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Torah and Jewish Idea => Torah and Jewish Idea => Topic started by: edu on July 10, 2011, 04:22:11 AM

Title: The Rectification of the Sin of the Spies - A translation of Kol Hator
Post by: edu on July 10, 2011, 04:22:11 AM

In chapter 5 of Kol Hator written by a disciple of the Vilna Gaon, the book offers an ideological reason, why we should not passively wait for the Temple to fall down already built from heaven.

Quote

The Sin of the Spies in the desert in the days of Moshe is one of the great general sins that rests (alt. translation, crouches)  upon the nation of Israel in all generations, to this day.
According to the Midrash of our Sages a decree of crying for the generations was issued because of the sin of the spies, a cry over the destruction of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of the land; in a great measure Israel suffered and suffers in all the generations sufferings and travails of the bitter exile because of the sin of the spies; a large portion of the punishment for this sin was executed at the very days of the act of this sin in the generation of the desert as is made clear to us in the Torah, however, the rest of the punishment was divided into portions that were placed upon all the generations, G-d save us.
The rectification of the sin of the spies can come by redeeming Jerusalem and its construction and by the actions for the ingathering of the exiles, according to the well known principle, that this in contrast to that, did the L-rd make and measure for measure both for liability and for merit; fix what you have damaged; to fix everything according to its place, according to its time and according to the action, and according to the amount of publicity; now behold the sin of the spies that brought the crying for the generations in accordance with the expounding of our Sages on the verse "And they cried on this night", this night was the nighttime of  9th of Av, upon the same( calendar) date which the Temple was destroyed; it turns out that the rectification of the Sin on the Spies has to be by the building of the Temple, and before the building of the Temple there has to be the building of Jerusalem

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