June 17, 2023; 28 Sivan, 5783
Parsha
In this week’s Parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu agrees to send spies into Eretz Yisrael (Israel) to scout out the land. These spies were the greatest men among the nation, as Rashi points out. And yet, despite being the righteous people that they were, they still returned from their mission with a very negative report about Eretz Yisrael.
The Midrash Rabbah (16:11) points out that there were two sins that the spies committed when they relayed their negative report to Bnei Yisrael (the Jews). They declared:
“And there we saw the Nephilim, the giant sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.” (BaMidbar 13:33)...