…fact, the case? As the parallel passage in the book of Joshua – read as the haftarah to the sedra of Shelach – makes clear, the spies could not have been more wrong. A generation later, Joshua too sent spies. They stayed at the house of a prostitute named Rahab, who turned out to be a heroine in her own…
In Philadelphia there lives a gentle, gracious, grey-haired man, by now in his late-90s, whom Elaine and I have had the pleasure of meeting several times and who is one of the most lovely people we have ever known. Many people have reason to be thankful to him, because his work has transformed many lives, rescuing people from depression and…
…Shelach Lecha: Confidence Core Questions Why is it important for a leader to have faith in her/his followers? Can you think of other times Moses displayed a lack of faith in the people? What values can you conclude are central to Jewish leadership from this principle of Jewish leadership? 6. Leaders Need a Sense of Timing and Pace Bamidbar 27:15-17…
In March 2020, whilst launching a new book,[1] I took part in a BBC radio programme along with Mervyn King, who had been governor of the Bank of England at the time of the financial crash of 2008. He, together with the economist John Kay, had also brought out a new book, Radical Uncertainty: decision-making for an unknowable future.[2] The…
Whose idea was it to send the spies? According to this week’s sedra, it was God. The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. Numbers…
It was perhaps the single greatest collective failure of leadership in the Torah. Ten of the spies whom Moses had sent to spy out the land came back with a report calculated to demoralise the nation. “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people…
Our Torah portion ends with one of the great commands of Judaism – tzitzit, the fringes worn on the corners of our garments as a perennial reminder of our identity as Jews and our obligation to keep the Torah’s commands: God spoke to Moses, telling him to speak to the Israelites and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the…
…Nelson Mandela called “the long walk to freedom.” Bamidbar Naso Beha’alotecha Shelach Lecha Korach Chukat Balak Pinchas Matot Masei Devarim (Deuteronomy) With the book of Deuteronomy, Devarim, the entire biblical project becomes lucid and reaches its culmination. Deuteronomy is the last act of the Jewish people’s drama before becoming a nation in its own land, and it forms the context…
This fourth video explores the value in giving children a strong faith in their religion. Transcript How to be an inspiring parent, Rule Four. Rule Four takes off from a fascinating passage in the Torah, the story of the spies in parshat Shelach Lecha. You remember Moses sends the spies, he tells them to look at the land and also…
…an opportunity to be seized and a temptation to be resisted. NASO: You are as important as you make other people feel. BEHA’ALOTECHA: We tend to become what our friends are. So choose friends who are what you aspire to be. SHELACH LECHA: Never let negative emotions distort your perceptions. To see the world as it is, not as you…