Sh’lach
Num. 13:1-15:41
Précis: Moses is ordered to “send out” (sh’lach l’cha) spies to examine the land. Representatives of each tribe go out, report on its bounty, but also report about its fearsome inhabitants. The People are frightened, and their “murmuring” turns into something close to panic. God tells Moses that He will destroy the People, but Moses intercedes; the People are sentenced to spend 40 years in the wilderness. The parashah then returns to matters concerning the Tabernacle, with a discussion of the offering for unintentional sins. Near its end, the parashah discusses the wearing of tzitzit, a paragraph which is part of the traditional recitation of the Sh’ma. This is the 27th of 54 parshiot, marking the half-way point in the yearly reading.
Num. 14:39 “And it will be for you a fringe, that you may look at it, and remember all of the commandments of God, and do them; and that you do not go about after your own heart and your own eyes in your lustful urge…”
What is the connection in this parashah between the stories of the spies (which comprises most of this week’s reading) and the commandment to wear fringes (“tzitzit”)? We recall that 10 of the spies return with a dire report, claiming that they were like grasshoppers in the eyes of the fearsome inhabitants. Joshua and Caleb report that, to the contrary, the land was wondrous and with God’s help they would be successful. The commandment to wear tzitzit appears only in the final verses of the parashah.
Rashi teaches us that this commandment is indeed connected to the story of the 12 spies. He explains this connection by focusing on the rationale for tzitzit: The Hebrew phrase “v’lo taturu…” “and you do not go after your own heart and eyes in your lustful urge.”
Rashi informs us that the 10 spies who gave the bad report about the Land made their reports on what was in their hearts: fear, causing a lack of faith in God. Joshua and Caleb refused to allow themselves to be distracted by their own fears, kept faith, and offer a positive view for the future.
These days, it seems quite easy to focus on fear and dire predictions. Certainly, it is the way in which our President sees the world and transmits his negative message of gloom and doom. Those who believe in a bright future for the American dream (what Ronald Reagan called “the city on the hill”) where all are welcome, all are honored, and all enjoy our constitutional protections, need to focus on Joshua and Caleb’s faith that with God’s help, we can accomplish anything.
