To whom does "Kol ha'Eidah" refer?
Rashi (citing the Tanchuma): It refers to the Sanhedra'os. 1
Yerushalmi Shekalim, 1:1: It refers to the entire congregation. 2
Yalkut Shimoni: It refers to the spies, who, when they saw that he people were not sure whether to follow them or to follow Yehoshua and Calev, began to play on the people's emotions. Each spy told his wife and children how they would fall prey to the Cana'anim and they all burst into tears, until the neighbors joined in, and it didn't take long for the whole tribe ... and then the entire camp ... to be wailing pitiously. 3
Even they fell prey to the spies' overtures. See Oznayim la'Torah in Pasuk 2, DH 'Vayilonu ... '.
Refer to 14:1:1.1:1.
See Oznayim la'Torah who elaborates, and who adds that this is what tends to hsppen when one cries in the night, as Chazal Darshen, in connection with the Pasuk in Eichah, 2:2 "Bachoh Sivkeh ba'Laylah'.
What did the spies say that caused the people to burst into tears?
Refer to 14:1:1.1:3.
Yesushalmi Ta'anis, 4:5: When the spies returned and found the people studying the Dinim of Chalah 1 and Orlah, they said to them 'You are not going to enter the land. Why do you need to learn the Dinim of Chalah and Orlah?'
Even though the Parshah is only written later in the Parshah ? after Shishi. See Torah Temimah, note 3.
What is the significance of the fact that the Torah writes here "Vatisa Kol ha'Eidah" and by the Yam-Suf - in connection with the Shirah - "Az Yashir Moshe u'Venei Yisrael"?
Yerushalmi Shekalim, 1:1: It is a shame and disgrace that, when it came to singing Shirah before Hashem, the people were not inspired to sing of their own accord, and needed to take their cue from Moshe, but when it came to airing their grievences, they all united to complain off their own bat.
What are the implications of "ba'Laylah ha'Hu"?
Rashi (in Tehilim, 107:27), Ramban (citing Ta'anis, 29a) and Targum Yonasan: It hints that Hashem fixed that night 1 as a night of mourning for all generations. 2
The night of Tish'ah be'Av - since they returned on the eighth of Av, forty days after they left. See also Torah Temimah note 4.
Seeing as both the first and the second Beis-ha'Mikdash were destroyed on the night of Tish'ah b'Av. Rashi (Ibid.) and Ramban (citing Ta'anis, 29a): 'They cried for no reason; I will give them something to cry about!' - as the Pasuk hints in Tehilim, 106:24 - 27. Refer also to 14:31:1:1.
