Literary Devices – Bemidbar 15/0

Literary Devices – Bemidbar 15

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Allusions

Tzitzit and the Spies

• Allusions – The legal passage regarding tzitzit alludes back to the story of the spies by employing language which was prevalent or significant in the earlier story.  In stating the purpose of the law, the verse writes: "וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת כׇּל מִצְוֺת י״י וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם".  The root "תור" had appeared twelve times in Bemidbar 12-13, the root "ראה" ten times, the related noun "עין" four times¹ and the noun זנות once (outside of these two texts, there is only one other occurrence of the root throughout Bemidbar).  This usage might indicate that the spies' sin lay in being led astray by their own sight and perceptions, and that the law of tzitzit is meant as a corrective.
• Lectures – Listen to משמעות של פרשת ציצית לאור הפרשיות הקודמות לה, by R. Amnon Bazak and פרשת ציצית - פרשת השליחות, by R. Yosef Zvi Rimon, which both discuss the literary and thematic connections between the spies’ sin and the command of tzitzit. R. Bazak further connects the two narratives also with the story of Chovav in Bemidbar 11. 

Law and Narrative

In his lecture, Between Law and (the Meraglim) Narrative, R. Nathaniel Helfgot suggests that many aspects of the chapter and its laws (and not only the law of tzitzit) might allude back to the story of the spies:

• Twice the chapter states that its laws will come into effect upon entry into the land (verses 2, 18), calling to mind Hashem’s earlier decree that this generation will not enter the land (14:23).
• The laws of the מנחה and חלה, both involving bread, recall Yehoshua's words not to fear the Canaanites "for they are our bread", while the libations connect to the grapes mentioned in 13:20.
• Laws relating to the sin of the congregation, the עדה (verses 24-26) recall the word “עדה” which appears eight times in Bemidbar 14.
• The introduction to the story of the stick gatherer "וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר" which superfluously notes that the people are in the "wilderness" perhaps comes to connect this story to Ch. 14, in which the word “מדבר” appears nine times, five of which relate to the nation's punishment.²
• The name Hashem appears a full 28 times in Bemidbar 15, perhaps to indicate that Moshe’s warning of אין ה’ בקרבכם in 14:42 is not eternal.

Symbolism

Clothing

• Throughout Tanakh clothing often plays a symbolic role.  Donning or removal of clothing may connote change of status, covering one's self might represent sin and shame, while wearing a garment dyed purple or blue-green (or attaching a fringe of that color to a garment) may symbolize royalty.
• Listen to The Symbolic Meaning of Clothing in Tanakh, by Dr. Avigayil Rock, for analysis of the symbolism of clothing in narrative and prophetic passages of Tanakh, which might be applied to the commands of our chapter as well.

¹ This alone might not be significant, but together with the emphasis on seeing, it takes more import.

² This is noted in המקושש - כתיקון לחטא המרגלים, based on a lecture by Rabbanit Sharon Rimon. R. Helfgot notes also that the root קשש, which appears in the story of the stick-gatherer, calls to mind the only other use of this word in Torah, in Paroh’s decree of Shemot 5:7, and perhaps symbolizes a desire to return to Egypt as expressed in 14:4.