Shelach / שלך

Parshat Shelach is "schelached-full" of important stories and halachot, but the famous story of the spies calls out for our attention. Especially at this time, when anyone who follows the news at all is inundated with dire predictions and absolutist pronunciations the story of the מרגלים seems extra relevant.

שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל...

"Send out for yourself men who will scout the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel…"(Numbers 13:2)

The key word is this phrase is the second - שלך לך , send to you, or to yourself. This second word gives us the clue that this is not a simply journey. Moses needs to undergo a spiritual test here, like Abraham when God commanded him to לך לך, go "to yourself" way back in the book of Bereshit.

Rashi points out to that God commands the spies as a reaction to Moses telling him about how the people approached him (Deut 1:22)

וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ נִשְׁלְחָה אֲנָשִׁים לְפָנֵינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ לָנוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ

"And all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men ahead of us so that they will search out the land for us.' "

Another way to interpret שלך לך, also found in the Rashi, is to say that this whole mission is basically Moses' prerogative. God would not have commanded this on his own accord. Basically - 'ok, do this, but do it in the way that you think is best, if you really need to do it at all.'

This is an unusual commandment - usually there is not much room for flexibility in what God commands. It also helps us to understand why Moses seems to think the mission is doomed from the start.

Before the spies leave, Moses pulls aside the hero Hoshea son of Nun, for a quick conference. He gives him a new name - יהושע - meaning God will save You. Rashi takes this to mean 'may God save you from the council of the spies.'

A truly interesting moment. Moses in effect chooses to send his best men out on a mission that God seems to be ambivalent about, and also warns/blesses his favorite of the spies not to heed the council of the others. If the other guys council will be so bad, why send them at all?

To me, this seems like a propaganda mission. Moses is all to aware of the bickering and negativeness of B'nai Israel, and he is worried that all may not be totally smooth sailing on the way to / once they enter the land. His "mixed multitude" tends to find the negative in everything, and is quick to find fault, especially with Moses and Aaron, but also God, so he is hoping that hearing tales of the bountiful harvests and weak inhabitants will give the people hope and maybe a vision of the future.

Moses does have a good handle on the fears / hopes of the people, so he must have been trusting his own judgement as a leader, a commendably trait, even if the results do not turn out as planned. And, as we know, the reports of most of the spies are very negative.

This reminds me of a story.

My first experience living in Israel was a six-month volunteering trip where we lived in Nes Ziona and taught English to youngsters. One of the first activities of the trip was a lecture from one of the leaders of the provider company. He talked about Jewish history, why we are here, etc., but finished with an antidote that made a big impression and has stayed with me ever since.

He said something like 'You can have two kinds of trips here in Israel, it's totally up to you. Despite our best efforts, there WILL BE enough problems, delays, uncomfortable conditions, etc., for you to be totally preoccupied with them. You could easily sit and home, complain, and get very little out of your six months. Or, you can focus on the positives and have the time of your life - it's your call.'

What really struck me about this mini-speech was his certainty that problems would arise. It wasn't that they might - they definitely will! This is such a powerful idea, because it sucks the wind out of the problems. If you're 100% sure that there will be hiccups along the way, you are not surprised when they arise and can deal with them appopriately. They become just small obstacles in the way of getting what we want, not impassable roadblocks.

Sure enough, most of my colleagues sat at home, complained about food/weather/Israeli culture/the program/lack of quality TV/whatever, and were miserable. I, on the other hand, got out in to the country, met tons of people, learned some Hebrew, and had a life changing experience that led me to make Aliyah. I truly believe that Amnon's speech set the tone, and I was able to take everything in stride.

Unfortunately, the spies didn't hear this lecture - and were totally overwhelmed by the negatives. They said

בָּאנוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר שְׁלַחְתָּנוּ, וְגַם זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ הִוא וְזֶה פִּרְיָהּ:

"We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

אֶפֶס כִּי עַז הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּאָרֶץ וְהֶעָרִים בְּצֻרוֹת גְּדֹלֹת מְאֹד וְגַם יְלִדֵי הָעֲנָק רָאִינוּ שָׁם:

However, the people who inhabit the land are mighty, and the cities are extremely huge and fortified, and there we saw even the offspring of the giant.

(Numbers 27:28)

The English translation doesn't do the stinging quality of the report justice. They describe the land as flowing with milk and honey, and then say אפס,, zero, meaning that all this is for naught, because of the mighty inhabitants, fortifications, etc.

Zero!! This is truly the sin of the spies. It's not a problem to use your senses and understand a challenge, but to totally lose hope and say all is for nothing, especially when you know God is literally leading your way, is truly unforgivable. By using that word, אפס, they are basically saying that all the people's hardships along the way, not to mention God's salvation in Egypt, is for naught.

Our choice of words can have such a powerful effect. Especially if we need to give a less than favorable report, they way that we present it makes all the difference in the world.

To my great sorrow, we live in an increasingly polarized age. The advent of the 24 hour news cycle and social media have an effect of encouraging radical, controversial views, and making idealogical divides harder to bridge. Add to this the fact that our world wide economy is troubled, the international community is paralyzed, and violent conflicts are popping up left and right, and you have a recipe for despair and uninhibited negative speech.

At times like these, we all need to remember the power of a well placed positive word and balanced language. Our perceptions and speech truly turn into reality, so let's remember to take the bad with the good, always accentuate the positives. There are almost always more positives in any given situaion than we realize.

I want to bless everyone here today to be inspired by the words of our ancestor Caleb, son of Ye'fu'neh, - "We can surely go up and take possession of it, for we can indeed overcome it."