Sedra of the Week: Shelach Lecha
Rabbi Jeff Berger looks at the forthcoming week's portion of the Torah
This week’s sedra paints an unflattering view of Bnei Yisrael and one can’t help feel a deep sense of tragedy and dread. The central story is the negative report, from 10 of the 12 spies, that it was impossible to conquer God’s Promised Land.
Rashi famously states the nation’s “needless” crying on that night would prove “necessary” in future nights – referring to Tisha B’Av, when allegedly both the first and second Temples were destroyed. Other calamities on that date include the 1492 Spanish expulsion and the outbreak of the First World War.
How could one particular date be so inauspicious for Jews? The generation who left Egypt – with first-hand experience witnessing the plagues in Egypt, Pharaoh’s army drowned in the Red Sea and the Revelation at Sinai – surely should have believed God would also help them defeat the Canaanites?
This may justify why they were deemed unworthy to enter the Land of Canaan. Yet we must ask why the Almighty would visit further punishment on successive generations. One view is to identify their failure as an inability to maintain hope. Rather than using imaginative powers to anticipate success, fear led to backward regression; in their own words, “better had we not left Egypt … let’s appoint a leader and return”!
The lesson of Shelah-Lecha is clear: when leaders are stuck in regressive ideas, only seeing negativity and failing to look ahead, the results follow a similar pattern. It’s up to us to create a new cycle of hope.
Jeff Berger is rabbi at Rambam Sephardi Synagogue in Elstree and Borehamwood.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
