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שלח לך אנשים ויתרו את ארץ כנען (יג:ב).

“Send for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan” (13:2).

The incident of the Meraglim is always illuminating. There are many questions which need to be answered. First on my list has always been their very name. The Torah says that their job was “ויתרו, to spy out” and repeats this phrase numerous times. The only time that we find them called “Meraglim” is in Devarim (1:23) when Moshe recounts the incident. What is going on here? They should be called “Turim”? Secondly, the most famous question is, what did they do wrong? They reported what they saw, these were undeniable facts, and more so, Hashem sent them to spy? They simply did their job?!

A beautiful answer is given by the Kli Yakar. This idea is very precious and meaningful to me as I believe it puts life into perspective. I have developed it according to my understanding.

What is the difference between “ויתרו” and “מרגל”? The word “ויתרו” comes from the root “יתר, benefit/advantage”. The word “מרגל”, comes from the root of “tale-barer, fault-finder”.

In every situation in life, there are two ways to look at things. Some choose to view the good and others focus on the bad. This is not a matter of vision, it is a matter of outlook. Some people train themselves to find growth, benefit and positivity in life’s situations; others only allow themselves to see the worst! The positive perspective is called “לתור, to see the good”. The negative outlook is called, “לרגל, to see the bad”.

The Kli Yakar explains that when Hashem commanded to send the spies He made it clear and repeated numerous times that their job was to make sure that they went with a positive outlook, “ויתורו, go see the good”! However, they went and only focused on the negative, they downgraded to become “מרגלים, negative reporters”. They are called Meraglim because that was their exact sin! By having the wrong perspective, they were not the spies which Hashem endorsed.

The negative things which they described were all provided by Hashem either in order to distract the inhabitants from catching them (mass death toll) or to provide Klal Yisrael with luscious fruit in Eretz Yisrael. They however came with a negative agenda and thus refused to see anything positive. Instead, they used it as fuel to prove their negative outlook.

Each time that we look at people, situations and events we chose our perspective. Those that chose to see in the positive light, live more meaningful and enjoyable lives!

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Parshas Shelach Optimism vs. Pessimism