The Sin of the Spies, the Nazis, and the Holocaust

The question almost every Jew asks is

“Why did G-d allow

the Holocaust in World War II?”

The answer to this question

is found very simply in the Torah,

in Numbers chapters 13 and 14.

In these chapters the Scriptures

chronicles that greatest sin that

Israel committed in the wilderness

after they had been brought out

of the Land of Egypt by HASHEM.

It was the sin of HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE,

UNBELIEF, AND DESPISING THE

LAND OF ISRAEL.

It has been shown that this

was a greater sin than

the sin of IDOLATRY which

Israel committed at Mount Sinai

with the molten calf עגל המסכה .

The sin of Hatred without a Cause,

Unbelief, and Despising the Land

was committed at

Kadesh-barnea קדש ברנע when

Israel believed the evil report דבת הארץ

of the ten spies.

It resulted in the terrible judgment

that ALL Israel, even Moses and Aaron,

from twenty years and older,

would die in the wilderness.

This was the first holocaust שואה .

The sin of HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE,

UNBELIEF was responsible also for

the destruction of the Second Temple

in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the great

Diaspora הגולה that occurred as a

result of the destruction.

Psalm 106:26-27 links the

this sin in the wilderness with

the Diaspora הגולה .

“Therefore he lifted up his hand

against them, to overthrow them

in the wilderness:

To overthrow their seed also

among the nations,

and to scatter them

in the lands.”

וישא ידו להם

להפיל אותם במדבר:

ולהפיל זרעם בגוים

ולזרותם בארצות:

HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE,

UNBELIEF, AND DESPISING

THE LAND OF ISRAEL,

was also the sin responsible

for the Holocaust השואה .

The Scripture ties it together

even using the word “Nazi”

two times.

Numbers 14:11.

“And HASHEM said to Moses,

How long will this people

provoke me?

And how long will it be before

they believe me,

for all the signs which

I have showed among them?”

ויאמר יהוה אל משה

עד אנה

ינאצני

העם הזה

ועד אנה לו יאמינו בי

בכל האתות

אשר עשיתי בקרבו :

Numbers 14:23

“Surely they shall not see

the land which I sware

to their fathers,

neither shall any of them that

provoked me see it.”

אם יראו את הארץ

אשר נשבעתי לאבתם

וכל מנאצי לא יראוה:

The word “provoke” used here

in both passages comes from

the Hebrew root “na’ats” נ א ץ .

It is the root from which the Germans

derived their name “nazi”.

The Germans used this word because

they were provoking or “nettling”

HASHEM to his face by

attempting to destroy the holy seed,

the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.