When taking on a new project, especially a major one, you probably keep two things in mind. Firstly, the benefits of the project and secondly, the feasibility of the project. If at the first step you decided that the endeavor was not worth it, you would not go to step two to evaluate its feasibility. You would simply walk away, having decided the project was not worthy of engagement. If after evaluating the project you felt it was worthwhile, you would then spend some time trying to ascertain its viability, practicality, and feasibility.

How many of us during this evaluation have walked away from the potentially valuable opportunity because we were told it was impossible, impractical, or we feared failure? The scouts sent by Moshe saw the land was good, everything God promised it would be, but could not find the courage to see beyond their insecurities and fears. They said: “all the people who we saw there are giant…we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and that is how they saw us [1].” They were held back by their self-perception, a false idea of themselves, which they assumed was how others viewed them.

The scouts that were sent by Moshe were not military spies trying to figure out HOW to conquer the land [2]. The twelve men were given two directives:

1. Is it worthwhile?

What is the nature of the land? Is the soil rich or poor, are the trees fruitful? etc.

1. Is it feasible?

Are the people strong or weak? Are they many or few? Are the cities fortified or open, etc.

The conclusion, according to the vast majority-ten of these men-was that the land was great, and indeed a worthy endeavor. It was flowing with milk and honey, and they showed the fruits they had collected. The problem arose when the scouts had decided that it was just not possible to conquer the land. They viewed all of the valuable aspects of the land as negative and built a web of emotional fear. They took the positive that the land produced large and healthy persons and turned that into a negative, that it was just not possible to conquer.

“‘We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the land are mighty, and the cities are extremely huge and fortified, and there we saw even the offspring of the giant…’ [3]”

They acknowledged the land is indeed rich, the people are strong and healthy, and the cities are large and well built, but they said this is all efes, worthless. They viewed these opportunities through the lens of their fear and construed them as negative. Instead of recognizing the value of God’s offering, they only saw difficulty, danger, and obstacles. This is why they defined for themselves, and as leaders, for the entire nation, that it is just not possible.

“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 [4].”

They convinced themselves that they could not acquire the good land that God promised them and furthermore decided that God’s goal was their destruction.

“You murmured in your tents and said, ” ‘Because the Lord hates us, He took us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand[s] of the Amorites to exterminate us.’ [5]”

How twisted does it seem, from our perspective, to think that the goal of bringing Benei Yisrael to Kena’an was to annihilate them? The scouts allowed their emotions to take control of their thinking and then rationalized their emotions until reality was completely warped to validate their fears. They saw the great produce and strong inhabitants not as a vision of what they could have, but as a reason why they could not achieve their goal.

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.” –Anthony Robbins

We need to stop telling ourselves that we cannot do something and come up with rationalizations of why. To do this, we must be able to recognize a reality outside of ourselves and not allow our insecurity and self-perception to hold us back. We need to identify our emotions, why we feel afraid or incapable, and recognize that while our emotions are valid, they may not be the reality of the situation we are faced with. When we can do that, we are empowered to progress forward, take on new challenges, and overcome obstacles.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Meyer Laniado

 

[1] Bemidbar 13:33

[2] See R. Menachem Leibtag ‘Meraglim’ or Fact Finding Mission?

[3] Bemidbar 13:27-29

[4] Bemidbar 13:31

[5] Debarim 1:27