Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 23 Sivan, 5783
Today we study the spies journey into the promised land. As I study this portion today, I am struck with this notion of sending spies within ourselves to check on where we are at with our own spiritual liberation journey.
We’ve been wandering in our lives – to live in this moment. Where do we seek shelter on the journey? Where is our tabernacle? What if the tabernacle is within us?
And what if Hashem wants us to send “spies” within us to seek out where the land is – with these questions to ask ourselves with us:
- What kind of person am I? Strong? Weak? Within me, is it sparse? Or are there a lot of “voices” within me.
- What kind of “land” am I?
- Do I have springs that give forth nourishing water for others? Or are the wells within me “bad” and taking away from others?
- Do I keep my heart protected and guarded? Or is my heart able to be trampled by anyone and anything? Do I have walls around my heart? Or do I have gates? How are my boundaries?
- What kind of “soil” is within me? Do ideas and concepts grow and develop? Or do they wither out and die?
- What kind of fruit can I show myself?
These are some fundamental questions to ask ourselves, no? And we learn at the end of the portion, they entered the land in the season when “first grapes ripen.”
And what season are we currently in? Shavuot is a holiday of the first fruits. We just left this holy day that commemorates the first fruits. So we are in the perfect time of the year to be exploring these spiritual questions. This is the time to dig within. We have one week to go before the new moon. Then we enter into the months of Tamuz and Av. These are tumultuous months for us. Full of chaos and blessing. Paradoxical months. In Tammuz, we learn to “see in the dark” so that we can continue to be light. In the month of Av, we have the Tisha (9th) of Av – which is one of the saddest spiritual days on the calendar – because a number of disasters have occurred that day. (BTW it starts the evening of July 26th). But on the 15th of Av, that all turns around and is the day of Love and Rebirth.
So now is the time to send “spies within” to answer these questions for ourselves. What are you finding? I’d love to hear!
My commentary from a year ago:
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 21 Sivan, 5782
Good morning! Before we dig into todays portion on the spies, I had some thoughts inspired by a meditation lead by Matthew Hepburn in the 10% happier app (thanks Michael Takahara for the continued gift of meditation!)
He was guiding us to find an internal refuge when we face the storms of anxiety, stress, and being overwhelmed. He likened it to getting caught in a rain storm and seeing a bus stop shelter to take cover under). He asked us to create in our minds a place similar to this shelter; and I immediately thought about the tent of meeting we’ve been studying.
I’ve been reflecting on how on this journey from slavery to freedom, Hashem has brought us to a place where we have access to a tent we can seek Him and feel safe. For a long time, we’ve been stationary, but as we have been moving now; packing up the tent and taking it with us, we have the ability to stop and set this up anytime we’d like; to take shelter from the storm around us.
I am not good at this, yet. But it’s something I’ve been reflecting on, and wanted to share it with all of you.
As we’ve been studying in the Torah, Moses was sending the spies into the promised land. On one hand, this would be an exciting time; here the Jews were soooooo close to go to the promised land; but on the other, they were going to have to venture far from the tent of meeting. Where would they take shelter in the land? This is risk.
So let’s dig in!
Todays portion has the spies going up and exploring the land. And what is the first thing they do? Caleb went to Hebron to pray at the graves of the Patriarchs not to be enticed by the advice of the spies. Caleb knew he needed shelter, and he found that place.
They found giants there; but Hebron was the rockiest part of Israel, yet was seven times more cultivated than Zoan (which was the best part of Egypt).
Then they went to the valley of Eschol and cut a branch with a cluster of grapes, and they carried it on two double poles. They also took pomegranates and figs.
Then they returned to the camp after 40 days.
They (the spies) went to Moses and Aaron with “bad intentions” in the desert.
The spies showed the people the fruit they brought back. They reported the land was flowing with milk and honey.
Rabbi Samuel Edels writes how this was deceptive on the part of the spies. Moses asked them to bring a report back on the soil conditions- fertile? Barren? And by showing Moses the fruit, they were indicating the main produce of wheat, barley and oil (which was sustenance) was lacking from the land.
This is an interesting take.
The spies then shared how the people in the land were powerful – the cities were huge and well fortified, and there were giants there. Amalek lives in the south of the land, and it is surrounded by enemies.
Caleb was listening, and didn’t interrupt it would seem. He allowed the spies to finish their report; but then silenced the people.
He told Moses – “we will definitely go up, we will take possession of the land, for we are certainly capable of conquering it!”
