Parshat Shlach  28 Sivan 5762, June 8 2002

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - "The land which we have journeyed into in order to scout out is a land which devours its inhabitants, and all of the people we saw in it are men of great measure" (Numbers 13:32).

Apparently, ten of the twelve scouts sent out on a reconnaissance mission were deeply repulsed by the Land of Israel, even to the extent of preparing a negative report and refusing to conquer the Promised Land. What did they find that was so disturbing - and why were Joshua and Caleb not similarly disturbed by the same sight?!

"It is a land which devours its inhabitants, and all of the people we saw in it are men of great measure", cry the scouts.

The S'forno takes the simplest approach: the complaint was that the air was polluted, the crops were benighted with insidious bacteria, and so only the most hale and hearty had the ability to survive. Hence, the people they saw were of tall stature- but there were only the small percentage who "made it"; all ordinary humans were doomed to die because of the unhealthy climate.

Nachmanides (the Ramban) takes it very differently. After all, he reminds us, the scouts brought back wonderful fruit- super deluxe grapes- so that it would be difficult for them to claim foul air and under-developed produce. Moreover, these men were princes of their respective tribes, worthy men of renown; they certainly would not lie! Their sin of an "evil report" stems from their negative interpretation of a positive situation: they duly reported a climate heavily laden with nutrients, plentiful water and luscious fruit which grew to great proportion. Only individuals who themselves are of great stature and healthy disposition can survive such rich and abundant nutrition; "food of this nature will enable powerful people to become even more powerful, but will slay the rest of normal humanity" (Ramban, ad loc). Hence he explains the fact that it was a land which devours its inhabitants- but at the same time the residents were tall and husky, individuals of great measurements.

Fascinatingly, the S'forno saw the scouts as out- and- out liars, whereas the Ramban has them re-interpret the facts on the ground in accordance with their own fearful slave mentality.

Rashi's explanation is radically different- and most instructive for us today in our present situation. This master Commentary cites a midrash to interpret "a land which devours its inhabitants": "Wherever we passed, we found the inhabitants burying their dead," cry the scouts. Indeed, explains Rashi, they did not understand that this preponderance of funerals was for their benefit, so that the residents would be so involved in their mourning that they would pay no attention to the foreign scouts! Rashi goes on to interpret "anshei midot," which we translated earlier as "men of great measure (merit)" to mean "men of arguments and struggle," from the Hebrew word madon ; in a similar fashion, the "Additions to Rashi" (found in an enlarged Mikraot Gedolot) interprets the phrase to mean "men of advanced knowledge in warfare, men with army uniforms" from the Hebrew word madim. Rashi pictures the scouts as having seen the inhabitants of Canaan involved in warfare, dressed in battle uniform and attending the funerals of their dead warriors; and so the scouts became frightened by tackling such bellicose inhabitants, and, upon their return, counseled either returning to Egypt or remaining in the desert as long as they needn't go out to military battle.

This last interpretation fits very well with the manner in which the Da'at Zkenim explains the phrase which- in last week's Torah portion- signaled the desert denouement into disaster, "And the nation was k'mito'neneim," (Numbers 11:1) like mourners, already like mourners for their dead when they anticipated the military conquest of the Land of Canaan- Israel. They conjured in their minds a powerful enemy- and simply ran scared.

But why did Joshua and Caleb remain resolute? What gave them the courage of their convictions, the willingness to take on the necessary battle and conquer the Promised Land? Our Biblical portion opens with a catalogue of the names of the Princes of the tribes, the twelve scouts, informing us that Hoshea was the Prince of Efraim, and "Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun 'Yehoshua'" (Numbers 13:16). Hoshea was the faithful disciple of Moses; his rebbe re-names him Yehoshua (Joshua), adding the prefix G-d (Yah) to form the new appellation "G-d saves."

Six verses later, we are informed that they (all twelve scouts) began their journey by travelling up to the Negev, and then he (singular) came to Hebron (Numbers 13:22). Rashi immediately comments, "Caleb alone went there, and he prostrated himself on the graves of our patriarchs and matriarchs, the Machpela cave in Hebron..."

Joshua was G-d enthused, and Caleb was "national history enthused;" if you feel that G-d is on your side, and if you are inspired by the vision and courage of the founders of our faith, you will not be fearful of facing an enemy in order to take possession of your homeland. Tragically, the other scouts were so distanced from Sinai and the tradition of the covenant, that they felt very small and very alone. "And we were in our eyes like grasshoppers- and so were we in their eyes." They felt powerless - and so did they perceive themselves to be in the eyes of their enemies. Joshua and Caleb will take the next generation into the Promised Land; their faith in G-d and Jewish destiny made them much taller in stature (if not in height) than the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan and exquisitely prepared to partake of the goodly fruits of the land flowing with milk and honey.

Shabbat Shalom.

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