Parashat Shelah: The Travel Diary of Sethur Ben Michael from the Tribe of Asher

The third month, in the second year following the Exodus  

Hebrew

A full moon lights up the sky and I'm excited. In two days, I will set out to explore the land promised to our ancestors so many years ago. And to think that only a year and a few months ago we were slaves in Egypt. So many things have happened since then – the splitting of the Red Sea and revelation at Mount Sinai – but they was all one-time events. Soon we will settle down, as free people in our land. We were given detailed instructions on how to arrange the camp. The census showed us who is who in the large mass of people. We set out and all that remained was to enter the land and settle down.
I wish it were that simple.
Moses, in the name of God, promised that the land was good, but for many of the people, who have known only Egypt and the wilderness, it is hard to imagine a good land that depends on rain, that does not have the Nile to supply water regularly. Therefore, Moses appointed a chieftan from each tribe to a special delegation whose job it is to tour the land and see with our own eyes that it is good and to bring back examples to prove the point.

Day 12

We crossed the border without difficulty. After all, tourism is an important industry. We went to the Negev and to Hebron, an ancient city that was founded seven years before Zoan of Egypt.

Day 25

We reached Nahal Eshkol. We picked pomegranates, figs and a cluster of grapes that was so big that one person can't carry it, two of us carry it hanging from a pole. This is truly a land flowing with milk and honey, very impressive, and yet – despite the Divine promise – I’m beginning to doubt that we are strong enough, skilled enough and smart enough to cultivate and hold a land so different from what we knew.

Statue by Architect Sergio Ratescu, Segula Industrial Area, Petach Tikva. Photo: Dr. Avishi Teicher, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Day 28 (first day of the fifth month)

We started on our way back to Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, discussing a report that we will submit when we arrive. There are many disagreements.

• Hosea (excuse me, Joshua) and Caleb are faithful and naïve. They see the difficulties but insist, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.”
• The fearful ones remember only the height of the fortifications and the strength of the people, especially the giants and the Amalekites, to whom we appeared as grasshoppers (or is it only in our eyes?). You simply can’t talk to them.
• There are those who dare to suggest that we should remain in the wilderness forever. They say, “It's a shame that we left the Mountain of God. Why should we work hard if we can eat manna and calmly study Torah forever.”[1]
• I understand the temptation, but the Torah also includes many mitzvot that an only be kept in the land – tithes, agricultural gifts, the sabbaitcal and jubilee years. Torah cannot be kept for long in the wilderness. Perhaps a compromise can be proposed: wait another two or three years to become stronger and learn the ins and outs of all those laws.

Day 40 (eight day of the fifth month)

We returned from exploring the land at the end of forty days, and reported directly to Moses, Aaron and the entire community.
In the final version, the fearful voices prevailed: “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the Anakites and Amalekites there. We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we” Again and again they repeated the same things in an increasingly inflammatory tone.
Moses and Aaron were dumbstruck. I couldn't get a word in. Only Caleb managed to open his mouth but to no avail. The land was slandered.

God's patience ran out. Instead of two years of professional training and legal study, we received 38 years of punishment. And that was only after Moses reminded God that God is “slow to anger and abounding in kindness; forgiving iniquity and transgression.”

The thirty-second year after the Exodus

Sethur Ben Michael died overwhelmed with bitterness and the feeling that he had missed the opportunity to refute the libel report. Before his death, he gave his diary to his son Michael.

115 years after the Exodus (the 75th year of settlement of the land)

Today, I received the diary of my grandfather for whom I am named. I read it and cried for the generation lost in the wilderness and for the people who have not yet learned not to be dominated by fear.

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[1] Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Likutei Torah, Shelah 1. This is the idea that sparked my imagination but the development and conclusion are my own.