This week we will discuss lessons from the previous Parasha, Shelach , and the sin of the spies. It’s relevant every day of the year because the sin of the spies caused Tisha B’Av and Tisha B’Ab caused the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, which we are living with to this very day. Rashi starts off by saying that the spies were held accountable because, “ T hese wicked people saw what happened to Miriam, and they did not take musar/ he ed the lesson of Miriam.” Rav Chatzkel Levenstein, in his Sefer on Midot points out that the Torah demands of the spies to have contemplated the story of Miria m. We see from here (where it says that they saw and they did not take musar) that if they would have contemplated the story of Miriam, their sin would not have happened . He says that this is a powerful lesson. If they would have thought, they would not have done that s in , and if they would not have done that sin, then we would have gone into Eretz Yisrael, and the Bet Hamikdash would have been built and would never have been destroyed ( because Moshe Rabbenu would have built it ) . Everything would have gone great. He says that we see from here that the power of hitbonenut/ contemplation can change a person and can change the entire world . That is really what we were doing every day when we talk about Ahavat Yi srael . We are contemplating these important lessons. The Rambam clearly states the importance of contemplating the story of Miriam. In his words, “ The pasuk says , ‘R emember what happened to Miriam ’ and the Rambam adds, R emember doesn’t just mean to say the word ‘ Miriam ’ every day, it means to contemplate and think about it.“ He then gives an example of this contemplation. 1- Miriam spoke about her younger brother. 2- S he raised him. 3- S he risked her life to save him. 4-She did not really say anything negative about him . What she did was make a mistake by equating him to other prophets. 5-He did not even care , as it says that Moshe was the most humble of men. Let us pause for a minute. The Rambam is telling us that Miriam ’s seeming La shon H ara was that her brother was the number one prophet and she call ed him the number t wo pro phet . And this was by mistake. She basically said some thing which was 100% correct - that he shouldn’t separate from his wife . W e don’t , she reasoned, a nd we are prophets. But she didn’t realize that Moshe was on a higher level of prophecy . That was her mistake. This is also important because it tells us one of the fundamental s of Lashon Hara- that we really don’t have all the facts. W e see and interpret the facts based on what we think , without really having a full picture. The Rambam goes on to say that people first talk about people, then they talk about righteous Sadi kim , then they talk about prophets, and lastly they talk about God H imself , as he qu otes from a pasuk , “ The Jewish people created stories about God that weren’t true. “ This means that we have the same problem ; we mistakenly misunderstand what God is doing. That is really the fundamental of all sins- they come from misinformation of sorts. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue with this tomorrow , because these are fundamentals that w e always need to contemplate : the story of Miriam and the story of misunderstandings, which ultimately lead to Lashon Hara . Have a wonderful day.