This spring I spent the seventh day of Pesach at Kibbutz Yahel. As I drove through the Aravah, a dry valley that stretches from the Dead Sea down to Eilat, I was keenly aware that the scenery was very much the same as that viewed by the Israelites when Moses sent forth twelve scouts to explore the Land of Canaan, as recorded in Parashat Sh'lach L'cha. The wilderness is stunningly beautiful but barren. It is a seemingly endless expanse of sand and rock, punctuated by desert brush, mountains, and dry riverbeds that flood with the early spring runoff. The rugged terrain is both captivating and intimidating. Small wonder, then, that some of the Israelites feared they would perish there!
The report of the scouts needs to be read with that wilderness in mind. The initial report confirms that the Land of Canaan is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. The scouts deliberately portray the land's natural resources as offering great promise. They bring back a single cluster of grapes that is so large "it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them." (Numbers 13:23)
But more telling—and the ultimate downfall of ten of the scouts—is the comment that appears at the end of their report. They say: "All the people that we saw in it are men of great size .... We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them." (Numbers 13:32,33)
In spite of the scouts' ability to see the natural potential of the land, they are unable to muster enough confidence in their own potential to take the land (with God's help). They acknowledge that their own lack of self-confidence ("We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves...") is the key factor in their negative prognosis ("and so we must have looked to them"). Because they clearly believe that they cannot succeed, their enterprise is doomed.
Often in our own lives we are likewise held back—not by external forces or legitimately insurmountable obstacles—but by our own failure to believe in ourselves. Not so Joshua and Caleb, whose faith in God inspired them to bring back a positive, encouraging report. And not so our brothers and sisters who live on our own Reform Movement's Kibbutz Yahel. They could easily have been intimidated by the desolate terrain of the Aravah (which in no way flows with milk and honey). They could easily have felt dwarfed by the mountains and the daunting tasks before them. But they were not. They believed in themselves and in their cause. And with God's help, they are making the desert bloom! Their work is an inspiration to us all and deserves our attention and support.
For further study, consider the following question: What specifically did the scouts mean when they described Eretz Yisrael as "a land flowing with milk and honey"? You may wish to begin with the comments of N. Hareuveni that are quoted in The Torah Commentary by Plaut on pages 1116-17.
The way we ask a question can determine the answers we get. The following is a case in point: In Sh'lach L'cha, Moses selects scouts for a reconnaissance mission to the Land of Canaan. Moses chooses twelve chieftains, one from each tribe. He purposely chooses younger leaders for what is deemed to be a physically arduous journey.
Moses poses several questions for this group of chieftains to answer: "Are the people who dwell in it [the Land of Canaan] strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not?" (Numbers 18-20)
While many commentators assert that God had already scouted the land, they also suggest that Moses sent this group of leaders to help convince the people that the Land of Canaan was indeed flowing "with milk and honey" (Numbers 13:27) and could be conquered.
The scouts return from their expedition with a balanced report. They highlight the richness of the land but clearly assert that it would be impossible to conquer it. Only two chieftains—first Caleb (Numbers 13:30) and later Joshua (Numbers 14:6-9)—dissent. The people react by railing against Moses and Aaron, saying that "it would be better for us to return to Egypt." (Numbers 14:3) This incident, oftentimes referred to as the "faithlessness" of the scouts, is one of the two sins for which God threatens the annihilation of the people Israel, resulting in the fulfillment of the patriarchal promise through Moses and his descendants.
In his book Managers As Mentors, Chip Bell devotes an entire chapter to the nature of questions that can be posed to elicit answers that reflect growth, texture, and analysis. He suggests questions that develop a chain of insight-curiosity-wisdom. Leadership is not as simple as only asking open-ended questions. In our own lives, do we ask questions that require synthesis, or do we ask questions in a way that suggests the possible choices for the answers and perhaps even indicates the answers we desire when we ask the questions? When we question our children, partners, spouses, and friends, are we opening the possibility of a dialogue that promotes both deeper emotional connections and greater insight and growth? Perhaps by consciously framing our questions, we can elicit ideas that we did not anticipate and in so doing can acquire greater growth and wisdom.
For further reading:
The JPS Torah Commentary, Numbers, 1990.
Chip Bell, Managers As Mentors, Berret-Koehler Publishers, 1996.
Sh'lach L'cha, Numbers 13:1–15:41
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 1,107–1,122; Revised Edition, pp. 977–997;
The Torah: A Women's Commentary, pp. 869–892
