Sh'lachBamidbar (numbers)

The Scouts
GOD spoke to Moses, saying,

So Moses sent out the men from the Paran desert with GOD’s permission. All of them were men of distinction; they were leaders of the Israelites, i.e., the best of them. Nonetheless, 10 of the 12 intended to do more than just inspect the land and report on it, which is all that Moses sent them to do; they intended also to spy out the land and see how it could be easily conquered.

These were their names: For the tribe of Reuben, Shamu’a son of Zakur.

For the tribe of Simeon, Shafat son of Chori.

For the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Yefuneh.

For the tribe of Issachar, Yig’al son of Joseph.

For the tribe of Ephraim, Moses’ attendant, Hosea son of Nun. (This was Joshua’s given name.)

For the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Rafu.

For the tribe of Zebulun, Gadi’eil son of Sodi.

For the other tribe of Joseph, the tribe of Manasseh, Gadi son of Susi.

For the tribe of Dan, Ami’eil son of Gemali.

For the tribe of Asher, Setur son of Michael.

For the tribe of Naphtali, Nachbi son of Vofsi.

For the tribe of Gad, Ge’u’eil son of Machi.

Moses sent them to inspect the quality of Canaan, and he said to them, “Go up this way to the worst part of the land first, the dry south part, and then climb up the mountain to see the better parts, so that you are left at the end of your tour with a good impression of the land.

See what the effect of the land is on the people who inhabit it: are they strong or weak? Are they few or many?

And what of the water supply of the land they inhabit? Is it good or bad? And what of the cities they live in: are they living in open cities or in fortresses? If they live in open cities, it means the land makes them strong and confident of their strength, but if they live in fortresses, it means they must be weak.

So they went up and inspected the land, traveling westward along its southern border from the Tzin desert, which is in the southeast, and then they turned northward and traveled along the coast until Rechov, until they reached the way to Chamat.

While they went up through the south, Caleb came by himself to Hebron in order to visit the graves of the patriarchs and ask them to invoke God’s mercy that he not be persuaded to spy out the land, as the others planned. Achiman, Sheishai, and Talmai, sons of the giant, were there. Now Hebron was a rocky area, the least arable region of the Land of Israel. This is why it was used as a burial ground. Nonetheless, its soil was so good that it was built up seven times better than was Tzo’an, the choicest place in Egypt, which possesses the finest soil on earth. From this we see how excellent the Land of Israel was.

They called that place the Valley of Eshkol [“cluster”] because of the giant cluster of grapes the Israelite spies cut down there.

Since God foresaw that the people would need a year to rectify each day that the spies spent scouting out the land, He made them travel miraculously fast. They returned from scouting the land at the end of only 40 days, having spent only a fourth of the time it would normally take to scout out the land. This was on 8 Menachem Av.

Just as their intentions had become evil while they were walking through the land, their intentions remained evil when they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the community of the Israelites at Ritmah, opposite Kadeish Barnei’a, in the Paran desert. They brought back a report to Moses, Aaron, and to the entire community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.

In order to look objective, they began by praising the land. They addressed Moses and said, “We came to the land you sent us to, and it is indeed flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey, and this is its fruit.

However, just as the fruit of the land is extraordinarily large, the people who inhabit the land are extraordinarily mighty; the cities are fortified, huge, and suspended in the sky; and we even saw there Achiman, Sheishai, and Talmai, the sons of the giant. It is therefore impossible to conquer the land by natural means.

Nor will God help us supernaturally, because by doubting His protection we have forfeited it, and the Amalekites, who attacked us when we previously doubted His protection, dwell in the south land ready to strike at us again. And even if we can rely on Him to fight for us inside the land, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountainous region, and the Canaanites dwell on the coast and alongside the Jordan River, so the land is surrounded by hostile nations, and there is no guarantee that God will come to our aid outside the land.”

Caleb Attempts to Persuade the People
Caleb saw that the other spies were turning the people against Moses. He silenced the people so he could talk about Moses by exclaiming, “If Moses would tell us to, we could even go up to the sky on ladders26 and take possession of it, for if he tells us we can overcome some obstacle, we can indeed overcome it – no matter how hard it may seem.”

But the men who had gone up with him said in reply, “What difference does it make if God is on our side? We cannot go up against this people, for they are stronger than Him: God Himself cannot overcome them!”

In order to prove their point, they gave an evil report to the Israelites about the land that they had inspected, saying, “The land we traveled through to inspect is a land that consumes its inhabitants unnaturally: everywhere we went they were burying their dead.” In fact, God had arranged this so the local populace would not notice the presence of the spies, but instead of recognizing this as God’s providence, the spies interpreted it negatively. “And,” they continued, “all the people we saw in it are men of unnaturally great size.

