Scouting the Land

This week’s Torah reading contains a tragic story. Spies are sent to scout out the Promised Land. They return with a disparaging report, the people balk, and G-d decrees that they will wander for forty years in the desert. Pretty bleak.

But what comes next? A series of laws pertaining to the Land of Israel, beginning with the words “Speak to the children of Israel and tell them: ‘When you will come to your homeland, which I give you...’”

Most of the people present would never enter the land. Yet they were being given the Torah pertaining to the land. Because for the Jew, it is never too late. No matter how distant we may seem, we are but a hairsbreadth away from the Promised Land and the coming of Moshiach.

Shabbat Shalom,

Candle lighting time: 8:11 PM