Rabbi Ari Kahn
Parashat Sh’lach
Seeing Through
Wine-Colored Lenses
It was not supposed to happen this way: A
group of scouts was sent to see the Promised Land, presumably to bring back a
glowing report that would set the Israelites on their way into the Land of Israel. Instead,
the report was devastating, and the people took it in the worst possible way. Rather
than preparing to enter the Land, they were now forced to prepare for a new
reality: Life in the foreseeable future would be a nomadic existence, and their
ultimate goal would remain beyond their grasp.
And then, as the disappointing story of the
spies comes to an end, the Torah moves on; new laws are imparted, in a seeming
“return to business as usual.”
The interplay between narrative and law in
the book of B’midbar is fascinating. Generally speaking, the book as a whole is
comprised of narrative (as opposed to Vayikra, which is almost completely
devoid of narrative and consists almost entirely of law). However, the laws that
do appear in B’midbar are not randomly placed, inserted merely to break up the
narrative; the laws in B’midbar actually seem to be part of the story, and in
certain cases may provide commentary and insight. Thus, the law that
immediately follows the episode of the spies:
God spoke to Moshe, and said: Speak to the People
of Israel and say to them: When you come to the homeland which I am giving to
you… (B’midbar 15:1-2)
The message is unmistakable: Despite the setback, all is not
lost. God is moving forward, and He is speaking about the day the punishment
will be over. Despite the sin of the spies and the people’s collusion in that
sin, the Land of Israel has not been forfeited; it is still our homeland. Even
now, as they suffer through the consequences of their lapse of faith, as they
wander the desert, the Land of Israel remains their birthright. The message
continues:
You will present fire offerings to God. They may be burnt
offerings, or other sacrifices, either for a general or specific pledge, or for
your festivals. Taken from the cattle or smaller animals, they shall create a
fragrance that is pleasing to God. (B’midbar 15:3)
Despite the bleakness of their present situation, God assures
them that they will one day have a Temple in Israel in which they will
celebrate, bring offerings, and behave in a manner that will be pleasing to Him.
The Torah then provides some very specific information about these future
offerings, which will include wheat meal, olive oil, and libations of wine.
(15:4-5)
This list of offerings does not come as a surprise to us; the
Land of Israel is described as a land that flows with milk and honey, as well
as “a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates; a land of
oil-olives and honey-[dates].” (D’varim 8:8) Indeed, when the spies arrived in
Israel, “they cut a branch and a cluster of grapes, which two men carried on a
frame, and they brought of the pomegranates, and
of the figs.” (B’midbar 13:23) When they returned to report their findings, they
carried the fruit of the land: “We came to the land
where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is its
fruit.” (B’midbar 13:27)
The spies saw Israel’s grapes, and they brought back large
clusters – so large, in fact, that it took two people to carry each one. Should
it have been a surprise that the local inhabitants, whose diet consisted of the
oversized fruits of the land, were themselves oversized? Surely, their
conclusion should have been that the Land of Israel is indeed a wonderful place.
The people should have been thrilled by the knowledge that they, too, would
soon be living off the almost magical bounty of the Promised Land, and that
their own children would grow big and strong. Instead, the spies looked only at the physical
realities their eyes had seen, and gave no consideration to the spiritual
aspects of the land and their connection to it. They were guilty of seeing the
future through the lens of the present or the past.
Perhaps this is the underlying message of the laws that
immediately follow the episode of the spies. The lesson God teaches with these
laws is profound: The future that lies ahead is nothing like the reality of the
present. It is a future infused with holiness, with spirituality, not bounded by
the mundane, physical constructs that limit the present reality. Look toward
the future, He tells them; look ahead to an existence of holiness. The
offerings they will bring in the Holy Land are made from wine – and not grapes
in their present form. The spies saw only the ‘here and now’, the familiar
physical realities of the present. They lost sight of the power that holiness
has to transform that mundane reality into something far greater. Like wine,
that future reality requires a process; it requires time and patience, faith
and trust. This is the message God imparts in these laws. He focuses them on a
new perspective of the future.
The spies saw grapes; they were alarmed by the oversized
fruits and terrified by the oversized people. Instead, God teaches them to turn
their gaze to the future and to see the wine and the holy service of the Beit
HaMikdash. Had the spies seen the potential, and not merely the “reality,” they
never would have sinned. Had they seen the holiness and not only the mundane, the
Israelites’ stay in the desert would have been much shorter. Had they
maintained their faith in God’s ability to create a new reality, unlike
anything they had experienced in the past, they would have immediately embarked
upon the short path to realizing that new reality. Instead, they would have to
endure a long and challenging process of maturation in the desert.
The lesson of the juxtaposition of these laws with the
episode of the spies is as relevant to us as it was to the generation of the
desert: What do we see when we look? Do we see “reality” – which is no more
than allowing our eyes to refract the future through visions of the past? Or do
we see the future as potential? The lesson of these verses is just this: Seeing
the future through lenses colored by holiness allows us to see a completely
different reality.
For a more in-depth analysis see:
