We Can Do It!

Parshat Shelach Lecha
Numbers 13:1 - 15:41

Synopsis
God tells Moses to send twelve men to scout the land of Canaan. Among the scouts are Caleb from the tribe of Judah and Hosea son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim. Moses changes the name of Hosea to Joshua and he instructs the scouts to investigate the natural properties of the land and to evaluate the strength of its people.

After 40 days, the scouts return, bearing a branch with a single cluster of grapes so heavy that it must be carried by two men. They report that the land is indeed bountiful, but that its inhabitants are large and powerful.

In the face of the fearsome report of the majority of the scouts and the weeping of the people, Caleb and Joshua argue that if the people have faith in God and God's promise to their ancestors, they will surely overcome the inhabitants of Canaan. As the Israelites converge to stone Caleb and Joshua, the presence of God appears to all.

Moses is told that God will destroy the Israelites because of their lack of faith and make a great nation of the descendants of Moses. But Moses urges God to act with forbearance and mercy and to save the Israelites. He tells God that if the Israelites are destroyed, the Egyptians will say that God was powerless to bring them into the promised land.

God forgives the people, but consigns them to wander 40 years in the desert. With the exception of Caleb and Joshua, none of the generation that was redeemed from Egypt will survive to enter the promised land.

The Israelites hear this and repent. They set out in the morning for the Land. The Amalekites and Canaanites do battle with them and the Israelites are defeated at Hormah.

The portion goes on to detail the sacrifices that are to be given to the Lord. The people are permitted to eat of the bread of the Land, but are bidden to set aside some of it as a gift for God. The sacrifices and offerings to be made in instances of inadvertent sin are describe. A person who purposely sins against God, however, is to be cut off from the people.

In the wilderness, the Israelites come across a man gathering wood on Shabbat. The man is brought before the whole community and stoned to death as God commands Moses.

Finally, God tels Moses to instruct the Israelites to tie fringes on the corners of their garments as a reminder of God and the commandments.
Synopsis courtesy of Teaching Torah, by Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden

For your Shabbat table:

• Moses sent out twelve scouts to the land of Canaan - they all seemed to see the same things, and yet their reports differed. Why might this be the case?
• If you had been with the Israelites in the dessert, how might you have reacted to their reports? Would you have been swayed by Caleb and Joshua?
• When the scouts return from their appraisal of the land of Canaan, most of their reports were quite frightening to the Israelites, but Caleb and Joshua tried to assuage their fears. Think of a time when you felt scared but someone said something to make you feel brave. What did they say? How did it help you?
• Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? Share a time when being an optimist helped you overcome a difficult challenge.
• The very last lines of the parsha details God's instructions to tie fringes on the corners of the Israelites' garments, which is the reason why Jews wear a tallit today when praying. How do you feel when you wear a special garment - have clothes ever affected the way you feel? How do you feel when you put on special Jewish articles of clothing, like a kippah or a tallit?

This week's g-dcast cartoon of Shelach Lecha: