MembersThis “Spy’s” Good Report

Late in March I stopped by to bid farewell to my optician, Sha’ul, in Jerusalem, before departing Israel to join my family in Central Europe. I wanted to share something with him, and began by pointing to the account of the 12 men sent by Moses to spy out Canaan.

It’s not that the 10 spies brought back fake news as they sought to dissuade their people from entering the Land, I said. The facts of their report were not disputed. They even mixed in some good news with the bad. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But there also really were giants awaiting them. And the cities were strongly fortified and would be difficult to take. The appeal of the two contesting spies Caleb of Judah and Joshua of Ephraim to “be of good courage” and go in and take the Land fell on deaf ears.

Yes, I said, there are legions of lies spun about Israel, but there also is plenty of truthful bad news relating to the Jewish...