Understanding Our Mission

This week’s Torah portion is Shelach Lecha, which means, send forth for yourself. It tells the famous story of the scouts, sent to have a first glimpse of the Promised Land. God gave permission for 12 leaders, one from each tribe, to be sent by Moses to bring back a report on the land, the people in it, and its produce. Upon the scouts return, they gave a public report in which they affirmed that the land was good, “But,” 10 out of 12 of them said, in effect, we will never be able to conquer it. We are far too weak. The land it fortified and the people are too strong. The scouts demoralized the Israelites, who became afraid and wanted to return to Egypt. Because of the people’s fear and lack of faith, in spite of God leading them around with a pillar of cloud and feeding them each day, God concluded that only their children who had not been enslaved, would inherit the land and that they must wander for 38 more years.
It is interesting to compare the scouts in this week’s portion and the scouts that Jacob sent when he prepared to meet his brother Esau, after not having seen Esau for 20 years, knowing that the last time they met, Jacob tricked Esau out of his blessing. Jacob’s scouts are called malachim, angels or messengers in the Torah; whereas here, in Shelach Lecha, those sent out are called anashim latour: men, to spy or explore. Their tasks seem similar: travel to Canaan, find out who is there, whether there is a threat, pick up any useful information, and report back. Jacob’s messengers reported that Easu was advancing toward him with 400 men; and Jacob became frightened. In Shelach Lecha, however, the scouts went one step further than Jacob’s messengers. They reported back not just what they had seen but also presented to the whole congregation their own conclusions and decision based on what they saw. In effect, they had misunderstood their mission. No one had asked them to decide IF the people should enter the land. God had not said to them, go see the land and see if this is what you want to do. In the Torah, and by extension in our own lives intention is very important. In Pirkei Avot, Chapters of the Fathers, which is part of the Talmud, it is written, (V:20) ”Any controversy with a noble purpose will result in abiding value, but any controversy that has no noble purpose shall not have abiding value.” When Jacob heard the messengers’ bad news he wrestled with himself all night, confronting his own integrity so that he could face his obligation of meeting Esau the next morning, not knowing where his blessing might lie. When we perform any action, the sages say, an angel is created, and that energy we send out into the world contains the goodness of our intentions or conversely, the negativity or selfishness with which we sometimes act. The S’fat Emet quotes Midrash Rabbah (16:1) “Nothing is beloved before God like an emissary sent to do a mitzvah who risks his life for the mission to succeed.” The S’fat Emet’s grandfather and teacher said, “We are all emissaries to do mitsvot; we were sent into this world by God in order to fulfill God’s commandments.” And these commandments were given to us in love, for our benefit. Like the spies, it is so easy for us to misunderstand our mission. We were sent here to go forth fearlessly, not always knowing where our blessing will lie, to be angels of goodness for each other: to help and be a blessing to one another, and to bring God’s goodness into the world. We don’t get to decide what our mission will be; it has already been decided for us, because of the way we are made, as an integral part of the universe and God.
The universe is already structured so that if we do what is right and open our hearts, we feel good about ourselves. In Leviticus it says, you shall be holy for the Eternal our God is holy; and this is part prophecy and part encouragement. We aren’t allowed to decide if we want to be a blessing, for that is the way God is leading us. If our intentions are for the sake of Heaven, then our struggles will have meaning and value, and we will be guided on a true path to wholeheartedness with God and love for each other. May each of us be guided on a path of love, compassion, and good intentions, that we may create angels of goodness and beauty, now and always.