I recall a joke that was making the rounds shortly after the election of the first President Bush (and which obviously returned when his son entered the White House):
'Why didn't the Jews vote for Bush?'
'Because the last time we listened to a talking bush, we wandered around the desert for forty years!'
'Why didn't the Jews vote for Bush?'
'Because the last time we listened to a talking bush, we wandered around the desert for forty years!'
In the true style of Jewish humour, we make light of a tragic situation that, at the time, was anything but funny. For the generation who had left Egypt with the dream of entering the Promised Land, Gd's edict, a result of the spies' negative report regarding their reconnaissance mission of the land, was nothing less than shattering.
On the face of it, Gd's decision to punish the Bnei Yisrael for forty years seems quite obvious:
(לד) בְּמִסְפַּ֨ר הַיָּמִ֜ים אֲשֶׁר־תַּרְתֶּ֣ם אֶת־הָאָ֘רֶץ֮ אַרְבָּעִ֣ים יוֹם֒ י֣וֹם לַשָּׁנָ֞ה י֣וֹם לַשָּׁנָ֗ה תִּשְׂאוּ֙ אֶת־עֲוֺנֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם אַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־תְּנוּאָתִֽי׃
(34) You shall bear your punishment for forty years, corresponding to the number of days—forty days—that you scouted the land: a year for each day. Thus you shall know what it means to thwart Me.
However, if we look beneath the surface, one is struck by the recurring motif of the number forty:
The spies scouted the land for forty days.
Moshe spent three periods of forty days and nights on Mount Sinai from his initial ascent before Shavuot to his triumphant descent on Yom Kippur bearing the second set of tablets.
Not forgetting the Flood which deluged the earth for forty days and forty nights.
The spies scouted the land for forty days.
Moshe spent three periods of forty days and nights on Mount Sinai from his initial ascent before Shavuot to his triumphant descent on Yom Kippur bearing the second set of tablets.
Not forgetting the Flood which deluged the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Two numbers reoccur time and again in the Torah and these are seven and forty.
The latter also shows up again later in the Tanach, for example with regard to the length of King David's reign.
Walter B. Pitkin, an American Psychologist, wrote a book in 1932 entitled: "Life begins at Forty." which echoed the thoughts of the eminent 19th Century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who wrote:
"The first forty years of life give us the text: the next thirty supply the commentary" in his book "The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims" first published in 1851.
Is there any connection between these contemporary adages and the Torah's utilisation of the number forty?
The latter also shows up again later in the Tanach, for example with regard to the length of King David's reign.
Walter B. Pitkin, an American Psychologist, wrote a book in 1932 entitled: "Life begins at Forty." which echoed the thoughts of the eminent 19th Century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who wrote:
"The first forty years of life give us the text: the next thirty supply the commentary" in his book "The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims" first published in 1851.
Is there any connection between these contemporary adages and the Torah's utilisation of the number forty?
[The following ideas have been sourced from https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2962/jewish/Fortysomething.htm]
If we refer to the three aforementioned examples and work backwards through the list, we will come to see that the sin of the spies and the punishment they were given is directly related to the flood.
What was the flood?
It was Gd's decision to punish humanity for their fall from grace into an existence that was so morally corrupt that there was no other option but to, as it were, to recreate the world and make it a more habitable place. Gd could have used myriad ways to enact his decree, as witnessed by later descriptions of Gd's ire with mankind. Sodom was destroyed by brimstone and fire, whilst Egypt suffered all kinds of natural disasters. Why did he choose water as the means to do this?
Chassidic thought sees the flood as being a kind of mikvah, where the world was immersed in order to purify it and in the process, renew it. Just as the flood waters reigned for forty days, so does a kosher mikvah require 40 seah (which is the equivalent of approximately 166 gallons or 754 litres) of water. Eventually, after the flood had receded (it took another 40 days after the mountains became visible for Noach to send forth the raven) and following the Dove's disappearance, Noach and his family set foot on dry land. Humanity had been cleansed, the past had been wiped out (quite literally and it was time to start afresh.
Scenario number two required Moshe to receive the Torah after the first forty days (and nights) whereupon he descended from the Mountain and saw the ugly spectacle of the Golden Calf. When he ascended again, it took him another 40 days and nights to beseech Gd to change his mind and withhold destroying the nation. Returning for the third such period, he prayed on behalf of the people for Teshuvah, repentance (in very similar language to that used in this week's Parasha) and was successful, as witnessed by Gd's decision to give the people a second chance through the giving of the second set of commandments. 40 days.
