Parashat shelach-lecha

summary

Parashat Shelach-Lecha (Numbers 13:1 – 15:41) has two distinct parts to it: the episode of the twelve spies and an assortment of laws. This is the Israelites’ first opportunity to enter the Promised Land. It was understood by tradition that the divine promise of possession could not be realised without a military struggle, for warfare and occupation were the context in which the widespread population movements of the Bronze Age took place. God instructs Moses to send out twelve spies (one from each tribe) to scout out the Land and see how easy it would be to conquer the current inhabitants. After forty days they return, all reporting that the Land is one that flows with ‘milk and honey,’ but ten of the spies telling that the people are powerful and well entrenched. Only Joshua and Caleb try to persuade the Israelites that God will support them to be victorious.

The Israelites threaten to revolt once more and this time it is seen most clearly to be against God as much as God’s messengers on earth, Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. God is incensed and threatens to wipe out the people. Moses pleads with God and succeeds in reducing the punishment to none of the generation that left Egypt being allowed to enter the Promised Land, except for Caleb and Joshua who trust in God. The other ten spies are killed by a plague and on hearing it, the people ignore Moses’ warnings and attempt to conquer the Land on their own. Inevitably, they are defeated.

The final part of the parasha, records a variety of laws, among them the rule regarding the setting aside of a portion  of dough when making chollah, the offerings to be brought when an unintentional sin is committed (an intentional sin is, of course, punished). The principles concerning the ger (the stranger) are reiterated and the law of tzitzit (fringes) which has found its major application today in the tallit (prayer shawl), complete the parasha.

commentary

“Then all the Israelites complained 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 the wilderness! Why is God bringing us into this land to die by the sword…Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ Numbers 14:1-4

We all know what it is to lose confidence: times when we doubt ourselves – who we are and whether our life has meaning; times when we doubt others – what their real motives are and whether we can trust them; times when we doubt our faith – whether God exists, or cares for us.

When such doubts assail us, we should not dismiss them or suppress them, but face them and wrestle with them. For we must be honest with ourselves: integrity is everything. The seal of God is truth; therefore the way to God is through truth, not away from it or round it.

“There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.” Alfred Tennyson

“It need not discourage us if we are full of doubts. Healthy questions jeep faith dynamic. In fact, unless we start with doubts, we cannot have a deep-rooted faith. One who believes lightly and unthinkingly has not much of a belief. Those who have a faith which is not to be shaken have won it through blood and tears – have worked their way from doubt to truth as one who reaches a clearing through a thicket of brambles and thorns.” Helen Keller

“Behind every certainty there stands concealment, behind every clarity a new mystery is revealed…Behind all of them, above all of  them and beneath allof them is the great mystery which is beyond time and space…No human mind has fathomedit or will be able to fathom it. But reverence…may approach it.” Rabbi Leo Baeck

“Faith and doubt are twin offspring of mystery.” Viscount Samuel

“You may laugh and mock my dreams, but my dreams shall yet come true. I believe in humankind, as I still believe in you. In the future I believe – for, though distant, come it will – when all nations shall eachother bless, and peace the earth shall fill.” Saul Tchernichowsky

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