who were the
leaders of their tribes, were aware that, when the Jews entered the Land of
Israel, new leaders were to be chosen and that they were at risk of losing
their titles and positions of power and influence. This awareness preyed upon
their minds and prejudiced their view of the Land of Israel.
They valued
their personal interests in a manner that overwhelmed their view of the general
good of the people they were supposed to serve. This has always been a problem
for communal leadership, when hubris and self-service dominate the sight of the
leadership so that one is unable to distinguish between public good and private
interest.
Even
worse, many times the private interest of the leader is disguised as the public
good. Dictators have always stated that “I am the state!” The great prophet
Shmuel is characterized in the same category as Moshe and Aharon because of his
selflessness in leading the Jewish people. The tragedy of the spies, and of the
Jewish people of that generation generally, is this inability to rise over
personal interests and view the general picture of Jewish destiny and
accomplishment.
Like
many leaders blinded by their own agendas, the spies soon descended into
falsehoods and slander to make their case. The tragedy in cases such as this is
that the people often follow this flawed leadership, bringing calamity upon one
and all. We should always be wary of the true motives of those who profess to
lead us for the alleged public good.
Shabbat
shalom, Rabbi
Berel Wein