Like Grasshoppers in Our Own Eyes

“We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes.” A Question The spies were sent to scout out the land of Canaan. When they came back, they brought a report. It was not only about the land and the people living there. It was also about themselves. “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes.” That is two claims. The first is what they thought of themselves. The second is what the giants of the land thought of them. But stop for a moment. How could they know? How did the spies know how they looked in the eyes of those giants? Did they sit down and talk with them? Did they ask? No. They never spoke with the giants. They saw them from far away, and they were afraid. So how could they say “and so we were in their eyes,” as if they had clear proof of what the people of Canaan thought of them? The simple answer is that they had no proof. They did not see it. They did not hear it. They knew only one thing: what they felt inside. “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” Out of that inner feeling of being small, they put onto the giants a view that they had never seen or heard. Suspicion Is a Confession There is a well-known rule in the Talmud: “Whoever finds fault in others finds his own fault.” It means just what it says. A person who is quick to see a flaw in someone else is really looking at his own heart. He knows that flaw from the inside. This idea goes deeper than it first seems. It does not just mean that the suspicious person is “guilty.” It means that human sight is not neutral. A person sees the world through himself. What is inside is what shows up outside. As King Solomon wrote in Proverbs: “As water reflects a face back to a face, so a person’s heart reflects another person.” Water is completely neutral. It has no face of its own. Yet it gives back the exact face of whoever looks into it. The world works the same way. It gives a person back his own inner self. So when a person suspects his friend, his husband or wife, or someone close to him, he does not necessarily have proof in front of him. He has a mirror in front of him. The suspicion is a kind of confession: “This is what is inside me.” Not a Report, but a Confession Now we can clearly understand what the spies did wrong. “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” That was the cause. It was an inner state of smallness and distance. They had not truly set themselves aside before Hashem’s will. They did not believe that they could do it, that they deserved it, or that Hashem was the One leading them. “And so we were in their eyes.” That was the result that had to follow. It was not proof. It was projection. They did not report what they saw. They reported what they felt, and they wrapped it in the language of facts. The Baal Shem Tov’s Mirror The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, taught that the world is like a mirror. Whatever a person sees in someone else is shown to him from Heaven so that he can fix it in himself. Nothing happens by chance. No one sees a flaw “just because.” Hashem guides every detail, and He does it through the eyes of the one who is looking too. He uses what we see to direct us toward inner work. This means that every suspicion that rises in your heart is not necessarily proof about the other person. It is a chance to look inward and ask: “What in me knows this? Where do I feel like a grasshopper?” What This Means for Us Dear fellow Jew, this goes straight to the heart. It touches marriage, friendship and everyday relationships. A suspicion may rise in your heart. You may feel sure that you can “see” what the other person thinks of you. When that happens, stop for one second. Ask yourself honestly: “Do I have real proof? Or am I painting my own face onto the other person?” Seeing the good in others is not being naive. It is work. It is the inner work of clearing your vision, of “Love your fellow as yourself.” When the face looking in is clear, the water gives back a completely different face.