Shelach: heritage

The spies are sent to scope out the promised land, the land that was promised to the ancestors, the land that will be a heritage for future generations.They reject the inheritance, it is not worth the fight, the odds are not good enough.

There is an eternal battle between the generations.  The young, it seems naturally, rebel against the plans laid by the old. It is the job of the new generation to find the faults in the old ways and overthrow them. There is also a variance of interests. “It's always the old to lead us to the war, It's always the young to fall ,”(Phil Ochs).  Social security systems use the working young to support the retired old.

Religions connect the generations. The national dreams are reinterpreted, but they remain a force... both for unity and division.

When the rebels in our parsha say: Let us return to Egypt, they could mean that they would be slaves again, or they could conquer the devastated land, or they could come to a negotiated settlement with the people there. I think they meant all of these, and had they returned to to Egypt, they would have fought over which solution is best.

The real heritage is the argument.

2011

 2010

2009: Tzitzith 

2009 

tourism 2008 

Joshua 2008 

2007 Aydah