Seeing the good in the land is seeing the good in yourself

Parshat Shlach tells of the spies who are sent to the Land of Canaan to sing its praise and encourage the masses before the rigorous conquest.

The nations of the land were fierce and the spies were viewed as a way of boosting the morale of a tribal nation who had fled Egypt but who were not yet amassed into any semblance of fighting force ready to take on the mightiest and most formidable of nations.

In some respects, the personal journey of each of the spies was reflective of the narrative of the nation as a whole.

The Chafetz Chaim, in his book Shmirat Halashon depicts this connection. The spies, he writes, were fearful that though certain individuals might be worthy of such victory, the nation as a whole was not. In essence, they feared that the base spiritual level of the people would not enable them to go the distance, leaving them easy prey for the far stronger inhabitants of the land.

Taking it a step further, the Chafetz Chaim, says that that can be our greatest pitfall, not viewing ourselves as worthy of God's goodness. This excessive humility, or feeling of unworthiness can cast a pallor on everything we do, harming relationships with others and with ourselves. That, is what the two righteous spies tell their wicked counterparts, "Do not rebel against God." Rebellion, thus, can be said to be a life attitude that says, "I am not worthy," or "I do not deserve God's help." What Caleb and Yehoshua tell them in response to their perfidy is that Hashem loves us just the way we are, which makes us worthy of his kindness and munificence. The land that Hashem is giving us is one perfectly fitted for us, for people who love Him and who are flawed but are his rightful and only partners in the world.

My wife and I were once hosted by a couple who were taking a parenting class. They told us that the most important message they heard was that they were the best parents for their children – that nobody else is better fit than them. That seems to be the critical flaw the spies made, failing to see themselves as worthy to do the task reserved only for them. So often, the failure to rise to the occasion is not so much the external conditions we face, but rather, our unwillingness to realize that we have just what it takes to get the job done!