A Thought On Parshas Sh'lach

A Thought On Parshas Sh'lach "...Sh'lach lecha anashim..." "...Send out men for yourself..." (12:2) The Torah begins the passage of Moshe and the scouts with the above commandment. He was instructed by HaShem to send out scouts to do a reconnaissance on the Promised Land. The word "lecha" (for yourself) seems unnecessary and has been interpreted for us by our Sages. The common understanding is that Moshe was given a hint by HaShem that sending out spies was his decision, but not one which HaShem endorsed. Our Sages point out elsewhere how doing what we are commanded to do can provide a certain level of security that all will turn out well. After all, when HaShem tells us to do something, we have His support and backing. When we opt to do things according to our own judgment, however, we cannot bank on things working out. My great rebbe HaGaon Rav Simcha Wasserman zt'l felt that this seems to be the rather ominous view associated with Moshe being told that it was up to him whether or not to commission spies. Nothing good came of that decision, and this might be linked to that decision having been volitional. There is no shmira when what you do is not a real mitzvah. The Bechor Shor has a somewhat different spin on the true meaning of the drasha of "Sh'lach lecha - l'daatcha" than "its up to you, Moshe." He suggests that the intention of the drasha that interprets the word "lecha" as "l'daatcha" means "be sure to send the scouts out according to your own plan, and not according to their plan!" He points out that Moshe had intended for the men to scout out the way, and to bring back encouraging words about how HaShem's promise would be fulfilled. The spies, however, went with the intention of deciding whether or not the nation should even continue on the journey to Israel. Kalev and Yehoshua recognized that this had become the opinion and plan of the other spies, and parted ways with them in order to preserve the integrity of Moshe's mission (this is why a subsequent verse (14:24) points out that Kalev had "a different view." The Bechor Shor suggests that this does not mean that Kalev had his own view, but "a different view" means that he retained Moshe's original view of scouting for the sake of encouraging the nation to follow.) According to the Bechor Shor, the message of "send out for yourself" actually means "send out the men according to your plan, but not according to any other agenda." It is not at all as if HaShem was not backing the mission; He was structuring the nature of the mission so that Moshe would be attentive to any other latent agendas among the scouts. When Moshe said "va'yitav b'ainay ha'davar (Dvarim 1:23) - "this seemed like a good plan to me", the Bechor Shor writes that this signifies that Moshe had assumed that the scout's plan was the same as his own. Know your agenda. Know your hidden one as well. Good Shabbos. D Fox