Parshat Shlach

The text of the Torah always sends us messages. This week, the contrast between the parsha and our present is amazing.

I've been studying Parshat Shlach (this week's parsha) with my son for months, as next year he will be called up to the Torah to recite the Torah portion for his bar mitzvah.

The story is all about the Meraglim, the spies that Moshe sent into Israel to discover the land before the people entered it. But instead of coming back with strength and vision, ten of them returned filled with fear. They spread panic. They spoke slander (lashon hara) about the land, saying it devours its inhabitants, that it’s a land of giants, that we cannot possibly survive there.

It was one of the gravest national sins in our history, not just because they were afraid, but because they rejected the gift of this land. The promises that were made by God when we were just sand and stars in the sky.

And now, thousands of years later, after a history filled with exile and sovereignty, we are back in the land, our birthright, sovereign once again.

We are facing one of the greatest potential threats we have ever known, an enemy that has haunted and hounded us for decades, threatening our very existence.

And instead of Jews fleeing from our land, we are desperate to come home.

There are around 150,000 Israelis stranded all around the world who are clamoring to return home, because they know that "Ein lanu eretz acheret" -- we have no other lands.

Israel has always been, and always will be, the birthright of the Jewish people.

In our darkest hour, our generation of Jews is fighting to come home.

To be with the land and the people. To be a part of our lived experience, because we are one nation with one heart.

I have seen so many comments from Jews all over the world, who are living in relative safety, stating, "I would rather be in Israel even under rocket fire."

"I can't sleep when Israel is in danger."

"I am consumed by the news, and I can't stop praying for Israel."

This is who we are today.

This is how we have evolved from the generation of the desert.

With God's help and partnership, we have come home.

We have rebuilt the Jewish state.

We have prospered here, and so has the land under our ministrations.

We benefit from her bounty, and we are grateful for the umbrage and freedom we can find here.

No, it's not easy. There are many sacrifices made for this land.

But the fact that everyone is running towards Israel instead of running away is everything you need to know.

We are most blessed when the people and the land are in sync.

Seeing this in real time reassures me that we are indeed on the road to our final redemption.