One important factor that makes the Torah and Judaism so believable to me is the deep wisdom that is found in Scripture. Even more wondrous is the fact that some mysteries have only been resolved in our time, even though Jewish sages and wise men have been analyzing these texts for millennia. One such mystery is the story of the scouts, or spies, in our weekly section Shelach.
At God’s behest, Moshe sends 12 tribal representatives into the land of Canaan to “spy it out.” Ten of them come back to the children of Israel with a discouraging report. The people believe them and do not react as one might expect from a people who have seen so many miracles with his own eyes:
“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ And they said to one another, ‘Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.’”
(Numbers 14:1-4)
This episode is really very strange and is usually interpreted to mean that the 10 pessimistic tribal representatives did not trust God enough and the people were also not sure that God would help them defeat the giants and the fortified cities of Canaan.
However, it would not have come to that if the ten “spies” had understood their task correctly. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks points out in an essay that the group that was sent into Canaan weren’t meant to be spies at all. There are two words for scout or spy in Hebrew, and neither of them appear even once in the entire narrative. Instead, the verb la’tur (לתור) is used to describe their task. This word is used exactly 12 times in our portion. The word sounds like “going on a tour,” and that’s fitting because in modern Hebrew the word tayar (tourist) comes from the same root word.
The 12 weren’t meant to be scouts or spies, but tourists! Like tourists, they were to visit the country and observe the beautiful sights, not the armies’ fortifications and weak points. God had already defeated the mighty Egyptian army, would a couple of Canaanite tribes be a problem for Him? This mission was not about military objectives, it was about giving the people a preview of their future home. Moses had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, but he had never seen it, and the people didn’t have that benefit of Google Maps.
Rabbi Sacks argued that the 10 negative spies simply did not understand their mission, while the other two realized for what they had been sent. He refers to the book Political Tribes by Amy Chua, in which she attributes the terrible failures of American foreign policy in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq to the same mistake, namely misjudging a situation, which has led to serious political blunders. In the case of Iraq, for example, it became clear that you cannot simply introduce democracy into a country where the culture does not at all fit into such a form of government.
It is the same with the conflict over Israel. Anyone who does not realize that the Palestinian leadership only has the destruction of Israel in mind, whether in Ramallah or Gaza, cannot conduct a sensible policy with them. Those who reduce their antisemitism to only economic factors have not understood the situation and should not give Israel well-intentioned advice.
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How Six Women Opened Up the Lockdown
A People of Prophets
Noah, the Ark and the Elephant in the Room
White Paint and an Inheritance in the Land
And Moses Strikes the Rock
After the Holiday is Before the Holiday
We Are All Really Still “In the Beginning”
What is the “Trick” to a Good Life?
How Dare He!
What is Our Desire?
How to Win an Argument
Setting Up the Source of Light in Dark Circumstances
Fear for America
Divine Recipe to Minimize Corruption in Leadership
Grand Finale and Fresh Start
A Jewish Secret for Changing History
Darkness and Light
Begin to See the Cup Half Full
The Greatest of All Feasts
TORAH READING
Spiritual or Material? What’s More Important?
The Bible is Full of Action
How do You Marry a Nice Jewish Girl?
Parting From Lot’s Wife
How to get to Reconciliation & Abundance
A Torah Portion for This Time of Crisis in Israel
Where Was God?
Torah Reading
Criteria for an Honest Discussion
Kosher Beach Vacation
Old Parents Laugh More
And Aaron Was Silent! How Could He?
Nomads No Longer
Coming of Age and Sticky Questions in the Bible
The Dream – Jacob’s Journey and Ours
Mercy Killing?!
Back to the Turban
Marriage is a Miracle
Jubilee Year
Judaism and the Love of Money
When the Leader Speaks From the Heart
Dwelling in God’s Rest
Navigating This Season of Joy and Grief
Eden after the Flood?
Love and Moses’ Dying Wishes
Obedient Children
A Time to Heal
The Song of Moses and Yom Kippur
Ancient Middle East Disney Script?
In the Beginning…
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