So. Let’s pause. One question here is “why Caleb?”. Joshua was Moses’ bestie (give or take); why didn’t Joshua speak up?
Rabbi Schneerson writes about this:
Why did Caleb speak up and not Joshua? The children of Israel had just heard Eldad and Medad’s prediction that Moses would pass away, to be succeeded by Joshua (Rashi to 11:28). Hearing this, they could not imagine how, without Moses’ leadership, they would be able to conquer the heavily fortified cities that the spies had described. “Caleb silenced the people,” telling them that it would be an error to attribute all the great miracles they had witnessed to Moses himself. God performs miracles for the sake of the Israelites, so they would be able to conquer the Promised Land even without Moses- “We will definitely go up! We will take possession of (the land).”
Caleb, not Joshua, needed to be the bearer of this message. Had Joshua said it, the people- after hearing Eldad and Medad’s prophecy- might have suspected Joshua’s motives in down-playing Moses role, because Joshua was Moses’ appointed successor (Rabbi Meir Simhah of Dvinsk, 19th-20′ century).
In Moses’ briefing to the spies, he had instructed them first of all to evaluate the power of the enemy (‘Are the people who inhabit it strong or weak? Are there a few of them, or many?”-v. 18), since conquering the land was their immediate concern. Secondly, Moses told them to collect information about the fertility of the land (“What is the soil like? Is it fertile or barren?” – V. 20), so the people would know what their reward would be after the conquest was complete.
But when the spies gave their report they switched the order: First they mentioned the quality of the land (“It is flowing with milk and honey -v. 27), and only then did they progress to discuss the enemy (“The people who live in the land are (extraordinarily) powerful” -V. 28).
From this, Caleb immediately sensed that the spies had corrupted their priorities. Moses had prefaced the effort (conquest) before reward (the land’s fruit); but the spies were primarily interested in the rewards, so they stressed that first.
On noticing this, Caleb immediately “silenced the people,” for Caleb understood that focusing on the reward would lead them to calculate whether it was worth the effort, which would soon develop into a full-blown rebellion. (End quote)
Interesting thoughts here.
So Caleb gives his report; and the other spies immediately said “we are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than us (and our God)!”
Once again Rabbi Schneerson talks about this:
The sin of the spies was not, as it may first seem, their report that the land of Israel harbored a formidable enemy “The people who live in the land are (extraordinarily) powerful. The cities are huge and well fortified (13:28).” For they were sent by Moses to collect information, and what they reported was true.
Rather, their sin was the conclusion That God’s command to conquer the land was, in their opinion, not possible, We are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than us’ (Rabbi Elijah Merahi.).
God’s promise to enter the land was going to come true, regardless of whether the Jewish people would enjoy a natural or a supernatural victory. The command “not to rely on a miracle”
(Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 64b) means that the Jewish people were required to make logistical and tactical plans for their war, in case God wished to send them a victory garbed in nature. And this necessitated the sending of spies, to gather information.
The spies’ mistake was that the fulfillment of God’s command is not dependent on finding
a practical solution. We must “not rely on a miracle” to exempt us from trying to find a natural means through which God might send salvation. But if no such means can be found, then we must indeed rely on a miracle, because the alternative is that God’s command will not be carried out, and that is unacceptable.
This is a fundamental premise upon which our approach to observing all the commandments should be based: God’s command includes an implicit promise that it will be possible to carry out that command. (end quote).
In our journey to freedom, how often to we not take action because we are too afraid? And we just want God to perform a miracle? We must prepare ourselves for a natural solution on our own while at the same time trusting God’s process as well.
So. after this exchange, the people rebelled. The children of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. The elders spoke out wishing they had died as slaves in Egypt. Or died in the desert. They would rather have died as slaves, or wondering the desert than live in courage and freedom.
The leaders began discussing plans to go back to Egypt.
The portion today ends with Moses and Aaron falling on their faces before the congregation.
Caleb and Joshua tore their clothes (which was a Jewish sign of grief).
Caleb and Joshua speak to the entire congregation. The portion cuts off their speech after the first line: “The land we passed through to explore is a very very good land.”
It is risky to go to a good space. We have to decide whether we have the courage to do it.
What about us? Do we have courage to keep going on our journey? Do we have courage to trust the land is good and God will provide for us? Do we have courage to work on natural solutions to issues instead of “waiting on a miracle?” Those are the questions we should be asking.
What are your thoughts?
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