TORAH SPARKS ניצוצות תורה
פרשת שלח לך
PARASHAT SHELAH-LEKHA
June 18, 2011 – 16 Sivan 5711 – ט"ז סיון תשע"א
Annual: Numbers 13:1 – 15:41 (Etz Hayim, p. 840; Hertz p. 623)
Triennial: Numbers 13:1 – 14:7 (Etz Hayim, p. 840; Hertz p. 623)
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1 – 24 (Etz Hayim, p. 857; Hertz p. 635)
Prepared by Rabbi Joseph Prouser
Baldwin, New York
At God’s instruction, Moses dispatches twelve spies, each representing his tribe, into Canaan to reconnoiter and report back on the prospects of conquest: “See what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many?” They return bearing samples of the land’s fruit and produce, but also with a pessimistic estimation of Israel’s tactical prospects. They fearfully describe themselves as mere “grasshoppers” compared to the “giants” indigenous to the Promised Land. Infected with the spies’ faithlessness, the Israelites tearfully lament their condition to Moses and Aaron. Only Joshua and Caleb, who were among the spies, deliver a positive report on their observations, but they are met with a violent public response. A disappointed and disheartened God threatens to disown and destroy His chosen people, and to begin anew with Moses. Moses (though he shares the Almighty’s displeasure: “How much longer shall that wicked community keep muttering against me?”) appeases God on the nation’s behalf, securing His pardon for their iniquity with a prayerful petition that we repeat each Yom Kippur eve. God’s verdict is not one of absolute forgiveness. The current generation of Israelites is condemned to die off in the wilderness, which they will wander for forty years (in recompense for the failed forty day mission of the spies), and the spies themselves, except Joshua and Caleb, die in a plague.
The Israelites, against Moses’ express instructions and in violation of God’s command, attempt to enter Canaan, leaving both their long-suffering prophetic leader and the Ark of the Covenant, behind. They meet with disaster, as they are soundly defeated by a force of Amalekites and Canaanites in battle at Hormah.
The parashah continues with a variety of laws. The first among these describes the meal offering, which is to be accompanied by a wine libation. Burnt offerings and peace offerings (or offerings of well-being) also are prescribed, as is the requirement of setting aside a portion of dough in what the rabbis later call “challah.” Sacrifices to expiate sins, willful or inadvertent – whether perpetrated by an individual or by the community – also are detailed.
The principle that a defiant sinner is to be cut off from the people – that “he bears his guilt” – is followed immediately by a case study. A hapless Israelite is discovered flagrantly violating the Sabbath by gathering firewood. The miscreant is placed in custody while Moses seeks God’s instruction about how to address the case. God’s verdict is severe: the man is taken outside the camp and stoned to death by the community.
Parashat Shelach concludes with the prescription of tzitzit – the requirement that fringes, intended to remind us of God’s commandments, are to be placed on the corners of our garments. The passage is familiar; it is the final paragraph of the Shema.
Theme #1: “An Ant Can’t Move a Rubber Tree Plant”
“We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.”
Numbers 13:33
Study: Derash
“If we are lowly in our own eyes and regard ourselves as non-entities, our
adversaries will think the same of us and tread on us with their feet. If ‘we are in our own sight as grasshoppers,’ then ‘so shall we be in their sight.’” quoted in Maayanah Shel Torah
“This was one of the transgressions of the spies: ‘We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves’ – fine, that is understandable; but ‘so we must have looked to them’ –
what is this? Why do you care how you appear to others?” Rabbi Menachem
Mendel of Kotzk
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“Most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader’s daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage.” John Le Carre
“I cannot think that espionage can be recommended as a technique for building an impressive civilization. It’s a lout’s game.” Dame Rebecca West – Nuremburg
trials correspondent; author of The Meaning of Treason, a study of World War II
and Communist traitors
“The religious man has no inferiority complex. Only the religious man has no inferiority complex because he never compares, and without comparison you cannot
be superior or inferior. So the religious man is neither superior nor inferior; he is
simply himself. He accepts the way God has made him and he enjoys the way God has made him. He’s utterly happy. Just because he is, he is grateful. His every moment is one of gratitude.” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Questions for Discussion
When is it wrong to be concerned about how we are perceived by others? When is it appropriate? Are the statements of the Kotzker rebbe and Maayanah Shel Torah
mutually exclusive? When is it wrong to sense our own insignificance – to be
“grasshoppers” in our own estimation? And when is it appropriate?
Novelist John Le Carre uses spies, intrigue, and espionage as metaphors for the human condition. How does the Torah’s accounts of the Israelite spies serve the same function? What elements of our own experience – our professional lives, our personal relationships – are addressed by this biblical narrative?
