The core moment of Parshat Shlach begins when Moses sends scouts to see the Promised Land. Perhaps he sends them because God commands it. Perhaps he sends them because the people need it. Either way, their assignment is clear: They are to look at the land and report back. What is its terrain? What can grow there? Who lives there?

Twelve scouts go. They do their work. They return with a cluster of grapes so large that it becomes iconic in Jewish memory, the image of two scouts carrying fruit so abundant that it must be held between them on a pole. They come back with evidence of blessing. The land really is fertile. The promise is real.

Ten of the scouts speak first.

They say that the land indeed flows with milk and honey. They say that the fruit is truly abundant. They also say that the cities are fortified and the people who live there are enormous. They describe what they saw, and we should notice this carefully: they do not lie. They are not inventing the challenge. They are not pretending that the way forward will be........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)