We saw there not only the mortal giants whom we mentioned before, but also supernatural giants: the fallen angels who are descendants of Og, a giant descended from the original the fallen angels Shamchazai and Aza’eil, who assumed material form and descended to earth in the days of Enosh. And these giants were much larger than the mortal giants we saw in Hebron: we seemed to ourselves as tiny as grasshoppers next to them, and so did we seem to them, for we overheard them saying that there are ants in the vineyards that look like people!”

The People Weep
When they heard that it would require supernatural power to overcome the inhabitants of the land, the people did not believe that God would manifest such power. The entire community of judges, the 70 elders, raised their voices and shouted, and the people wept that night, the night of 9 Menachem Av.

All the Israelites except for the tribe of Levi complained against Moses and Aaron, and the entire community of judges said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt, or if only we had died in this desert.

Why is GOD bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be spoils of war. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?”

Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire community of the Israelites, pleading with them not to rebel.

Joshua and Caleb Plead
Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Yefuneh, who were among those who had inspected the land, tore their clothes as a sign of distress

If GOD desires us, He will bring us to this land and give it to us, this land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey.

Just do not rebel against GOD, and then you will not need to fear the people of that land, for as long as we follow God’s will, He will lovingly and happily enable us to conquer them; they will be ours to consume, as easily as our bread – not like the spies said, that the land will consume us. Their Divine protection has departed from them, for while we were there we heard that the last, most righteous individual among them, Job, had just died. Thus, the condition that GOD placed on our conquest has been fulfilled, and He is with us; do not fear them!”

Still, the entire community of judges threatened to pelt Joshua and Caleb with stones for opposing them, but the glory of GOD appeared to all the Israelites in the form of a cloud that descended and rested in front of the Tent of Meeting. Understanding this as a sign that God wished to address Moses, they desisted.

God’s Reaction
This was the tenth time the people had challenged God to demonstrate His power instead of believing in it implicitly. GOD said to Moses, “Since the people have demonstrated that they do not wish to believe in Me, how long should I let this people continue to provoke Me? How long should I let them continue to refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed in their midst?

They have betrayed their mission in this world, so I now have only one choice: I must strike them with an epidemic and annihilate them! As for My oath to the patriarchs to give the land to their descendants, I will make you into a nation, greater and stronger than them.”

Moses’ Defense
Moses said to GOD, “True, they have forfeited their right to continue to live. But if You annihilate them as You propose to, the Egyptians will hear of it, and they have seen how You brought this nation out of their midst with Your great power.

They will say, regarding the inhabitants of this land, ‘Although God was able overcome us, He cannot overcome them.’ The Egyptians might indeed realize that You are wiping out the Israelites for their own good, for they have heard that You, GOD, are in the midst of this people; that You, GOD, appear to them in plain sight, that Your cloud rests over them, and that You go before them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night. All of this indicates how much You favor the Israelites.

Nonetheless, if You kill this nation suddenly, as if You were killing one man, the nations who have heard of Your reputation will say as follows:

Therefore, please, for Your sake, let the strength of God to forgive be increased, as You spoke – not as I spoke – when You said,

Please forgive the iniquity of this nation in accordance with Your abounding kindness, as You have borne this people from Egypt until now.”

God Forgives
And GOD said, “I have forgiven them, but only in accordance with your word, i.e., because of your argument about the impression that wiping them out all at once will have on the non-Jewish world, and therefore I will not wipe them out all at once.

However, this does not change the fact that they have shown themselves unworthy of entering the land in order to fulfill their Divine mission. Therefore, I swear that as surely as I live, and as surely as the glory of GOD fills the earth,

all the people who perceived My glory and the signs that I performed in Egypt and in the desert – and who nonetheless challenged Me these 10 times and did not heed My voice –

will not see the land that I swore to their fathers. All who provoked Me this time will not see the land, for I will do away with them gradually. In this way, My glory will still fill the earth, for My power will not be questioned – as it would have been had I wiped out the entire people at once.

The Israelites’ enemies, the Amalekites and the Canaanites, dwell in the valley. Since I am no longer planning to help the people enter the land, they will be powerless to overcome these enemies, just as the spies said in order to frighten the people. Therefore, tomorrow, change direction and journey into the desert, toward the Sea of Reeds.” In fact, however, God did not signal them to leave their present location (Ritmah) until 19 years later.

Having finished discussing the fate of the people in general, GOD spoke to Moses, instructing him to convey His words to Aaron about the fate of the spies themselves, saying,

“How much longer must I tolerate this evil community of spies, who are causing everyone else to complain against Me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that the spies make them voice against Me. Since your argument about what the other nations will say does not apply here, they must be punished immediately.

