Our Parshah is dominated by the story of the spies who bring an evil report back from Eretz Yisroel. But following the story and the resulting punishment of having to wander the desert for forty years is the Mitzvah of separating Challah and giving it to the Kohen.
The Seforno [1475-1550] explains why this Mitzvah is a postscript to the Sin of the Spies: the Jews were in need of blessing after the events of the first “Tisha be’Av” – a day that was to become a National Day of mourning – and the Mitzvah of Challah provided the medium for that blessing to come and rest in their homes. The Seforno quotes the prophet Yechezkiel, “You shall give to the Kohen the first of your dough that he may cause a blessing to rest on your house”.
Rav Zilberstein explains this Seforno – how was Challah an antidote to the Sin of the Spies. The root of the sin was ‘tzaros ayin’, literally: narrow eyes. All twelve spies went on the identical trip, they were all exposed to the same sights: the funeral processions that passed by them, the huge fruit that they encountered. But they had entirely different experiences. Most of them saw everything as bad; “it is a land that devours its inhabitants”. Only Yehoshua and Calev saw things differently, the constant funerals was nothing less than – Divine planning so as to busy the inhabitants so as not to notice the group of spies passing through.
The antidote to ‘tzaros ayin’ (narrow eyes) is to have an ‘ayin tovah’ – a good eye. This is where the Mitzvah of Challah comes in. To share a portion of all that is baked in the home with those who have no income from the Land. As a good eye denotes a generous person, tolerant, smiling, and helpful so does an evil eye betoken a grudging miserly soul, who would gladly deprive others of their good fortune. The spies had an evil and narrow outlook and consequently deprived the Generation of the desert of Eretz Yisroel. Taking Challah and giving it to the Kohen was an exercise in developing a benevolent attitude.
Let’s take a closer look at what it means to have a good eye. When Avraham prepares the meal for the three wayfarers he instructs Soroh “Hurry! Three measures of meal (kemach) fine flour (soles)! Knead and make cakes!” “Kemach” – meal, is coarse flour whereas “soles” is fine flour. The Gemora learns from this verse that a woman is stingier towards guests more than a man! However it is not particularly clear where the Gemora derives this rule from.
My favourite explanation of this Gemora is that of the Seridai Aish [1884-1966]. He posits that it was Avraham who offered the coarse flour and Soroh who produced the fine flour. Where though was any “narrow eyes” on behalf of Soroh? What Soroh did was to make sure the guests had the very best, but this attitude of laying it on thick for the guests is itself a cause to be stingy towards guests. If when the guest comes to the house, you suddenly turn the house into a five star hotel; your regular Shabbos meal suddenly sprouts extra courses and new dishes in every course; if you find yourself spring cleaning and scrubbing to make the house spic and span before the guests arrive then you run into the following danger. Next time someone calls and asks to come to stay, or you see someone who you perhaps would like to invite, what goes through your mind is the excessive work and pressure that you will endure in order to entertain the guests to the ultimate degree. This is liable to put you off having guests!
Rabbi Marmorstein pointed out how back in the day newly married couples were inundated with offers to host “sheva brochos”. Nowadays people scrounge around to find such offers. Why so? Perhaps because we’ve raised the bar so high in the standard of how we make the party. There has to be a theme, a game and a four course gourmet meal. The result? People are no longer so ready to do Chessed. This is how the Seridai Aish interprets the Gemora. By Soroh going the extra mile we learn that this can cause a person to have a stingy attitude towards having guests.
If we want to correct the sin of the Spies then the message of Challoh is an excellent way to start. But bear in mind the thoughts of the Seridai Aish – don’t let our over benevolent attitude stop us from performing Chessed. Don’t go overboard with how we do our acts of kindness because this may cause us to resent doing it. Remember on Yom Kippur we will have to beat our chests saying “for the sin of having tight begrudging eyes.
May we be merit the wise words of King Solomon in Proverbs who said, “one with a good eye will be blessed, for he has given of his bread to the poor”. The Artscroll Stone Tanach adds the following note, “A good eye refers to someone who not only gives but does so willingly and without resentment; he enjoys helping others”.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov