"Hashem spoke to Moses, saying, "Send forth men, if you please, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel; one man each from his father’s tribe shall you send, every one a leader among them" (Numbers 13:1-2).

"The spies secretly crossed the mountain path of the Negev in southern Canaan and traversed the land until the extreme north. They returned to the assembly after an absence of forty days bringing with them huge clusters of grapes, pomegranates, and figs as evidence of the land’s fertility. However, ten of the Meraglim (the spies) claimed that it would be impossible for the Children of Israel to conquer Canaan. They felt that the cities were too strongly fortified and that the inhabitants were too powerful. Calev and Yehoshua disassociated themselves from this pessimistic report and counseled that the people should march on Canaan. The people, though, sided with the majority report and lost heart. They broke into open rebellion and proposed the election of a leader to lead them back to Egypt. They refused to listen to the renewed pleas of Calev and Yehoshua and threatened to stone them. Hashem was angered by this lack of faith and he expressed His intention to destroy the people. Moses again interceded successfully on the Israelites’ behalf. But while their destruction was avoided, the Children of Israel were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years. The ten spies who had delivered the negative report died of a sudden plague"

We can ask ourselves: Why did Moses get angry at the ten spies? Why did God punish them? They were asked to bring a report - They brought a report. Moses told them to share the facts – They shared the facts. Doesn’t Moses need to accept their judgment?

"On the surface, the spies did nothing wrong in describing what they had seen. They had been sent to make their own observations, and they could not be faulted for reporting the truth as they saw it. Ramban comments that the key word in their report that revealed them to be lacking in faith was the word "Efes" – "But". In a purely factual report, there was no need for such a qualifier; they should have continued to state the facts. By using a word that implied a contradiction to the optimism of their first two sentences, they were, in effect, telling the nation that no matter how rich and blessed the Land was, it was beyond their reach. "

However, that can not be the only reason for God and Moses’ anger. We have difficulty linking the almost objective report with the national hysteria, which followed it, and understanding why spies and rebels were so harshly punished.

I would like rather to modestly include myself among those who see the gravity of the incident, not in the incident itself, but in the condition of leaders of the spies. As we read at the beginning of our Sidrah: "Send forth men, if you please, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel; one man each from his father’s tribe shall you send, every one a leader among them" (Numbers 13:2).

We know that Moses chose highly respected leaders, as is indicated by the inclusion of such great men as Yehoshua and Calev.

Being a leader involves a big responsibility. When a person is chosen to fill a position of leadership and responsibility, the first thing this person needs to be aware of is the importance of his or her position. Once you assume such a position of leadership -and this position can be being the president of the United States, the Rabbi of a congregation, a young officer of the BBYO, or a member of the Board of Directors of Beth Israel- your position becomes part of yourself. Wherever you go, your position goes with you. Whatever you say and the way you say it, you carry the responsibility of your position, and the higher the position, the bigger the responsibility.

What brought the biggest rebellion in the wilderness wasn’t the hysterical complains of the Children of Israel, but the incapacity of ten out of the twelve most outstanding leaders in that generation to understand what being a leader means.

Rabbi Yoseph Yerushalmi –in his book "Meorah Shel Torah" insinuates that Moses told the spies: ‘I am the one who sends you; please, when you come back, report to me’. The commentators explain that "when the spies came after their extensive forty-day tour of the Land they should have reported to Moses (who sent them); instead they made their comments in a loud public declaration".

Even if the report was true, even if each word they said was a description of the facts (and we can believe their words merely described the facts), the spies’ behavior was wrong. They should have reported only to Moses; instead they shared the information with the entire congregation, with people that mishandled the information and caused a disaster.

Even if they meant well, they did badly. A popular expression teaches us that "the way to hell is paved with good intentions". For a regular person, good intentions are enough. From leaders we expect more.

People in a leadership position need to know when to talk and when to be silent; who is the right person to share an opinion, and who will mishandle it. Leaders need to understand that the eyes of the entire congregation are on them, on their behavior, and even on their families’ behavior. For people in a leadership position, to be reserved is a moral commandment and to be humble is an imperative.

We know that the People of Israel could reach the Promised Land in forty days. Now it would take them forty years. However, the lesson was addressed. Moses tested his leaders and got the two faithful ones who would enter the new generation into the Promised Land.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson taught: "No one is incapable of being a leader in some way, and no one is exempt from the responsibility". Maybe it is time for all of us to take a leadership position, to address these issues, to raise even more our standards of behavior, and to accept the inherent responsibility each of us has within our family, our congregation and our community.

Shabbat Shalom!