Parshat Shelach: Send
CARLSBAD, California — This week we read Parshat Shelach, which means Send (spies). The Children of Israel were poised to enter the Promised Land, led by their devoted leader Moshe / Moses, our teacher. The people asked if spies could be sent to spy out the land before the people would enter (Deuteronomy 1:22). This request is indicative that a problem already existed, as G-d had already told the people that the land is good and that they would be able to conquer it. G-d responded to the request for spies that if the people wanted spies, they could have spies. But, we are taught, G-d was angered by this request because it demonstrated a profound lack of faith in Him and His promises. He therefore stated that He would allow them to sin through this inappropriate request. And indeed, a huge sin ensued.
Let us examine the nature of this sin.
On a simple level we find that the spies were intimidated by the Canaanites, who were mighty warriors. “We were like grasshoppers in their eyes!” the spies cried. Two parenthetical questions; 1. How did they know what the Canaanites thought about them? 2. You can only appear to others as a grasshopper if you have very low self-esteem. If you carry yourself as a person – that is how people will view you. The spies claimed that Israel was a land that consumed its inhabitants. How did they come to that conclusion? The commentaries explain that the spies saw the inhabitants involved in numerous funerals that were caused by the Almighty so that the inhabitants would be oblivious to the presence of the spies in their midst. In other words, this was yet another miracle that G-d performed for the benefit of the people (that they then used as proof to go against G-d’s wishes).
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory, shares a deeper reasoning of the spies’ reticence to enter the land. While the Jews were in the desert following being liberated from Egyptian bondage they had all of their material needs miraculously provided. From the water they drank to the clothes they wore to the food they ate to the trails they traversed everything was lovingly provided by the Almighty. Indeed, they were in the lap of luxury. And they used their luxurious existence to serve G-d. They had the time to study Torah and do the Mitzvos. They didn’t have to make a living; all they had to do was serve G-d, and they loved it!
The spies realized that once they entered the Promised Land they would have to work the earth and earn a living. They would not have the same amount of time or energy to serve G-d in the way that they had become accustomed.
They therefore came up with a plan. ‘Let’s convince the people to stay in the desert, in the cradle of G-d, rather than enter a land that would demand hard work.’ There was one problem with this approach; it was not what G-d wanted! In fact, He specifically wants us to be involved with the mundane physical world. We should not make the same mistake that the spies made. Working the land IS serving G-d, if we have that in mind while doing the work. In fact, that is the only type of work that will transform the world into a G-dly abode. If we stay all day studying Torah or Davening how are we going to possibly fulfill the Mitzvot of having fair weights and measures or paying our workers on time?
As a dear friend likes to tell me, “Nobody said it (life) would be easy.”
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Shabbos!
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Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort is Director of Chabad at La Costa. Rabbi Eilfort readers’ comments and questions and can be reached via email at RabbiE@ChabadatLaCosta.com.