The First Yeshivish People - More Apologetics

No, they weren't around 50 or 60 years ago. They first showed up in the guise of the Meraglim some 3300 years ago. 

We all know the story. The Israelites wanted Moshe to send spies into Eretz Yisrael (then known as Canaan) to scope out the land and check it out. While there, ten of the twelve tribes (one representing each tribe) decided to speak some Lashon Hara about Eretz Yisrael. Their reasoning, according to the Maharal and the Chiddushei HaRim, were, essentially, that they did not want to join the real world. They had been living in a miraculous state, had their food literally dropped on them from Heaven, were surrounded by the Annanei HaKavod, and got to learn all day without a worry in the world. In contrast, upon entering Eretz Yisrael, they would first have to conquer the land, then live on it, work it, and not be able to learn all day. 

They were afraid, the Maharal and Chiddushei HaRim tell us, that the Israelites' new mission, living and working like everyone else, subsisting off the land and commerce, all the while remembering it would be God's blessing that assured their success, not "Kocham V'Otzem Yadam - their strength and might."

So, the Meraglim made a decision for the rest of the Jewish Nation. Sure, it sounds noble - stay in the desert, be surrounded by Annanei HaKavod, eat Manna, and learn all day, and above all, avoid forgetting the God provides for all our needs.

Sound familiar? Yes, the Meraglim were the first group of Yeshivish people. And you know what they got for their trouble? A really terrible death!

First, it wasn't their decision to make. It was God's.

Second, what guarantee did they have, had they stayed in the desert against God's will and not conquered Eretz Yisrael, that the miracles that had sustained them up to this point would have continued?

Finally, God's idea of how the world works is obviously not to sit on one's keister and learn all day. It's to go out, work, spend time with your family, and be Kovea Ittim La'Torah, not the way the Yeshiva world has it today, where work and family take distant second/third (not necessarily in that order) to learning all day and half the night.

The Meraglim did not derserve a defense. They were WRONG. End of story. 

Good Shabbos 

(Ok, I know I should have posted this last week, but hey! No one's perfect. Even me...:)