Note: For those in Eretz Yisrael, it doesn't look like the PDF for Parshat Shelach this year is up on the Toras Avigdor site at the time of this posting; I received it via email subscription. If you wish to sign up to receive it every Wednesday, please send an email to ey@torasavigdor.org & ask them to subscribe you. (You'll also receive a dvar Torah booklet in Hebrew, plus the Junior for children in English & Hebrew, plus an easy-print version in each language.) You can also view Parshat Shelach from previous years HERE.
For those outside of Eretz Yisrael, you can access his dvar Torah for Parshat Behaalotcha here: Parshas Behaaloscha 3 – Arrogance & Self-Esteem
For those outside of Eretz Yisrael, you can access his dvar Torah for Parshat Behaalotcha here: Parshas Behaaloscha 3 – Arrogance & Self-Esteem
In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshat Shelach, Rav Miller starts by explaining the practical basis for the Spies' mission of checking out the Land before their arrival.
One of the aspects emphasized by Rav Miller is how abundantly the Land flowed with fresh, creamy goat milk & rich date honey.
The dates hanging from the trees burst with honey, which dripped down into the fields below while the goats' udders overflowed with creamy milk, mixing together with the streams of date honey.
People could scoop up the milk & honey for a delectable drink as they went through the fields.
(If that sounds odd, it's actually reminiscent of New York's mid-1800s, when Almanzo Wilder's mother made a huge container of chilled eggnog — which contains eggs, milk, cream, sweetener, and nutmeg; this is similar to the idea of milk & honey — for her husband & sons working their enormous farmland because Almanzo's father maintained that a man could do more work in his 12 hours if he had one nap in those hours and all the eggnog he could drink, morning & afternoon. This appeared in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.)
Even a long time after the Destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, Rabba Bar Chana found himself wading up to his ankles in milk & honey as he made his way through a field in Eretz Yisrael.
(It's worth reading Rav Miller's luscious description of the whole Eretz zevat chalav u'devash phenomenon on page 5.)
One of the aspects emphasized by Rav Miller is how abundantly the Land flowed with fresh, creamy goat milk & rich date honey.
The dates hanging from the trees burst with honey, which dripped down into the fields below while the goats' udders overflowed with creamy milk, mixing together with the streams of date honey.
People could scoop up the milk & honey for a delectable drink as they went through the fields.
(If that sounds odd, it's actually reminiscent of New York's mid-1800s, when Almanzo Wilder's mother made a huge container of chilled eggnog — which contains eggs, milk, cream, sweetener, and nutmeg; this is similar to the idea of milk & honey — for her husband & sons working their enormous farmland because Almanzo's father maintained that a man could do more work in his 12 hours if he had one nap in those hours and all the eggnog he could drink, morning & afternoon. This appeared in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.)
Even a long time after the Destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, Rabba Bar Chana found himself wading up to his ankles in milk & honey as he made his way through a field in Eretz Yisrael.
(It's worth reading Rav Miller's luscious description of the whole Eretz zevat chalav u'devash phenomenon on page 5.)
The Secret of Deveikut is in the Fruit
Then Rav Miller asks why the Spies needed to bring back grapes to show the people?
After all, that was no easy feat.
Each grape was as big as a grapefruit, making each cluster as big as a cow — and that's the minimum interpretation. There are other commentaries claiming the grapes were even bigger than that.
That's a lot for these men to carry all the way back to show Bnei Yisrael.
Also, Rav Miller notes that grains weren't mentioned.
Intriguing, especially since grains are generally considered much more important that fruit, merit special brachot, and grains (wheat & barley) comprise 2 of the 7 Species — taking precedence ahead of figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates.
So why the heavy emphasis on fruit?
One clue, says Rav Miller, is found in the Creation of the world: Gan Eden consisted of fruit trees.
After all, that was no easy feat.
Each grape was as big as a grapefruit, making each cluster as big as a cow — and that's the minimum interpretation. There are other commentaries claiming the grapes were even bigger than that.
That's a lot for these men to carry all the way back to show Bnei Yisrael.
Also, Rav Miller notes that grains weren't mentioned.
Intriguing, especially since grains are generally considered much more important that fruit, merit special brachot, and grains (wheat & barley) comprise 2 of the 7 Species — taking precedence ahead of figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates.
So why the heavy emphasis on fruit?
One clue, says Rav Miller, is found in the Creation of the world: Gan Eden consisted of fruit trees.
How Fruit Makes You a Better Person
Fruit trees are an interesting concept.
Why didn't Hashem set up libraries for learning in Gan Eden? Rav Miller notes that Adam Harishon possessed unfathomable intellect.
