במדבר יג:ב - שְׁלַח־לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת־אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד לְמַטֵּה אֲבֹתָיו תִּשְׁלָחוּ כֹּל נָשִׂיא בָהֶם
במדבר טו:לט - וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְצִיצִת וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת־כׇּל־מִצְוֺת יְקוָק וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא־תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם.
It is curious that commentators translate the word tur differently in the various verses. For example, Alter (2004, pp. 732, 745, 760, also see footnote on page 760) on 10:33 and 13:2 translates the word as scout, while on 15:39, he translates the word as stray. The problem or the reason for the change in the definition, is that the definition of the word tur as to scout does not accord with 15:39 since the verse does not mean that one should not scout with one’s heart and eyes. In addition, the word scout does not accord with Bemidbar 10:33 since the cloud of G-d was not scouting for the people, as it did not report back to the people, and it was also not exploring land, it just led the way.
Another definition, a variation of the definition to scout, is that I have heard people translate the word tur by the English word tourist, but this is a complete inversion of the terms. Shimon Sharvit (2023) notes that in modern Hebrew, some words had to be created since when there was no word in Hebrew for a modern term. One method was to match a pre-existing Hebrew word which had the same sound as an English word and then apply the definition of the English word to the pre-existing Hebrew term. He quotes three examples. One, the word mechonah, which in biblical Hebrew mean base, but since it sounds similar to the English word machine, in modern Hebrew, mechonah means machine. A second example is the word masechah, which in biblical Hebrew means idol, but since it sounds similar to the English word mask, in modern Hebrew, masechah means mask. A third example is the word tayar, which in Chazal (see Sifrei Bamidbar 82) means a guide, but since it sounds similar to the English word tourist, in modern Hebrew, tayar became tourist.
To return to the question, what is the definition of the word tur? A reasonable approach is to follow what I believe is the common translation of the term in 15:39, to go, and apply it all the other cases. When I discussed this idea in a class, a person named Binyamin Hoffman, told me that the word tur in Arabic can refer to a bird and airplane, and then he suggested that the word would mean to go fast. This is a wonderful suggestion since it distinguishes the term tur from the usual term lalechet, which is going at a regular pace, and accords with all the occurrences of the word in the Torah. In addition, since the word does not mean to scout or spy or to explore it is not surprising that Moshe did not the use the word tur when he recalled the sin of the spies in Devarim 1. I will now go through all the examples of the war tur in the Torah.
Bemidbar 10:33 means that the aron and the cloud of G-d travelled in a fast manner before the people to arrive at the next resting place. Similarly, Devarim 1:33, should be understood to mean that the cloud of G-d went before people moving fast for the people to get to the next resting place. These verses are recording how wonderful the situation was prior to the sin of the spies, and the idea is that when the people travelled, they followed the cloud (and the aron) which was moving fast, which enabled the people to also travel quickly from one point to their next resting point. Also, the verses are contrasting a regular cloud, which moves slowly, with the cloud of G-d that could move relatively fast.
Bemidbar 13:2 means either that G-d told Moshe to send people (spies) to go fast to the land of Canaan (Israel) or that the spies were to go through the land of Canaan quickly. Similarly, 13:17 means that Moshe sent the spies to go fast to the land of Canaan or that the spies should travel quickly through the land.
Bemidbar 13:21 means that the spies went quickly through the land from the south all the way to the north.
Bemidbar 13:25 means that the spies returned from their fast journey to the land (of Canaan, Israel) at the end of forty days, which truly was fast.
Bemidbar 13:32 first records the words of the “narrator” who refers to the bad spies as having gone fast through the land, and then 13:32 records the words of the bad spies, who also mentioned that they travelled fast through the land. The bad spies added the phrase “the land that we passed through” since if they travelled very quickly, then one might have discounted their negative report, hence they added that “we passed through the land.” They were saying even though we moved quickly, still we passed through the land and our claims are correct since we were able to see what was happening in the land.
Bemidbar 14:6 means that Yehoshua and Caleb were amongst the people who went quickly through the land.
Bemidbar 14:7 then records that Yehoshua and Caleb used the same language as the bad spies from 13:32, that we (Yehoshua and Calev) also went quickly thought the land and the phrase “the land that we passed through” to substantiate their repudiation of the bad spies.
Bemidbar 14:34 matches the days that the spies went quickly through the land with the punishment of the people, that the number of years (40) the people had to stay in the desert was based on the number of days (40) it took the spies to go through the land of Canaan (Israel). Thus, it was good the spies travelled quickly through the land to minimize the punishment to forty years.
Bemidbar 14:36,38 contrasts the bad spies who travelled quickly though the land, and were punished with Yehoshua and Caleb, who also had travelled fast through the land, but they had given a good report and were not punished.
The next time the word tur appears in the Torah is Bemidbar 15:39, and the idea of the verse is that people should not go after their hearts (which in the Torah is one’s thoughts) and one’s eyes to sin (zonah, to act inappropriately).
Does 15:39 mean that a person is never to follow one’s thoughts and eyes? Do all cases where a person acts based on what a person thinks and sees lead a person to sin? Yet, seeing and thinking is how people learn new information. If people do not follow their thoughts and eyes, then they end up doing what other people tell them to do, which sometimes leads to horrible actions, and if there is no one to tell a person what to do, then a person is not to do anything? No, the point of the verse is that a person should not act hastily (go fast) based on one’s thoughts and sights. Sometimes, when people act hastily, driven by impulses, which derive from their thoughts and sights, they sin. Instead, after seeing a situation, especially a case where a person is tempted to sin, a person needs to contemplate what is the proper way to act. In the context of 15:39, the seeing of the tzitzit or maybe just the techelet cord, is supposed to help a person contemplate on how one is to act that the person should not sin.
Bibliography:
Alter, Robert, 2004, The five books of Moses: A translation and commentary, New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
Sharvit, Shimon, 2023, Literary points in parashat tzitzit, Bar Ilan weekly parasha sheet from the faculty of Judaism, Parashat Shelach, no. 1523, pp. 1,2.
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