Shelach Lecha
This week Moses sends the Spies to the land of Israel on a
reconnaissance mission to workout the best strategy with which to enter the land.
The truth is that God could have brought them into the land with pure miracles just as he has taken the people out of Egypt with the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea.
In fact on the phrase “shelach lecha”- “send for yourself”- the midrash explains that God gave Moses permission to send the spies if he wanted to but that this was not an explicit command from God, issued from the top down so to speak. So what was Moses thinking in sending the spies in the first place?
The answer is that Moses wanted the spies to be involved in some action from a natural perspective. After all the purpose of entering the land of Israel was to become an active partner with God working the land, harnessing nature and doing the Mitzvot.
God does not want us to live off miracles. The manna from heaven and the well of miriam that provided water throughout the journey throufgh the desseret were a temporary measure.
The mission of the Jew is to bring heaven down to earth, to penetrate our everyday reality with God consciousness. This is done through regulating our lives according to the will of God as expressed in the Torah.
But tragically the spies twisted the mission. They had been sent to spy out the land for facts. As soldiers they disobeyed and brought back subjective opinions. They were asked to find out how they might enter the land. Whether they would enter the land was not in question.
Here is the report they brought back:(in bold the key points that expresed their negative subjective viewpoint.
“We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large … We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are … The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height … We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Num. 13: 27-33)
The last phrase is very telling about their frame of minds:
“We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” They first saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison to the natives.They then prokected this view of themeselves onto the people. They had a negative self image of themselves which is at the root of their twisted perception of the report.
Contrast this with Calebs response:
Caleb silenced the people to [hear about] Moses, and he said, “We can surely go up and take possession of it, for we can indeed overcome it.”
Caleb represents the Jew with self confidence in who he/she is. He is not swayed by outside influence.
This is the correct attitude, to have self belief anchored in a faith that ultimately all our success comes from God. Our job is to make a vessel for the blessing by acting in accordance with the Torah.
In the case of the spies they were simply supposed to bring back the facts that Moses had requested as ultimatley it was only through Gods help that we could conquer the mighty cannanite tribes.
Today antisemitism is sadly back on the map. It is growing around the globe in particular in Europe. Of course we must be robust in our repsonse. This includes bulding good relations with our neighbours, working with the CST and the Police and where necessary lobbying governement or even protesting as we did last year against the Labour party for allowing antisemitism to spread in its ranks.
At the same time it is important that we don’t allow ourselves to develop a negative self image or to feel in any way shape or form as “grasshoppers in our eyes”.
In other words we should not be bashful about expressing our Jewish identity in public.
I have always found that Jewish people that are proud of their Judaism and Jewish identity are admired by the general public.
It is erroneous to think that being outwardly Jewish fuels public fuels anti-semitism.
An anti-semite hates a Jew at his or her core, regardless of religious affiliation.
Let us recall Gods first prophetic revelation to Abraham where he is told:
“And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you.” Genesis 12:3
Rashi on the last phrase “all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you”, cites the ancient Midrash: “but this is its simple meaning: A man says to his son, May you be like Abraham.”
when we behave according the Torah then people see this and take note. We may not always realise the impact of our presence as Jews in the world but the Torah is clear on the matter.
We live in a fractured world and as Jews we hope and pray every day that Moshiach will come soon. But in the meantime we must stand strong and proud as Jews.
The very fist halacha in the code of Jewish law states “not to be embarrassed from those who scoff at us for acting Jewish!”
Like Kaleb we must strive forward in our Judaism with self confidence.
Shabbat Shalom!
