Blog: Ari Enkin 15 - Shlach 5766

28 Elul 5770

September 7 2010

Parshat Shlach

This week’s Torah portion, Shlach, is likely the primordial Torah portion to reflect Zionism, the State of Israel, and of course, Aliyah.

It wasn’t so easy, however. The Jewish people did not believe that the Land of Israel was as good as they were promised, and so, they demanded that spies be sent to scout out the land. Make no mistake; God was not in favor of sending the spies. The people were already told by the highest Authority what to expect in the land of Israel (i.e. only one Seder, good shwarma, bureaucratic nightmares, and high taxes) and He did not like the idea that He was being challenged. Finally, under intense pressure, Moshe organized the elite unit of twelve spies.

The twelve spies of course, represented the 12 tribes of Israel. For forty days they walked the length and breadth of the land, observing the quality of life as well as its inhabitants. They returned to the people prepared to report on what they saw. They also brought back with them a variety of fruits - huge, juicy, and tasty which they must’ve picked up at the local shuk.

The report the spies presented however, was not as good as the fruits were. Ten of the twelve spies returned with pessimistic and derogatory reports of the land, inciting fear and hatred among the nation. It was only Yehoshua (previously known as “Hoshea” but underwent an identity change prior to the mission) and Calev who spoke nicely about the land and positively on their chances of a successful Aliyah. Being that Calev and Yehoshua were in the minority, their view on the land and the nation’s prospects was rejected and the people unfortunately accepted the report of the ten other evil scouts, plunging the nation into panic. As we know, and as is the geographical setting of the rest of the Torah, God was angered over the people believing the evil report of the spies, and sentenced the nation to forty years in the desert.

Did You Know?

As mentioned, the spies traveled the entire land of Israel in only forty days. This short amount of time seems ridiculously too little to allow for such an undertaking. It is not even possible to walk from one side of Tel Aviv to the other in a single day, let alone the entire country!

Indeed, although their time was insufficient, God foresaw what was to be the outcome of this infamous spying mission and decided that He was to decree a punishment of one year of wandering the desert for each day the spies were gone. Not wanting to punish the people for more than forty years, God arranged that their journey would miraculously be expedited accordingly.

The mitzvah of tzitzit which winds up the Torah reading also features prominently in the parsha, and of course, in Jewish practice in general. The mizva of tzitzit is that which instructs that we place specially designed fringes on our four cornered garments. The tzitzit represent and by extension, remind us to keep all the mitzvot of the Torah. This idea can be further seen in the following equation: The numerical value of the word tzitzit in Hebrew is six hundred. Tzitzit are comprised of eight stings on each corner, accompanied by five knots. Hence, 600+8+5=613 which is the number of mitzvot in the Torah.