Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”LTo sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email itistaught@gmail.comThe Report of the SpiesThe spies ascended to the land and spied it out, starting at the desert of Zin which is at the south eastern corner of the land.From there they traveled across its southern border and then turned north and crossed its western border which was along the sea, making the shape of the greek letter Gamma: Γ.Eventually they reached Chamath, near Mount Chor in the northwestern corner.Caleb alone traveled northward from the south to Chevron, where he prostrated himself over the graves of the Patriarchs, praying that he not be persuaded by the others to collaborate in their plans.Noah's son Cham had four sons. He build Zoan for his second son Mitzrayim (the progenitor of Egypt) and Chevron for his youngest son Canaan.Chevron was seven times more fertile than Zoan.This shows how superior the land of Israel was in that Chevron had the rockiest terrain of the entire land (which is why it was reserved for burying the dead). Whereas Zoan was the best land in all of Egypt.The offspring of the giant were in Chevron: Achiman, Sheshai and Talmai.The spies arrived at the Valley of Eshkol and cut a branch of a grapevine that had a cluster of grapes hanging from it. This was carried on two poles by eight of the spies while another spy took a fig and another a pomegranate. Yehoshua and Caleb did not participate in this as they knew that the only reason why the spies were bringing back these fruit was to spread slander about the land of Israel - to say that just like this fruit is unusual, so are the people in the land unusual.As a side note, Rashi says that one can figure out the amount that each spy carried by looking in Yehoshua 4:3-5 where each person lifted one stone from the Jordan river onto his shoulders up at Gilgal. Each stone weighed 40 seah. And the amount that a person can lift on their own is but a third of what they are able to lift when he is helped.They named this area The Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster (Eshkol) they took from there.After 40 days, they returned from their journeys in the land. This was a miraculously short amount of time, since the area of the land of Israel is 400 "parsangs"(1 parsang = 2-3 miles) x 400 "parsangs. In a day's time, a person on average walks 10 parsangs, which means that after 40 days they should only have been able to traverse its width. G-d knew that He would decree that they would be exiled for one year per day of their spying, which is why He miraculously shortened their time in the land.Chumash hints here that the spies had bad intent from the start of their mission (by saying that they "went and came" - i..e they left with bad intentions just as they entered with bad intentions).Upon leaving the land, they approached Moshe, Aaron and all of the Israelites in the Desert of Paran at Kadesh with the fruit they took from the land.They reported to Moshe and Aaron that the land does indeed flow with milk and honey* and this is its fruit.*Side note: This inclusion of this positive aspect about it flowing with milk an honey demonstrates the idea that any lie only holds up if a bit of truth is inserted into its start.However, they continued, the people in the land are powerful, the cities fortified (denoting strength) and large and they saw the offspring of the giant.They said that Amalek dwells in the south. - Although Amalek was not one of the nations which the Israelites were commanded to conquer, the spies mentioned it to frighten them as they had been previously attacked by Amalek.They also said that the Chittites, Yevusites and Amorites dwell on the mountain and the Canaanites dwell by the sea next to the Jordan river, insinuating that they would not be able to cross the Jordan river due to these nations.Caleb silenced everyone and cried out "Is this alone what the son of Amram (i.e. Moshe) did to us?"Everyone became silent as they thought that Caleb was about to speak negatively about Moshe (it is sometimes considered disrespectful to refer to someone as the son of so and son without saying their name) and the people were already harboring negative feelings towards Moshe due to what the spies had said.But then Caleb continued:"Yet did he not part the sea, bring down the manna for us and make the pheasant fly to us? We shall definitely go up (i.e we will succeed at anything Moshe says - even if he says to make ladders to ascend to heaven) and conquer the land. We can definitely do it!"However the other spies retorted, "We cannot ascend as the people are ...
