B"H

Tuesday, Sivan 24, 5783 (Hakhel Year) / June 13, 2023

The Torah readings these weeks differ between Israel and the Diaspora. Israel is one Torah portion ahead of us. In Israel this Shabbat they will read Parshat Korach. In the Diaspora we will be reading Parshat Shlach.  

Parshat Shlach begins with the story of the 12 spies that Moshe sent to scout the land of Canaan which G-d promised to give to the Jewish people.  Yet, instead of returning and encouraging the people to go and conquer the land, ten of the spies brought back a negative report which discouraged the people. 

They brought back enormous fruits from the land.  Displaying the fruits, they told of the giants who live in the land. They concluded their report by saying, "The land through which we have passed is a land which eats up its inhabitants!”

The Jewish people were so distressed, upon hearing this, that they wanted to return back to Egypt, refusing to go into the Promised Land. G-d punished them and instead of continuing to the Promised Land they stayed in the desert for forty years, until all those who refused to go to Israel died. Only their children eventually merited to go into The Land.

Q.   Why did they describe the land as, "a land which eats up its inhabitants?"

A.   In order that the spies should not be harmed, G-d brought a plague wherever the spies went.  Thus, the people of the land were busy burying their dead and did not pay attention to the spies. Had their faith in G-d been complete, the spies would have realized that this was for their benefit.  However, because they lacked faith in G-d's promise that the land was good, they attributed the deaths to, "a land which eats up its inhabitants!" 

Q.   The spies said, "And we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers and so we were in their eyes."  What lesson can one derive from this?

A.   Our Rabbis explain that just as a person is in his own eyes so too he is perceived by others. 

Had the spies been positive and confident in their mission, remembering that they were sent by Moshe, they would have been proud of their mission. However, with their negative attitude ("we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers") they projected the same image about themselves to the inhabitants of the land; as small and meaningless creatures.

There is an important lesson here:  When we do a mitzvah, performing our G-dly mission in this world, it is important to feel proud and positive about what we are doing. This feeling will then be projected and transmitted to others.  They will look at us positively and they too will be influenced to do the same.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY