Shelach Lecha Batmitzvah
D'var Torah
by Talia
I would like to present to you a Dvar Torah of my Batmitzvah Parasha - Parashat Shelach Lecha. In Parashat Shelach Lecha, Hashem told Moshe to send twelve spies, one from each tribe of Yisrael, to the land of Canaan. Forty days later the spies returned carrying a huge cluster of grapes, a huge pomegranate and a huge fig. Ten of the spies warned that the people in the land of Canaan were giants. There were only two of them, Calev and Yehoshua, who insisted that the land should be conquered as Hashem had commanded. As ten out of twelve of the spies gave bad reports of the land of Canaan, Bnei Yisrael believed that its inhabitants could not be defeated. When Bnei Yisrael heard the terrible news, they wept in fear of what to do next, and over whether they would even be able to conquer the land - so they wanted to return to Egypt.
In Perek Yud Daled, Pasukim Bet and Gimmel, we read:
"Lo matnoo b'eretz mitzrayim o bamidbar hazeh lo matnoo! V'lama Hashem mevee otanoo el haaretz hazot linefol b'cherev?"
"If only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in the wilderness! Why is Hashem bringing us to this land to die by the sword?"
Bnei Yisrael were crying out to Hashem because they didn't understand why He had brought them all this way out of Mitzrayim, just to bring them into a land where they were anyway going to be killed . From what they said, it shows that they did not have faith in Hashem and they did not believe that Hashem would protect them and give them the land of Canaan. Because of this, Hashem decreed that His people would only enter Canaan in 40 years. During this time, the current generation of Bnei Yisrael would die out in the desert.
What Bnei Yisrael should have done is what Hashem had commanded, and even if they did not believe in Hashem at that time, they should have waited to see what was in store for them. From this we learn to always believe in Hashem and even if things do not seem like they are going the way you planned, wait until the end, because everything happens for a reason. Be thankful for what you have, and then everything will turn out for the best.