Parashas Shelach

Our Torah Parsha this Shabbos is Parashas Shelach and starts by telling the sad story of the Spies who were sent to spy out the Land of K'na'an and brought back an evil slanderous report of the Land . Our Haftorah also talks of Spies being sent in the time of Yehoshua Joshua, to spy on Yericho , but this time his spies were of a holier moral caliber . In fact , the two spies sent to Yericho were Pinchas , son of Eleazar who was the son of Aharon Ha Kohein and the Mother of Pinchas was the Putiel, daughter of Yisro . The other spy Yehoshuah sent was Kaleiv , the same Kaleiv who was one of the Spies sent by Moshe to spy out K'na'an , who stood up with Yehoshuah , for HaShem and the Land of Israel .
The Sedra starts out with a " Va " which is an " And " showing that there is a link between the previous Parsha ending and this one . This link is of Loshon Horah , for the previous Parsha ended on the note of Loshon Horah with regards to Miriam and here , the Twelve Spies that were sent , Loshoned the beautiful land of Eretz Yisroel that HaShem Wanted To Give us . Thus HaShem Wanted us to take note of the bad Sin of Loshon Horah and so , act as a deterrent for the Spies , who unfortunately still Loshoned , sadly enough .
At no time Did HaShem Want To Send Meraglim Spies . This is why HaShem In the the Hebrew Says ' " Shelach Lecha , " - " Send for you , " ' not for Me for I Don't Want Spies as I Am Giving you a beautiful fertile Land of Milk and Honey , ' which also refers to Torah .
The people approached Moshe and insisted Spies get sent . Moshe was against it , telling them to trust in HaShem and the Land HaShem Was Giving us , but the people insisted that Moshe must ask HaShem for them , referring to Moshe as ' Ben Amram ' ( son of Amram Moshe's Father ) . The people did not let it go using all forms of persuasion and making out this Land wasn't as HaShem Said until Moshe approached HaShem and the name of the Sedra was HaShem's Answer .
HaShem Said " Shelach Lecha - Send for you ," not for Me .
Moshe returned back to the people and told them HaShem's Answer and they continued to berate HaShem and the land , making out the land wasn't what HaShem Said , so Moshe , to prove to them the beauty of HaShem's Gift of the land relented and allowed Spies to be sent . HaShem thus said " Shelach Lecha , " - " Send for you , " as I Don't Want them sent , but if you do , make sure they " Anashim , " - " Men of Renown , " that are of higher positions , are chosen , so they will have a start at some moral standing and respect . Moshe surmised the Spies would try to act wrong and so , added a 'Yud ' letter to Hoshea's name , to protect him from the slander of the Spies . Moshe hoped that when they saw the land , they would appreciate the Beauty of HaShem's Gift .
The Twelve Spies were chosen including holy Yehoshua and Kaleiv and they were sent to spy out K'na'an .
As soon as they entered the land , HaShem Protected them , by ensuring that the inhabitants were hit with a plague that would keep them too ill to fight the twelve Spies . Also , HaShem ensured that the people in Canaan would not in any way be protected by any spiritual merit , and so , Iyov Job passed away straight as the Spies entered the land . As the Spies passed Chevron , Kaleiv wanted to gain spiritual strength to withstand and stand against the evil of the planned Loshoning Spies , and so , thinking that he needed extra spiritual help , as Yehoshuah had been given an extra Blessing by Moshe of having a letter of HaShem's Name added to him , so Kaleiv stopped off at the Cave of the Forefathers to ask for HaShem's Help and their strength and HaShem's Guidance and Strength .
The Spies also met up Achiman , Sheshai and Talmai , the three giants , descendants of the Nephilim spoken of in Bereishis , and the Spies tried to pronounce HaShem's Name to protect themselves as the Giants approached them , but only when Kaleiv pronounced HaShem's Name , did the Giants fall. The Giants awoke and verbally chased the Spies away and told them that the time for conquering Israel is not yet here .
The Spies picked a massive vine cluster of grapes from the Valley of Eshkol, planning to mock the land with it .
After Forty days , the Spies returned to Moshe and started out speaking positively , but very soon , their intentions showed , as they slandered viciously the Land of HaShem . Everything they saw , they wisted around evily . Kaleiv first started queitly to question them and then stood up for HaShem and HaShem's Land . The Insults they gave HaShem's Land , was deeply offensive , turning HaShem's striking at the inhabitants of Canaan , for our benefit while the Spies traveled around , into something it was not , thus twisting HaShem's Actions , that were meant to protect the Spies . The way they referred to themselves in comparison to the Giants as the ' Spies being like grasshoppers in their own eyes , ' shows that this report was purely from the Spies own personal negative point of view , for they spoke not as themselves being as grasshoppers in the Giant's eyes , but as appearing like grasshoppers in their own ( Spies ) eyes . How often we make this mistake ourselves , when we judge other people's opinions of us by our own personal incorrect imaginations .
Their loud slander in earshot of the people, caused an uproar .
Evil negative news spreads like wild fire and soon , the people were all crying and hysterical with worry in their tents . This night was the night of the Ninth of Av , that the people cried for nothing , for had they trusted HaShem , they would have entered the land without a single fight wih the enemy .
HaShem Said ," They cried this night and day for no reason . This Night and Day in the future will be a Night and Day that they will now cry for reason throughout the generations . It was this date of the Ninth of Av , that we Jews have suffered the most tragic of Events , like the loss on this date of Tisha B' Av of both our Temples , the signing of Expulsion of Jews from Spain in the Spanish Inquisition , the start of World War One , the use of Tzyklon B Gas and the date of the Final Solution by the nazis in Germany in the Holocaust , the Bogdan Chmielnitzky Massacres near Poland in the Ukraine just over 400 years ago and the attack of Jews in the Crusades among many other tragic events in our History . HaShem Said that this Night they cried for Nothing . " I Will Thus Give them a reason to cry on this night . " The Spies died Instantly ( except Yehoshuah and Kaleiv ), with their tongues extending , worms coming out and eating their naval and then back at their tongues that slandered the Land .
HaShem Ordained that for every day the Spies walked the land , the people would be punished a day for a year , to remain in the Wilderness until that generation died out .So that generation would never see the Land . The Women never slandered the Land at all and thus they entered it .
Every Tisha B ' Av , the men had to throughout the 39 years , in the Wilderness , at this time date , dig their own graves and lie in them , not to be alive in the morning . This continued the full period of the 39 years before they finally entered , when on that last year , when the men dug their graves and found they were still alive the next morning , thought they had miscalculated the date and continued lying in their graves every night for the next 6 -7 nights , yet still found that they had not died , and now realizing that it was mid month by the full moon, saw that HaShem Had Lifted this decree of 15 000 dying and so , this date of the decree being lifted caused on Tuv Be ' Av 15th of Av to become a day of celebration .
There was a group of those who wanted to show their remorse by trying to defiantly enter the Land , and Moshe warned them not to , but they didn't listen and were come upon by the Amelekites .
Moshe and the people became very despondent , where the people started to wonder if they will ever enter the land , in case they might make any more Aveirahs , so HaShem in His Mercy Gave them the Mitzvah of the Libations , which had to include Wine gotten when entering the Land of Israel , so they would know that the time would come when they would enter the Land .
HaShem Also Taught them of the Law of Taking Challah from baking from the Five species of grain of the Land of Israel , which included that made of Wheat , Spelt , Rye , Barley and Oats , again letting the peole know they would enter the land . This was originally only a Miztvah to be performed in the Holy Land , and it was extended to Jews Worldwide so we keep up the memory of this Mitzvah that it not be forgotten . Here , a portion of the dough was to be taken and given to a Kohein . Today , we are to take this portion and burn it .
The Midrash tells us that this Mitzvah is an atonement for humanity, where the Bread of the Earth represented Adam , who was persuaded to take from the Tree in Gan Eiden , which some of our sources say it was a fruit of Lechem , where , when this Mitzvah is done Lehafrish Challah , it atones for humanity and Adam and Chavah's Aveirah .
The Sedra then Teaches about Atonement for a pulic error of Idol Worship Chas Ve Shalom , if it was an unintentional error and also about intentional idol worship Chas Ve Shalom .
