No I-Cons
"Sh'lach-l'cha anashim...." (Numbers 13:2) - "Send for yourself men...." Rashi says in the name of God, "Use your judgment. I am not ordering you, but if you so decide, you send men...." (see the discussion in Sotah 34b).
The

The ten spies were unfair. So are their present-day descendants.

Ma'ad'nei Melech adds, "Make sure you don't send 'I'-men, egotists who think only of their own interests. Send men who will work for the community, not for themselves." The biggest confidence trick is when a candidate assures the public he has their welfare in mind, while all the time his ulterior motive is to line his own pocket, live the high life and relish the possession of power.


Let us ask to whom "send for yourself" is addressed. Since "for yourself" is singular, it cannot refer to the people as a whole but to their leader, Moses.


A Midrash on parashat Tetzaveh (Exodus 27:20) says Moses was upset when God said, "Command the Children of Israel to bring pure olive oil to set up the lamp." Moses saw that every section of the people had a task, but what about him? Every group brought offerings: he seemed to have nothing to bring. God then promised that his contribution would be greater than theirs. They brought specific items; he would bring the sense of purpose.


In the light of today's reading, we might add that Moses's task was to make decisions that would change the whole of Israel's destiny.


Praising Ourselves
The ten pessimistic spies "spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out" (Numbers 13:32). What a shame it is that people are still doing the same thing these days.


There are more than enough negative and distorted reports of Israel in the world media, in the academic unions, among the general non-Jewish public. Unfortunately, there are also some Jews who can not say a good word about Israel. Not just about the security dangers when bombs and missiles are constantly lobbed into Israeli homes and cities, not just when Israel is accused of denying fuel to the Gaza Strip (and yet the Gazans who complain are the ones who disrupt the supplies), not just when Palestinians seem to prefer hurting their own people and not creating the infrastructure for independent living, but also in failing to see the quality of the nation and the culture that have been built in Zion and the inspiration they represent for Jews everywhere.


The ten spies were unfair. So are their present-day descendants. There are times for Jews to praise themselves for what they have achieved. Those who do otherwise only demean and diminish themselves.


Harvesting is Hard Work
Spying out the land of Israel involved checking out its produce. The Torah tells us to take some of the fruit of the

There are rules relating to how to harvest.

land, but prefaces the command with the word vehit'khazaktem, "strengthen yourselves" (Numbers 13:20).


Many commentators think the correct translation is "be courageous"; i.e., do not be afraid of arousing the suspicion of the local population. That's all very well, since we always need to be aware of how other people will perceive what we are doing. It is possible, however, to translate the Hebrew literally, and it then suggests a lesson of some importance. We hope to live long upon the land and become so entrenched there that we establish a chazakah - a presumption of permanence. But that comes at a price.


Rabbi Shmuel Moholiver reminds us that there are rules relating to how to harvest crops, including leaving a share for the poor and disadvantaged. The easy way to do our harvesting is to act as if the Torah rules did not exist - just going ahead and thinking only of ourselves and our personal prosperity - but there's no morality in being selfish.