Shelach Lecha 5785

When Moses and the Children of Israel came close to the Promised Land, God turns to Moses and suggests that he send spies into the land. Did God need those spies to enter the land? No. On the other hand, Hashem wasn’t certain that the people themselves would have complete faith that they would be able to conquer the land and its people. Hashem, therefore, turns to Moshe making the suggestion – shelach lecha, send for yourself. In other words, I, God, do not need it, but you Moshe may need it. Either for your own proof or to prove to the Children of Israel not only that it is a land of milk and honey, but also that they will be able to conquer it.

Twelve of twelve spies return with a favorable report related to the lushness of the land. They brought back with them samples of the produce displaying how bountiful the land is. Ten of the twelve, however, came back with a report that was rather distressing related to the conquerability of the land. Two, Joshua and Caleb, state that while it will not be a simple walk and enter into the land, they do see that the Promised Land is worth the challenge. And, in the end they will be able to defeat those who stand in their way.

This past week the query of how successful Operation Lion Rising will be for Israel has come into question. Will Israel be able to destroy the nuclear bomb capabilities of Iran with this latest tit for tat war? Will Israel be able to take down a regime that threatens Israel’s, and for all intents and purposes, the Jewish world? Can they bring stabilization to the land of Israel, the State of Israel, to the people of Iran, and to the region in general? Will the end of Iran’s influence, if that is possible, also bring an end to the Gaza War? Has Mossad intel and perhaps United States intelligence provided enough information that will give Israel and perhaps her allies the edge? Will the United States provide Israel with the bombs that only America has, which can penetrate the mountain walls of the nuclear fortress Fordow? Was the intelligence report correct that Iran was very close to producing a nuclear bomb that could destroy 10 million lives at once, rather than the barrage of nightly bombs that Iran is now sending into the skies of Israel? 

One thing many of us sense is that those living in Israel at this moment are going through some very difficult times. It is not easy to find oneself running to bomb shelters every evening and into the night. Throughout the evening hours and into the wee hours of the morning, I receive reports from Jeffrey Toler, who is visiting Israel from Mystic, as he and his Israeli partner make their way down to the saferooms and shelters.  His ending words each morning are: “Betty and I are safe.”

One poster shows a very tired man stating: “Am Yisrael Chai! But I am dying to get some sleep!”

It breaks one’s heart to read that early Thursday morning Iran directly took aim at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheva. And in another attack, an eight-year-old Ukrainian girl receiving cancer treatment and four members of her family were killed in an Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv. Imagine, leaving war torn Ukraine for treatment in Israel, only to be killed by a missile directly targeting civilian populations in Tel Aviv.

And the quintessential question is not when will this war end, but what is the psychological well-being of those who live within the borders of the State of Israel? They have been through October 7^th and its aftermath which still continues a year and a half later. The nation has not yet recovered from not only the vicious attack on that day, but the lingering psychological effects of the hostage crisis, the separation of families as husbands and wives, daughters and sons are called up to service to defend Israel both down in Gaza and on its borders with Lebanon, the deaths of soldiers in battle, and a political battle over what is the way to end the war and bring the remaining hostages home.

While it is not Passover, a musician of Israel’s past, and a blog writer in Israel today, provide us with two different thoughts to think about at this time. Both of these pieces are based on the Passover Seder.

The first was written by the Israeli songwriter Chava Alberstein. It is entitled “Chad Gadya,” and begins with the original words with some emendations. It is the thought which she adds at the end that we need to reflect upon.

And why suddenly you sing Chad Gadya -
spring has not come and Passover isn't coming
What got changed to you, what got changed?
I got changed this year.
That all the nights, all the nights I asked only 4 questions
this night I have another question:
"until when will the circle of terror be continued?"
Chase and be chased, beat and be beaten,
when will this madness be ended?

What got changed to you, what got changed?
I got changed this year.
I was once a sheep and calm (goat) kid
today I'm a tiger and a wild wolf
I've already been a dove and a deer.

Today I don't know who I am.

Father brought one goat kid for 2 coins,
one goat kid, one goat kid.
Our father bought a goat kid for 2 coins
and again we start from the beginning.

Chava Alberstein’s words have a truth within them. We have changed; Israel has changed; the world has changed. As Jews, our thought patterns have been altered. Yet through it all, there is a hope that we have not lost our identity. We know who were are. And we know what we stand for. We are a people who pursue peace and shalom. Yet, we also know that Israel must not stand idly when there is a probability of yet another full out aggression upon Israel and upon the Jewish people. And it is not for us who live in America to decide what is right or wrong in Israel. We can have our opinion, but those living in Israel - they have the right to voice views in ways which I cannot.

Gabi Mitchell, an American born, Israeli blogger, brings us to a second Passover ditty to reflect upon, Dayenu. He writes as he lays awake one night, simply waiting to take his young family down to another secure shelter:

“Last night, lying beside my sleeping children in our safe room, I found myself asking a question that the peoples of our region have likely asked over the past 19 months: “What will I do if a missile strikes our home?

It’s not the first time I’ve asked myself this question. The Iranian missile barrage on June 13, 2025, wasn’t the first assault I’ve lived through since October7—and it won’t be the last. Normally, I’d recite chapter and verse about the low statistical probability of being hit by an unguided projectile, calmly explaining why there’s no reason for hysteria.

But people are dying. And … I felt the weight of the moment as I lay next to my younger children.

So I began running through a list of scenarios—each one a grim calculus of loss and survival—that went something like this:

If the war rages on but our city is spared - it would have been enough.

If our city is in ruins but our building still stands - it would have been enough.

If our home is destroyed but my family is spared -it would have been enough.

If I die and my daughters are only moderately wounded - it would have been enough.

If I am moderately wounded and they are only lightly injured - it would have been enough.

If I am lightly hurt and they are only shell-shocked- it would have been enough.

If my family is unharmed but my daughters no longer smile — it would have been enough.

If their smiles return but they no longer dream…then what was it all for?””

We have to hope that the dream will not die, and the smiles will return to their faces.

We have to hope that the purpose of Operation Lion Rising will provide for Israel, the people of the region, and Jews throughout the world that smile.

We have to be hopeful as Joshua and Caleb were as spies when they returned from their scouting out the land. 

The end is not just a fortnight away, but its goal is for that dream and smile to remain or to be regained. As we recite in the Hatikvah, “od lo avda tikvateyenu,” “our hope has not been lost,” nor should it be.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Bring them home now!

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi K.