B"H
Wednesday, Sivan 25, 5780 / June 17, 2020
Some points of interest in this week’s Parsha, Shlach. The Parsha begins with the story of the twelve scouts which Moshe sends to investigate the land of Canaan and bring back a report. G-d tells Moshe, “Send for you people and they should scout the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel…”
Moshe selects twelve men, one from each tribe and instructs them, “Go and see what kind of land it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country good or bad? Are the towns open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor? Are there trees or not? Make sure to bring back from the fruits of the land.”
After forty days, they came back. Ten of them said, “We came to the land you sent us and indeed it flows with milk and honey and here are it’s fruits. However, the people who dwell in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified and very great; we also saw the children of the giants there.” They gave a very negative report. Only two, Calev and Yehoshua, brought back a positive report, encoraging the people to go forth, for with G-d’s help we will conquer the land.
Unfortunately, the people were influenced by the ten spies, “They cried that night” and refused to go into the Promised Land. As a result, G-d told them that they will spend the next 38 years in the desert. Only their children will eventually go into the land. Thus, the Jewish people spent a total of 40 years in the desert.
Q. G-d told them that the land was good so why did Moshe send the spies to check the land?
A. In the Book of Deuteronomy Moshe reprimands the Jewish people for demanding that he send the scouts. Moshe was forced, so to say, to send them and the results were not good.
Q. If the spies were going to bring a negative report to try to discourage the people from going to the land, why did they start the report with the words, “We came to the land you sent us and it indeed flows milk and honey…” Why did they begin with praising the virtues of the land?
A. Our sages explain it with the following phrase, “A lie has no feet.” In other words, a complete lie cannot hold up. In order for a lie to be accepted by people there has to be some truth blended in it. Thus, they knew that they had to say something good about the land and then their lies and negativity about the land would hold up too.
Q. Why does G-d say, “Which I give to the children of Israel” and not children of Abraham or Isaac?
A. Abraham and Isaac had descendents who are not part of the Jewish people. G-d wants to say that the Promised Land was given exclusively to the Jewish people. Thus, He says, “Which I give to the children of Israel.” All of Israel’s (Jacob) descendents are the Twelve Tribes of the Jewish nation.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY