A Taste of Shabbos- Parashat Shelach

Why was it so scary for so many members of a nation to consider entering the Promised Land? This question underlies much of this Torah portion regarding the episode of the spies. This event is considered one of the most serious transgressions in the desert, like that of the Golden Calf, and it warrants a closer look.

The spies were afraid to go into the land of Canaan for unclear, or multiple reasons. When they returned from their reconnaissance, they spread that fear to most of the Israelites, which resulted in the forty year stay, rather than a short eleven day trip from Sinai to Canaan, resulting in the death of ten of the twelve spies who brought back a negative report, and the death of many thousands of Israelites each year (not the women) who believed those ten.

Didn’t the ten spies see the same exact features of the land and the people there, and have the same experience as the two spies- Joshua and Caleb- who brought back the glowing report of ‘the land is very, very good?!’ However as contemporary social sciences discover, many people can live through the same event, and yet have a totally different understanding of what they experienced, depending on pre-conceived presumptions.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing a news clip of an indigent NY neighborhood with a clothesline filled with ragged and torn clothes. The clip was from a Russian news channel which commented on how ‘filthy affluent’ Americans were, as shown by waving so many garments.

I think today so somberly of videos from all around the world, condemning Israel for trying to defend itself. As the title of a well-known book puts it, ‘When did David become Goliath?’ As some sages describe the mistake of the spies: They may have been justified in what they reported, but not in the ‘editorial’ which claimed that it was impossible for even the ‘Owner of the land (G-d or G-d’s earthly messengers, the Israelites) to remove the evil then present, from its midst.’

What gave the ten spies such a negative bias? There are many reasons given about that refusal to enter. One is that those ten were the leaders of the tribes, but they were worried that they might be replaced once they got to the land. Let me share a Hassidic insight, with a modern application. They had gotten a taste of living a very spiritual and even miraculous life in the desert, and they thought they would lose those transcendent experiences if they were under the realm of nature where they would have to work for six days a week. They would no longer have a cloud of glory surrounding them, nor heavenly bread falling each day, nor a well of water that could taste whatever they liked, and could even be used for a mikvah, a ritual bath, whenever needed. Their full time job was learning Torah, which they were loath to give up.

So what WAS their mistake? Listen to their words and you can get a sense of what bothered them. ‘It is a land that CONSUMES its inhabitants. It is similar to the concept behind holy eating in general; the idea is to not become more physical by the materiality of the food, even if kosher, but to elevate the food to a more sacred level, to consume the food in a holy way rather than being consumed by the earthiness of the food. Remember that the word for bread is LECHEM, which represents food in general, just as the blessing we say over bread at a meal includes most every other type of food eaten during the meal. In addition, the word LECHEM is also the root of the word for war- mi LCHAM a. The mystics explain similar to the above dynamic: either the food wins over the eater or the eater wins over the food.

Toward the end of the parasha, there is a mitzvah of ‘taking Challah,’ meaning separating part of the dough made from grain, and giving a part to the cohein, the priest. The sages say this is such an important mitzvah that it destroys the force of idolatry! Why should that be?

We can understand this link if we think more deeply into the symbolic nature of making bread. First, consider the language of the blessing…’Blessed are You G-d…who brings forth bread from the earth.’ Does bread actually come from the earth? (at least until Messianic times). Really however, we are being reminded that, although human hands may mix the ingredients and bake the bread, without the Creator of the universe, we would be lacking ‘dough’ on so many levels. Therefore, saying ‘HAMOTZI’ reminds us to unite the many substances of the earth back to the Source of their existence.

At the end of Shelach, the Torah writes, ‘you will SEE the Tzitzit, the fringes, and you will recall all the commandments of the Lord and ‘LO TATURU,’ you won’t go astray,’ after your hearts and after your eyes’…Now this word TATURU is the same root as a word in the beginning of the parasha when G-d tells Moshe, ‘Send forth men, ‘V’YATURU’ and they will scout, the land. Aside from all the commentaries about what this really means, there is a verbal hint from the Sefat Emet that connects the two verbs from the beginning and end…G-d, and Moshe, are warning the men…’Bring TORAH (same root) into the land, and don’t look with your pre-conceived agenda!’

The sages tell us that, like Tzitzit, the mitzvah of separating and making challah, as well as Shabbat in general, are as important as all the mitzvot together! As the name of the parasha, SHELACH gives us a clue about how to rectify the mistake of the spies. SHELACH means send, which tells us, like the line from ‘The Blues Brothers,’ the Jewish people are on ‘A MISSION FROM G-D.’