Shelah Numbers 13:1-15:41 Imagining they are about to enter the Promised Land shortly after the Exodus, Moses sends a dozen “spies”, one from each tribe, to scout out the land, at God‘s command. A prominent member of each tribe is sent to scout the land for 40 days. They return with mixed reviews: the land indeed flows with milk and honey, but the people are giants and we can’t possibly defeat them! Two spies, Caleb (Miriam’s husband) and Joshua (Moses’ successor) contest this message. They insist that after all God has done for them, God would not desert them now. But the people are not convinced and promptly sit down to wail and grieve, and wish they could go back to Egypt where the living was easy. And now God has had enough. God suggests to Moses that it would be good to kill all of them and start over with just Moses and his descendants. After all, God washed the whole human population away in a flood and started over. But Moses objects strenuously. He plays to God’s ego: “If you kill them, people will say you weren’t strong enough to save them.” God accepts this and refrains, and in so doing, utters words that should awaken in us an awareness of the High Holy Days that are on their way now that summer is here: “Salachti Kidvarecha!” (Numbers 14:20) “I have forgiven as you have asked.” Instead, God decides to sentence the people to never have the pleasure of coming into the land. They will wander 40 years, one year for each of the days the spies spent in the land. Everyone who witnessed the miracles in Egypt will die. Then the rest of the people, and the two spies who kept the faith, Caleb and Joshua, will be allowed in. Evidently, to not believe in yourself is tantamount to not believing in God. It's apparently a punishable offense. The people then regret their defiance and agree to try to enter the land at once. Moses warns them that God is not with them and it won’t work. It’s too late. Sure enough, they are badly defeated. There is a point after which there is no avoiding the consequences of faithlessness. The portion then turns to the setting out of some other laws. When they do get to Canaan, God lists out quite a few rules for proper sacrifices God wants. The people are reminded that doing exactly as God pleases is a way to show love and pay honor. And God is generous enough to provide for those unable to participate in the festival by setting up a later date for “make-up” sacrifices. But this apparent leniency is short lived. God then directs the people to enforce the death penalty for those who break the Sabbath, and a particular man is put to death. For accidental sin, sacrifices can alleviate God‘s anger and make up for the error. But for deliberate defiance, the sinner is to be “cut off”, and in the case of the Sabbath breaker, this means death right now. The final paragraph is familiar to anyone who chants the paragraphs after the Shma. It is the passage where we are commanded to wear tsitsit, fringes, on the corners of our garments. These tsitsit are to serve as a perpetual reminder of what God expects from us, so we don’t sell ourselves out, running after whatever it is that seems appealing at the moment: “…observe all my commandments and be holy to your God. I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God…” (Numbers 15:40-41) Only when we are mindful that God saved us from Egypt and we are lovingly willing to accept the covenant and follow God’s requirements, only then is Adonai our God. That is what makes it possible for the relationship to exist. We must willingly, purposely participate in accepting the commandments and maintaining an attitude of trust, reliance, and humble gratitude, even when what we are facing is tremendously challenging; or perhaps, especially then. We are reminded that is was for this purpose that God rescued us: so that we could be given a way to be holy and blessed, no matter what we must face in life. Rabbi Alexis Roberts ©June 2003