Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן…
Send people to scout the Land of Canaan…
Why did God and Moshe send the מְרַגְּלִים (meraglim, spies)? The Torah doesn’t tell us exactly. Can you think of a few possible reasons?
Here are answers from two פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators). Each understands the verb לָתוּר (latur, to scout)—which we highlighted in the pasuk above—in a different way.
הַהוֹלֵךְ לִרְאוֹת אֵיזֶה מָקוֹם טוֹב יוֹתֵר לִכְבֹּשׁ.
The meaning is: one who goes to see which place is best (tov yoter) to conquer.
רָצָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְהַרְאוֹת לָהֶם יִתְרוֹן הָאָרֶץ עַל כָּל הָאֲרָצוֹת.
Look at Moshe’s instructions in Bemidbar 13:17-20. See if you can find evidence there for Ha’amek Davar and for Keli Yakar. What words is each parshan noticing?
- Look at Moshe’s instructions in Bemidbar 13:17-20. See if you can find evidence there for Ha’amek Davar and for Keli Yakar. What words is each parshan noticing?
…עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב וַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת הָהָר׃
וּרְאִיתֶם אֶת הָאָרֶץ מַה הִוא
וְאֶת הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ הֶחָזָק הוּא הֲרָפֶה הַמְעַט הוּא אִם רָב׃
וּמָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהּ הֲטוֹבָה הִוא אִם רָעָה
וּמָה הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר הוּא יוֹשֵׁב בָּהֵנָּה הַבְּמַחֲנִים אִם בְּמִבְצָרִים׃
וּמָה הָאָרֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָה הִוא אִם רָזָה הֲיֵשׁ בָּהּ עֵץ אִם אַיִן וְהִתְחַזַּקְתֶּם וּלְקַחְתֶּם מִפְּרִי הָאָרֶץ…
“Go up there into the Negev and to the hill country.
See what kind of land it is.
Are the people who live there strong or weak, few or many?
Is the land where they live good or bad?
Are the towns they live in open or fortified?
Is the soil rich or poor? Are there trees or not?
And be careful to bring back some fruit of the land.”
- According to each parshan, what was going to be the next step after the meraglim came back?
- Both interpretations use a word that could be from a similar שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh, root) as latur: יוֹתֵר (yoter, more) in Ha’amek Davar and יִתְרוֹן (yitron, advantage) in Keli Yakar. Why do you think they each looked for a word like this? How does this strengthen their argument for what the meraglim were looking for?
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