It's About the Mission!

It's About the Mission!

One of the fascinating contrasts between this week's parsha and the haftarah is the identity of the spies.

In Parashat Shelach, the spies are leaders, princes, heads of the tribes. They were men whose names and reputations were known to all.

Forty years later, when Joshua sends spies into Jericho, they are anonymous. We never learn their names.

Sometimes when our name, status, or ego becomes part of the mission, we stop seeing clearly. The spies in our parsha may have been worried about what entering the Land would mean for their own position and influence. The mission was no longer just about Gd's plan. It became about them and their status and honor.

Joshua's spies, by contrast, were anonymous. Their mission wasn't about their reputation. It was focused completely on serving Gd and helping the Jewish people move forward.

The spies in our parsha make another mistake. They said, "We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes." They could not know what the inhabitants thought of them.

Perhaps, because they saw themselves as small, they assumed everyone else did too. Fear shaped their perception.

Caleb and Joshua (2 of the 12 spies) saw the same land, the same cities, and the same giants, but they saw them through the lens of faith and were not afraid.

What we see is rarely objective. It is influenced by our beliefs, our fears, and our faith.

The parsha ends with the mitzvah of tzitzit. These tassels which are to be affixed to any four cornered garment included a blue thread. The blue reminds us of the sea, the sky, and ultimately the Heavenly Throne. It teaches us to lift our eyes beyond the immediate circumstances and remember that Gd is always with us.

The blue threads help us to look beyond what is directly in front of our eyes and to remember the One who guides the world.

The lesson of the spies is that when life is all about us, we see obstacles. When it is about our mission and our partnership with Gd, we see possibilities.

May we learn to see ourselves not as grasshoppers, but as children of Gd, and may we choose faith over fear in all that lies before us.