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B"H

Monday, Sivan 21, 5776 / June 27, 2016 - Hakhel year

 

This week's Parsha (in the Diaspora), is Shlach. It begins with the story of the twelve spies that Moshe sent to scout the land of Canaan which G-d promised to the Jewish people. Instead of encouraging the people to go up and conquer the land, ten of the spies brought back a negative report which discouraged the people.

 

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!” Only two, Joshua and Calev, spoke positive and encouraged them on.

 

The people were so distressed that they wanted to go 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 those who refused to go to Israel all died.

 

Q.What is the connection between the end of the previous Parsha, Bha'alotcha, where the Torah tells us about Miriam’s being punished when she spoke against Moshe, and the beginning of this Parsha?

 

A.The Torah records the story of the spies immediately after the story of Miriam’s speaking negatively against Moshe and her punishment, as the spies should have learned a lesson from Miriam's punishment and not spoken negatively about the Promised Land.

 

Q.   What did they see which made them 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 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.  But 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.

 

Lesson: 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 in a positive way and they too will be influenced to do the same.

 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY