Sedra of the week: Shelach Lecha
Rabbi Zvi Solomons looks ahead to this week's portion of the Torah
At what age do you grow up? This is the question I often pose to children when I speak at schools and the answer varies, depending on the age of the children and sometimes the age of the parents.
Jews know that we start growing up at 12 if we are female and 13 if we are male, corresponding approximately with the age of puberty. That is why we celebrate becoming Bar or Bat Mitzvah at those ages.
But this is only the start. We don’t suddenly become an adult after hitting that age, any more than a child does in English law at 10 (age of criminal responsibility), 16 (age of consent), 17 (driving age) or 18 (the age in the UK of full civil rights).
We all know teenagers who have yet to grow up, and according to our rabbis, fully growing up is only achieved when a person can house, clothe and feed themselves.
So what’s this got to do with this week’s parsha, Shelach Lecha, which talks of the spies who bring back a false account of the land?
The Torah tells us that only those aged over 20 were punished (Numbers 14:29) and later described those younger than that age (Deuteronomy 1:39) as “children that . . . have no knowledge of good or evil.”
From this, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani taught in Rabbi Yonatan’s name that God does not punish for the actions people take in their first 20 years (Bavli, Shabbat 89b).
If only it could be so for the rest of our lives, but with age comes the heavier responsibility of our actions.
Rabbi Zvi Solomons is rabbi of the Jewish Community of Berkshire in Reading, jcob.org
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.
