The spies didn’t lose the Land of Israel because the giants were too big. They lost it because they believed they were too small.

The spies are often remembered for what they said about the Land of Israel. I suspect we’ve been paying attention to the wrong sentence.

Most discussions of Parashat Sh’lach focus on the giants, the fortified cities, and the disastrous report that condemns an entire generation to wander in the wilderness. Those details matter, but they are not the heart of the story. The most revealing sentence appears almost in passing: “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes.”

Not in the eyes of the Canaanites. Not in the eyes of the giants. In our own eyes.

That is where the disaster begins.

The spies arrive in a land that is everything God promised. The soil is fertile. The fruit is so enormous that it requires multiple men to carry it. The opportunities are extraordinary. The future is within reach. Yet ten of the twelve leaders return having stumbled upon what would eventually become one of humanity’s favourite hobbies: catastrophising.

To be fair, they are not entirely wrong. The cities are fortified. The enemy is strong. The military challenge is........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)