Any real talmid chacham would prefer a sefer to a fruit tree.
Rav Miller declares from Kohelet/Ecclesiastes that Hashem made the world for one reason: We need to become aware of Hashem.
And that's what fruit trees enable us to do.
One of the ideas Rav Miller is most famous for is his analysis of an apple and how Hashem made it so perfectly, right down to its seed. (If you want to read a sample of that, it's on pages 11-14.)
Rav Miller recalls Bereisheit 3:6, which says that the fruit was desirable to give wisdom.
Then he says about Adam & Chava (page 10):
Why didn't Hashem set up libraries for learning in Gan Eden? Rav Miller notes that Adam Harishon possessed unfathomable intellect.
Any real talmid chacham would prefer a sefer to a fruit tree.
Rav Miller declares from Kohelet/Ecclesiastes that Hashem made the world for one reason: We need to become aware of Hashem.
And that's what fruit trees enable us to do.
One of the ideas Rav Miller is most famous for is his analysis of an apple and how Hashem made it so perfectly, right down to its seed. (If you want to read a sample of that, it's on pages 11-14.)
Rav Miller recalls Bereisheit 3:6, which says that the fruit was desirable to give wisdom.
Then he says about Adam & Chava (page 10):
Every time they saw another kind of a fruit, they became excited.
They studied it and spoke about it in detail and they exclaimed, “Ay yah yay! The wonders of Hashem!”
I’m sure that when Adam looked at an apple he saw a thousand times more chiddushim than we see in the Ketzos Hachoshen.
The Best Response to Fruit
The taste of fruit is also a pleasure.
Rav Miller says that when Adam Harishon ate a fruit, Hashem wanted him to say, "I love You, Hashem!"
If our minds & hearts are in the right place, a fruit makes us aware of Hashem.
A fruit makes us LOVE Hashem.
Rav Miller says that when Adam Harishon ate a fruit, Hashem wanted him to say, "I love You, Hashem!"
If our minds & hearts are in the right place, a fruit makes us aware of Hashem.
A fruit makes us LOVE Hashem.
Explaining Misappropriated Gemaras & Evidence against Evolution
On pages 14-16, Rav Miller goes through sugyot in Gemara that wackos & pompous haters like to take out of context because to the ignorant, these events make the Sages sound kind of strange.
(But that's okay. As we learn from Hoshea 9:7, people on higher levels appear to lesser people as madmen. Please see Why Greater People Appear Crazy or Strange in the Eyes of Lesser People.)
A summary won't do it justice, so I'll let you read it there. But in a nutshell? It has to do with falling wholeheartedly in love with Hashem.
Rav Miller also finds yet more evidence against evolution in fruit trees.
For example, apple trees always make apples.
Thousands of years go by...and apple trees still produce apples.
They don't even produce apple hybrids (like an apple-nectarine, for example).
They never make oranges.
Or plums.
Furthermore, Red Delicious apple trees only make Red Delicious apples and never produce tart green Granny Smith apples. (You need a Granny Smith apple seed for that.)
The reason why we have newer varieties of different fruits is because of God-given human ingenuity, not evolution.
For thousands of years, an apple tree never "evolved" or malfunctioned to produce coconuts or figs or nectarines or salamanders.
And despite the old English nursery rhyme song, a nut tree never produced a silver nutmeg or a golden pear.
(But that's okay. As we learn from Hoshea 9:7, people on higher levels appear to lesser people as madmen. Please see Why Greater People Appear Crazy or Strange in the Eyes of Lesser People.)
A summary won't do it justice, so I'll let you read it there. But in a nutshell? It has to do with falling wholeheartedly in love with Hashem.
Rav Miller also finds yet more evidence against evolution in fruit trees.
For example, apple trees always make apples.
Thousands of years go by...and apple trees still produce apples.
They don't even produce apple hybrids (like an apple-nectarine, for example).
They never make oranges.
Or plums.
Furthermore, Red Delicious apple trees only make Red Delicious apples and never produce tart green Granny Smith apples. (You need a Granny Smith apple seed for that.)
The reason why we have newer varieties of different fruits is because of God-given human ingenuity, not evolution.
For thousands of years, an apple tree never "evolved" or malfunctioned to produce coconuts or figs or nectarines or salamanders.
And despite the old English nursery rhyme song, a nut tree never produced a silver nutmeg or a golden pear.
Homework from Rav Miller:
- Pick up a fruit & spend 60 seconds meditating on its positive attributes.
- Feel the joy of doing so.
Credit for all quotes & material goes to the very fruitful Toras Avigdor.
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