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Parashat Sh'lach L'cha

Yotam Sayer

June 25, 2005

Shabbat Shalom,

 At first, when I was studying this parasha, Parashat Sh’lakh L’kha, the overall content made little sense to me. The first part of the Parasha, chapters 13 and 14, tells the story of the spies and their punishment: the Israelites are forced to wander another 38 years in the desert until a new generation is born. But then the parasha jumps to a whole seemingly unrelated set of issues in chapter 15. This chapter details the regulations regarding קרבנות - sacrifices,שמירת שבת - observance of Shabbat, and the ציצית - wearing of Tzizit. So I was wondering what these narratives of Chapter 15 have in common, and how do they relate, if at all, to the story of the spies in chapters 13 and 14.

          Let us begin with the end. Chapter 15 starts with the Israelites learning about the various kinds of sacrifices and burnt offerings they will make when they get to the Promised Land. God sets out detailed guidelines for these sacrifices, and commands every one to perform them. Every person would come with his or her animal and offer it to God in a big fire near the sanctuary.  The point of these sacrifices was to thank God for bringing them to the Promised Land by pleasing him. It is interesting to notice that every person, either Israelite or resident alien, is obligated to perform this ritual: “you and stranger shall be alike before the Lord” (15:15). Also important to notice is that the sacrifice in ancient Israelite custom was done as a community whether they are expressing gratitude, praise, forgiveness, or free will.

          A man cutting wood on Shabbat is the second narrative of chapter 15. The Israelites bring the person before Moses and Aaron who appeal to God before they reply to the people as to what should be done to him, since cutting wood, or any other physical work, on Shabbat was prohibited. Moshe, by commandment, rules that the man was desecrating the Shabbat and therefore he must die. Not observing Shabbat means forgetting the covenant, the sign of the relationship with God. As God had said precisely the Shabbat is the sign of the covenant forever, and all who break it shall be killed. Observance of Shabbat, is an important mitzvah that we are obligated to follow. We, modern Jews, might attend services and might pray and sing together as a way to remember the covenant. Though we have this communal service the Shabbat most likely has different meaning to each one of us, even while being a unifying observance. Whether it is what we think about during the Amidah or where we go after shul, whether we willingly spend Shabbat with our families or by ourselves, with friends or not, the point of Shabbat may be different to each one of us, while still being a unifying experience and remembrance. 

          Finally, after the incident with the woodcutter, the text presents one last device to help the Israelites remember the commandments. God instructs the Israelites to attach a cord of blue, (more precisely azure - made of an unknown dye and used later in the Israeli flag) to each of the 4 corners of their clothes. The sight of these fringes would remind the Israelites of the moral code of the commandments and would help them be redirected from their habits and desires they had acquired as slaves in Egypt. Wearing these fringes, ציציות - is a commandment. Although the law of Tzizit was made so the Israelites, as a whole, would remember the covenant, every individual may have his or her own personal memory related to the Tzizit. It may remind them of their immediate family, their heritage, the community they grew up in, or some personal event. Some families pass the Talit, used as a tool to wear the Tzizit, from generation to generation. Usually a person was buried with his Talit as a shroud. The Tzizit has individual meaning for every one who wears them, in addition to their collective meaning. 

          It seems that these three commandments are indeed related. The sacrifice offered at the Promised Land was meant to express gratitude. The incident with the man who collected wood on Shabbat is meant to remind the people of the covenant, and the Tzizit were created so the Israelites would remember to observe Shabbat and be part of Jewish history and destiny. These three narratives are different forms of mitzvot, commandments or rituals, that guide a Jewish life. The sacrifice is communal, wearing of Tzizit individual, and the Shabbat is both community oriented and individually related. 

          But this is only part of the story of the Parasha. There is still the question: “why do these narratives follow the story of the spies”? To answer this question Rabbi Yael and I looked into the story of the spies to see what their sin was and what kind of sin it was.  

An interesting clue was the wording, Sh’lach L’cha Anashim,  literally, send ‘for yourself’ rather than a more common commandment, שלח - Sh’lach, ‘send’. Maybe God is trying once again to have the Israelites as his partners to follow the laws and enter the Promised Land. He wants them to see ‘for themselves’ what God has described as ‘land of honey and milk’, and promised to give it to them for eternity. But they fail as they did in the story of the Golden Calf, when the Israelites did not have trust in the constant presence of God. We should remember that this is the ‘slave generation’. They have tentative faith in their relationship with God and the commandments, so in some ways it is not a surprise that the spies come back with a negative report and spread further doubt in the community. Doubting God’s ability to deliver can be seen, among other statements of the spies, from the wording of their report. They say (13:31):

“we cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than us”, but "ממנו" in Hebrew can be understood to mean either “us” – the Israelites or “him” – God.  

Therefore we came to the conclusion that the Israelites committed two offenses. First was the spies’ individual offense, where each – personally - doubted God’s presence, strength, and ability to deliver what was promised to them. They had no faith in God in spite of the experience of exodus from Egypt, Matan Torah – giving of Torah on Sinai, and all other divine events. More than that, the spies discouraged and dispirited the community. But then, the people followed in line. The text says - “The whole community broke into loud cries” (14:1), and started to complain to Moshe - “if only we had died in the land of Egypt” (14:2). That was a communal wrongdoing: of the spies and of the people who followed the transgression of the spies. The spies erred because they had questioned God’s power and discouraged the whole community. The people erred because they were easily dissuaded of their belief and doubted God as well.

Once we had set this in our minds, figuring out a way chapter 15 with its three narratives is related to the spy story was clearer. The spies’ story is a story of individual and communal sin. The commandments in chapter 15 prescribe ways to remember the covenant, trust God and respect our history, in individual and communal ways, how the Israelites will “do for themselves”.

In our days too, we need reminders of the covenant and we need to connect to God. We need to do this for ourselves, not because we were commanded to do so. Our connection to God is rooted in the covenant of our people. I am reminded of the covenant when I think about the creation of the state of Israel and when I think about the history of the Jewish people.

          Becoming a bar mitzvah encourages me to look at Judaism and my community in new ways. I feel more involved and more interested in my people and in my heritage.  Though sacrifices, observance of Shabbat, and wearing Tzizit, as commanded in Parashat Sh’lach L’chah, were the ways by which the Israelites in the Negev stayed connected to God, today, our way to stay connected to God is based on these three mitzvot and others. Over the centuries we have reconstructed these mitzvot. We still wear tzizit, we still celebrate Shabbat, and we still offer our prayers – a replacement for sacrifices since the destruction of the temple. However, rather than focusing on wearing a Tzitzit we insist on understanding Judaism and staying connected to our people and our traditions. We pray rather than sacrifice, but our prayers reflect our deepest wishes, and we keep Shabbat’s idea of rest from the profane and seek sacred time each week. As a Jew I understand the importance of these mitzvot, both material and spiritual, and these mitzvot will hopefully help me with my faith that Godliness and goodness are mighty powers in the world.

 Shabbat Shalom.