INSIGHT
5766 - #29
THE SIN OF CRYING
T.B. Ta'anit 29a discusses the date upon which the
spies returned from their tour of the land of Israel and
gave their negative report. The gemora concludes
that it was the evening of the 9th of Av.1 Rabbah in the
name of Rav Yochanan continues that, in fact, so was
created the tragedies of Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of
Av. In response to Bnei Yisrael's reaction of
crying upon hearing the words of the spies, God declared:
"You have cried a bechia shel chinum, a
needless cry; and I will establish for you a crying for
the generations." With these words, the gemora
seems to be informing us, most interestingly, that the
root reason for all the events and heartaches of Tisha
B'Av, was, in fact, the nation's response of crying,
upon hearing the spies. This connection demands
explanation.
Simply and, perhaps, strangely, God
seems to be saying that because the Jewish nation cried
for nothing, He will respond by giving them something to
really cry for. How can we understand such a response? To
make such an assertion, the gemara would seem to
believe that this crying had to be morally culpable. This
reaction of crying was, simply, a sin2 - a sin so
problematic that it necessitated, in retribution, the
greatest tragedies that have befallen our nation. But can
we describe such an emotional response as a sin? Rabbi
Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Bereishit 33:4, in
describing Esav's meeting with Yaakov Avinu, upon
the latter's return from Lavan, writes: "A kiss can
be false but not tears...tears are drops from one's
innermost soul." He derives this understanding from
the word bocheh, the same root word used to
describe the nation's response to the spies' report. To
Rabbi Hirsch, the emotion connected to bocheh does
not emerge from the mind. It is not rational thought that
instructs one to summon this emotion. This emotion is an
immediate and natural reaction to an event. As such,
Bnei Yisrael's response of crying cannot be seen as
conjecture. It was not a thought-out, mistaken reaction
to the words of the spies. It was their natural and
immediate emotion -- how can they thus have been deemed
culpable and punishable for that which they had no
control?3 Still, an emotional response, even if not under
immediate control, could still indicate weakness. Such an
approach, in fact, could explain why the consequence of
the nation's action in the desert would effect subsequent
generations. If God's response was simply a punishment,
why should the generations of the Churbans, the
destructions of the Temples, be punished for the actions
of the desert generation? If, though, the crying in the
desert was an indication of an inherent weakness in the
national psyche that demanded correction in order for the
nation to meet its destiny, a correction method over the
generations could be better understood. Somehow, this
reaction of crying indicated a problem that demanded a
remedy. The remedy was giving the nation 'something to
really cry for', the events of Tisha B'Av.
A summary
review of the Torah and the Tanach for words derived from
the root bocheh will indicate that this term is
tied to the human response to death and mourning. For
example, in Vayikra 10:6, Aharon and his remaining
sons are informed that it is the rest of the nation that
will cry over the deaths of Nadav and Avihu. A further
review will show that bocheh seems actually to be
tied to hopelessness. It is when we perceive a situation
to be hopeless, when there is no chance for a positive
outcome, that we cry in this manner. Is death not the
ultimate situation whereby there is no chance of
victory?4 A review of various commentaries, in regard to
the nation's crying in this case, will indicate that this
indeed was the feeling of the nation.5 The nation felt
hopeless; there was no chance. This feeling was their
weakness. And the method by which to correct this
weakness was to give them something for which they really
could feel hopeless? If
these feelings of hopelessness emerged from a rational
conclusion, then it could be possible to understand why
these feelings were culpable, even why they deserved such
a punishment. If these feelings emerged from thought, to
feel hopeless in the midst of the Divine Presence of the
desert, indeed, would reflect a certain lack of faith.
The word bocheh, though, seems to indicate that
the feelings preceded thought. Is it, furthermore, even
possible that this nation could actually believe that God
could not ensure success in the conquest and settlement
of Israel? Malbim, Bamidbar 14:1 does explain that
the sin of the nation was their lack of faith in God but
then explains how the nation developed this lack of
faith. It was not a rational lack of faith. Of course
they knew that God could ensure victory, the desired
conclusion. Malbim implies that the problem was that the
nation itself did not feel deserving of this positive
intervention by God; herein lied their lack of faith. He
writes that the nation saw that God sometimes brought
great benefit to one deserving punishment so that when
the penalty was finally given, the fall would be greater.
The nation sadly believed that God had taken them out of
Egypt and protected them in the desert so that they could
face greater punishment in the defeat upon entering the
land. No wonder they wailed: "if only they had died
in the land of Egypt or if only they had died in the
desert."6 This is not a perception and feeling that
emerges from mistaken thought. This is a mistaken thought
that emerges from a weakness in the psyche. The nation
cried. They had an immediate reaction to the news of the
spies. This was an emotion of crying, of hopelessness.
This, in turn, was justified in thought through declaring
themselves worthy of punishment and explaining all that
transpired through this lens of hopelessness. Crying was
not culpable itself. Crying, though, did reveal their
psyche. As much as thought can affect our psyche, our
psyche can affect our thoughts. >From the emotion of
bocheh, the nation developed an entire perspective of
life that could indeed be explained and justified. This
was their weakness -- an emotion that could affect their
entire perspective of life which they did not or could
not challenge.
Tisha B'Av
can now be seen, remarkably, as the response to this
weakness and the manner by which one can develop a proper
perspective on life. On the surface, the gemora
could be telling us that, from the events surrounding
Tisha B'Av, we can learn when to truly be hopeless
and when not to be. In working on our psyche, we can
ensure that the tragedy of the desert -- where rooted
feelings of inadequacy, it would seem, led to feelings of
hopelessness -- is corrected through recognizing the
proper rational indications of hopelessness. And indeed
the dominant emotion of Tisha B'Av would seem to
be hopelessness. Yet Tisha B'Av is also a moed,
a holiday which would seem to indicate eternal hope. Is
the Temple not the sign of eternal hope -- and does the
redemption not begin with Tisha B'Av? Perhaps,
through this day the nation was also to learn another
paradoxical lesson -- to develop within our psyche the
feeling to never lose hope.
Rabbi Benjamin Hecht e-mail
Notes(1
(1)
There is actually much discussion in the commentaries
regarding the gemora's calculation of this date
and whether the return and report was on the eve at the
beginning of Av 9 or on the eve at the end of this day.
(2)
(2) See, for example, the language of Torah Temima,
Bamidbar 14:1, note 4.
(3) Obviously, with this question, I am entering
into the extensive, most significant and difficult debate
about whether the human being can control his/her
emotions and its corollary question of whether God can
command in regard to the emotions, and if so, how. One
way of maintaining culpability for emotion is by
declaring that, perhaps, while one may not be punishable
for a "knee-jerk", initial, emotional response,
one is culpable in not analyzing the emotion in the
aftermath of the initial response. This perception,
indeed, would maintain culpability for the desert
generation, in this case, however, this perception does
not detract from the substantial message of the Insight
-- in fact it may enhance it..
(4) See, most on point, Rabbi Joseph B.
Soloveitchik, The Halakhah of the First Day, Jewish
Reflections of Death where the Rav declares that the
dominant emotion of aninus, the initial stage
following the death of a loved one, is total defeat.
(5) See, for
example, Torah Shelaima, Bamidbar 14:1, note 3
which quotes a midrash that states that the nation
felt as did a person encountering the death of a loved
one. (6)
(6) Bamidbar 14:2.
Return to top
|