Parshas Sh'lach 5765

As the nation prepared to leave the desert and enter into the land, they began to lose heart. They demanded that Moshe send spies to scout the land before they would conquer it. This portrayed a serious flaw in their faith in G-d, Who had promised that He would assist them in conquering the land. After witnessing all the miracles G-d had performed for the nation when they left Egypt there should have been no room for any lingering doubts. Although G-d reluctantly agreed to their request to send spies, it was without His blessings, and would therefore come at a heavy price.

Moshe tried to minimize the potential damage by appointing men of stature to serve as scouts. Unfortunately, it did not help. The person who puts his trust in natural means will become much more disillusioned than the one who puts his trust in G-d. The spies saw a land, that although beautiful, seemed insurmountable. They found huge people and fortified cities. Ten of the twelve spies began to feel insecure and insignificant in front of the inhabitants of the land. They saw no natural way that they could conquer it and they came back with a very demoralizing report.

The people listened to their report, despite the protests of Joshua and Caleb, and were so frightened that they cried to Moshe that they didn't want to enter the Promised Land. They rebuffed the wonderful gift that G-d had planned as their ultimate destination. Although Moshe prayed on behalf of the nation, the punishment for this sin would be even more severe than the punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf. The nation would have to wander through the desert for forty years, and all men who were twenty years and older would die before the nation could enter the land.

Although the generation was told they could not enter into the Promised Land, G-d wanted to reassure them that their children would indeed enter the land. For this reason, immediately after the sin of the spies the people were instructed in the mitzvos of tithing the dough and the wine libations that were offered with the sacrifices. Although these mitzvos would not apply until they entered the land, they served as a guarantee that the next generation would indeed enter it.

At the end of the portion the Torah discusses the mitzvah of tzitzis. Fringes are placed on the four corners of a garment to serve as a visual reminder of G-d and His mitzvos. Blue woolen fringes of techeiles, a dye extracted from a marine animal, is also tied, to serve as a reminder of the heavens and G-d's commandments. The tzitzis are meant to prevent a person from straying after the desires of his eyes and heart.

"... long in patience..." (Num.14:18)

Rav Mordechai of Neshchiz had a deep love of Eretz Yisrael. Once he received a bolt of wool from the Holy Land and he excitedly gave it to a tailor to sew a pair of tzitzis for him. The tailor accidentally folded the cloth before cutting the hole for the neck, thus making two large holes and effectively ruining the cloth. He was embarrassed to face Rav Mordechai, knowing how much he had looked forward to wearing the garment from Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Mordechai consoled the tailor saying, "It is good that it has two holes. One hole is like every other pair of tzitzis, and the other is to test my patience to see if I get angry. Thankfully, I passed!"

Did You Know ...

A person should first wrap himself in the tallis before laying tefillin. The tallis is used more frequently than tefillin, as it is worn on Shabbos too.

If, however, a person touched his tefillin before touching the tallis, some say that he should first lay the tefillin before he puts on the tallis, as there is a principle that one may not bypass a mitzvah that comes to his hand. Other authorities say that one always dons the tallis first, regardless of what was touched first.

One who wears a tallis need not recite any blessing on his tzitzis, as the blessing covers both garments. If a person changes his pair of tzitzis later in the day, or if he removed his tzitzis for an extended period of time, he must recite a new blessing.