TORAH PORTION Synagogue Dues for only $100? Are you Kidding? No Kidding! $100 will make you a member at Congregation B'nai Moshe and it includes High Holiday tickets! If you are un-affiliated and are looking for a synagogue to join, look no further. Become members for 1992-93 and we will throw in the remainder of 1992 for only $100 and we will include High Holiday tickets. Our beautiful new synagogue in West Bloomfield is open and once you see what we have to offer you and your family, you won't want to be anywhere else. Don't Delay! Join in the Fun! This offer expires Sept 15, 1992. For more information, please call the synagogue office at 539-3060. It just may be the best phone call you make this year. - Congregation B'nai Moshe - We're not just building a building... ...We're building a family. Transfer Movies 8mm-16mm to VHS or Beta • 401-600 FEET $39.00 • 1-200 FEET $20.00 • 201-400 FEET $26.00 • 601-800 FEET $52.00 801-1000 FEET $65 gm, Film over 1,000 feet add 6° a foot. Tape $8.00 Additional CENITURS CAWACCENA BUY—SELL—TRADE - 38 FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1992 GO 3017 N. Woodward (3 Blks. South of 13 Mile) Royal Oak Daily & Sat. 10-6, Fri. 10-8 288-5444 DR. RICHARD C. HERTZ Special to The Jewish News E spionage is as old as the Bible. Every good military commander needs intelligence reports in order to design strategy. Moses was a great military commander as well as strategist. In today's sedra we have an exciting episode of Israel's journey through the desert. The children of Israel were encamped near what is known as the "wilderness of Zin," not far from the southern end of the Dead Sea. The Israelites were ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses needed information about the kind of country they were about to enter. He sent out 12 spies to bring him information. What kind of country was it? Without a map, what were its borders? What was its climate? What was the condition of the soil? The people? Were they arm- ed? These were all normal questions he needed answered so that he could plan his strategy. The 12 spies disguised themselves and scattered to the four corners of the land. They spent 40 days and 40 nights traversing Canaan, a little country no more than 150 miles by 40. When they returned, the 12 spies were united in their opinion that it was a great country, rich with ripe fruits that they brought back hanging from a long pole carried by two of them. Reports made it seem like a land "flowing with milk and honey." The inhabitants were farmers who lived in homes and tilled the soil. They were "men of great stature." Com- pared to them, "we were like grasshoppers," the spies reported. i ADVANCE Pik CARPET CARE The majority report of 10 spies suggested caution and negative response. The people ate up the majority report. They panicked. They rebelled against Moses and wanted to turn around and return to the fleshpots of Egypt. The minority report offered by Joshua and Caleb recognized the possibilities of success. Joshua and Caleb were neither discouraged nor afraid. Here the character of Joshua is revealed as an in- trepid and wise leader, who in the future as a successor to 737-1670 Dr. Richard C. Hertz is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El. No Wet Mess Carpet Cleaned Professionally Film to Video Transfer The Promised Land Requires Acts Of Faith 2 ROOMS & HALL so a a ow s • Combined areas considered 2 rooms. Rooms over 250 sq. ft. additional slight charge. The Dry Extracttpn Carpet Cleaning System / 31941 Kingswood Sq. • Farmington Hills Moses would be a man of deep courage and a fearless general. As we read this story, we are prompted to ask an ob- vious question. "Why were the spies sent at all?" God had told Moses that the children of Israel were going to enter the land of Canaan and that he would give it to them. If that was God's message, why would any religious person like Moses question it? The spies were almost superfluous and in a way demonstrated a lack of Shabbat Shelach: Numbers 13:1-15:41 Joshua 2:1-24. faith and belief. Espionage could have been a legitimate concern for a secular leader, but for Moses, who spoke to God face-to-face, why the spies at all? The story tells us an impor- tant message about Judaism and our relationship to God. Moses knew that no divine act was going to overwhelm the ancient Canaanites who had settled in the land and pruned it and planted it and harvested it. Since Moses could not enter the Promised Land, there would be no one to claim victory over the Ca- naanites. A new leader would have to raise an army, train it, and then hope and pray that God would answer his prayers with success. Moses knew that it would be up to the Israelites to do what they would have to do because God helps those who help them- selves. The morality of displacing peoples who had lived in Ca- naan for generations was never raised by the Torah. Forcible displacement of the Canaanites was to be an act of God, for this land was the Promised Land, promised to the people of Israel. Occupa- tion of the land was not a moral issue, but the con- tinued possession of the land by the Israelites was to be a moral trust. Israel would keep the land as long as Israel kept faith with God. Only a righteous Israel was entitled to inhabit the land, for the land was holy. This imposed an obligation of moral living on the children of Israel, something not demanded of any other nation in the world as a con- dition. The Torah makes God responsible for Israel's being in the land. It makes Israel Ti r-j C C==.