In this week’s Torah reading, the wheels really come off the bus! The grand march to the Promised Land comes to a grinding stop. The parade won’t resume for 40 years. So, what caused the decades of detour?

I believe that the best way to arrive at the answer to this conundrum is to compare the two different versions of the story which appear in our Chumash, namely here and the first chapter of Devarim. 

Although there are quite a few discrepancies between the two accounts, there are two which, I believe, help us to best understand the story, and its message for us.

The first is: What was the purpose of this expedition to the Holy Land? According to the version which appears this week they were sent to LATUR ET Ha’ARETZ (the verb is used 13 times). This verb is variously translated as spy, scout, explore, search, reconnoiter, and check out. Actually, ‘spy’ is wrong, because the Hebrew word for that is RAGEL, which is used in the Devarim account.

So, this group was less a military spy mission for the CIA, MI6 or KGB, and more a survey to convince the nation that this Land was a worthwhile destination. As opposed to the way the episode is reported in Devarim which uses the more military terminology.  This week’s account is more of a public relations job. This frames the entire story in a different........

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