The dream of centuries crumbled in an evening: The Jews are poised to enter the Promised Land. This is the moment that generations have waited for. Centuries of suffering in Egypt were always viewed through the prism of promise: one day God would take them home. Yet, on the cusp of destiny, disaster strikes. They send twelve agents to spy out their Promised Land. The spies returned bearing its fruit, but ten believed it was beyond their reach: its current inhabitants, they claimed, were too strong, unconquerable. The miracles they had seen in Egypt and the desert would not see them into Israel. Two spies dissented, but the pessimists carried the day. The mood of the moment was more powerful than the dream of generations. The people cried tears of ingratitude: “To die in Egypt” would have been better than their current predicament. God punished them: an entire generation would not see the Land and the promise fulfilled.

What went wrong? Why were the spies, and consequently the people, so disheartened by what they saw? How could twelve people see the same thing yet reach such different conclusions?

Attitudes are hard to detect; sometimes only the smallest outer detail reveals inner turmoil. The text of the Torah is the same: the minor details in this story reveal a devastating attitude that shattered a dream.

The parashah begins with a description of who was sent and why they were sent to Israel. The mission is set to begin, but in its final remarks before the spies set off, the Torah adds a peculiar point: “וְהַ֨יָּמִ֔ים יְמֵ֖י בִּכּוּרֵ֥י עֲנָבִֽים – it was at the time when the grapes began to ripen” (Bamidbar 13:20). Why is this added? It seems like such a trivial detail through which to introduce a thrilling tale.

Seforno[1] explains that although the fruit was not fully ripe, Moshe was confident that........

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