So now, say first to the Israelites what their fate is to be: ‘I swear that as surely as I live,’ says GOD, ‘I will do to you just as you have spoken in My ears.

And similarly, if you will enter the land that I swore I would settle you in, except for Caleb son of Yefuneh and Joshua son of Nun, it will be as if I do not live.

As for your infants, whom you said will be taken captive as spoils, I will bring them there, and they will come to know the land that you despised.

But as for you, your corpses will fall in this desert.

Forty Years of Wandering
Your children will wander in the desert with you for 40 years. Those of you who were 20 years old or older at the incident of the Golden Calf will die at the age of 60. It will thus take 40 years for all of you to die out. In this way, your children will bear your guilt until the last of your corpses has fallen in the desert.

Your punishment will be according to the number of days that your emissaries, the spies, scouted out the land, 40 days, a day for each year; you will thus bear your two fundamental iniquities – this one and serving the Golden Calf – for 40 years. Thus you will come to know the extent of your alienation from Me.’

The Death of the Scouts
Therefore, these men, who spread an evil report about the land, died immediately in a plague suited to them by GOD’s method of punishment, measure for measure. Since they slandered by misusing their tongues, their tongues unrolled down to their navels and worms came out of their tongues and entered their navels, killing them.

But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Yefuneh remained alive and even received the land-inheritance rights of the other men who went to scout out the land.

Moses related all these words to all the Israelites. The people mourned greatly.

A Desperate Attempt
But not all of them accepted God’s verdict. Some of them arose early in the morning and ascended to the mountaintop on the route into the land, saying, “We have repented and are ready to go up to the Land of Israel, the place that GOD said He would give us, for we have sinned by wanting to return to Egypt.”

But although they repented, they wished to take the initiative on their own rather than submit to Moses’ leadership, so God told Moses to inform them that His decree remained in force and to warn them not to proceed. So Moses said to them, “Why do you transgress the word of GOD? It will not succeed.

Do not go up, for GOD is not among you; do not let yourselves be beaten by your enemies.

For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword because you have turned away from God, and therefore GOD will not be with you.”

Nonetheless, they defiantly ascended to the mountaintop, but neither the Ark of the Covenant of GOD nor Moses moved from the camp.

The Amalekites and the Canaanites, followed by the Amorites, who were dwelling on the mountain, came down and smote them and crushed them, pursuing them until a place that was then, because of their defeat, named Chormah [“destruction”].

Now that this episode was over, God encouraged the people by focusing their attention on the fact that their children would eventually inherit the Land of Israel. He did this by teaching them some laws that would apply only once they entered the land. GOD spoke to Moses, saying:

Grain Offerings and Libations
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you arrive in the land of your dwelling place that I am giving you,

and you make a fire-offering to GOD, i.e., an offering burned up on the Altar – in particular, one that takes the form of an ascent-­offering or a feast-offering (the latter term meaning a peace-­offering or a thanksgiving-offering) – and you bring this offering either (a) in order to fulfill the articulation of a sacrificial vow that you have made, (b) as a sacrificial dedication, or (c) as an obligatory offering that you must offer up on your festivals – to please GOD, whether from the herd or from the flock, you must offer up an accompanying grain-offering and wine libation. The grain-offering will be burned up on the Altar and the wine libation will be poured out on the Altar. As long as you remain in the desert, however, you do not have to offer up supplementary grain-offerings and libations together with your animal offerings. And even in the Land of Israel, you will only have to offer up supplementary grain-offerings and libations with ascent-offerings and peace-offerings, but not with sin-offerings or guilt-offerings.

As to how much flour and wine you must offer up, it depends on the animal being sacrificed: If it is a lamb, the one who brings his offering to GOD must present a grain-offering consisting of one tenth of an ephah [about 2.5 liters or quarts] of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin [about a liter or quart] of oil.

And you must offer up a quarter of a hin of wine with the ascent-offering or the feast-offering as a libation, for each lamb.

Or, if it is a ram, you must offer up a grain-offering consisting of two tenths of an ephah [about 4.8 liters or quarts] of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin [about 1⅓ liters or quarts] of oil.

And you must offer up a third of a hin of wine as a libation; you must offer up these to please GOD.

If you offer up one of the herd as an ascent-offering or feast-offering in order to fulfill the articulation of a sacrificial vow that you have made (in which case you will most likely bring an ascent-offering), or as a sacrificial dedication (in which case you will most likely bring a peace-offering) for GOD,

the one who brings his offering must offer up with this bull a grain-offering consisting of three tenths of an ephah [about 7.25 liters or quarts] of fine flour mixed with half a hin [about 2 liters or quarts] of oil.

