MY DAILY LIFE TORAH COACH:
Parashat Shelach Lecha N.38

This week’s Parasha teaches many powerful lessons from an unfortunate situation.
Moses sends out a spy from each tribe of Israel to scout out the land of Canaan, to give the people a feel for the land they will be entering. Ten of the spies come back with a doomsday report – the people are giants; we are all doomed!

However, two spies, Caleb ben Yefuneh, and Yehoshuah bin Nun, do not follow the
crowd, and their report is totally different than the one of the other ten spies. They come back carrying a stick with luscious grapes (the symbol of Israeli tourism several thousand years later).
Caleb and Yehoshua agree that the land is truly flowing with milk and honey.

The people weep that they’d rather return to Egypt. G-d decrees that Israel’s entry into the land shall be delayed forty years, during which time that entire generation will die out in the desert. A group of remorseful Jews storm the mountain on the border of the land, and are routed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.

The laws of the Nesachim (meal, wine and oil offerings) are given, as well as the mitzvah to consecrate a portion of the dough (challah) to G-d when making bread.

A man violates the Shabbat by gathering sticks, and is put to death. G-d instructs to place fringes (tzitzit) on the four corners of our garments, so that we should remember to fulfill the mitzvot (divine commandments).

Lessons for Modern Life:

Real Leadership: To be a leader – often you cannot just follow the crowd, and go along with what the majority states. You need to speak for yourself, and stand firm to your own beliefs, even if there may only be one other, or no one, who agrees with you. To be a leader, you need to take a stand, even if not popular, even in a minority opinion.

Furthermore, the concept of a minyan, a quorum of ten needed to recite certain prayers during services, such as reciting the Kaddish, reading Torah, is extrapolated from the concept of the ten spies that Moses sent to scout out the land of Canaan. When the ten spies returned and issued a report concluding that it was not a conquerable land, G-d was extremely disappointed with their lack of faith in God’s abilities. God then turned to Moses and Aaron, telling them: “How long will this evil ‘assembly’ provoke [the Jewish nation] to complain against Me, God?” From here, it is deduced that an “assembly” is comprised of ten people. Out of this very disheartening behavior of the ten spies, and behavior that showed a clear lack of faith in God, such an important concept, ten people needed for a minyan, is learned. Hence, what can
we learn? Even from the most difficult and negative situations, sometimes positive things can be learned.