Parshat
Shelach lecha, Numbers 13:1-15:41
By Ruth Bernstone
The Torah portion for this Shabbat from Numbers takes place
as the Israelites are about to enter the
So the chiefs went and scouted the land for 40 days – an
important number – and brought back a branch with grapes, pomegranates and
figs from a place to be called Eschol, named after the grapes.
When they returned, they showed Moses, Aaron and all the
Israelites the fruit they had collected and reported that the land did indeed
flow with milk and honey. They also
reported that they saw Anakites in the large, well-fortified cities, Amalekites
in the
Caleb, Chieftain of the tribe of
The Israelites wept and cried out that they wished they had
died in
Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage the Israelites by
telling them that
But Moses intervened on their behalf once more, reminding
God that if he killed them, other countries would think their God was too weak
to bring them into the land he had promised them and Moses prayed to God to
forgive them once again. So God did
pardon them, but declared that none of the men over 20 years of age who had seen
God’s presence and signs would enter the
The Israelites were overcome with grief at this punishment.
The next day they decided to go to
The next sections describe God’s instructions on what to
do when they entered Canaan in 40 years, various burnt offerings, the treatment
of strangers, the setting aside of a piece of bread from each loaf as a gift to
God and the wearing of the fringe and blue cord to remind them of all God’s
commandments. It also describes the
punishments for unintentional and willful failure to observe the commandments,
with those acting defiantly being cut off from their people.
A story is told of how a man who cut wood on the Sabbath was ordered by
God to be put to death which was done by stoning.
The parshat ends with “I the Lord am your God, who
brought you out of the
This story can be looked at from many perspectives, of
course. It reminds Rabbi Feinstein
of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”, the story of
a man who dreams he is a gigantic bug and awakens to the truth that, hemmed in
by narrow family and social class expectations and professional
responsibilities, “he has accepted an ordinary, mediocre, useless life.”
Rabbi Feinstein asks the question “What is it in the human soul that
kills our dreams and turns us into bugs?”
His answer to why the Israelites lost hope and gave up everything they
had dreamed of, the Promised Land – is fear.
Fear of freedom, of responsibility for their own destiny, fear of the new
and different, and an uncertain future – in a phrase, a lack of vision.
We, too can be afraid of these things, and lack or lose the vision of
what we want our world and our children’s world to be.
And it’s so easy to get busy with work, family, activities, and
obligations that we forget who we are. Do
we have a vision of what we want our
Chancellor Ismar Schorsch of the Jewish Theological Seminary, speaks of the concept of God’s forgiveness. We might read this section and conclude that these are harsh punishments for a people that had endured so much suffering already. Like a child that has to be reminded what is right and how to behave many times before they understand, the Israelites faith in God was still immature and shaky. But Schorsch reminds us that atonement is not a “whitewash. A residue of our sin remains and “atonement expresses Judaism’s respect for reality. No matter how heartfelt our contrition, our fate is mitigated, not rescinded.” A child is still punished, even though she apologizes so that she will know that there are consequences to one’s behavior. “Judaism promises a change of heart, not a transformation of reality.” And in their immaturity, the Israelites were not ready for freedom.
For Rabbi Rafael Goldstein of the Jewish Family &
Children’s
Shabbat Shalom