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Weekly Reading Insights:
Shelach 5780
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Overview of the
Torah Reading
To be read on Shabbat Shelach -21 Sivan 5780 /June 13 (Outside
of Israel Beha'alotcha)
Torah: Numbers 13:1-15:41; Haftorah: Joshua 2:1-24 (the
two spies sent to Jericho)
Pirkei Avot:
Chapter 2
Shelach is the 4th Reading out of 10 in Numbers and it
contains 5820 letters, in 1540 words, in 119 verses
Overview: Shelach
begins by relating how Moshe sent the 12 spies to explore the Promised Land.
Ten of the spies subsequently gave an evil report which influenced a majority
of the people. Because of the Jews’ apparent disbelief in G-d’s ability to conquer
the Land, the adult men of that generation were decreed to perish in the desert
during the next 38 years (see the Book of our Heritage for a detailed account).
Despite the decree, a group of Jews defiantly attempted to enter the Holy Land
but were defeated by Amalekites and Canaanites. The next section describes the
details of meal and dough offerings, and communal and individual sin offerings
for committing idolatry inadvertently. Next is the story of a man caught gathering
sticks in violation of Shabbos and his death as consequence. The Reading concludes
with the mitzva to separate challah from dough, to wear fringes (tzitzis) with
a special strand of blue on four cornered garments and not to be drawn after
your heart and eyes.
 An
Essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, Director of Ascent
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
This week's Torah portion, Shlach, is almost entirely about Moshe
sending twelve spies to check out the land of Canaan in advance of the Jewish
people going in to conquer it, and the aftermath of that mission. On a spiritual
level, the purpose of Moshe's sending the spies on their mission (going from
the desert to the holy land, from mundane to the holy) is a central principle
of our study of Torah and observance of the commandments. Every time we do one
of the "practical" commandments, we are taking a physical object and
investing it with holiness. This is spiritually equivalent to bringing the object
into "the Land of Israel"!
This was the inner dimension of the response of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe
(Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, 1789-1866, known as the Tzemach Tzedek)
to the question of one of his chassidim about the advisability of leaving the
Ukraine and emigrating to Israel. The Rebbe said, "Make Israel here!"
Whenever a person adds holiness to his life, he is entering the "Land of
Israel" on a spiritual level.
This is what we learn from G-d's commandment that opens our portion, "Send
out for yourself men who will scout the land of Canaan" (Bamidbar/Numbers
13:2).
Before a person observes a commandment (which is, as we said, akin to going
into the "Land of Israel"), a person should scout/spy out - think
and meditate about the commandment he/she is about to do and, only afterwards,
actually do it. (There used to be a saying, "Don't just stand there! Do
something!" This is the new version - "Don't just do something. STAND
THERE!"). Think about what you are about to do. The truth is, this is a
principle all of us should practice all the time. Take a minute and think before
jumping in.
We see this when we make a blessing on a commandment (like tefillin or
lighting Shabbat candles). Before we do the action we say, "Blessed are
you, G-d, Lord, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments
and instructed us…." We specifically contemplate that through doing
this commandment we ourselves become holy and sanctified by fulfilling what
G-d commands us to do.
It is the same when we study a Torah text or discuss a Torah idea. Before starting
to study (if one did not already say the blessings on the Torah that are said
each morning as part of the Morning Blessings printed in every siddur/Jewish
prayer book) we say the blessing, "…You have chosen us from all the
nations and given us Your Torah..." That each time, before we study the
Torah, we have to again be "spies" and contemplate that the Torah
we are about to study is G-d's Torah! And He gave it to us on a high, supernal
level, so that each of us can become elevated and sanctified.
This is the universal message of this week's Torah portion, "to spy out
the land of Canaan." That before we do a commandment, which is G-d's will
(and may it be that everything we do be in line with G-d's will), we contemplate,
i.e. spy out the inner aspect and purpose of the Torah and the commandments
that we are about to study or do.
(Likras Shabbos - from an adaptation of Likkutei Sichot : An Anthology of Talks
by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, volume 13, page 40 onwards).
The Talmud tells a story (Zvachim 19a) about the Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Huna
the son of Nattan, who once met Izgadar, the King of Persia. Rabbi Huna was
wearing his belt too high and the king came to him and fixed it, meanwhile saying,
"Your sources say that you are a kingship of priests and a holy nation."
(i.e., you should look it!). When Rabbi Huna told this story to his friend Ameimar,
Ameimar responded that he (Rabbi Huna) merited to have happen to him what the
Torah verse prophesizes about the times of the Mashiach (Yeshaya 49:13), "Kings
will be your servants."
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explained that when a Jew stands confidently with the
Torah (that is - he/she knows what he/she is doing and why -because he/she meditated
about his or her actions) even kings will come to his aid, and the whole world
will be at his disposal.
Adapted from Living Jewish #691 livingjewishweekly@gmail.com
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
________________________________________
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's Reading,
see the archive.
FROM
THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically, for an overview
of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary Kabbalists,
and more,
click to Shelach
one sample:
Mystical Classics
By the Sweat of Your Brow
From Shenei Luchot HaBrit by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
"Man does not live by bread alone, rather on all that emanates from the
mouth of G-d."
The Ari explains that the
intake of food enables the soul to remain attached to the body, although the
soul, by definition, does not need to eat for food is something both physical
as well as spiritual. The soul can benefit from those spiritual ingredients
in food, just as the body derives strength from the foods' nutrients.
To continue, click
here.
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here.
For another taste of recommended Kabbalah articles on a variety of subjects,
click to the our
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