The Grasshopper Delusion

A happy summer to all of you! Working with teenagers, I have felt the enthusiasm of summer break in the air, and I want to wish you a summer full of adventure and growth. Many travel in the summer, scouting out new lands, and this week's Torah portion - Shelach -  discusses just that: The infamous scouting of the land of Israel by the 12 spies of the Jewish people.

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If you've been to Israel before (I'm going for the month of July, so excited!) you've experienced the wide range of beauty and qualities the land of milk & honey has to offer. But instead of focusing on the positive aspects of the land, 10 of the spies (excluding Caleb & Joshua) reported: "We are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we...The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of stature. There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes." (Numbers, 13:31-33) Joshua & Caleb, however, reported: "We shall surely ascend and conquer it, we can surely do it!" (Numbers, 13:30)

Were these 12 men looking at the same land? At the same enemy? How could they have perceived the situation in such differing ways!? Significantly, the spies said: "We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes." 

"Whether you think you can, or that you cannot—you are right." - Henry Ford (as much as I dislike quoting him, wisdom can be attained by anybody). The Torah is teaching us that it was because the spies perceived themselves as weak, with no self confidence or trust in G-d, that they therefore perceived their enemies as unbeatable. When one has self esteem and a trust in G-d, there is nothing to fear. Often, when we think others are looking down upon us, it's really just a lack of self worth in our own eyes. Nothing should get in our way if we are aiming to achieve a worthwhile, holy goal.

In life we encounter many tests and obstacles, but the lesson we learn from the story of the spies is that if we approach life's tests with trust in G-d, and in our G-d given abilities, we will succeed. Years later, after the 10 spies had already passed away in the desert, Joshua & Caleb were part of the conquering of the land. It was a self fulfilling prophecy.

May we always have a trust in G-d, perceiving the obstacles in our lives in a positive light, knowing that: "G‑d doesn't ask of us more than what lies in our power to do." (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 11)

Shabbat Shalom!