Shelach Excerpts

שלח

Shabbat Shalom

Moshe sends the spies. Maybe it was a mistake. Sometimes you put people in a position of authority and then they say stupid stuff. For instance, the gabbai....

What did the people hear?

Why were they scared?

They had big grapes. They saw huge grapes. I have been to the shuk in Jerusalem and I have seen huge grapes. Yes they are scary. Have you ever seen a grape that looks like a peach? It is a mutant.

However, it is also juicy and refreshing, if you put it in the fridge. It also makes it nice and cold. Very enjoyable...The question is still there. Why were the people scared?

The spies go on, about Israel.....

Oh. Oh...paraphrased, 'It is a land flowing with milk and honey and a lot of freaks that want to kill us. Amalek and then the Hittites, Yevusites, Emorites and Cannanites...' 'Ites' is a suffix meaning, nation that wants to kill Jews.

The Jews got scared. They heard the word 'Ite' and they jumped. They didn't hear the first part of what the spies said- 'A land flowing with milk and honey.' They just heard 'These are the fruits....people want to kill us.' 

They could have heard 'These are the fruits...they were the last ones left at the shuk before Shabbat..a little spoiled... But they are huge. It is all good. Kedem will use it as a logo.'

It is about what you hear. And yes, you can sit in the back of shule with Hymee and hear him repeat a lot of his stories. Or you can listen to your rabbi's words of brilliance...Hymee, please stop repeating your joke...you know which one. We all know which one. You say it every time a new person comes into ear-shot. What about us, who just heard it? Standing there?

Calev and Yehoshua come back with the same exact information the spies had

Calev just says it differently. He says, 'We can do it.'...They were a congregation, probably just messed up as Mr. Bergfall's family. But he came out and gave them that little bit pf inspiration.

What is your outlook?

We all see big things. We all see Amalek (another word for 'Ite'). Every day, I have to see Mr. Bergfall's face. Do you see that angry man sitting over there? Amalek. Mr. Bergfall, maybe if you smiled every once in a while- the little kids wouldn't be so scared of you.

Rashi on 13:32- teaches that 'Eats its inhabitants' was used to describe seeing funerals, which were not necessarily a bad thing for the spies, as H' wanted to divert the attention of the Cannanites. 

Falsifying the reality, just like the gabbai....

People who have little faith, interpret things their own way...It says to keep kosher...Apparently Mr. Bergfall thinks that means to keep it far away...You were eating at McDonald's...So you didn't have the cheeseburger. It is still not Kosher...Maybe if you at least smiled at the lady taking your order. We would have less 'Ites' in the world...You did not drive-thru. You drove and stopped and took an order.

And then they cried, 'Oh...it is too hard. We are going to have to go to war...we might as well have died.' It is because the Jewish people were lazy....when was the last time you woke up for minyan?...given tzedakah

They start coming to conclusions that 'we are all going to die by the sword.'...I was hear this past Yom Kippur, I understand. I really do not know exactly how each of you are going to die. For some it might be famine. For some it might be pestilence or loneliness as in the case of Dr. Saban. For others it might be hearing Hymee's joke again. And in some cases, it might be getting in a car accident at the McDonald's drive-thru. Maybe by sword... But as we learn in the uNetana Tokef, we really do not know.

It is about how we live our lives. Who do we listen to. Do you listen to the rabbi? Or do you listen to the gabbai?

Dumb people follow the weak leaders.They lead you based on fear. And you follow that fear. That excuse.

Will you look at it like your rabbi and buy the new building for the shule and the new home for your spiritual leader???!! If you do not, you will go to Gehenim.