ספר במדבר

Another look at “send for yourself men to tour the land ‎of Canaan which I am about to give to the Children of ‎Israel.” Most commentators already focused on the ‎word ‎לך‎, “for yourself,” in this verse, finding it difficult to ‎understand‎I believe that G’d’s principal purpose was that ‎Moses should use the most G’d fearing individuals from each tribe ‎to make up this delegation, men whose devotion and sincerity to ‎the highest principles of Judaism was beyond doubt. The word ‎לתור‎, usually translated as to “tour,” i.e. to examine visually, in ‎this instance was not intended as an instruction for these men to ‎examine the material benefits that the land of Canaan had to offer ‎the Jewish people. By dispatching truly G’d fearing men to tour ‎this land, G’d intended for this land to become attuned to the ‎presence of G’d fearing human beings, [seeing that since ‎the day Yaakov had left it there had not been anyone residing ‎there who was a servant of the Creator. Ed.] It was hoped ‎that after being visited by such individuals, the soil of the land of ‎Canaan itself would experience a desire to become the home of ‎the people who had sent such emissaries. The mere temporary ‎presence of these “tourists,” would encourage the response from ‎the celestial sources of G’d’s largesse to bestow it in generous ‎measure on this land, much as it had done while the patriarchs ‎had resided there.We may therefore understand the word ‎שלח‎ ‎in the sense of ‎המשכה‎, extension, continuation, similar to Exodus ‎where Pharaoh’s daughter whose arm was not long enough, ‎dispatched her servant maid to bring her the basket that ‎contained the infant Moses. One of the sages in Sotah 12 ‎discussing that verse understands the word ‎אמתה‎ as referring to ‎the princess’ arm and not to her maid servant.‎We may extrapolate on this allegory somewhat further, ‎following our approach when dealing with true service of the ‎Lord, and understand Pharaoh’s daughter as “stripping herself” of ‎material physical concerns when setting out to save the life of ‎Jewish baby after seeing the basket had aroused maternal ‎instincts in her. Similarly, in our portion, when Moses dispatched ‎the twelve emissaries to examine the qualities of the land of ‎Israel, he charged them with divesting themselves, ‎שלח‎, of ‎material concerns when setting out on a mission approved by the ‎Lord Himself. (Numbers 13,1) The choice of the word ‎ויתורו‎, ‎instead of ‎וירגלו‎, “and to spy out,” or ‎ויחפרו‎, as in Deuteronomy ‎‎1,22 is an allusion to the word ‎תורה‎, and points to the difference ‎between what the people had demanded and what G’d had agreed ‎to.‎To repeat, G’d’s i.e. Moses’ purpose in agreeing to the ‎people’s request to spy out the land of Canaan was to sublimate ‎what was a material quest into becoming a spiritual quest and to ‎thereby convert it into an act of worship. The word ‎לך‎, “for you,” ‎therefore simply means that Moses should select the kind of men ‎for this mission that best guaranteed that G’d’s criteria for ‎allowing it would be met. This is also the reason why G’d repeats ‎to Moses: ‎אשר אני נותן לבני ישראל‎, “that the land that I give to the ‎Children of Israel” in order to perform His commandments when ‎they are in that land, not for any other reason. The fact that this ‎land is a gift from G’d for a purpose must never be absent from ‎the minds of the men viewing the land for the first time. When ‎Moses prayed that Joshua should remain steadfast against any ‎attempt by his colleagues to abort the purpose of this mission by ‎adding a letter ‎ה‎ as a reminder of G’d’s name to his name, this is ‎what he had in mind. (Compare 13,16) He did not want him to ‎become a ‎מרגל‎, “spy.” The ‎תורה‎ element in this mission had to be ‎preserved for it to be crowned with success.‎