Oroh V'Simchoh

L'ILUY NISHMAS OVI MORI R' CHAIM B"R SIMCHOH HK"M

PARSHAS SHLACH

Ch. 13, v. 30: "Va'yahas Ko'leiv es ho'om el Moshe va'yomer olo naa'leh" - MESHECH CHOCHMOH explains that the bnei Yisroel heard the prophecy of Eldod and Meidod (Bmidbar 11:28) that Moshe will die in the desert and Yehoshua will bring them into Eretz Yisroel (gemara Sanhedrin 17a). As well, Moshe did not protest or punish them, thus they felt it was conclusive that the prophecy was accurate. Given this background, they greatly feared entering Eretz Yisroel without Moshe's protective merits, especially that they had to conquer Amo'leik (verse 29) with whom they had a previous encounter (Shmos 17:8-16), and with the giants (verse 33). Ko'leiv silenced them, saying that Moshe's greatness came through the merit of the bnei Yisroel (see Rashi Shmos 32:7 d.h. "Leich reid"). He added that Moshe's prophecy only came when the bnei Yisroel were close to Hashem, but when they were excommunicated after the sin of the golden calf Hashem did not speak with Moshe until after the generation of those who sinned died (Dvorim 2:16,17 as explained in the gemara Taanis 30b). The gemara Yerushalmi Taanis 3:4 says that this lasted for a period of 38 years! Thus Ko'leiv silenced the people "el Moshe," - regarding their attitude about Moshe, that without him they would be doomed to die at the hands of the nations occupying Eretz Yisroel. Ko'leiv said "oloh naa'leh," - we will successfully enter the land and conquer its inhabitants on our own merits. Hashem is always with us, even after the loss of our greatest leader of all generations. This was the intention of Yehoshua when he said, "B'zose teidun ki KEIL CHAI b'kir'b'chem v'horeish yorish" (Yehoshua 3:10). He stressed that even without Moshe alive, Hashem is constantly with us, hence the term KEIL CHAI, indicative of Hashem's permanent presence.

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