Sh’lach 5786

By Rabbi Margie Cella

This week we read the story of the twelve spies who went to scout out the land of Canaan before the nation would venture into it. Only two came back with a good report, saying that they would be able to take possession of the land. The other ten all said that the people in the land were stronger than Israel, and they could not take the land. Listening to the majority, the people once again turned on Moses and Aaron, complaining that they had been taken out of the security of their lives in Egypt. Reacting in anger, God threatened to destroy them all and start all over again with Moses.

Moses interceded on behalf of the people, saying that the Egyptians would tell the other nations that God was powerless to bring them into the land and had therefore slain them in the wilderness.

In a similar conversation following the incident with the golden calf, Moses convinced God not to destroy the people, saying that if God were to do that, the Egyptians would say that God had delivered the Israelites with evil intent, only to kill them off in the desert [Exodus 32:11–12]. In both situations, God relented from the decision to annihilate them.

We recognize the last five verses of Sh’lach [Numbers 15:37–41] as the third paragraph of the Shema. Here, we read, “I the Lord am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God ….”

Our twice-daily recitation of this prayer reminds us that God did not bring us out of slavery to destroy us; rather, God brought us out to be in relationship with us—because God loves us.

Oseh Shalom, Maker of Peace, may Your love continue to sustain us, even in a world that increasingly turns on us in hatred.