The spies, according to the Midrash, saw funerals wherever they went and concluded “this is a land that consumes it’s inhabitants.” When, actually, G-d “arranged” the funerals to distract the locals ...

This article originally appeared on Neesh Noosh. In this week’s parsha, Shelach, Moses sends the 12 spies to scout out the land of Canaan. Upon their return, they recount that the land does flow with ...

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The story of the spies is viewed as an episode revealing the Jews’ basic lack of faith in God (Numbers 13,14). This is similar in its underlying theme to the golden calf story, which describes the ...

One of the worst experiences imaginable is betrayal. The shocking discovery that someone who has been a trusted friend or lover has turned against the person who trusted him is an unspeakable horror.

The Torah recounts the argument that erupted between the 10 pessimistic spies and Joshua and Caleb, the two optimistic ones. In the Torah portion “Shelach,” we read about the 12 spies who were sent to ...

The 10 spies teach us what happens when fear rules the heart. The ma’apilim teach us of the danger of forcing reality to revive an old fantasy. I write these words from far away, though my heart is at ...

After the Jewish People commit the sin of the golden calf, God declares, “Va’achalem” (I will destroy them [the Jewish People]; Exodus 32:10). Moses intervenes. Challenging God, he asks, “Why, O Lord, ...

A Jew who lives in Las Vegas wrote me a comment this morning on Facebook, maintaining that he won’t make Aliyah because the proposed new government in Israel champions unholy liberal ideology like ...

All the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the entire congregation said, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this desert. Why does the Lord ...