And you must offer up half a hin of wine as a libation. Burn up the grain-offering with its oil on the Altar with the intention that it be a fire-offering pleasing to GOD.

So must it be done for each ox, ram, or kid, whether of the sheep or of the goats. All cattle require the same grain-offerings and libations; a goat requires the same grain-offering and libation as a lamb.

In accordance with the number of animals you offer up, so must you present grain-offerings and libations for each one, exactly according to their numbers.

Every native born Israelite, who owns a portion of the land, and wishes to offer up a grain-offering with the intention that it be a fire-offering pleasing to GOD, must do so in this manner.

Similarly, if a convert will reside among you in future generations, or is presently residing among you, and wishes to offer up a grain-offering with the intention that it be a fire-offering pleasing to GOD, he must offer it up as you offer it up, even though he will not possess any land.

In general, one rule applies to the entire community, both to yourselves and to the convert who resides with you; one rule applies throughout your generations for you as for the convert, before GOD.

And just as there must be one rule, there must also be one law and one ordinance for you and the convert who resides with you.’”

The First of the Dough
GOD spoke to Moses further, saying:

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘Although other laws that will take effect only upon your arrival in the Land of Israel will do so only once you have conquered and divided the land, the following is different. As soon as you arrive in the land to which I am bringing you

and you eat from the bread of the land, you must donate some of it as a contribution to GOD, as follows:

Whenever you knead at least an omer of dough, the first thing you must do with your dough is donate a loaf of it to a priest as a contribution. Just as you may donate the terumah of the threshing floor in any amount – there is no fixed minimum – the same applies to how you must donate this loaf. Nonetheless, you must give the priest enough to be considered a loaf – you may not just give him some crumbs.

The minimal size of this loaf is relative: from the first portion of your dough that you give to GOD, you must give enough to be considered a substantial contribution, and this is determined by the size of what you are baking. A private person, who bakes large loaves for himself and his family, should give at least 1/24 of his dough, while a baker, who bakes smaller loaves (to sell), needs to give only 1/48 of his dough. This applies in all your generations.’”

Inasmuch as idolatry is a denial of God’s absolute authority, it also undermines the basis of the entire Torah altogether. Thus, idolatry is a denial of all that GOD commanded you through Moses from the day on which GOD commanded you on Mount Sinai and from then on, as well as all that He will have commanded you for all generations through the succeeding prophets.

If you all commit idolatry inadvertently because the Sanhedrin, who are the “eyes” of the community, mistakenly permit you to serve an idol in a particular way, then the entire community must collectively offer up a young bull as an ascent-offering, with the intention that it be pleasing to GOD, with its prescribed grain-offering and libation, and, after that, one young he-goat as a sin-offering, whose fat parts must be burned up on the Altar just like those of any sin-offering.

The priest must atone on behalf of the entire community of the Israelites and they will be forgiven, for it was an error, and because of their error they brought their ascent-offering as a fire-offering to GOD and their sin-offering before GOD.

Both the entire community of the Israelites and any convert who resides with them will be forgiven, for all the people were in error.

Similarly, it was explained previously that if an individual commits a sin inadvertently, he must offer up either a she-goat or a she-lamb as a sin-offering. But if an individual sins by committing idolatry inadvertently, he must offer up specifically a she-goat in its first year as a sin-offering.

And the priest must atone for the erring person who sinned inadvertently before GOD, so as to atone on his behalf, and he will be forgiven.

One law must apply to anyone who sins inadvertently, both to the native born of the Israelites and to the convert who resides among them.

But should a person commit idolatry highhandedly, i.e., on purpose, whether he is a native born or a convert, he is blaspheming GOD, and a person who commits either idolatry or blasphemy will be cut off from among his people – he will die prematurely and childless.

For he has scorned the word of GOD that you heard directly at Mount Sinai and violated His commandment not to serve idols; that person will be utterly cut off if he does not repent and thus his iniquity is still in him.’”

The Man who Gathered Sticks
But he did continue, so those who found him gathering wood presented him before Moses and Aaron and before the entire community to be punished.

They put him under guard, because when God had given them the commandment to observe the Sabbath, it had not been specified what was to be done to someone who desecrated it, like him. They knew that he was to be put to death, but they did not know by what means, because the Torah had not yet been given.

GOD thereupon said to Moses, “The man must be put to death as follows: the entire community must pelt him with stones outside the camp. And similarly, whenever you must put someone to death by stoning, he should be stoned outside the camp and at a significant distance from the sentencing court.”

So the entire community took him outside the camp, and they pelted him to death with stones, as GOD had commanded Moses.