Taking A Divine Perspective

Sermon given at Congregation Beth Shalom in Dunwoody, Georgia on July 17, 2026

Over the past four months, our family has learned something about entering life transitions with grace. With the exception of living in Western Massachusetts for three years and two nine months stints in Israel, I’ve always lived in California. With the exception of being born in Latvia and leaving Israel when she was 12 years old, my wife Ilana has always lived in Southern California. And now, after serving a pulpit in Orange County for fifteen years, raising our children there, building meaningful relationships, we’ve packed up all of our stuff and have landed here in Dunwoody, Georgia – the beautiful south with it’s hot humid summer weather, mosquitos, traffic that can rival L.A, and a lot of unknown.

At the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, after generations of wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt, the people are about to enter the land of Israel. And this entire book, beginning with this week’s parsha is Moshe’s speech to the people. It’s a speech about life transitions – it’s a speech about entering a new chapter with grace, no matter how difficult. And included in the speech is a reminder of where they’ve came from, what they’ve learned, how to carry that forward into the land, and the reality of God’s presence in their lives. Here at the beginning the speech, in this week’s parsha, he recalls the episode of the spies – the episode of tribal leaders scouting out the land, coming back with a negative report, and God wiping out an entire generation. In fact, the rabbis actually call the episode of the spies the first Tisha B’Av – the saddest day of the Jewish calendar.

But Moshe tells the story of the spies very differently then we read about it back in Parshat Shelach L’cha. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out two glaring discrepancies in the two versions which I believe has everything to teach us about transitions, but also about day to day life. The first discrepancy has to do with who sent the spies. When the episode happened in real time, God sent the spies – V’yedaber Adonai el Moshe leymor – Shelach L’cha anashim – “And God said to Moshe…” But here in our parsha in Moshe’s speech, he says – “Then all of you came to me and said: “Nishl’cha anashim”  – Let us send men..” Who was it, God or the people.

The second discrepancy has to do with the purpose of the mission. In our parsha, Moshe says “Nishl’cha anashim l’faneynu v’yach’peru lanu et Haaretz – Let us send men before us to v’yach’peru (spy) out the land for us. (1:22) and then “the twelve men made for the hill country, came to the Wadi Eshkol and v’yeraglu spied it out. Both verbs mean “to spy.” But back in Parshat Shelach in real time, the account doesn’t use any words for spying. Instead, thirteen times, it uses the verb latur which means to tour, explore, travel, inspect. Even in our parsha, when Moshe is talking, not about the spies, but about God, he says that God “goes before you on your journeys – to seek out (latur) the place where your are to encamp” (1:33)

According to the 19th century commentator Malbim, latur means to seek out what is good about a place. The verbs which mean to spy – lachpor and leragel mean to seek out what is weak, vulnerable, exposed, defenseless. Touring and spying are completely different activities, so why does the account in our parsha present what happened as a spying mission, which the account in Shelach definitely does not?

According to the famous 11th century French commentator Rashi, they actually the same version of the same event, but split in two – half told there and half told here. It was the people who requested spies as stated here. Because they were scared and felt vulnerable, at the outset, they were looking for what was negative about the land, they were looking for a reason not to enter. Moses took their request to God and God ceded their request, but as a concession, not a command. In granting permission, God made a specific provision. The people asked for spies – those to seek out the negative, but God gave the people permission only latur – for the men to tour the land, to explore, discover, and see what is good about it. The people didn’t need spies. As Moshe said, throughout the wilderness years God had been going “ahead of you on your journey in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and show you the way you should go. (1:33)” The people did however need eyewitness testimony of the beauty and fruitfulness of the land so that they would have the strength and inspiration they would need to fight for it.

When I began looking for rabbinic positions, Atlanta was not on my radar. I had never considered living in the south. And yet, when Ilana and Aviv and I came to Congregation Beth Shalom in Atlanta in February, we came with the openness of latur – to discover, to explore. And as a result, we received the beauty and warmth of the community. We experienced a community who wanted to grow Jewishly together and connect deeper to one another and to Hashem. Yes, there was copious rain in February and traffic that we were trying to escape from, but there was such beauty of the land and a southern hospitality that was undeniable. And as a result of this orientation, we had the strength to leave everything we know, to leave our two older boys, friends and family, uproot and make the journey for a new life here.

The orientation of latur vs leragel – to seek out or two spy doesn’t just apply to big life transitions. It is about our approach to every day. Do we look for the good in people or situations we find ourselves in? Or do we focus on the negative, the deficient? The people were told to seek out what was good in the land, but instead they looked for the negative. And not only did they find the negative, they spread that perspective to others. And as a result, they were wiped out. This is the great tragedy of Tisha B’Av. The rabbis teach that the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed because of sinat hinam and lashon hara – focusing on the negative in others and speaking about it.

When we find ourselves focusing on the negative in others or a situation, we would do well to check in with ourselves emotionally. Do we feel scared? Is there something that we see in others that makes us feel uncomfortable? Is it possible that the discomfort we feel is because something external is reflecting something inside ourselves that we don’t want to accept or acknowledge. And once we realize that we may play a part in why we are focused on the negative, we can expand our attention to also look for what is good. When we do, we may find that the promised land has been right here all the time.