This week’s Torah portion is called Shelach, which means Send.
It starts off with the story of Moshe being instructed to send Leaders of the nation, the leader of each Tribe, to tour the Land of Israel to see if it is a beautiful Land and if it can be conquered.
Rashi explains that Moshe was given the choice to send spies.
Why did he do it?
Perhaps he felt it would build consensus.
As was reported in the last portion, people were complaining about the lack of meat and about Moshe’s leadership.
(Mom’s take heart, even Moses himself couldn’t keep enough meat in the house or provide the kind of leadership the kids wanted!)
So perhaps if the leaders of the Tribes would bring back good reports about the Land, everyone would band together to shoulder the challenges of conquering the Land.
But unfortunately the mission backfired.
The Leaders return scared, worried and unsure of the outcome.
They bring a report that frightens the people.
They do not want to enter the Land of Israel.
The Jews had sudden onset amnesia.
They forgot Gd’s promise to the Jewish nation that they would inherit the Land. The miracles they witnessed in Egypt somehow slipped their minds.
And so they sat in their tents and cried.
The decree for this sin was death.
Those that cried that night on the 9th of Av, were decreed to die.
During the 40 years of travel in the desert, every year on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the generation of the desert dug their own graves and lay down in those graves.
The next morning some of the people did not arise from that grave. This continued yearly until the desert sojourn concluded.
This decree did not it include those under twenty years old or those over sixty.
It did not include Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve spies who contradicted their colleagues and fought on behalf of entering the Land.
It did not include the Levites who also stayed positive.
And, it did not include the women.
The women proved their loyalty and faith yet again.
Just as they did not participate in the sin of the Golden Calf, so too did they not despair or cry upon hearing the negative report.
They remained steadfast in their belief.
They merited entering the Land because they had faith that Israel was home, no matter the challenges.
Throughout our challenging history, women have maintained the spiritual connection and have overcome, with faith, the most difficult moments.
Before October 7, there was a lot of disparaging talk about our present generation.
They were labeled as selfish, self serving, and self absorbed.
They seemed not to have a connection to the Land.

On October 7 everything changed.
Even ElAl, Israel’s airline, had a heart stirring ad showing how they were able to bring everyone home from wherever they might be.
But the most important message of the ad is not that they were there for us and able to bring the backpackers home, but rather that those back packers only thought when there was trouble in Israel was - to go home.
Israel is home for us.
No matter what the situation, no matter what the challenge.
Social media is flooded with this narrative.
What people are desperate to go home when their country is under missile attack?
We do!
I have a number of Israeli relatives stranded around the world, they went to weddings, they went on vacation.
All they want is to go home!
Some of them are in the reserves and have been called up again, and they are desperate to get back for their mission.
I am sure it won’t be long till you all see the Israeli flight steward leading the whole airplane in song.
They are on a rescue flight going back to Israel.
They are singing as they fly back to a country under attack.
It makes no sense.
But it is home!
Many weddings are taking place these days in Israel.
These weddings are not what they were supposed to be.
Instead of luxurious venues they are taking place in the streets or in the fields.
And they share an inspiring resolve.
They will not allow the enemy to abort their mission.
What is the mission of these young people?
To build a faithful home in Israel.
To provide the building blocks of the future.
This kind of resolve is what our people is made of.
Rabbi Shalom Rosner teaches us that “throughout Jewish history we have seen miracles take place that are often partnered with human effort and initiative. We show up with faith and action, and Gd does the rest.”
The spies of our Torah portion did not have that faith, they were not willing to step up and do what it takes.
Today, we see the offspring of Joshua and Caleb, the Levites of old, the women of the desert, who are willing to do whatever it takes to protect our Home and her people.
They run from four corners of the Earth towards the danger as opposed to fleeing and crying in their tents.
They have learned the lesson of the love of the Land.
There is another clip of two men playing the piano.
It’s a piano that sits amidst the rubble of an apartment destroyed by a missile.
Miraculously, no one was injured in that attack.
You can’t believe it when you see the footage.
They are playing a piano and singing in Hebrew
“Hashem we love you so”.
It makes no sense.
But indeed it does.
They are seeing the real picture.
They are focusing on the miracles and not destruction.
Unlike the Spies they are choosing what they see.
What do we see?
May we merit to have the faith and resolve to continue to see many miracles.
I asked my very elderly Mother how she is managing.
She is very stoic. She often tells me she lived through the Blitz of WW2.
But when I ask her how she is she says “it’s very difficult, but I am home.”
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!