JUNE 27 • 2024 | 37
J
N

Indiscretion 
and Distortion
T

welve respected leaders, 
each representing a 
different tribe, left on a 
journey to scout out the land of 
Canaan, the land promised to 
their ancestors. They 
were to bring back a 
report about the land’s 
fertility and resources, 
the inhabitants and 
their strength, the cities 
and their fortifications. 
 They returned 40 
days later with produce 
demonstrating the 
land’s richness and fer-
tility. What could have 
been a moment of joy, 
exuberance and excite-
ment quickly turned 
into doubt, disappointment and 
disbelief. How did things go 
“downhill” so quickly?
The leaders presented the 
fruit they had returned with; 
they declared that the land was 
indeed fertile: It “flowed with 
milk and honey.
” The inhabi-
tants are powerful, and the cities 
are protected, they relayed. “We 
can do this!” declared one of 
the 12 with exuberance. “It’s not 
possible,
” said his fellow scouts; 
“they are stronger than we are.
” 
The optimism of two 
scouts was no match for the 
overwhelming pessimism of 
their peers. The Torah states 
(Numbers 13:32) that the scouts 
then “brought out (and spread) 
an unfavorable report” (vayotziu 
dibat ha’aretz) saying, “the land 
consumes its settlers, and the 
inhabitants are massive.
” The 
effect of the negative report 
quickly took hold, eroding the 
hope of the Israelites, setting off 
hysteria and igniting fears. 
Commentaries on the verse 
(Ibn Ezra, Nahmanides) hone 

in on the phrase “brought out” 
(vayotziu dibat). Nahmanides 
explains that “bringing out” 
meant that the scouts embel-
lished and went from indi-
vidual to individual to 
foment opposition. By 
promulgating and spreading 
unfavorable false reports 
about the promised land, 
they generated opposition 
that resulted in the death 
of an entire generation and 
a 40-year delay in reaching 
our homeland.
The destructive nature of 
“bringing out” unfavorable 
reports is abundantly clear. 
Certainly, if there are genuine 
concerns, there are direct, 
discrete and constructive ways of 
addressing them. However, how 
we speak, what we say and to 
whom we express it, have enor-
mous implications. As the Torah 
points out, it’s not only what we 
say about each other that matters, 
it’s what we say about what mat-
ters, like our homeland, that we 
need to safeguard.
In our modern world, with 
the ability to communicate in 
compelling and persuasive ways 
to audiences all over the world, 
Israel’s enemies have a powerful 
weapon in their arsenal. The 
lesson of this week’s parshah is as 
urgent as ever; if our relationship 
with each other, our families 
and friends and our everlasting 
bond to our homeland ought to 
be informed at all by the events 
of the scouts some 3,400 years 
ago, we, too, should exercise the 
utmost sensitivity and discretion 
in how we utilize the power of 
speech and communication. 

Rabbi Azaryah Cohen is head of 

school at Frankel Jewish Academy in 

West Bloomfield.

SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION

Rabbi 
Azaryah 
Cohen

Parshat 

Shelach 

Lecha: 

Numbers 13:1-

15:41; Joshua 

2:1-24.