We can see a pattern emerging of a period of time it takes for events to mature, as it were. For people to make their mistakes, try to amend their ways and start anew. Chazal teach us that one of the criteria for a man to be able to learn Kaballah is that he has reached the age of 40. Pirkei Avot (Chapter 5) tells us that, upon reaching this age, one achieves 'understanding'.
Rashi explains this mishna as:
'just as the body follows a natural, programmed course of growth, so too is there a natural and inevitable development of the intellect. At the age of forty, a person's innately given faculty of binah—understanding one thing from another (inference and deduction) becomes fully developed. That is to say, the power of inferential understanding continuously matures until it reaches its full potential at the age of forty.'
Returning to the spies and their failed mission in conjunction with the behaviour of the people, we are left with the idea that, at that point, although they were only eleven days' walking journey away from entering the land of Israel, their emotional and spiritual development was only at start of its own journey. It would take forty years to 'clean themselves' in order to reach the point that they were ready to enter the land.
It was Gd's decision to punish humanity for their fall from grace into an existence that was so morally corrupt that there was no other option but to, as it were, to recreate the world and make it a more habitable place. Gd could have used myriad ways to enact his decree, as witnessed by later descriptions of Gd's ire with mankind. Sodom was destroyed by brimstone and fire, whilst Egypt suffered all kinds of natural disasters. Why did he choose water as the means to do this?
Chassidic thought sees the flood as being a kind of mikvah, where the world was immersed in order to purify it and in the process, renew it. Just as the flood waters reigned for forty days, so does a kosher mikvah require 40 seah (which is the equivalent of approximately 166 gallons or 754 litres) of water. Eventually, after the flood had receded (it took another 40 days after the mountains became visible for Noach to send forth the raven) and following the Dove's disappearance, Noach and his family set foot on dry land. Humanity had been cleansed, the past had been wiped out (quite literally and it was time to start afresh.
Scenario number two required Moshe to receive the Torah after the first forty days (and nights) whereupon he descended from the Mountain and saw the ugly spectacle of the Golden Calf. When he ascended again, it took him another 40 days and nights to beseech Gd to change his mind and withhold destroying the nation. Returning for the third such period, he prayed on behalf of the people for Teshuvah, repentance (in very similar language to that used in this week's Parasha) and was successful, as witnessed by Gd's decision to give the people a second chance through the giving of the second set of commandments. 40 days.
We can see a pattern emerging of a period of time it takes for events to mature, as it were. For people to make their mistakes, try to amend their ways and start anew. Chazal teach us that one of the criteria for a man to be able to learn Kaballah is that he has reached the age of 40. Pirkei Avot (Chapter 5) tells us that, upon reaching this age, one achieves 'understanding'.
Rashi explains this mishna as:
'just as the body follows a natural, programmed course of growth, so too is there a natural and inevitable development of the intellect. At the age of forty, a person's innately given faculty of binah—understanding one thing from another (inference and deduction) becomes fully developed. That is to say, the power of inferential understanding continuously matures until it reaches its full potential at the age of forty.'
Returning to the spies and their failed mission in conjunction with the behaviour of the people, we are left with the idea that, at that point, although they were only eleven days' walking journey away from entering the land of Israel, their emotional and spiritual development was only at start of its own journey. It would take forty years to 'clean themselves' in order to reach the point that they were ready to enter the land.
For the Bnei Yisrael, life as a nation began at forty. They may have listened to the text, but it took them all of those years to appreciate the 'commentary'.
As we know, life is itself a journey and often, we don't know which destination it will lead us to. That we are granted time to make our mistakes, learn from these and become the best versions of ourselves that we can be is a blessing. If we view the first forty years of our existence as being the forge which shaped us, it gives more meaning to everything we accomplish from that point. We need a great deal of forty-tude to achieve our personal goals. I guess that life really does begin at forty!
Shabbat Shalom.
As we know, life is itself a journey and often, we don't know which destination it will lead us to. That we are granted time to make our mistakes, learn from these and become the best versions of ourselves that we can be is a blessing. If we view the first forty years of our existence as being the forge which shaped us, it gives more meaning to everything we accomplish from that point. We need a great deal of forty-tude to achieve our personal goals. I guess that life really does begin at forty!
Shabbat Shalom.