Torah mentions the incident then of the Shabbos desecrator who went out and gathered wood on the day of Shabbos . The Rabbis discuss opinions on this and who it was , a man who died of his own sin . He was warned and continued to do this , some say on his own wish to show others the result of not Keeping HaShem's Shabbos . HaShem Sentenced this man to death by stoning . It is better not to mention the name of this man though we know it , as HaShem Chose Not To Mention it in the Sedra , to keep from shaming him .
HaShem Teaches of the beautiful garment we Jewish males wear , called Tzitzis . This garment is to be worn during light hours and thus , being a Time-Bound Mitzvah , is not worn by Women , who are not obligated to Time-bound Mitzvot .
The Tzitzis strings are to be worn on a four cornered garment . They are to remind us of the Mitzvos , all 613 of them , where the word Tzitzis in Hebrew comes to 600 in Gematriah , and the 5 knots and 8 strings add up to 613 , thus when we look at them , we are reminded of the Mitzvos . The 5 knots , can represent the 5 Books of the Torah , and the 8 strings , the number and Olam Habah holy time after Mashiach's coming , as well as the 8 , like the 8 days and lights of Chanukah as well as the number 8 between Pesach and Shavuot where we count 7 weeks and the next day ( 8 ) is Shavuos when we experienced HaShem and when we received the Ten Commandments . We also circumcise on the eighth day .
The four sets of strings Show how which ever direction we turn , we serve HaShem wherever we are , also the two sets of strings in front and the two at the back, as the Midrash Says Rabbi Weissman , is like the two witnesses before us and behind us , that warns us to keep HaShem's Mitzvos . Today , we don't use the Blue String , coloured from the Chillazon , but a longer white string of purity .
The depth of holiness of the Tzitzis is so beyond our understanding , but we are shown some of the beautiful reasons for this Mitzvah and on this Holy Note , our Sedra ends .
The Sedra is called " Shelach " which is in reference to " Sending " the Spies .
But looking at this deeper , the word " Shelach , " also means ' to stretch out or step out or away from , ' and in a deeper sense , refers to ' stepping away ' from HaShem and His Laws , Chas Ve Shalom . Whenever we arrogantly do that , although HaShem Made all things in Making Creation , we thus step away , Chas Ve Shalom , from HaShem's Intended direction of Creation and thus affect HaShem's Wish . In doing so , we step away from HaShem and thus affect Creation around us .
The path to HaShem , is the Road HaShem Commands . To step out of that , is to go against HaShem . HaShem Made Creation and Knows the right way it is to go and that we are to go . To go against that , is to tell HaShem , we think we know better , Chas Ve Shalom . How impossible that is , for HaShem Created all things and Knows Tomorrow and Eternity and beyond .
Who are we to claim to Know better , Chas Ve Shalom . When we ' stretch ' our selves outside HaShem's Commandments , we figuratively step away from HaShem , Chas Ve Shalom , and affect Creation . Who are we, to dare doubt HaShem Who Is All Knowing . This Creation , Is A Gift From HaShem . We are a Gift From HaShem . Our Neshomas and Bodies , are to work as one , in climbing up to HaShem . When we try extend our bodies , " Sending " our bodies away from our Neshomas , that are connected to HaShem's Wish , we go against Creation . We go against HaShem . Each one of the Spies had within his name words of rebellion , but they also had words of trust and faith in HaShem . The choice is our own, how we act .
If we choose wisely according to the pull of our souls towards HaShem , we enter Heaven . If we do not , and let our bodies pull us apart , we end up in Nothingness . We are to work to Emulate HaShem's Oneness . As we know , if two forces pull apart or away from each other , one gets nowhere . In Emulating HaShem's Oneness , we are to work to keep our body in oneness with our soul , both working together as one , in following our Creator , Who Is All Knowing , and so , results in us entering Heaven in oneness with HaShem's Oneness .
Instead of " Shelach " - " Sending " ourselves away from our Neshoma's Intended Path towards HaShem's Commandments , we must always rather be a " Shaliach " - " Messenger , " ( same root as the word " Shelach " ) for HaShem's Oneness , where we emulate HaShem's Oneness by being at one with our body and soul , always traveling in the direction of HaShem with love . A World at One with itself , with people at one with their souls connected to HaShem , is a World at one with HaShem and a ' World of HaShem ' - The Way Creation is Intended to be .
I wish HaShem with Love , an Ever Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with Deepest Love Always and to all my fellow Jews , a sweet and beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love .