Is an inferiority complex actually inconsistent with a religious attitude and lifestyle? How might the spies’ faithlessness be understood as a reflection on the extent of their gratitude and happiness? What motivated Joshua and Caleb to take their more optimistic minority position, setting themselves apart from their fellow spies?
Is “utter” happiness a reasonable life goal? How is accepting “the way God has made us” to be balanced with the desire for personal growth and change? How is this principle to be understood in the light of our animal appetites and desires , which may be at odds with religious principle or our obligations to other people?
In light of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s comment, is First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s remark a spiritual insight? Is it purely political counsel?
Was the mission of the spies simply unworthy of Israel’s divine mission – “loutish,”
as Rebecca West put it? That is, was the mission itself so faithless that it engendered faithlessness in those entrusted with its execution?
Theme #2: “Petition for Remission”
“’Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to Your great kindness, as
You have forgiven this people ever since Egypt.’ And the Lord said, ‘I pardon, as you have asked.’” Numbers 14:19-20
Study: Derash
“’God forgives.’ I sometimes think that if I didn’t believe, I would be drawn to faith
by the power of those two words alone. Forgiveness is the strangest proposition ever advanced by religion, and the most humanizing. At the heart of the Hebrew Bible is an idea so revolutionary that we search in vain for a precedent. God forgives. He doesn’t ask us to be perfect, impeccable, faultless, error-free. He knows we will make mistakes. He gave us the freedom to do so. Like a loving parent he asks only this: that we acknowledge the wrong we do, do what we can to put it right, admit our mistakes and try to learn from them in the future.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks “Forgiven. Hebrew, nasa, has three meanings: (1) carry a burden, that is, bear with Israel; (2) be gracious, and (3) forgive. Only the first meaning (and possibly the second) applies. Moses does not ask God to forgive Israel but to bear with (lit.
‘carry’) His people and, despite their failings, continue to maintain His covenant with them.” Jacob Milgrom, JPS Commentary
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” Thomas S. Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry, SUNY Syracuse
“Without forgiveness, there’s no future.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“We are all full of weakness and errors. Let us mutually pardon each other our follies – it is the first law of nature.” Voltaire
“God will forgive me. It’s his job.” Heinrich Heine
Questions for Discussion
Imagine Heinrich Heine (an apostate from Judaism) and Jonathan Sacks (chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth) in conversation (!!). What limitations to divine
forgiveness might each identify? Heine appears to mock God’s indulgence of our sins. while Rabbi Sacks sees God’s forgiving nature as critical to his faith and
central to the message of Scripture. What would each thinker say to the other?
This verse is at the heart of our Yom Kippur liturgy, prominently placed following
Kol Nidre. How does Professor Milgrom’s linguistic analysis affect our understanding of the High Hoy Days and teshuvah? Does Moses not seek God’s
forgiveness? Is graciousness an indispensable element of forgiveness? Is forgiveness necessary to forbearance?
Contemplate Archbishop Tutu’s comment. What place does forgiveness have in securing the future of the Jewish people?
How does Dr. Stasz’s statement find expression in Jewish life and in Jewish history? In our own lives and experience? Would we rather have our personal failures
forgotten or forgiven?
Rabbi Sacks identifies forgiveness as an essential element of the loving parent. Is his description of such a parent sufficient? Flawed? Incomplete?
Is forgiveness a natural phenomenon, as Voltaire suggests? Or must we overcome
our nature in order to forgive?
Historic Note
In Parashat Shelach, read on June 18, 2011, we read that the Canaanites and
Amalekites dealt Israelite military forces “a shattering blow” at Hormah. On June
18, 1815, Napoleon suffered a crushing defeat by Wellington at Waterloo. On the same date three years earlier, U.S. President James Madison (remembered both as
“the father of the Constitution” and as a scholar of Biblical Hebrew!) had signed a
declaration of war against Britain in what was to become known as the War of 1812.
Halachah L’Maaseh
The mitzvah of tzitzit, prescribed in Parashat Shelach (Numbers 15:38-39), applies
only if someone is wearing four-cornered garments. Since no one is under any obligation to wear such garments – which are no longer typical apparel – the tallit
was developed in order for us briefly to fulfill the mitzvah at least daily, while at
prayer, and thereby to be reminded of all God’s commandments. The tallit katan, also known as arba kanfot or simply tzitzit – which is worn under clothes – was developed in order to enable us to fulfill this observance throughout the day (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 8:3-11, 24:1; see also Rabbi Isaac Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, pp. 3-4). Rabbi Monique Susskind Goldberg writes that this practice is first mentioned in Ha-Ittur (12th century Provence) and is first found in illustrations from the late 15th century. Rabbi Susskind Goldberg concludes a recent responsum on the mitzvah of tzitzit by observing: “The tallit katan is a beautiful medieval custom and we encourage you to adopt it” (Ask the Rabbi #35).